MAY 12, 1992
CO-CHAIRMAN:
CO-CHAIRMAN:
DAVID T. KEARNS
DEPUTY SECRETARY
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
ALFRED A. DELLIBOVI
DEPUTY SECRETARY
U.S. DEPARMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
David T. Kearns, Co-chairman
Deputy Secretary
U.S. Department of Education
Washington, D.C.
Alfred DelliBovi, Co-chairman
Deputy Secretary
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Washington, D.C.
Robert E. Grady
Deputy Director-designate
Off ice of Management and Budget
Executive Office of the President
Washington, D.C.
Delbert Spurlock
Deputy Secretary
U.S. Department of Labor
Washington, D.C.
Arnold Tompkins
Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Washington, D.C.
Robert S. Mueller, III .
Assistant Attorney General
Criminal Division
U.S. Department of Justice
Washington, D.C.
Oscar Wright
Regional Administrator
Small Business Administration
San Francisco, California
Linda Peterson
Regional Administrator
Office of Personnel Management
Los Angeles, California
Jay Lefkowitz
Office of Cabinet Affairs
The White House
Washington, D.C.
Anna S. Kondratas
Director
President's Commission on Urban Families
Washington, D.C.
Ann M. Veneman
Deputy Secretary
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Washington, D.C.
Rockwell Schnabel
Deputy Secretary
U.S. Department of Commerce
Washington, D.C.
Anthony Lopez
Associate Director
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Washington, D.C.
Joseph Lira
Director
Minority Business Development Agency
U. S. Department of Commerce
Washington, D.C.
William Medigovich
Federal Coordinating Officer
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Los Angeles, California
Earl Fields
Chairman
Federal Executive Board
Long Beach, California
Gretchen Pagel
Office of National Service
The White House
Washington, D.C.
May 12, 1992
The President
The White House
Dear Mr. President:
On Monday, May 4, 1992, in response to the civil unrest in the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, California, you directed that a task force of Cabinet Deputy Secretaries and other key Federal officials be sent immediately to Los Angeles to assist in the recovery process.
Attached is a progress report on what that task force has accomplished in the past eight days. We hope that our efforts to date have assisted in easing the effects of this tragedy, and in ensuring the prompt delivery of Federal, state, county, and city services.
We have been struck in conducting our work by the genuine desire for prompt recovery, and by the cooperative spirit that has sprung from the ashes of the Los Angeles fires.
The work of this task force is ongoing and will continue. We will report again to you in the weeks and months ahead. While our work has been focused on process and implementation issues, we would be pleased to give you and your Cabinet impressions and input as you develop programs and legislation to assist large urban centers. Thank you for the opportunity to serve in this important mission.
Respectfully,
Alfred A. DelliBovi
Co-chairman
David T. Kearns
Co-chairman
PROGRESS REPORT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL TASK FORCE ON LOS ANGELES RECOVERY
I. Overview and Highlights:
On Monday, May 4th, the President established a task force of
Cabinet Deputies and other--key Federal officials to assist in
the recovery of Los Angeles. The purpose of the task force was
limited and straightforward: to knock down barriers to the speedy
delivery of services to the citizens of greater Los
Angeles who suffered as a result of the disturbances there, and
to bring quickly to the area those Federal resources and programs
which could help address the immediate problems facing the affected
area.
The Federal role represented by the task force was not
to supplant state and local efforts to rebuild Los Angeles, but
rather to ensure a coordinated response and to make the Federal
government a helpful partner -- assisting in every way possible
the state, county, and city governments, and the private sector,
in rebuilding their community.
Examples of the work accomplished by the task force include:
II. The Mission of the Task Force:
One might think of the Federal response to the civil unrest that
occurred in Los Angeles as encompassing three phases. One phase
was the restoration of peace and the rule of law in the immediate
term. A second phase is the provision of necessary assistance
and services to those who suffered losses or disruption of services
as a result of the disturbance. A third phase is the crafting
of a long-term policy strategy for addressing the underlying problems
facing urban America.
The work of this task force has been focused on the second phase.
The task force did not participate in or direct any law enforcement
activities, although in the aftermath of the disturbance, the
task force leadership has worked closely with Robert Mueller,
the Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, and with Governor
Wilson to coordinate appropriately with law enforcement. Nor
is the task force a policy-making body.
This task force has sought to work with the state, county, and
city governments, as well as private sector and non-profit entities,
in speeding the delivery of services to the people of Los Angeles.
The task force worked to bring quickly to the Los Angeles area
those programs which the Federal government can deliver right
now, under existing statutory authority and using existing funds,
to help those victimized by the violence.
Most importantly, the mission of the task force has been to knock
down any extraneous barriers to the efficient delivery of services
to the people of Los Angeles city and county. Too often, the
processes and paperwork of the Federal government are a source
of frustration to citizens who confront them. The goal of this
task force was to ease that frustration in every way possible
-- and to deliver assistance to the people who need it in record
time.
III. The Process:
Meeting Schedule:
Upon arrival in Los Angeles on Monday night May 4th, members of
the task force met with Governor Pete Wilson and his staff. Governor
Wilson also met with the full task force on Tuesday morning May
5th to offer his assessment of the situation. At that meeting,
he designated the State of California's Director of Emergency
Services, Richard Andrews, as liaison with the task force.
Also on Tuesday morning, task force representatives met with Los
Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and Deputy Mayor Linda Griego. Bradley
appointed Deputy Mayor Griego as liaison and she met with the
full task force on Tuesday to identify specific problems the city
had encountered that could be addressed by task force actions.
The task force coordinated by telephone on Tuesday with Los Angeles
County Chief Administrative officer Richard Dixon, who designated
Sheriff's Lieutenant Ben Nottingham as the County's liaison with
the task force. On Wednesday, May 6th, representatives of the
task force met with the Chairman of the Los Angeles County Board
of Supervisors, Supervisor Deane Dana, Los Angeles County Sheriff
Sherman Block, Supervisor Michael Antonovich, Mr. Dixon, and other
representatives of the county.
On the afternoon of Tuesday, May 5th, the task force met with
Mr. Peter Ueberroth, who had been appointed by Mayor Bradley and
Governor Wilson to chair Rebuild L.A., a long-term effort to promote
recovery by encouraging private sector investment in affected
areas of greater Los Angeles.
On Friday, May 8th, at the invitation of its President, Councilman
John Ferraro, representatives of the task force presented a briefing
to the Los Angeles City Council, and subsequently met with various
members of the Council.
Throughout the week, members of the task force took the opportunity
to meet with members of the community, including the mayors of
Compton, Inglewood, Long Beach, and Linwood, City of Los Angeles
Superintendent of Schools Bill Anton, Los Angeles County Superintendent
of Schools Stuart Godholt, President of the Los Angeles Urban
League John Mack, various members of the clergy, representatives
of the police and firefighting forces, and affected businessmen
and women. In addition, members of the task force toured affected
areas and neighborhoods at various times throughout the week.
The task force briefed the President on two occasions: upon his
arrival in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, May 6th, and again
on Thursday evening, May 7th. Also in attendance at one or both
of these briefings was Governor Wilson, Mayor Bradley, U.S. Senator
John Seymour, Supervisor Dana, Councilman Ferraro, Secretary of
Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan, Secretary of Housing
and Urban Development Jack Kemp, and Administrator of the Small
Business Administration Patricia Saiki.
Coordination Mechanisms:
The task force has coordinated its activities closely with the
state, county, and city governments. Since Tuesday, May 5th,
senior task force representatives have participated in a daily
conference call with officials of the state, city, county, the
Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA). This conference call has made possible
an immediate, coordinated response, on a daily basis, to problems
that are occurring in the field. This daily conference call will
continue for the foreseeable future.
For the past week in Los Angeles, the task force met at the beginning
and at the end of each working day.
IV. Assessment of the Situation in Los Angeles
While the greater Los Angeles community sustained significant
damage as a result of the rioting, the task force was impressed
by the pervasive signs of hope that have arisen in the wake of
this tragedy. Every member of the task force was struck by the
genuine desire, at every level of government and
throughout the community, to cooperate in working toward the quick
recovery of Los Angeles.
The nature of the damage which resulted from the thousands of
fires set during the rioting was different from that sustained
in Watts, Detroit, and other riots iq the 1960s. While the damage
was extensive and indeed staggering, relatively few residences
were burned: HUD estimates that approximately 250-300 families
lost their homes as a result of fires related to the disturbance.
The principal physical damage sustained during the rioting was
the destruction and/or looting of several thousand businesses.
Preliminary estimates by city and county building and safety
experts are that 5,000 structures in the greater Los Angeles area
were either damaged or destroyed. The businesses housed in these
structures provided essential services to the citizens of South
Central, Crenshaw, Koreatown, Compton, Inglewood, Long Beach and
other areas of greater Los Angeles. The task force believes
that an urgent priority is to encourage re-investment in these
neighborhoods.
Because many of the businesses which were destroyed or looted
were small, family-owned businesses, without the staff or facilities
for extensive recordkeeping, the task force recognized that these
businesses might encounter special difficulties in completing
the paperwork necessary to apply for SBA disaster loans and FEMA
disaster assistance.
Further, given the emotionally charged nature of the disaster
and the attendant tensions in the community, the task force was
eager to minimize any additional frustration which might result
from delays in processing and receiving disaster assistance. Two
key objectives of the task force were therefore to assist in the
application process and to streamline the approval process for
these types of assistance.
The record-keeping problems of small business had the potential
to be exacerbated by language barriers in the culturally diverse
community of Los Angeles. The languages spoken by affected business
owners ranged from English to Korean to Spanish to Persian to
Armenian to Thai to Mandarin Chinese. Throughout the week, the
task force worked to surmount this barrier by marshalling the
resources necessary to provide effective translation services.
V. Disaster Assistance:
On Saturday, May 2nd, in response to a request from Governor Wilson
on that same date, the President declared that a major disaster
exists in the County and City of Los Angeles. This declaration
made Federal disaster-related funding available for individuals,
businesses ' and local governments who had suffered as a result
of the civil disturbance.
Specifically, as a result of the President's declaration, SBA
is making available direct, low-interest loans to homeowners,
renters, businesses and non-profit organizations who suffered
losses. These include physical disaster loans to help rebuild
and replace uninsured 'property, and economic indury loans to
provide small businesses with the working capital to replace inventory
and otherwise resume normal operations.
FEMA is providing temporary housing and grants to individuals
and families whose homes and property were damaged in the disaster,
and who cannot qualify for SBA loans. In addition, FEMA provides
grants to local governments to cover the costs of repairing public
buildings and facilities and the overtime salaries of state and
local workers who had to respond to the disaster.
This SBA and FEMA assistance constitutes the lion's share of the
Federal assistance made available to respond to urgent, short-term
recovery needs. In the past, the application and approval process
for these programs has been the source of some frustration. The
task force was and is committed to removing any unnecessary bureaucratic
barriers to the efficient functioning of this process. The specific
goal of the task force is to provide this FEMA and SBA assistance
in record time.
To aid in the task of minimizing confusion for a local population
already under stress, the task force worked with the state, county,
and city governments to establish centers that would provide all
key services under one roof. Under this "one stop shopping"
approach, a citizen could find information on and make application
for SBA loans; FEMA grants; emergency food, clothing, shelter,
and medical assistance; individual and family grants; tax assistance;
and crisis counseling -- all at one location.
On Friday, May 8th, seven Disaster Application Centers (DACS)
were opened throughout the affected areas of greater Los Angeles
to provide this "one-stop shopping" service. One measure
of the success of the task force is this: on Monday, May llth,
three days after the opening of the application centers, FEMA
mailed its first disaster housing assistance checks to victims
of the disturbance.
Breaking Down Language Barriers:
The task force recognized that language differences could constitute
an important barrier to the efficient delivery of services in
such a culturally diverse community as Los Angeles. As a result,
FEMA, SBA, and the task force worked to tap a range of resources
to provide sufficient numbers of linguistic specialists in the
DACS. FEMA and SBA enlisted the services of Korean-speaking assistants
to aid the many Korean-American business owners affected by the
disaster. On Friday, May 8th, it became clear that a shortage
of Spanish-speaking assistants existed at the Ardmore DAC site.'
FEMA redeployed several assistants to that site, and hired ten
additional Spanish speaking aides that day.
In total, approximately 60 bilingual aides have been hired
to date to ease the language problem.
In order to minimize the time between the actual disaster and
the receipt of disaster assistance, the task force took several
actions to reduce red tape and assist applicants.
Speeding Delivery of SBA Disaster Assistance Loans:
Many of the businesses affected by the rioting were small businesses
without extensive records. In order to receive disaster assistance
loans, businesses must furnish tax returns from the past three
years; an itemized list of losses; proof of operation of a business
at a particular location, such as a copy of a deed, lease, or
mortgage; a brief history of the business; and financial statements
for the past three years.
For many of the businesses in the affected areas of Los Angeles,
it is difficult to meet these requirements. To help such applicants,
the task force:
Another requirement of the SBA for disaster loan applicants is
that they demonstrate that they sought and were unable to secure
credit elsewhere. In the case of many of the small businesses
in South Central and other affected areas of Los Angeles, it is
safe to assume -- in that availability of credit was a major difficulty
for them even prior to the disturbance -that they would be unable
to secure such credit. In response, the task force:
The length of time required to process SBA disaster loan applications
and actually provide checks to affected businesses has been a
source of frustration in past disasters. To reduce that frustration,
the task force :
Delivering FEMA Assistance Fairly and Efficiently:
The city and state governments expressed concern that, due to
the wording of the disaster declaration, FEMA and SBA might be
in the position of providing disaster assistance to those who
had suffered losses or damage due-to fire, but not to those who
had suffered losses or damage due to looting. The task force:
Creating Additional DACs:
The task force has sought to be flexible in accommodating the
demand for assistance in the community and to reduce undue waiting
time in the DACS.
When indications of long waiting times at the Ardmore Recreation
Center DAC in Koreatown arose on Friday, May 8th, the task force:
When the need for additional application facilities in the Crenshaw
area was identified during the first weekend of operations of
the DACS, the task force:
The task force is prepared to remain flexible as new demand for
disaster recovery services arises.
VI. Assistance Provided by Other Federal Agencies:
In addition to FEMA and SBA, other Federal agencies have worked
to provide quickly a range of other services and types of assistance
in response to the disturbance in Los Angeles. Some examples
follow.
Agriculture:
In response to spot shortages of food in certain neighborhoods,
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sent over 27,000
boxes of cereal, over 58,000 cans of infant formula, over 1,500
six-pound boxes of nonfat dry milk, and other .foodstuffs to Los
Angeles area food banks.
A USDA survey revealed that private sector donations to food banks
soared in the wake of Los Angeles disturbance, and that distribution
outlets in the area had been increased, thanks to the participation
of churches and other non-profit institutions in the community.
The USDA survey revealed that there was no marked increase in
food stamp demand in the wake of the disturbance. Nevertheless
new requests from individuals affected by the disturbances will
be put on a special fast track. Because several outlets authorized
to accept food stamps were closed or destroyed, red tape was cut
so that new food stamp authorization applications from retail
outlets are being processed in one day.
At least fifty stores authorized to receive vouchers in the Women,
Infants and Children (WIC) program were closed or destroyed.
In response, USDA issued instructions to allow WIC coupons to
be valid at any authorized vendor.
Commerce:
The Department of Commerce has provided both business and economic
development assistance in the wake of the Los Angeles disturbance.
In addition to placing its representatives in the DACs to assist
in the preparation of applications by small minority businesses,
the minority Business Development Agency (MDBA) operates two Minority
Business Development Centers in the Los Angeles areas.
The Commerce Department is in the process of making available
approximately $25 million in Economic Development Administration
(EDA) funds to assist in the recovery process. Six to ten million
dollars will be made available to the county and city governments
for bridge loans to businesses to be used for purposes such as
cleanup, demolition, and restoration of inventory, machinery and
equipment, or building structures.
Another $2 to 3 million is expected to be provided to Rebuild
LA, chaired by Peter Ueberroth, to help set up and operate this
non-profit organization, whose mission is to assist in the economic
recovery of greater Los Angeles by attracting job-creating private
sector investment.
Approximately $1 to 2 million is expected to be provided to the
Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, to help reinvigorate
international to6rism to the Los Angeles area. This is the second
largest industry in the area, employing 360,000 -southern Californians,
eighty percent of whom are minorities.
Finally, EDA is discussing $5.5 million in defense adjustment
grants for Los Angeles County, to assist areas where defense contracts
were terminated. Some of these grants could be used for seed
capital for technology companies which are spinoffs from defense-related
companies.
Education:
The Department of Education is taking steps to speed the availability
of-approximately $1.2 billion in formula grants to the State of
California, and to work with the state to optimize the suballocation
of these grants in order to address conditions related to the
disturbances.
Education is working with college student aid administrators to
allow them to use "special condition" procedures in
the Pell Grant program to take into account any loss of family
income due to the disturbances.
In addition, a special desk has been set up at Education's Federal
Student Aid Information Center to handle inquiries from Los Angeles
students on how to apply for student aid or how to reflect loss
of assets or income due to the disturbances in the application.
This desk will be serviced by an "800" phone number.
Health and Human Services:
Within 24 hours of the disturbance, the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS)
HHS dispatched experts from the National Institute of Mental Health
to assess mental health assistance needs and requirements. Mental
health and crisis counseling is available in the DACS.
Epidemiologist from the Centers for Disease Control were brought
in to investigate the health effects of the disturbance -including
those related to environmental safety (chemical and biohazards),
health control (sanitation and clean water), and other questions.
Housing and Urban Development:
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) immediately
made available Section 8 rental assistance vouchers to those families
who have been displaced by fires related to the disturbance.
HUD is also making available 32 HUD-owned homes, with a dollar
value of $2.3 million, for use in the affected areas. These homes
will be leased to the city for one dollar per month.
HUD issued a new rule this past week to provide priority contracting
for businesses that are at least 51 percent resident owned. This
means that a higher proportion of contracts for work performed
for HUD will go to businesses which are representative of the
area in which the work is to be performed.
On Wednesday, May 6th, HUD announced that it will approve requests
to allow the early release of over $92 million in Community Development
Block Grant (CDBG) funds to the city and County of Los Angeles
that were scheduled to be released on July 1st.
On Thursday, May 7th, HUD signed an interagency memorandum of
understanding with the Department of Labor to better coordinate
Labor's job training efforts with HUD's HOPE and other public
housing initiatives.
On Friday, May 8th, HUD announced the availability of $1.5 million
in Technical Assistance program grants for low- and moderate-income
young people (between the ages of 14 and 21) to help them acquire
the skills and knowledge they need to start and operate successful
small businesses.
The Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) has made available to HUD
a list of properties available in the affected area of Los Angeles.
HUD has been working to match these properties to local needs,
and leases could be signed later this week.
Labor:
The Department of Labor provided $2 million in emergency grants
to hire and pay the wages of workers who were dislocated as a
result of the disturbance.
Labor also launched a demonstration project to Use unemployment
insurance benefit payments to support entrepreneurship efforts
by unemployment insurance claimants.
Labor also provided about $2 million for several types of training
assistance. One grant would establish "one-stop shopping"
skill centers to provide vocational training and employment-related
assistance to affected areas. Another would finance an expansion
of a program operated by the Community Youth Gang Services which
allows area youth to participate in community service projects
as an alternative to incarceration. A third would finance youth
apprenticeship model programs for African-American and Hispanic
males. And a fourth would provide training funds to supplement
local economic development efforts.
Office of Personnel Management:
The Director of the Office of Personnel Management authorized
the conduct of a special Combined Federal Campaign effort among
Federal employees in the Los Angeles area to help generate contributions
to non-profit organizations involved in the recovery effort.
OPM has also taken steps in the past week to increase job opportunities
and to provide job counseling and stress counseling in the Los
Angeles area.
VII. Continuation of the Work of the Task Force:
The work of the task force will continue beyond the efforts of
this first week. The task force is committed to implementing
fully the President's directive to work with the state, county,
and city, and with the private sector, to ensure the swift delivery
of needed assistance and services to the people of Los Angeles.
The task force has established a structure and a set of processes
to see that this directive is carried out in the weeks and months
ahead.
With the return of most Deputy Secretaries to Washington, the
conference calls with State, county, city, and on-site Federal
representatives are nevertheless continuing. Deputy Secretary
DelliBovi has returned to Los Angeles this week. Deputy Secretary
Schnabel will arrive later in the week. The task force co-chairs,
Deputy Secretaries Kearns and DelliBovi, plan to continue alternate
visits to Los Angeles for as long as such visits are helpful.
Each of the agencies represented on the task force has stationed
a representative to remain in Los Angeles. Some of these representatives
will be moved to the site of the current Federal/State/Local coordinating
office in Pasadena to ensure maximum coordination.
The task force co-chairmen are now in the process of identifying
a task force leader to lead the task force in Los Angeles on a
day-to-day basis. This leader will report regularly to the co-chairmen.
In six weeks, the task force has agreed to reconvene in Los Angeles
to assess the state of the recovery effort, to meet again with
state, local, and private sector officials, and to determine what
additional actions are necessary.
The task force will work diligently to support state, county,
city, and private sector efforts to help Los Angeles recover,
and to make sure that. the Federal government is a constructive
partner in that recovery.
VIII. Conclusion:
Throughout greater Los Angeles, members of the task force witnessed
inspiring signs of hope in the wake of the tragic violence. Store
owners whose shops had been looted only days earlier rushed to
replace inventory,. placed plywood over their shattered windows,
and proudly painted "Open for Business" in bold letters
on their newly installed plywood facades.
Volunteers poured into the affected areas from all over the city
-- indeed from all over the country. Mayor Bradley estimated
that 50,000 volunteers had assisted in the cleanup of Los Angeles
in the days following the disturbances.
On one street corner in South Central, against a backdrop of a
burned out shopping center, a man opened a flower stand, in one
first small step of hope and recovery.
One firefighters who had served 27 years earlier in combating
the fires of Watts, predicted and observed "a much quicker
recovery" than that which followed the Watts disturbances,
because, he said, of "the total commitment to cleanup and
recovery on the part of the local people."
From the ashes of this recovery, the members of the task
force found blossoming a springtime of hope. Its most important
feature was a near-consensus on the types of measures that are
needed not only to restore Los Angeles but to make its neighborhoods
stronger than they were before this incident happened.
While there is much about which to be encouraged, the task force
found that this is a very tough situation. It is estimated
that unemployment in the affected area prior to the disturbance was
far higher than the national average, perhaps more than triple
the national rate. Mayor Bradley estimates that many thousands
of jobs were lost as a result of the disturbance--some permanently.
Virtually everyone the task force spoke to believed that private
sector investment in these neighborhoods, investment which can
create jobs in the community, was the most urgent priority. Virtually
everyone the task force spoke to believed that residents of these
affected areas must be given a greater equity stake in success
-- the opportunity to accumulate assets without penalty-from the
' welfare system, the opportunity to own and manage their own
homes, the opportunity to live in neighborhoods free from crime
and drugs. What the Federal government can provide is incentives
to encourage investment that will create jobs and build local
assets.
The members of the task force believe that in this emergent consensus
lie the seeds of a truly complete recovery for Los Angeles, and
for all of America's cities.