The Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering plays a unique role in overseeing the changing needs of the dynamic city through projects that touch on almost every aspect of life for city residents – from the revitalization of the Los Angeles River to the construction of the Mid Valley Intergenerational Multipurpose Center.
FUSE executive fellow Sonia Nanda focused her work on the department’s complex permitting process, with an end goal of recommending improvements to streamline the process and create transparency within the development community. Sonia’s work is leading to the implementation of one key recommendation that will change the entire internal and external stakeholder experience: the adoption of an electronic plan check, review, and routing system involving the coordination of staff from at least six agencies. This electronic permitting workflow will eventually be integrated with L.A. Building & Safety’s online portal, which is currently in design phase. During Sonia’s fellowship, two major insights were illuminated: to have more opportunities for employees to collaborate with each other and their counterparts at agencies, and the need to conduct customer outreach on an ongoing basis.
