L.A. restaurants will soon be easier to open

LOS ANGELES Restaurant & Hospitality Express is a new multi-government agency program intended to cut the red tape by 50 percent. The program comes in response to complaints from local restaurant and bar owners who said it often took up to two years to get the permits.

Officials said it should now take six to nine months to get the permits necessary to open a new business in the city of Los Angeles.

Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner said by making the permitting and inspection process more efficient, the city will enable more restaurants to open which will in turn create new jobs, boost tax revenue and boost the local economy.

The R&H Express network includes the Departments of Building and Safety, Public Health, Planning and Fire and the Bureaus of Engineering and Sanitation.

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