


Three months ago, Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles appointed Steve Soboroff to oversee the first phase of the huge recovery effort that confronted the city after the January wildfires. “There is no one better equipped to create our rebuilding plan,” she said at the time.
Mr. Soboroff, 76, a developer and longtime civic leader, had known Ms. Bass, 71, for decades. They had worked together on initiatives from school bonds to the recovery from the Northridge earthquake. For 36 years, until 2018, he had lived in Pacific Palisades, one of the hardest-hit fire zones. She had spoken highly of him in 2001, when he ran unsuccessfully for mayor, and he had been a chairman of her 2022 mayoral campaign.
But Mr. Soboroff’s 90-day tenure as the mayor’s chief recovery officer came to an end on Friday, clouded by a sharp deterioration in his relationship with Ms. Bass and his influence at City Hall. There were clashes with her administration over the scope of his authority, his compensation and the extent to which the Palisades should reopen to the public.
Mr. Soboroff made clear in an interview that he was leaving unhappily and reluctantly. His argument that he should stay in the post for two years was rejected by Ms. Bass and her aides from the outset, he said, and as their divisions deepened, even another 90-day stint seemed unfeasible. A low point, he said, was when he learned City Hall had started a search for his successor without alerting him.
“How they thought that I wouldn’t find out about it — this is my town right here,” he said over breakfast at a deli in West Los Angeles. “I was the starting pitcher in an all-star game. Would I have liked to have pitched longer and won the game? Yeah. But nobody pitches more than three innings in an all-star game.”
Asked about Mr. Soboroff’s tenure, Zach Seidl, a spokesman for the mayor, said in a statement that “at times he sent confusing messages to residents but we are grateful for his service and contributions.”