Last week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled the first specifics of his plan to modernize the city's sprawling bureaucracy, posting on his website some of the metrics by which he intends to hold city departments accountable for delivering services. They include such measurements as Fire Department response times and speed of graffiti removal and pothole repair.
The mayor's attempt to improve performance is certainly timely. A recent USC Price/L.A. Times poll found that Angelenos want better services. For example, more than 60% of respondents were dissatisfied with the state of street repair in the city. But metrics and data collection alone won't solve the city's problems. Garcetti will also need to transform the culture of city government and convince city workers that the changes will stick.
