Dripping Away
In an op-ed on Prop S today (that doesn't mention Walter Moore, btw), suburbanite urbanist Joel Kotkin says:
As a not-for-profit, propietary department, the DWP shares only about 5 percent annually with the City's General Fund. Whenever it does that, it's considered "surplus" money. But if rate hikes are issued for the sake of generating "surplus" money, the DWP threatens to lose its entire NFP status.
The mechanism by which the DWP is able to contribute to the City is convoluted, and has only been on the books since 1999. The situation reflects one sure thing: that the City Charter and many Department charters are complete messes. They're like the old joke about the guy who contorts himself to make his bad-fitting suit look good.
As Kotkin suggests, a civic revolt is brewing. It won't happen in February 2008, but it will happen very soon, as more and more people learn about the way the political power structure of the City of Los Angeles operates with the sole purpose of screwing the people who live here, to build political careers that are made of straw. The City's power elite kleptocrats, hiding behind increasingly diminishing fig leaves of law as handed to them by powerful law firms, are in general heading towards a tax and fee armageddon---which can come, as the opposition to Prop S has come, from both Court and citizen alike.
Even if Proposition S passes, the city will need to find new revenue. One source is the city's Department of Water and Power, which is seeking rate hikes for both water and power.
As a not-for-profit, propietary department, the DWP shares only about 5 percent annually with the City's General Fund. Whenever it does that, it's considered "surplus" money. But if rate hikes are issued for the sake of generating "surplus" money, the DWP threatens to lose its entire NFP status.
The mechanism by which the DWP is able to contribute to the City is convoluted, and has only been on the books since 1999. The situation reflects one sure thing: that the City Charter and many Department charters are complete messes. They're like the old joke about the guy who contorts himself to make his bad-fitting suit look good.
As Kotkin suggests, a civic revolt is brewing. It won't happen in February 2008, but it will happen very soon, as more and more people learn about the way the political power structure of the City of Los Angeles operates with the sole purpose of screwing the people who live here, to build political careers that are made of straw. The City's power elite kleptocrats, hiding behind increasingly diminishing fig leaves of law as handed to them by powerful law firms, are in general heading towards a tax and fee armageddon---which can come, as the opposition to Prop S has come, from both Court and citizen alike.
Posted by Joseph F. Mailander @ 2/03/2008 01:20:00 PM
10 Comments:
On February 25, at 8:30 a.m. in Department 64 of the Superior Court, the City will present its summary judgment motion in the lawsuit it filed against YOU concerning its use of profits from the sale of water.
Oh, you didn't know you'd been sued? Most of us didn't. Thank goodness the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association spotted the obscure legal notice published in newspapers.
The case is called City of Los Angeles vs. All Persons Interested, Etc.
I'll post something about it at my website at some point. In the meantime, let me sum up all the illegal tax schemes at City Hall as follows: so many scams, so little time to fight them!
JM, what do you mean by NFP (Non-Profit) status? DWP is a proprietary department and is part of the City of Los Angeles. Please explain what you are talking about.
And regarding the Charter, can you cite the sections you are referring to?
Inquiring minds wish to know more.
A proprietary deparment is called by the City of Los Angeles to make deals and set fees in the interests of its citizens. When a department starts collecting fees for the sake of feeding the City's general fund, rather than its own operations, there's no way to determine if the Department is acting in the interest of its citizens.
More conspiracy theories; I love it.
All six people who read this blog now get it...
Play NOT Pay.
No Proposition S.
No on Proposition 93.
Kotkin says that NC's aren't just against taxes, but against City Hall.
Alarcon, who's pushed for them to be able to open Council Files and lashed out (nastily) at Smith for putting some financial checks on NC officers, will get what he didn't even ask for.
Then again, maybe he's banking on his illegals to be so ignorant they'll do whatever he says, and the combative NC's will be from the more affluent or historically angry areas, like SLA. Perry's got her hands full now, too.
Zine and Smith and Grueul have already found that their NC's have bitten them in the butt, like those of the westside have been doing for decades. This will be interesting.
"The Constitution was written for one specific purpose to restrain the goverment, not to restrain the people." Senator Jon Paul recently told a Seattle crowd.
More conspiracy theories; I love it. All six people who read this blog now get it...
***************
Don't be jealous I know for a fact more than six people read this blog, I can even name a few.
Don Culo
Don Quixote
Drinking With Tony
Santiago
Big Betty
Mustang Sally
Hiroshi
Biff
Jim
Proffesor Irwin Corey
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Wallista
N
Lil Trukos
^^^^^^
don't forget to mention Gava Joe/Barf, anonymouse, mary c.
^^^^^^^^
Sometimes this blog makes me want to barf, any rumor or inuendo is commented on here as if it were factual.
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