The relationshipbetween Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass and the cityschief recovery officer,Steve Soboroff, who sheappointedin January to lead the first phase of the citys wildfire rebuilding effort,is starting to fray.

At an event last week,Soboroff, a real estate developer andaformerLos Angelespolice commissioner,addressedpublic pushbackover hisannouncedsalary for theposition, which wascreatedto help rebuild the city after the devastation caused bythe Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires.Soboroff had been slated to make $500,000 for 90 days of work,but whenthatnews broke in the Los Angeles Times, there was sharp public backlash. At the time,Bass office released a statement, saying Soboroff had agreed to work for free, but according to the 76-year-old former real estate developer, that doesnt tell the whole story. This is one of the most expensive disasters in the history of America, Soboroff said, defending the proposed salary to a crowd of Harvard-Westlake alumni at an event that was held at the schools lower campus last week(Soboroffs children previously attended the school).

Soboroff noted that its not uncommon for city consultants in situations like this to get paid low to mid-seven figures from the city. At the time, he said, he was already in talkswithanotherundisclosedclient that would have paid him close to one million dollars andbyacceptingthechief recovery officer role he would miss out on that sizable sum.

So Soboroff and Bass office agreed that he would take$500,000 for 90 days of work,which he says is about half of what he would typically bill on a project of this scope.You can agree with it or not agree with it. It was a lot of money but its what I made in the last three jobs and half of what I was already making, he said.

But according to Soboroff any discussion about the$500,000figure was moot because the funds were never actually there.

I have emails and texts saying, everything is good. No, no, the contract is coming. Now Im getting a lot of I told you sos from some of the best lawyers in Los Angeles, he told the crowd of about 50 people. After getting the runaround for several weeks, he discovered that, in fact, there was no contract and added then I found out they really didnt have the money.

When the story broke about his salary the one that he says he was never going to receive anyway Soboroff said he had two choices: Go public and quit and say I was lied to,and here are my emails here are my texts,or say,I will do it for free and hope that it comes around later on. He opted for the latter.

WhenThe Hollywood Reporterreached Soboroff on Feb. 23 by phone, he walked back some of those comments. If I said I was lied to, then I was wrong. That was a misstatement by me. Theres no proof that the mayor deceived me on purpose, he said.I was disappointed in what happened but Im choosing to stay onuntil the end because I have to put the trains on the tracks.

A spokesperson in the mayors office replied, The recovery is months ahead of expectations in fact, its the fastest large-scale debris removal operation in modern state history. As we shared a few weeks ago, the mayor asked Steve to modify his agreement and he said yes, agreeing that we dont need anything distracting from the recovery work happening. He has always been in this for the people of the Palisades and the people who work there, and we are grateful.

Soboroff, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor in2001, has been a fixture of L.A. civic life for decades and he was an early supporter of Bass mayoral run. Since the fires,Bass has faced widespread outrage over her decision toattend an overseas trip in Ghana as part of a Biden Administration delegation the same week that there was a high wind advisory and warning that it could lead toa life-threateningdisaster. Bass returned to L.A. 24 hours after the fires ignited.

Last week,the mayorfired L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley saying in a statement: We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowleys watch. Furthermore, a necessary step to an investigation was the President of the Fire Commission telling Chief Crowley to do an after-action report on the fires. The Chief refused. These require her removal.

Some, like developer Rick Caruso, who ran and lost against Bass in the mayors race,see the firing of Crowley as scapegoating. Chief Crowley served Los Angeles well and spoke honestly about the severe and profoundly ill-conceived budget cuts the Bass administration made to the LAFD. That courage to speak the truth was brave, and I admire her, Caruso said in a statement. The mayors decision to ignore the warnings and leave the city was hers alone.

Within L.A.s real estate circles, it waswidely rumored that Caruso and Soboroff had a frosty relationship, but in light of the friction both men now have with Bass, that might be changing. I have mutual respect for Rick,said Soboroffwhen asked about his relationship with Caruso. You have two people that do the same thing although hes a lot more successful than I am with two different styles. Im more of a man of the masses and hes of the classes but that doesnt mean hes wrong or that Im right. I have respect for him but I didnt vote for him.