In Los Angeles developers are investing heavily in lobbying. KPCC reports that, “In the first three months of this year, businesses of all kinds seeking support for their projects spent $13.5 million on lobbying, according to a new report from the city Ethics Commission. Nearly half the money was concentrated among ten lobbying firms. The ethics commission analysis of the top-spending ten clients shows nine of them spent a collective $1.4 million on lobbyists to contact city officials about building projects.”
According to the city Ethics Commission’s first quarter lobbying report Liner LLP was the highest paid lobbying firm bringing in $1,266,009 in revenue. Linner LLP represents several developers including Greenland LA Metropolis Development II LLC, Harridge Development Group, LLC, and LaTerra Development, LLC. Curbed LA has reported that the developers of the Crossroads of the World complex have spent the most money lobbying for so far this year spending $220,660. According to the report “this massive project would completely revamp Hollywood’s historic Crossroads of the World complex, adding eight new buildings including a hotel and two residential towers. It was the most-lobbied project during the first quarter of 2016 by a pretty wide margin.”
The $13.5 million spent on lobbying in the first quarter almost met the record for lobby spending, which was set in the last quarter of 2015 at $14 million. However, if lobbying spending continues at the same level, “the annual total could top $54 million, a half-million dollars more than last year’s total,” reports KPCC.
