City Challenges

The 'City Challenges' section is where we invite your ideas on how to tackle the biggest issues facing the City of Los Angeles. Review the subject categories and submit your idea or rate and comment on ideas others have submitted.

Get a DBA in LA without wasting your whole day

Idea Creator: Jackie Agor

City Challenge: Creating a Business-Friendly LA

Starting a business in Los Angeles has never been easier. Gorgeous, easier to use websites for almost every step in the process...except for filing for a Fictitious Business Name. We're able to sign other legal documents using e-signatures. Why not DBAs? I live near Echo Park and drove all the way to Norwalk, got stuck in traffic, and didn't even make it before close. Not very motivating to have to make that trek twice. With Covid closures, this would be a great time to do it. I'd be happy to build it too. #CovidCreator

Join the conversation!

Extending the Useful Life of Sewers

Idea Creator: Luis Zaldivar

City Challenge: Infrastructure Improvement

Last week a major sewer collapsed in the San Fernando Valley. Two cars were totaled and fortunately, no lives were lost. However, the emergency repair will be very expensive and will caused major traffic delays to commuters in the area. The residents in the surrounding area will have to deal with an aggressive construction schedule and nuisance odors from the failed sewer while it is being repaired. This scenario can and will happen again due to deteriorated sewer lines.

Join the conversation!

EVP Business Development

Idea Creator: Jim Rice

City Challenge: Improving Public Safety

Cities want to be "Smart Cities". "Smart Cities" need to deploy "Smart City" technology. "Smart City" technology typically is deployed at street level and intersections. Where can all that equipment go without wrecking the cityscape? "Smart City" technology such as small cells and edge computing for driverless cars, transportation management automation and security need secure and unobtrusive containment and concealment at street intersections and sidwalks. Cities also are reconstructing roads, intersections and sidewalks every year.

Join the conversation!

Fine Art and Design Services for Low Income/Minority Students and Adults :Including Veterans, The Mentally Ill and People with Developmental Disabilities.

Idea Creator: Joshua J. Ramirez

City Challenge: Creating a Business-Friendly LA

In the early part of the depression, the Government passed something Known as the "Works Progress Administration". A program designed to provide economic relief ; mainly getting artists to work in their field, while getting paid a fair salary. Such artists that benefited from this Program, included Pollock, Rothko and DeKooning.

Average: 3.6 (47 votes)

Join the conversation!

Reducing City Cost for Employee Medical & Dental Benefits

Idea Creator: Paul

City Challenge: Reducing Government Waste

Identify City employees who have immediate family working for the City (Husband and wife, children under 26, etc.) Determine how many are "double-covered" by City benefits. For example, if Kaiser is chosen as provider, one City employee can cover the whole family. So, other family member(s) should opt-out. Determine how much City would save if employee(s) opted-out of coverage. Based on this figure determine how much of a cash incentive (bi-weekly) can be offered to employee(s) to opt-out and still reduce City cost for benefits.

Join the conversation!

Win Win

Idea Creator: Erno Lokhorst

City Challenge: Reducing Homelessness

Our public schools sit empty about 15 weeks per year and our public school needs more money. There must be something we can do to help people in need and have LAUSD benefit from it. Programs like 6 to 6 have proven to be successful arrive @ a school to park your car after 6 pm and leave before 6 am or during the 10 week summer break or any other time for LAUSD to rent out or make available the parking lots for people to sleep in a safe, enclosed environment. This is something that could be implemented immediately and at a very large scale in any LA neighborhood.

Join the conversation!

Making L.A. More Business-Friendly

Idea Creator: Justin Adair

City Challenge: Creating a Business-Friendly LA

Get rid of all of the oppressive taxes and business regulations that California imposes! Also, get rid of all cronyism- from businesses, unions, and everywhere else. Scrap union protections- it turns them into racketeering organizations! I know that this goes against some of the leftist ideas that L.A. holds so dear, but it’s got to go! The other option is to alienate business owners, who don’t want to be oppressed! Also, clean, organize, and beautify every square inch of the city- nobody wants to live in such a dump!

Join the conversation!

LA Mental First

Idea Creator: Laura Lopez

City Challenge: Reducing Homelessness

The local county and city governments already work together in order to clear up homeless encampments. They offer assistance and services before being able to forcibly remove individuals from their makeshift homes. Most of the individuals have mental health problems but city sanitation workers are the ones being sent to make the initial assessment and that can't yield many positive results.

Join the conversation!

Stop wild fires across California

Idea Creator: David P. Sarmiento

City Challenge: Improving Public Safety

I wrote a paper called "Falling Trees to Living Trees," Copyrighted it on caring for forests a community effort. I submitted ideas to DARPA on a cannon fire suppression system turning aircraft into aerial gunners firing golf ball size and softball size fire retardants through a cannon for military gunners to be fire fighters in peace time. Powders bombarding trees and tough to access areas by cannon fire from skilled gunners working with coordinate pointing ground fire fighters on the ground.

Join the conversation!

Waterless Car Wash Tunnel System

Idea Creator: Christi Love~Curtis

City Challenge: Reducing Government Waste

Hello, We are Aqua~Free Waterless Car Wash Tunnel Systems. My name is Christi Love~Curtis. We are one of the Sustainability Innovation Companies fortunate enough to have been chosen to participate in this years, CleanTech Open Academy and LACI, the Los Angeles Clean Tech Incubator. Our technology saves millions of gallons of water and we aim to team up with the Mayor’s Office and the Cities, “Save the Drop” and “Adopt the Plan, initiatives in introducing our technology.

Join the conversation!

Waterless Car Wash Tunnel System

Idea Creator: Christi Love~Curtis

City Challenge: Environental Sustainability

Hello, My name is (Christi Love~Curtis, CEO,) of Aqua~Free Waterless. We are one of the Sustainability Innovation Companies fortunate enough to have been chosen to participate in this years, CleanTech Open Academy and LACI, the Los Angeles Clean Tech Incubator. Our technology saves millions of gallons of water and we aim to team up with the Mayor’s Office and the Cities, “Save the Drop” and “Adopt the Plan, initiatives in introducing our technology.

Join the conversation!

Re-skilling

Idea Creator: Ryan Davies

City Challenge: Building Stronger Communities

A massive reskilling will be necessary, not just for blue collar workers, but many white collar workers. (Kai-Fu-Lee, ex-president of Google China). We need to start experimenting in this area. There are bootcamps & MOOCS for coding, but little in other areas: for example, industry specific knowledge, productivity tools, applications of new technologies on older industries (3d printing, AI, VR, etc). Sweden has a wonderful model which brings together businesses, labor unions, and workers, working together to communicate needs and retrain as necessary.

Join the conversation!