Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Monday
Following his visit to a topless swimming pool in Vegas, the Mayor is ready for his next press event - promoting the Toyota Prius. Considering all the money President Obama is spending to prop up the US auto industry its incredible that Villaraigosa wouldn't support an American "Green" car such as the Chevy Volt which is getting some great reviews. But then Mayor V only cares about himself.
Rick Orlov notes that the Los Angeles City Council is about to head off to its annual two week vacation. I don't see that as a problem because the less the Clowncil meets the better we off are. CM Dennis Zine however wasted no time and has already taken a cruise vacation earlier this summer and is looking forward to more time off. Herb Wesson on the other hand says he plans to be in his office boning up on local issues and relishing that he won't have to wear a tie for two weeks.
You may have lost your job or the organization you support has been struggling due to the recession but the politically connected need not have those troubles. The Los Angeles City Council has voted to make a major infusion into the controversial anti-gang program, Homeboy Industries, which has been struggling due to declining contributions.
Busy weekend for CD2. Watermelon Festival draws candidates. Chris Essel to throw Sunland-Tujunga under Richard Alarcon's bus? And Tamar Galatzan vs the Mommy Bloggers.
Rick Orlov notes that the Los Angeles City Council is about to head off to its annual two week vacation. I don't see that as a problem because the less the Clowncil meets the better we off are. CM Dennis Zine however wasted no time and has already taken a cruise vacation earlier this summer and is looking forward to more time off. Herb Wesson on the other hand says he plans to be in his office boning up on local issues and relishing that he won't have to wear a tie for two weeks.
You may have lost your job or the organization you support has been struggling due to the recession but the politically connected need not have those troubles. The Los Angeles City Council has voted to make a major infusion into the controversial anti-gang program, Homeboy Industries, which has been struggling due to declining contributions.
Busy weekend for CD2. Watermelon Festival draws candidates. Chris Essel to throw Sunland-Tujunga under Richard Alarcon's bus? And Tamar Galatzan vs the Mommy Bloggers.
Labels: cd2 special election, Homeboy Industries, Los Angeles City Council, mayor antonio villaraigosa
Posted by Michael Higby @ 8/17/2009 02:00:00 AM
27 Comments:
Toyota is made in America. And, the longer the clown council is on vacation the better. Some are in their last term, 4 more years and they are history. Hurray, there is hope out there.
He's the Mayor and you're not.
Biased!
City Council only has eyes for one organization. Homeboys
Not all toyotas are made in America.
I'm SHOCKED, shocked, to find out that our family-man mayor is such a degenerate. SHOCKED!
-- Signed: Stranded on a desert island since 1998
(P.S. Aren't these stories becoming pretty "dog-bites-man" by now; like "Jacko is Dead" and "Lindsay Lohan is drunk"?)
Interesting commentary from our own Jim Alger on the health care debate. No matter your position, it is worth a listen.
http://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2009/08/audio-jim-algers-very-personal-very.html
Not so fast, 7:38
Janice Hahn is planning to run for Lt. Gov and then who knows where she wants to take her taxing ways. First she's intent on pushing through that property tax for her gang programs. Just what we don't need as homeowners are about to be hit with a HUGE tax for schools by LAUSD, according to Sunday's LATimes.
Bill Rosendahl wants Diane Feinstein's Senate Seat, and has told people he is needed as a go-to guy on many issues affecting all of Southern California, like what? While admitting to the Weekly he couldn't care less about foreign affairs. But NOW you know why he's always busy passing resolutions like worrying about gays being unable to come out of the closet in Iraq.
So, if a woman chooses to bare her breasts in public, is it wrong for a man to look?
I think the collapse of the City budget may be the biggest story in town right now.
I'm not going to claim that I am the only one who called it, because a lot of others in town did too. Sadly, not too many seemed to call it outloud.
Bankruptcy is indeed looming on the horizon.
------------------
latimes.com/news/local/la-me-la-budget17-2009aug17,0,6713393.story
L.A. budget deal threatens to unravel
Strategies to close a $530-million budget shortfall appear to be in jeopardy as plans to get union concessions falter and contract talks with police and firefighters grow increasingly acrimonious.
By Phil Willon and David Zahniser
August 16, 2009
Nearly three months after he signed off on a plan to eliminate a $530-million shortfall, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa still has not won enough concessions from city workers to avert deep cutbacks that could hit L.A.'s police hardest.
The City Council left last week for a summer recess even though solutions to the budget crisis threaten to unravel.
Contract talks with public safety employees have grown acrimonious, with Villaraigosa denouncing a publicity campaign by the firefighters' union against more cuts. A proposal to give early retirement to 2,400 civilian workers -- slashing $200 million each year from the payroll -- has run into problems over how the city would pay for it.
And city financial advisors privately have begun warning that even if the council signs off on early retirement and wins new agreements with public safety employees, the city will still fall short by an estimated $40 million.
In the meantime, the Planning Department has been hit by furloughs. The Fire Department has begun shutting down rescue units and ambulances on a rotating basis. And Police Department commanders have begun developing a contingency plan to furlough officers at least two days a month starting in October.
If negotiations with police and fire unions reach an impasse, the city has the authority to unilaterally slash paychecks for officers and firefighters -- as well as the number of hours they are on duty.
"We are moving toward impasse and that's a shame because . . . there is a way out," Villaraigosa said last week. "I certainly understand that it's tough to make those sacrifices. But what's the alternative, to go into bankruptcy? No, we can't do that."
Villaraigosa and council leaders have asked police to accept a 14% cut in overall compensation -- salaries, bonuses, overtime and benefits. At the same time, the mayor has vowed to continue his campaign pledge to expand the department by 1,000 officers, saying it is essential to holding down violent crime.
The president of the police union, Paul M. Weber, countered that it makes no sense to continue hiring when the LAPD still needs to cut $130 million.
"I call it my Octomom theory," Weber said "You can't keep adding to the family if you can't support the kids you've already got."
Union leaders at the Los Angeles Police Protective League and United Firefighters of Los Angeles City said they have already offered substantial cost-saving concessions, only to be rebuffed.
Negotiations with the firefighters have started to resemble a schoolyard brawl. The union last week sent a mailer to voters with images of last year's Metrolink train disaster in Chatsworth, contending that if it happened again fewer rescuers could respond.
Villaraigosa called the mailer "shameful" and said the union has "absolutely refused" to consider any salary or benefit concessions, which has forced the service cuts. Firefighters, like police, are being asked to accept salary and benefit cuts that average 14%.
(continued)
(continued from previous)
The troubled talks have added to a larger sense of uncertainty over the city's financial future more than two months after the council and mayor pieced together a $7-billion spending plan that reduced services at nearly every agency.
As city officials search for ways to close the budget gap, local economists expect property-related tax revenue to continue to decline at least through the end of the year.
"We've seen people debate about departments, people and programs, but this problem is far greater than that," said Councilman Bernard C. Parks, chairman of the budget and finance committee. "Really, the debate has to change to the financial solvency of the city of L.A."
For months, the unions have been locked in talks with the city's negotiating committee, which includes the mayor, four council leaders and the city administrative officer. Because of the budget gap, Villaraigosa not only refused to set aside money for police and firefighter raises his year, he asked the Police and Fire departments to reduce salary accounts by $182 million as part of his call for "shared responsibility and sacrifice" by all city agencies.
LAPD Chief William J. Bratton said cuts to salaries and other benefits are unavoidable because personnel costs account for at least 96% of his department's $1.17-billion budget.
Firefighter union President Pat McOsker said it was unfair to ask firefighters and police to take pay cuts when most civilian city workers are not being asked to do the same. Yet in recent weeks, the city's effort to cut civilian salary costs also has been thrown into disarray.
The Coalition of L.A. City Unions, which represents 22,000 of the city's 36,000 civilian workers, agreed to a deal in June to forgo pay raises in exchange for an early retirement package. Villaraigosa and the council promised, in turn, not to lay off or furlough coalition members unless tax revenue dropped by $100 million in a single year.
The agreement ran into trouble earlier this month, when a city-sponsored study concluded that even if remaining employees increase their pension payments, they will not contribute enough to fully cover the cost of early retirement.
Council President Eric Garcetti said it was possible that the current early retirement proposal could collapse as a result.
"We've said that it has to pay for itself. It looks like it's not paying for itself," Garcetti said. "What we're not prepared to [approve] is an irresponsible early retirement program that further boosts our deficit."
On Friday, pension board members met behind closed doors to discuss two unions that have threatened to sue over the early retirement plan. Meanwhile, a new financial analysis found that even with the payroll savings gained from early retirements, the city would probably be short $40 million this year.
If the early retirement deal is abandoned, thousands of city workers would probably receive pink slips, city analysts warn. Union officials said they have no intention of seeing the city renege on the retirement plan and argued that city leaders have failed to take into account all of its cost savings.
"Hey, we have the numbers to back it up. A deal is a deal," said sanitation department worker Simboa Wright, a union representative with the Service Employees International Union Local 721.
With so many unanswered questions, a final vote on early retirement isn't expected until October. Villaraigosa spokesman Matt Szabo said the mayor still backs early retirement but acknowledged that the initiative probably would generate just five months of savings this year.
"Every day that goes by diminishes the amount of money that this proposal would save," Szabo said.
phil.willon@latimes.com
david.zahniser@latimes.com
Times staff writer Maeve Reston contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
What's the rationale for the City Council taking off two weeks each summer?
And why do we permit it?
If they want the vacation, on top of all the other time off they take, we should cut their salaries -- like in half.
Petra can't you simply post a link instead of bogging everything down with the entire text?
What is this about Janice Hahn running for Lt Gov?
Here's some good news: GMAC Financial Services has joined about a half dozen other companies in dropping its advertising from the Glenn Beck Show after the nut case called Obama a "racist."
GMAC Financial Services has "ceased advertising on the Glenn Beck program"
August 17, 2009 11:55 am ET by Eric Boehlert
That's the word this morning from spokesperson Sue Mallino, who confirmed to Media Matters that the company recently pulled its ads off the Fox News program. Mallino would not comment on whether the move was made in response to Beck's claim that President Obama is a "racist," an allegation that sparked a grassroots campaign by ColorofChange.org to get advertisers to stop supporting Beck's program.
Mallino said only that the company has final say over which programs are "not appropriate" to advertise on, and that GMAC Financial Services will continue to advertise on Fox News. But she reiterated the company "has ceased advertising on the Glenn Beck program."
GMAC Financial Services joins a growing list of advertisers who have recently abandoned Beck's television show, including ConAgra, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, RadioShack, Men’s Wearhouse, State Farm Sargento, LexisNexis-owned Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble, and Progressive Insurance.
How does he find the time to run the city into the ground and the school district at the same time? After rummaging through the city charter I just cannot seem to find the part that gives the Mayor of LA the power to run/administer/bully the school district. Does he get paid for this? Perhaps he is reading about how to secretly give the DWP unions a larger raise while at the same time lay off the police. I presume that SEIU has a manual abou this.
Petra thanks for the story but you could have posted the link. Well, well, looks like the clowncil morons and Mayor have made a mess out of our city. When you take cops off the streets its gets really ugly. What is the PPL police union doing about it besides kissing the asses of people like Trutanich giving him an award and Garcetti who have done nothing? Why is Ron Kaye who pretends to support NC's promoting a Greig Smith event on his ourla.org??? Smith is the most hated of all clowncil members so what is Ron's motive?? $$$$$
Yeah I could have just posted the link.
Somehow I hardly think this article bogs down the blog any more than some comments do.
1:54 = Zuma Dogg. Cross him and he's vengeful and "will get you."
The only one who deserves him doing that is Trutanich for him and Zine being low and despicable enough to openly use Zuma Dogg in their slimy campaign. Someone running on a platform on "ethics" and behaving th way he did and does shows he's totally unfit for any public office, should have stayed doing his sleezy dirty tricks in Long Beach. No wonder Bratton wouldn't stick around to be mistreated by these two know- nothing slimeballs. Who are the darlings of the PPL and now even Eric Garcetti is throwing his lot in with them, hoping he'll get something out of it. Scum definitely rises to the top in LA.
Once again the posters of the subjects on this blog is akin to watching 4 year olds fighting over crayons.
Other than maybe Higby, Phil and some of the commenters, there is less discipline on this blog than virtually any other.
If a woman bares her breasts in public, I think she expects men to look.
Having City Council close down for two weeks just makes sense. Yeah, yeah -- we pay them too much. Yeah, yeah -- we don't think they earn it, but they're entitled to a certain amount of vacation just like everyone else.
Otherwise you'll have them each taking bits and pieces off all through the summer and end up lacking a quorum for many, many meetings over a much longer peior of time -- calling the meetings, then cancelling them, then starting all over again -- duplicating staff work.
Just think through your criticisms of elected officials before you run your mouth.
There's plenty of REAL reasons to diss them, without straining at gnats. Summer breaks make sense for the same reason closing down around the winter holidays does for lots of companies and institutions. It wastes LESS money than keeping them running at half speed for no good purpose.
1:54 = Zuma Dogg.
First of all, I don't see a 1:54, so maybe it got deleted, but I can assure all the readers that I did not post whatever it was anyway.
But of course the person just KNOWS it was me. You have some real leaders doing real big things here in this comment section. Keep making a difference here.
This is why the city is in shambles? Angelenos elected a mayor who is more concerned with his celebrity status and traveling than working on city business. When the 11% mayor worked on city business, he raised trash fees, phone tax, DWP rates, etc.
Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa attends the Chloe Los Angeles Boutique Opening Celebration held at Milk Studios on April 23, 2009 in Los Angeles.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa attends the 2009 GRAMMY Salute honoring Clive Davis at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 7, 2009 in Beverly Hills.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa attends the 51st Annual GRAMMY Awards held at the Staples Center on February 8, 2009 in Los Angeles.
Actress Paris Hilton and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa attend the grand opening of the SLS Hotel Beverly Hills on December 4, 2008 in Los Angeles.
http://www.celebritywonder.com/picture/Antonio_Villaraigosa/ActressParis_Caulfield_56312926.html
The list goes on and on.
Celebritywonder.com
http://www.celebritywonder.com/picture/Antonio_Villaraigosa/
L.A. Magazine summed it up the best – “FAILURE.”
http://www.laobserved.com/assets_c/2009/05/lamagjune09-191.php
Zuma Dogg for CD 2! Forget the big 3.
Essel, 58, formerly senior vice president of government and community affairs for Paramount, in charge of strong-arming the city for tax breaks while giving nothing back to the community, was most recently the chair of the California Film Commission and begins serving as first vice president of the FilmLA Board, and now runaway film production has never been higher. She was first named to the Community Redevelopment Agency Board and served as the board chairwoman in 2005. The Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) is an evil body that has sucked the heart and soul out of the city by taking all the tax increment money earmarked to redevelop blight, and gives it to billionaires like Ansultz and Broad, for projects like Grand Ave Project.
What is the Antonio Villaraigosa Masturbation Society? Do they have meetings? Do they have officers? Who is in charge of their instruments?
We all need to thank Michael for this great site. There's others but not with the people in the know that come on here. THANKS MICHAEL.
11:14pm that title goes to the Police Union PPL and its goons. Notice all the political shit they are now into? Notice Zine bald headed fool hanging out and going everywhere with Trutanich who was bought and paid for by PPL? Then you have Smith who is another bitch for PPL and add the new Koretz as another bitch dog bought and paid for. The union needs to change its name to Politicial Union not police union.
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