In his last week as L.A.’s fire recovery czar, Steve Soboroff said he was shut out of high-level planning almost from the start, raising questions about why Mayor Karen Bass chose him and whether rebuilding from the Palisades fire is on track.
The idiosyncratic longtime civic leader, who has a penchant for speaking his mind and little patience for stuffed-shirt protocol, was hired for a three-month term at a salary of $500,000, to be funded by nonprofits. But Soboroff agreed to work for free after searing rebukes from Pacific Palisades residents and others.
Soboroff — whose position was announced with fanfare in mid-January — was initially tasked with creating a comprehensive strategy for rebuilding, but his role was soon dramatically scaled back…