Facing intense criticism of her Chief Wildfire Recovery Officer’s planned salary of $500,000 for a 90-day job, Mayor Karen Bass reversed the course on Saturday evening, with Steve Soborov paying He said he would not receive it.
Soboroff’s salary would have been fully funded by the charity, but the Times first reported early Saturday morning. Soborov defended the arrangement, saying his expertise was worth the price.
After her reversal, Bass said in a statement: “Steve is always there for LA. I spoke to him today, revised his agreement and asked him to work for free. He said yes. We were I agree that there is no need to distract us from the recovery work they are doing.”
When Bass first tapped Soboroff and intervened last month as her Wildfire Recovery Czar, the real estate developer was poised to provide a much-needed political lift for the mayor, whose first emergency response was fled. It looked like there was.
As a longtime civic leader who raised his family in Pallisad in the Pacific Ocean, Soborov provided a direct line to communities that were burned by the mayor. And he was already renowned for his work, developing thousands of homes in Playa Vista.
However, the revelation that Soboroff will be paid $500,000 for three months causes burning responsibilities from Palisades residents and some public figures, and the mayor restores confidence in the city and its reconstruction efforts. He threatened to undermine his effectiveness in helping.
Soborov, who spoke about criticism previously, declined to comment on Saturday night, beyond confirming that he works for free.
Several Pacific Palisade residents expressed their anger on Saturday after the Times first reported Soborov’s salary. Los Angeles City Councilman Monica Rodriguez, who is on a five-person council committee that oversees the recovery, has expressed her anger over the amount and calls it “indecent.”
Rodriguez said it was “furious” for the charity to offer just two people just $750,000 – Soborov, in addition to $500,000, plus longtime real estate executive Randy Johnson, is reconstruction effort I will report to Soborov about this.
Bus said he was working for free on Saturday night, saying that Johnson was also “awesome his generosity and expertise.”
The mayor’s team refused to name the charity that covered Soborov’s salary. It is not clear how those organizations raised the funds or how they were allocated. However, Rodriguez questioned whether donors to those groups knew how their money would be used.
President Trump’s special mission envoy Rick Grenell also spoke out early on Saturday, calling Soborov’s salary an “attack” in an X post.
“I, like many people, get paid $0,” writes Grenell. “It’s good that there’s a string in California’s federal funds.”
Bass proposed earlier this week that the scope of Soboroff’s work could be reduced, saying it would primarily focus on reconstructing Palisades’ historic business district. Soborov challenged the concept, saying he regularly interacted with federal agencies.
Asked about criticism from Rodriguez and others, Soborov said earlier on Saturday it was justified by his expertise and the drastic obligations he undertook. He said he put aside other real estate and environmental consulting jobs to focus solely on wildfire recovery efforts.
Soboroff previously served on the Commissioner of Police and on the committee that oversees the Ministry of Recreation for the Park.
“In some of the city of Los Angeles’ biggest civic projects, I’ve been doing this for free for 35 years. But no one ever asked me to drop everything. This time they did that. “Soborov said. “And I said OK.
Bass appointed Soboroff to Recover Czar on January 17th. In the following weeks, neither Soboroff nor the mayor’s team spelled out how or how much he would be compensated.
On Friday, Bass and Soboroff, who appeared at a morning press conference on Wildfire Recovery, once again refused how much he was paid. Ten hours later, after an additional inquiry from the Times, the mayor’s team released the information.
In that email, base spokesman Zach Seidl described Soboroff’s extensive record in the Business and Urban Commission as “no one simply like Steve.”
The Soboroff salary controversy overturned a decision after criticising a second time in just over a week.
Last week, she said Pacific Palisades would reopen to the public, prompting widespread dissatisfaction from residents and city councillor Traci Park over crime and safety. The mayor later announced that the neighborhood would remain closed.
Pacific Palisade resident Larry Bain said that smoke-damaged home Larry Bain criticised Soborov’s salary arrangement on Saturday morning, overseeing the recovery of “monetary profits” He said it shouldn’t.
Steve Danton, who lost his home in the Palisade fire and lives in a temporary apartment in Marina del Rey, responded even more strongly, calling Soborov’s compensation “in the hands of money.”
Danton, whose family has been living in Pallisard, the Pacific since 1999, said the city has been experiencing a “leadership crisis” since the fire broke out. He said that Soboroff’s lack of transparency regarding salary only adds to the frustration of the community.
Soborov defended his work on Saturday, as the mayor hires an external project manager to guide urban institutions through work replacing damaged or destroyed infrastructure such as streetlights, sanitation systems and the Pacific Palisades Branch Library. He said he urged him. Since taking on his post, Soboroff said he has also provided recommendations for the city’s permitting process, coordinated with federal agencies to submit questions from “thousands of residents.”
“At the end, I’m doing what all these other people just study,” he said. “I’m implementing it to help people achieve their goal of returning home and getting their jobs back.”
The bass and Soborov were a strange pairing. Sometimes Soborov would force a way to discuss with the mayor and return to conversation while asking questions from the news media. Bass removed Soboroff from the loop with at least one important decision. Last week’s move later reversed, reopening Pacific Palisades to the public.
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