Jane Usher

Jane Ellison Usher is the President of the Los Angeles, California Planning Commission. Miss Usher was appointed to the Planning Commission in 2005 by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. She has served as President of the Commission throughout her tenure.

Biography and Summary

Jane Usher served under former Mayor Tom Bradley as his counsel, policy advocate, and speechwriter. Usher was also a liaison to the city attorney and ethics commission. She also served as the Mayor Bradley's alternate on the transportation authority for the county of Los Angeles. She was the principal force behind the merger of the former Los Angeles county transportation commission and the Southern California Rapid Transit District. Usher, who is also an attorney, just completed her second year as chair of the Annual Fund Drive for the Center for Early Education, a private primary school located in West Hollywood. She also served on the board and as president of the Windsor Square Association, and was elected this June to a seat on the board of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council.

Miss Usher has also garnered some recent criticism over her opposition to growth and specifically density-bonus and affordable housing projects. While the Usher-authored Planning Commission Do Real Planning document includes an emphasis on increased housing and density, this is in contrast to public statements and e-mails obtained by the press where Usher rails against growth adjacent to single-family homes and encourages homeowners to bring lawsuits against the City's density bonus program.

External links

* http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2005/10/yep_on_planning_commisson_1.php
* http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-density11mar11,1,6160444.story