Open Thread for Thursday
More discussion of Mayor Villaraigosa. Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times editorialized about "the two faces of Antonio," in light of the recent immigration protests and the "will he be there or not" buzz that speculated on the Mayor's whereabouts prior to the marches."One Antonio Villaraigosa is a Latino outsider, railing against the power structure, walking out of school, marching for justice. This is the Villaraigosa who uses the word "we" when he talks about immigrants, legal and otherwise. The other is a pillar of the political establishment, concerned with law and order, whose parents are first-generation American on one side and second-generation on the other."Your thoughts?
Los Angeles Times
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 5/04/2006 12:00:00 AM
15 Comments:
Villaraigosa Using Police As "Human Shield" In Budget Battle
By Walter Moore - April 22, 2006
You're probably not going to read all 1983 pages of Mayor Villaraigosa's budget documents, which he released on April 20, 2006. So here's what you need to know to avoid being duped into supporting yet another tax hike, ostensibly to hire more police:
1. Just How Big Is The City Of L.A.'S Annual Budget?
Last year, the City's budget was $5.96 billion. This year, it will be $6.67 billion. That means the City's annual revenues have increased by $710 million. Did you catch that? The City has $710 million MORE available to spend this year than it did last year. And that's without any hike in our existing taxes.
2. Where Did The Extra $710 Million In Revenues Come From?
The money came, of course, from you, the taxpayer. More specifically, $587 million of the extra $710 million came from property taxes. As property values have increased, so have the revenues the City receives from property taxes. That $587 million in extra revenues, by the way, goes directly into the City's "General Fund," so it can be used for any lawful purpose, including, for example, hiring more police.
3. How Much Does Villaraigosa Want To Spend To Hire More Police?
Villaraigosa's budget calls for the City to spend $33.4 million this year to hire more police officers. You read that correctly: out of the $710 million in extra revenues that the City has this year, just $33.4 million would go toward hiring more police. In other words, just 4.7% of the City's additional $710 million is going towards hiring additional police.
So when Villaraigosa or anyone claims we need an increased trash tax to pay for more police, ask him to explain why the City cannot use the $710 million in increased revenues to cover this $33.4 million item without a tax increase.
4. How Many Officers Does Villaraigosa Want To Add This Year?
The correct answer is "135." You may have heard Villaraigosa say he wants to hire 650 "new" police officers this year. As his budget shows, however, he expects 515 current officers to retire or otherwise leave the force. Hence, although he refers to 650 "new" officers, his plan only calls only for 135 "additional" officers (650 - 515 = 135).
5. How Many Officers Does Villaraigosa Want To Add In Future Years?
Villaraigosa plans to increase the force by 880 officers over the course of four years: 135 officers this year; 220 the next; another 220 the year after that; and another 305 the year after that. By that time, according to his numbers, the cost of all 880 additional officers will be $182.4 million per year. That's right: the total cost for all 880 officers per year would be far less than the $710 million per year increase in City's revenues mentioned above.
According to Villaraigosa's own figures, moreover, his proposed trash tax, when fully implemented, would cost L.A.'s homeowners $127.5 million per year -- on top of all the sales, property and income taxes they already pay. But why should we endure another tax hike, supposedly to pay for more police, when the City's revenues have risen more than enough to pay for all the police Villaraigosa says he wants to hire?
6. Where Is The Rest Of The $710 Million Going?
Villaraigosa claims, "The cornerstone of this year’s budget is our strategic plan to recruit, hire and train 650 new police officers in FY2006-07." As shown above, however, this supposed "cornerstone" takes just 4.7% of the $710 million in increased revenues.
The real "cornerstone" of Villaraigosa's budget is an agency that gives your tax dollars to wealthy developers who build high-density housing and shopping centers, and, more importantly, who donate to the campaigns of career politicians. Villaraigosa's budget calls for the Community Redevelopment Agency to spend $439,321,900 of your money this year, an increase of $265,395,900 over the previous year's budget -- 37% of the City's extra $710 million.
That's right: the City's budget is up by $710 million this year; 37% of that increase is going to the Community Redevelopment Agency; but you're supposed to believe that the 4.7% for more 135 additional police officers is the "cornerstone" of the budget.
Hiring more police isn't the cornerstone of Villaraigosa's budget at all. Rather, hiring more police is a merely ruse, a pretext, to make you think that City Hall -- which is drowning in money as a result of increased property values -- is instead broke.
The same goes for Villaraigosa's claim -- in the spirit of Lizzie Borden -- that he "inherited" a deficit. Having been on the City Council when the last budget was adopted, he cannot claim to have inherited last year's budget. Plus, his own budget documents show that the last budget left the City not with a deficit, but instead with $470 million of "available balances" (i.e., cash collected from you but not spent).
So don't let Villaraigosa or anyone else get away with using our police as a human shield for budget shenanigans. The City has more than enough money to hire as many police as we need right now, without increasing our taxes one cent.
WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH NO COMMENTS ON MAYOR DANIELS BULLSHIT POST????????
For the record MS, that last post was not from me although I agree 100%.
I'm not posting here until the horrendous, unfair situation is resolved.
Have at it Daniel Guss - lie, lie, lie
Mayor Sam thanks for reporting the facts to us and not being afraid. Seems too many people are afraid of our little mayor.
Walter Moore should e-mail his budget anaylsis to every neighborhood council. There web sites are on all listed on DONE's main site.
U.S. Olympic Committee representatives will visit Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco over the next two weeks to begin scouting out cities for a possible bid to host the 2016 Olympics.
Olympics will never come to LA not with all these damn illegals. They have dirtied our city with all their filth, trash, vending. LA is looking more and more like a 3rd world country especially downtown because of these people.
Thanks to Mayor Sam for informing everyone as to the corruption in the budget!
We CITIZENS are beyond furious at what this Mechista, Mexican shill is doing to our city, but we need to form a coalition to oust him.
Any ideas on where we can start? The entire country is beginning to wake up, but LA is the key to everything. All politics is local, and we still have the voting power to do something.
Toilet Guy is now trying to register voters...and you know that means ILLEGAL voters. He stole the election with illegals and he is now working on '08.
I really think he will be the 'kiss of death' if any national candidate is foolish enough to put him on their ticket, but Kerry (THE LOSER) has been skulking around LA, and Toilet Guy is living in Washington.
We cannot let this country go down in flames just because the Dems want the "AMNESTY FOR VOTES".
Actually, there is only one party now...with two heads. It's just a question of how far down the sh##hole either party will go to get the illegal votes.
How do we enforce our laws, now? Can we get ICE to start doing sweeps in LA? Can we start fining employers in LA? How do we remove the "sanctuary laws' in LA? Can we enforce maximum tenancy laws on all of the drop houses and evict the illegals that are living 20 and 30 to a single residence? We need code enforcement! Can we stop the welfare payments?
We citizens just need to be pointed in the right direction...we will do the footwork. But we need to form a coaltion to take back our city.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Well said 8:23am, so let's get you pointed in the right direction. It takes approximately 221,000 signatures to recall Mayor Tony. Since he seems to want to march at the front of this illegal immigrant parade, it would be logical to knock him off first as a symbol that the citizens of this country have had enough of this crap. You can go to the city's website at the city clerks office and pull up the charter section on recalls and it will tell you everything you need to know. This is the American way of dealing with a political demagogue.
I'm all for recalling AV. He hasn't done S##t for the city. All he cares about is his public image.
This little corrupt a-hole will soon enough run for Governor, Senate or, heaven forbid, President. His ideas of grandeur make me sick. AV is not a suitable representative of the Latino community. He's a greasy used car sales man. Too bad we cannot deport his a** to Mexico.
All talk on this blog but put your actions into words. First things first send e-mails to all the council members www.lacity.org and DEMAND THEY NOT WAIVE ANY FEES FOR THE MARCHES. Send e-mails to Antonio and DEMAND he make the organizers pay for the police, firefighters, DOT and others who have to work these marches. Send e-mails to your reps and DEMAND they send ICE to LA and raid like they have been in Florida and other cities. BOYCOTT BOYCOTT BOYCOTT Tell restaurant managers if they employ illegals you will no longer go there, boycott markets, cleaners, car washes, etc. Its time to react and stop sitting on our asses doing nothing.
Cry, Cry Cry!
Minuteman,
Lets get together all us white people(that will be the day),
Bloggers,
Losers without Responsiblities,
Love less Souls,
the "illegal"is your brother.
Proceed at your peril.
HOW do we get someone and who is that someone, to enforce that lying on a voter's registration card is perjury and a felony... to enforce this and punish the abusers?
That is important because they sign up voters at grocery stores! I saw it myself, a woman with a passport was signed up by this idiot white man... He had no clue she was not elligible to even vote!
Who would enforce this?
It was SO NICE the day they protested... freeways were clear, 7-11 was clear of workmen in dirty clothes... the street corners were clear... nice.
Who needs them anyway.
LEGAL immigrants of all races are WELCOME here in USA.
You figure with 10 million in LA 200,000 isn't that many to sign up. All you need to do is go to Valley and Westside and you will have people lined up. Better yet when the march happens again on May 20 and 21st enough Angelos will be so pissed off this city will be held hostage again by these illegals you'll get those signatures. can you do it on the internet?
Why The Hate Archie?
Antonio has a 70% approval rating. I guess the other 30 % are solely here on this blog. Figures. Nothing to do all day except hit the comp. You guys should do something more positive and interactive (on a human level) in your day.
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