Council in 'turf war' with departments

In a battle over turf and authority, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to consider overruling a Board of Public Works decision that gave permits to a controversial El Sereno hillside subdivision after the council put the development on hold for more study. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The vote involves a 25-home project on one of the last major swaths of open space in Northeast Los Angeles, but the unanimous decision to assert jurisdiction touches on long-simmering frustration among some council members that commissions and department heads answer more to the mayor than the council.

"There are times we've discussed on council floor ... the tensions we've felt and at times the disregard, if not disrespect, from city department heads, from city staff, in how they respond to this council," Councilman Ed Reyes said.