City of Los Angeles Dept of City Planning — Local services in Los Angeles

This is an absolutely ridiculously inefficient, slow, arrogant and non-helping department. They are supposed to "help" with home sharing registrations, but instead they make the life of LA residents a complete nightmare. Their office is void of actual employees, since covid. They DO NOT work. I have went to the office multiple times, since it is IMPOSSIBLE to contact them via phone. Every time, I was met with arrogance and rudeness by security staff who oversee an entirely empty floor of desks / offices of people who "work" from home. Last time I was there in person: When trying to explain that I was not able to get through to anyone via phone or email for weeks, the ONLY employee in this office "helped" me by referring me to the same generic email that everyone can find online, the email that ghosts you. It is almost borderline abusive for them to NOT communicate to you and then give you the SAME email that ignores you. This last time, the security then approached me and threatened to "arrest me" because I wanted to ask questions. Dealing with this department is a disgrace, an insult, a waste of time, a torture and on top of that they also charge money for each application. However, they NEVER have any hints of helping or even knowing what is going on in case of problems or system errors. Once, years ago, I was dealing with this department and they were ghosting me for months. I had to be my own detective and found out that sometimes the company they hire to run their servers, called "Granicus", can also malfunction or have system errors. So you never know where the problem is whenever you encounter one. From personal experience and from friends & neighbors, I know that their failure rate is HIGHER than their success rate. NO ONE EVER HELPS YOU. I have never in my life dealt with a less efficient and more arrogant department of any city, and I have quite a lot of experience with cities domestically and intenrationally.

The department of home sharing is a disgrace to LA residents. The way they treat you is BELOW human. I wish they would seize to exist. THEY CREATE MORE PROBLEMS than they solve. I will forever carry a bitter bytaste in me from all the lost time, money and nerves trying to help THEM fix their own mistakes while trying to do the right thing and...

Why did the L.A Director of Planning approve this crazy, dangerous hotel project in the first place? After all, he’s got a Batchelor’s Degree in Transportation and Urban Geography ! And this qualifies him to be head of planning for the second-largest city in the U.S.? What a joke this city has become - crime, overcrowding, homelessness, impossible traffic. I’ve watched it go steadily downhill for more than five decades, now. Corrupt incompetent leadership at all levels - city, county and state. It’s no wonder that people are moving out. Shame on the people for not paying attention, not voting. This is...

This is one of the worst areas for public service in city government. Delays is the motto and the motivation. Protection of job by being inefficient. Does this make sense? I want help to comply with the city but not able to reach anyone and no one answers Email or returns telephone calls. Huge delays from all aspects from permits to project completion and also in the "Home-Sharing Dept." If I had it to do over again, I might pick a different planet. Certainly a...