Los Angeles County Civil Defense and Disaster Commission

The Los Angeles County Civil Defense and Disaster Commission is a nine-member panel created in 1961 to prepare for the threat of nuclear war, in addition to the perennial Los Angeles County concerns of flooding, landslides, fires, and earthquakes.

The commission was organized in 1961, originally with nine members. The commission reviewed and coordinated all disaster plans for the County of Los Angeles, cities within the county, special districts, and public authorities that were required to submit plans to the State of California, under the provisions of the State Disaster Act and the California Disaster Office. The commission considered and reviewed programs and policies related to disaster preparedness, and promoted training and educational programs in all phases of disasters, working with federal and state disaster and civil defense agencies.

Membership in the commission was by appointment. Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty appointed Los Angeles City Council member John Holland, Los Angeles City Civil Defense Director Joseph M. Quinn, and Los Angeles Police Chief William H. Parker. President of the Los Angeles County Division of the League of California Cities, Angelo M. Lacombi appointed Los Angeles City Council member Ralph Harper of the San Fernando Valley, Pasadena, California City Manager Donald C. McMillan, and Monterey Park City Manager Clifford Petri. On October 14, 1961, Los Angeles County Supervisor Ernest E. Debs appointed the final three members, Los Angeles County Disaster Services co-coordinator Roy D. Hoover, Los Angeles County Sheriff Peter J. Pitchess, and businessman Louis Lesser, who developed large-scale projects for the military industrial complex. Some of his projects served a dual role of urban renewal and civil defense, such as Barrington Plaza, which was both the largest urban renewal project under President John F. Kennedy's Federal Housing Authority program on urban renewal, and was approved as a nuclear fallout shelter. Barrington Plaza was approved as a nuclear fallout shelter a day before Lesser's appointment to the commission, on October 14, 1961.

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