Now that Mayor Garcetti has chosen not to run for president, we call on him to address the corruption we and many Angelenos believe is behind the glut of luxury development that causes human displacement and record-high homelessness.

Coalition to Preserve LA today sent a 54-page complaint to the L.A. County Civil Grand Jury requesting a probe of possible corruption and malfeasance among L.A. elected and appointed officials in deals with developers.

Mayor Garcetti has long engaged in closed-door dealing with developers who give him money. He must walk back from this behavior. He must lead in cleaning up City Hall.

The mayor’s practices, including excessive solicitation of cash for his $35 million “Mayor’s Fund,” are key facets of our request for a Grand Jury investigation.

An FBI City Hall probe of possible bribery involving developers has widened from Councilman Jose Huizar to others, including Garcetti’s ex-Deputy Mayor Ray Chan, a man who has said “the developer is our customer.”

No. The public is your customer.

We urge Garcetti to endorse a ban on all developer contributions to L.A. officials and a ban on all private communications between city officials and developers, whether a developer has a current project or not.

The model is tiny Temple City, once roiled by corruption it bans all developer donations and broadly defines “developer.”

Councilman David Ryu tried to ban some contributions from developers, yet his reforms were squashed in 2017 by City Council President Herb Wesson, and again in 2018 by the malfunctioning L.A. Ethics Commission.

Ryu is trying again this year.

There is no longer any doubt that Garcetti’s hyper-focus on  luxury development is gentrifying our working-class areas, forcing families out, creating economic inequality.

We urge the mayor to wake up and do the right thing.