Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Monday

Apparently up until now the City of Los Angeles has been using budgets with fuzzy dollar amounts. Following the City upholding Mayor Villaraigosa's veto of the City budget City Council President Eric Garcetti stated that the "days of budgets with hypothetical numbers are over." Huh? However expect lots more cuts and layoffs ahead.

Kerry Cavanaugh of the Daily News analyzes the City of LA's boycott against Arizona over their immigration law and comes to the conclusion that the impact will be felt more by LA than Arizona.  Of all the contracts that can be legally and/or practically cancelled the dollar value amounts to less than $5 million.  However the expense to replace those contracts could run into several millions of dollars.  As well, the makers of Taser equipment used by the LAPD is based in Arizona.  No other company makes a similar product.  The LAPD has warned of severe public safety ramifications if those contracts were cancelled.

Following a controversy over accepting thousands of dollars in free event tickets and gifts Mayor Villaraigosa has offered to pay back the costs of those items if the Ethics Commission finds wrongdoing.  Why not just pay for them to begin with like the rest of us do?

The Sunday before an election most candidates are out walking preincts, meeting folks and calling voters.  But not vanity candidates like Congressional hopeful Phil Jennerjahn.  Phil spent his Sunday working on his golf game and opining on state ballot measures.

KFI's Eric Leonard reports Tenative Budget Deal at City Hall

" Budget dealings on Spring Street"

KFI's Eric Leonard was the first to report the tenative budget deal that awaits final City Council approval.

The L.A. City Council has gone public to present a deal that was reached during get a overnight negotiations with the Coalition of Los Angeles City Unions.

The deal is supposed to save jobs and prevent furlough days. The Council is expected to vote on a budget plan later today.

The Council pushed back a 10:00a.m. deadline to vote on budget-cutting negotiations with its largest civilian employee unions.

Union negotiator Victor Gordo says he's hopeful a deal can be reached that prevents layoffs but helps the city reduce its budget. The council has already approved a delayed raise for the employees.

** Tenative numbers:

$80 million in savings this year.

2300 employees going off into the "early retirement" sunset.

EAA to get hit with layoffs.

City employees to contribute 0.37% more towards retirement fund

$20 million in pay raises on hold.

** LA Times Phil Willon and David Zahniser have the extensive details.

Council President Eric Garcetti: “We are a family again".

”That declaration drew some grousing from blogger and former Los Angeles Daily News editor Ron Kaye, who criticized the council for failing to immediately release the details of the plan. “What you left out of this deal is the people. We’re part of the family too,” he said, adding: “We don’t know what the deal is; we’re excluded.”

In related budget news, "ourla.org" asked candidates in the CD 2 Special City Council Election to weigh in how they would deal with the current budget issues on Spring Street.

Budget updates will be posted here as they break.

Your thoughts.................................

Morning Briefs and Outtakes on the Day After CD 2's Last Candidate Forum

"Can Tamar make a clean break from the Villaraigosa Machine??"

Breakaway!!

In reading Phil Jennerjahn's latest in his excellent coverage of the CD 2 candidate forums, one gets the impression that LAUSD School Board Member/CD 2 Candidate Tamar Galatzan has the "political winds" blowing her into the front position, leading up to the final weekend before next Tuesday vote.

Galatzan was endorsed by the Daily News. She picked up the support of prominent community members in Sunland-Tujunga including Joe Barrett and Abby Diamond of the potent "No Home Depot" coalition. And in the latest from the LA "Weekly of Record" Weekly, writer Paul Teetor keenly pens his observation that a Tamar victory would not be received favorably on Spring Street, a development that should help to reinforce Galatzan's "Valley Political Cred".

But as Tamar seeks to distance herself further away from the "Carpetbagging Two" of the "Big Three", one can't help to think, "can Tamar make a clean break from the Villaraigosa Machine??" I say this in reference to the above photo that accomplices Tamar's "This Election is About Us" post on her campaign website. Tamar is right to say that this election is about the future direction and preservation of the identity of CD 2. But the voters in CD 2 need to look beyond the symbolic verbiage and see the true intentions and political linkage of their future councilperson.

Galatzan, as she forges ahead in her quest to become the "temp" CD 2 Councilperson would be wise to study the past of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Tamar will find that Villar/Villaraigosa does not value those who are loose with their loyalty to him (think Gil Cedillo) and Tamar should not think that the Mayor will welcome her with open arms if she were to win the CD 2 race.

The best advise for Tamar in these final days would be this, make a clean break from your past linkage with the Villaraigosa Machine and forge a political path forward, for there is no looking back in the eyes of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, upon used up political goods. The informed masses in CD 2 deserved this from their future leader.

OTHER NEWS:

** KABC 790 AM Morning Host Doug McIntyre has the subject of "Mayor Villaraigosa's True Love" as the topic of his weekly column for the Daily News. Note to Doug, Villaraigosa would seek a divorce from the divorce process if it would advance his personal agenda.

** The Daily News editorialize on those "Political Punters on Spring Street" that keep kicking a solution to the budget problems at City Hall to the Unions for runbacks.

** Incarcerated Community Organizer Najee Ali favorite Congresswoman Maxine Waters, is the subject of a Congressional Ethics Investigation into her husband ties to a bank receiving federal bailout funds.

** The "Coalition of Unions" might want to contact "Deputy Chief of Staff" Matt Szabo and schedule a meeting with new City Hall enforcer "Mayor Vetovillar". No surprise here as once again the former Antonio Ramon Vilar/Tony Villar/Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa/Latino Tony Blair/ changes his persona and becomes "Mayor Antonio Vetovillar" the protector of the city's monetary integrity.

** Memo to LAPD Chief Bill Bratton, LA Weekly's Patrick Range McDonald has some salient observations about your track record on political endorsements. Hmm, with County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas under "federal" investigation for his ties to the Tyrone Freemon SEIU Scandal. Can you pledge your support of Councilman Jose Huizar in 2011, before leaving in October ??

** And lastly, what is in the DNA Chain of the Villar Family Clan that one must bend over backwards for the Anschutz Entertainment Group when they seek exemptions from public laws ?? We present this from LA Weekly's Tibby Rothman and Jill Stewart, "Mushroom Season in Poisonous Sacramento"

This year, one “mushroom” attracting headlines is by Assemblyman John Perez, who represents the Eastside of Los Angeles and is Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s first cousin. His Assembly Bill 813 would benefit just one Colorado billionaire, Philip Anschutz. First reported by the Los Angeles Times, AB 813 would waive a law that currently prohibits Club Nokia and other entertainment venues from slathering the interior of their spaces with ads that promote the alcohol companies whose products they sell at a steep profit.

Anschutz wants to sell big ad spaces inside the unattractive, boxlike Club Nokia, near Staples Center, to squeeze out more profit. The state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control this year ruled such liquor-ad peddling to be illegal.

Your Thoughts..................

Evening Briefs and Outtakes on a Wednesday"

"Councilwoman Janice Hahn prepping for Sacramento ??"

Thirteen well-paid politicians emerge from behind close doors and the results ?? From the LA Times.

The Los Angeles City Council voted today to move ahead with a plan to impose furloughs and layoffs on its civilian workforce, even as it called for two more days of talks with its unions to keep from having to follow through with that plan.

On a 13-0 vote, the council also declined to put an early retirement plan into effect on the grounds that it is too costly.

The council also took the first step toward eliminating 926 positions and imposing 26 days of furloughs on the Coalition of L.A. City Unions in an attempt to eliminate a $405 million shortfall.

Council members said they hope to reach an agreement with the coalition before Sept. 28, when furloughs would begin to take effect.

The "political perfect storm" is rumbling in the near distance.

OTHER NEWS AT "LA NOW BLOG":

** Councilwoman Janice Hahn is exploring a run for California Lt. Governor. Wonder what Noel Weiss thinks of the above photo ??

** Does anyone want former Councilman Jack Weiss in a position of leadership ?? Not the Jewish Federation.

** California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger aka. "Governor Kennedy Republican", is calling on Attorney General to investigate ACORN's California operations.

Your thoughts.......................

City Budget: All Hell to Break Lose this Morning

From today's LA Times:

After months of political jockeying, the Los Angeles City Council today is expected to vote on a controversial early retirement plan for city workers that, if rejected, could force layoffs of nearly 1,000 workers.

Michael Linder of KABC Radio reports that CM Bernie Parks said that the unions run the city.  Wow.  When did he find that out?

Gift to Autry from Los Angeles Taxpayers: $27.5 million

As Red Spot reported, the Southwest Museum won the initial skirmish yesterday when the Board of Referred Powers voted to delay a final vote on the Autry expansion.

What wasn't reported is that there were not just two sides to the issue, but three sides who needed to be heard in the room yesterday: 1. the Autry political machine, 2. the Friends of the Southwest Museum, and 3. parks' and taxpayers' advocates. When the dust cleared, the advocates were completely shut out of the conversation.

For the past five years, the Friends of the Southwest Museum have heavily courted the parks' and taxpayers' advocates for this fight. In the end, they stood aside while the Board of Referred Powers completely ignored the welfare of the one resource who could force the Autry's hand in their favor: the eleven acres of prime park land in Griffith Park owned by the taxpayers of Los Angeles.

The Autry expansion project as presented to councilmembers Hahn, Reyes, Parks, Rosendahl and Cardenas involves a significant construct on prime Griffith Park land. With a rent of just $1 per year, the Autry has benefitted from the location since '87 in many ways, one of which is property rentals for private events. In recent years, this practice has escalated.

In financial documents, the Autry itself reports the value of the rent that it should be paying annually to the Department of Recreation and Parks as a $550,000 annual "donation". That's a massive taxpayer "donation" equivalent to $27.5 million over the life of the lease in today's market.

As yesterday's board meeting ended, what was on the table in exchange for keeping the SW Museum a viable, healthy museum amounted to handing the Autry everything they wanted:

A final EIR without any of the significant mitigation measures called for by neighborhood councils, advocates, and City code.

A $1/yr lease equivalent to a $27.5 million taxpayer donation.

All variances including a building height twice what is allowed in the zone, excessive signage and sign heights, and an underground parking structure.

With the advocates out of the conversation, no one mentioned that bundling all of these items together for one vote is, if not illegal, then at least highly unethical.

Now the morning after, parks' and taxpayers' advocates must be feeling a lot like Zuma Dogg -- used, discarded and left homeless on the streets of park-poor Los Angeles.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Monday

So who does the exit of Antonio Villaraigosa from the Governor's race help? The San Francisco Chronicle says it will be their own Mayor Gavin Newsom however the dean of California's political writers Dan Walters says advantage Jerry Brown.  The correct answer is Jerry Brown.  Newsom has a lot of problems with some of the key voters in the primary such as conservative Democrats in the Central Valley, older Latinos and Blacks, all of whom are more likely to vote than Newsom's base of young people and liberal leaning gays.  Also take note that a Northern Californian has not been elected Governor since the last time Brown was Governor nearly 30 years ago.  And as it it is, though Brown lives in Oakland and is by birth a Northern Californian he spent many years in LA, served for a while as a local elected official in LA and still has a network here so for all intensive purposes Brown is the So-Cal candidate.  Caveat: If Senator Dianne Feinstein gets into the race all bets are off.

Hoping to improve its relations with local Muslims the LAPD has named its first Islamic chaplain.  Sheik Qazi Asad, a Pakistani national, has done work for the LA County Sheriff's Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Asad told the LA Times, "We need to establish very good communication . . . where both parties are talking to each other. This is just opening up the door."

With the City of Los Angeles in a serious financial situation members of the City Council are leading efforts to allow the City to have the option to declare bankruptcy.  Members led by Councilmen Dennis Zine and Bernard Parks are opposing legislation currently being considered by the State Legislature to restrict California's cities from going bankrupt.  Democratic Assemblyman Tony Mendoza of Artesia introduced AB 155 in January that puts review provisions and conditions on cities before they can file for bankruptcy protection.

The one upside to Paul Koretz taking office next Wednesday is Jack Weiss will be long gone. However the Daily News is kvetching that despite that the City Council will still be populated by most of the same jokers who've been there for some time.  That's despite the fact the that former green sheet of record actually endorsed all these clowns and didn't support candidates who could have made the difference they're seeking.

Lakers' parade costs City $1,000,000

UPDATE: Monday 10:15pm, Tony V claims he has the whole $1,000,000 in donations from private parties. We'll be checking out his Tuesday press conference for a list of exactly who ponied up the bucks.

The City and the Los Angeles Lakers will split the $2 million cost of the Lakers' victory parade on Wednesday 50-50.

That's $1 mill for the City -- the annual cost of 15-20 full time City employees or $1 mil in City services if you will. Definitely worth it.

Hooray for New Math

When does 1600 = 76 ?

When Antonio Villaraigosa is doing the math.

We already kind of knew this, but of the 1600 jobs the Mayor claimed would be lost with his budget, 1200 are vacant positions. Meanwhile, 324 of the 400 employees in filled positions will be transferred to other open positions in other departments. This leaves just 76 unlucky City employees who will actually become unemployed July 1.

This of course begs the question:

Besides the Bank of DWP who doesn't have to share any of the sacrifice with the rest of us losers, what other departments have open positions that weren't automatically scuttled with the Mayor's budget?

Weren't all unfilled positions except LAPD officers pulled as part of Tony's "shared sacrifice"?

LAPD has open positions, but your average City service worker will not be qualified for LAPD jobs. So where are all of these workers going? DWP?


(cue Tom Lehrer-like piano and equally plain singing voice)

Who is the biggest loser in this budget? Between loss of services, increases in fees, and a possible impending bankruptcy, the citizens of Los Angeles are the biggest losers in this farce.

People will probably come to realize this as they find they cannot put their kids in summer school since LAUSD has canceled that. Then they try to take the kids to the park or place them in recreation programs, but the parks are closed, filthy, and there are no open recreation programs because there is no money left in the General Fund for Rec and Parks. Then they get their new DWP bill and find themselves in Tier 2 all of a sudden. So they pack the kids up and head into the desert for a vacation but run into DWP bulldozing their favorite natural area for power lines. Then it's back into town where they find the temperature is 100 degrees F and their air conditioning is not working due to DWP rolling blackouts. So they miss work most of the summer caring for the kids in sweltering conditions since they have to stay home. Finally, eviction notices arrive at their home by Thanksgiving, while simultaneously DWP successfully lights up hundreds of thousands of garish bulbs for 6 hours each night in the repetitive Holiday Lights Festival. Almost a million cars idle for hours on end waiting to view this wonder. The resulting carbon load in LA spikes insanely for the 30 days the Festival is in operation, negating any greening of LA's power system that may have occurred in the months before the Festival commenced.

Looks like the Summer of Love 2 is gonna be a toughie, folks. Gird your loin-regions.



Additional:

Ron Kaye outlines more Prop B-'green energy'-Mayor-DWP shenanigans being voted on in today's Clowncil meeting. This time the CRA - a department chock full of financial tomfoolery all by itself - is involved.

Excellent flood of City employees pounding on the Clowncil about cuts to jobs and City services in public comment today! One firefighter just asked why DWP is sacred. Tune in if you can.

Morning Briefs and Outtakes on the Local Political News

"ALL IN THE LOCAL POLITICAL FAMILIA"

Meet the familia that doubles as the local political machine in Los Angeles.

And when the mijos or mijas of machine members get in trouble like "Lil Fabian", Esteban Nunez and his "Hazard Crew Homies", what actions do the elders of the "familia" undertake in protecting their own ??

Letters and more letters, as LA Weekly Christine Pelisek reports in her extensive article, "Esteban Nunez Case: Bad Little Suburban Boys". , and their results ??

Lawyering up with top firepower worked well. A week later, on December 9, though it shocked Santos’ friends and family, Judge Szumowski reduced bail from $2 million to $1 million for all the men — after dozens of character letters seeking leniency arrived at the court.

While not uncommon in murder cases, these particular letters really stood out. They came from union honchos, California politicos and high-powered friends of Fabian Núñez, including Villaraigosa, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor leader Maria Elena Durazo, former and current California Assembly members Dario Frommer and Kevin De Leon, and many others.

“In my heart, I know Esteban Núñez as a young man of good and upright character,” wrote Villaraigosa. Assemblyman De Leon described Núñez as “considerate, gentle and well-mannered.” Labor honcho Durazo wrote that young Núñez “took responsibility by working” at a grocery store. “Going to college showed me that he was preparing for his future. He didn’t take anything for granted.”

Núñez “is a nonviolent, sweet young man” who “has stayed in school and perseveres on,” wrote Tracy Campbell of the California Hospital Association — a close associate of Esteban Núñez’ high-powered mom.

Even Corina Villaraigosa, the mayor’s publicity-shy ex-wife, weighed in. “I know that Esteban is in school and working toward a bachelor’s degree.”

One can grasp the power of written spin, errrr, written testimonials.

City O.K.'s 7 Billion Dollar Budget, for now.

City Council members unanimously approved a $7.01 billion budget on Wednesday but warned that spending could be cut if city unions fail to make concessions and if the state takes local money to fix its own financial mess.

The budget calls for some 2,000 layoffs, scales back many city programs and essentially slices about 15 percent, on average, from every city department.

As Rick Orlov reports, this not a done deal, but the unions should ask the mayor why non-profits are being given city money to undertake tasks that the likes of Recreation and Parks have done in the past..., see Legacy LA.

Councilman Parks and Zine, Mayor shouldn't control Pension Boards.

Responding to investigations of public pension systems across the country, two members of the Los Angeles City Council called Wednesday for a reduction in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's power to pick pension board members.

Councilmen Dennis Zine and Bernard C. Parks said no single politician should be able to control a board majority at both the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System and Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions -- agencies that invest billions of dollars on behalf of retired public employees.

Note to Zine and Parks, This is yours and the other 12 clowns, (minus Mayor Papi's "Lil Mijo" in CD-14), time to reassert control over the Mayor's politicalization of various city departments.

Teacher starts hunger strike to protest.

A group of teachers and community activists started a hunger strike Wednesday in protest of the Los Angeles Unified School District's plan to lay off thousands of teachers.

At least nine teachers and two activists are participating in the action, said Sean Leys, a Lincoln High School teacher.

What you know!! a rare teachable moment in LAUSD on dieting, advocating and not teaching at the same time.

"Landslide Koretz" still not "Councilman Koretz".

As of Tuesday, Koretz led challenger David "Ty" Vahedi by 702 votes, winning 18,286 in last week's election compared to Vahedi's 17,584 in the 5th Council District race.

Koretz, a former state assemblyman, sent an e-mail to supporters shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday, saying that 100 votes were left to count and that he could safely call himself the winner.

However, Los Angeles County election officials said his declaration of victory was premature. The Registrar's Office estimates that 500 to 1,000 ballots remain uncounted. Those include 100 damaged ballots, with the remainder being uncounted mail-in or provisional ballots.

Wow, no comment or mutterings from the "Progressive Viking of Spin" ??

Your thoughts........

Neighborhood Council Funding: Mayor Wins; Parks, Smith, Rosendahl Lose

From Jay Handal of the WLANC:

This just in!
City Council Vote was unanimous...
$45,000, no sweeps, clerk does hybrid elections.
Congratulations to all neighborhood council members and their communities

EXCLUSIVE: Mayor Villaraigosa Responds to Parks and Smith

For the first time in our nearly five year history Mayor Villaraigosa's office has "officially" contacted the Sister City to respond to a post on our site, that being Council Member's Greig Smith's and Bernard Parks' controversial stands on the City Budget.

Here Mayoral spokesman Matt Szabo very clearly dissects and refutes the Smith/Parks positions and offers the Mayor's rebuttal. Read and judge for yourself:

As you know, it has not been the regular practice of the mayor’s
office to respond to individual posts on your site. But I have to
take issue with the recent posting of Councilman Greig Smith and
Councilman Bernard Parks' respective statements on their decision to
balance the Fiscal Year 2009-10 city budget by gutting police and fire
services. I take no issue with your decision to post the statements.
But the statements themselves are riddled with errors and
inconsistencies, and I’d like an opportunity to correct the record.

Let’s start with Mr. Smith. He writes
(http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/2009/05/free-gift-for-michael-trujillo.html):

*****
“On Wednesday May 13, I voted with the majority of the City’s Budget
and Finance Committee to fix Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s proposed
budget which is balanced on $326 million of uncertain assumptions that
would have bankrupted the City by the end of this year.”

*****

It’s totally inaccurate to suggest that the mayor’s budget contains
$326 million in uncertain assumptions – unless Council volition is
inherently an uncertain assumption.

While it is true that the mayor intends to balance $231 million of the
$530 million budget deficit through “shared sacrifice” realized by
ongoing labor negotiations, those savings are far from uncertain. If
the mayor and the other executive employee relations committee members
(Garcetti, Greuel, Parks and Zine) are unable to reach consensus with
labor on adequate concessions, then the remainder of the savings will
be realized through mandatory furloughs and/or layoffs. But in the
mayor’s view, furloughs and layoffs should be the last resort – not
the first option – since these alternatives trigger service reduction
and job loss at a time when Angelenos can least afford it.

Setting aside the $231 million in “shared sacrifice,” the remaining
$90+ million in so-called “uncertain assumptions” comes in the form of
$10 million in slush fund money (AB 1290) which the committee refused
to give up, and $80 million in parking structure/meter revenue, which
is the minimum first-year revenue which would be realized if the
Council approves the mayor’s proposal to lease the city’s parking
structure and meter facilities to private operators.

Smith continues:

*****
“… the Mayor has engaged in scare tactics and fear mongering instead
of working to find solutions for the City’s financial problems.

Even worse, Police Chief William Bratton threatened to take away
Police Officers from the districts of Councilmembers who do not cave
to his agenda and the Mayor’s budget-breaking demands.”

*****

The trite “scare tactic” and “fear mongering” rhetoric doesn’t require
serious response, but the Bratton charge does.

Reacting to the Budget Committee’s vote to cut 520 cops this fiscal
year, Chief Bratton said that he would have to pull 25-30 officers
from each of the City’s 21 community police stations should the full
Council adopt the proposal.

Chief Bratton was not issuing a threat, he was simply using math. The
City currently has 21 community police stations. If you reduce the
police force by 520 officers, then, on average, you will have to
reduce sworn staffing at each station by 25 officers [520/21 = 25].

Staff reduction at the community police stations within Councilman
Rosendahl’s district would be a required consequence of the full
Council’s adoption of the Budget Committee’s recommended cut – pure
and simple. To dismiss the reality of officer reduction as a
retributive threat ignores the basic properties of third grade
arithmetic.

More Smith:

*****
“Mayor Villaraigosa’s plan to remove current rank-and-file Police
Officers from the streets with mandatory furlough days to pay for his
new Officers fails to make sense. Furthermore, the Mayor fails to
provide a viable revenue source for these new hires. His budget relies
on hundreds of millions of dollars in union concessions that he has
failed to obtain in 15 months of ongoing negotiations.”

*****

This is perhaps my favorite ‘graph because it is 100% inaccurate.

(1) The mayor has no plan to remove officers from the streets with
mandatory furloughs. Furloughing sworn personnel is an absolute last
resort, just as layoffs are a last resort for civilian personnel.

(2) The mayor HAS provided a viable revenue source for the new hires.
It’s commonly referred to as the trash fee - which the good Councilman
and every single one of his colleagues voted to raise from $12 to $38
per month while promising to expand the police force by 1,000
officers.

(3) The Councilman is not a member of the Executive Employee Relations
Committee and has no direct knowledge of the mayor’s efforts to
achieve “shared responsibility/sacrifice” savings from labor. The
truth is most major bargaining units are at the table and are working
in good faith to contribute to the budget balancing solution. Stay
tuned.

Councilman and Budget Committee Chairman Bernard Parks offered a much
more tempered and serious assessment
(http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/2009/05/sleepy-has-spoken-here-comes-dopey.html).
But the Chairman propagates two pieces of misinformation that must be
corrected.

*****
“As of today, if the City does not enact a hiring freeze, over 7,000
civilian employees will be laid off.”

*****

With all respect to the Chairman, this charge is simply not true. The
mayor has proposed several cost-saving and revenue-enhancing options
which would reduce the number of required layoffs. However, no
scenario – not even the “do absolutely nothing” scenario – would
require 7,000 layoffs. Again, using math, 7,000 layoffs equates to
approximately $630 million [using the Full Time Equivalent figure of
$90,000 per employee (including health care and benefits)]. The
current budget deficit is $530 million, so the absolute maximum number
of layoffs we would need to execute absent any other solutions would
be ~ 5,900.

Last issue with Parks’ statement:

*****
“A few years ago, members of the public were told that an increase in
trash fees would be used only to hire new officers. This, however, is
not the case and was never the case. The trash fee was increased to
help cover the cost of collecting trash from single family homes. The
City has fulfilled its commitment to fund a significant number of new
police, but it is important to clarify that the entire trash fee was
never committed or intended to be used solely for the hiring of police
officers.”

*****

Again, with all due respect to the Chairman, this seems to be
revisionist history. At the same time the City moved to enhance the
trash fees, it made the commitment to expand the police force by 1,000
officers. We have not yet fulfilled that commitment, and any hiring
freeze effectively reneges on that commitment.

Bill Rosendahl's House of Flip Flops

What a difference a few days make.

Sleepy Has Spoken; Here Comes Dopey

In all of my years of service to the City of Los Angeles, I have never seen a financial crisis such as the one our great City faces today. In response to the global economic crisis, revenues have drastically declined by over $300 million, the State has withheld over $100 million in local funds, and if the ballot measures do not pass on May 19th, the State will undoubtedly withhold even more. Concurrently, the City's payroll and pension costs have soared. We have reached a breaking point. If significant and structural changes are not implemented quickly, the City's financial solvency is at significant risk.

As the Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, I led over 52 hours of hearings on the Budget. All of the City's Departments were called to the table, hours of public comment were taken, and deliberations went late into the night. We have presented a balanced budget to the Council based on the information before us. As of today, if the City does not enact a hiring freeze, over 7,000 civilian employees will be laid off.

A few years ago, members of the public were told that an increase in trash fees would be used only to hire new officers. This, however, is not the case and was never the case. The trash fee was increased to help cover the cost of collecting trash from single family homes. The City has fulfilled its commitment to fund a significant number of new police, but it is important to clarify that the entire trash fee was never committed or intended to be used solely for the hiring of police
officers.

The Mayor's plan is to hire expensive new police officers while handing out over 7,000 pink slips to the civilian employees that repair our sidewalks, fix our streets, maintain our parks and pick up the trash. The proposed combination of layoffs and furloughs will be an impact only felt by civilian employees. If we continue with the Mayor*s plan, our pension program will become unsustainable, not only for sworn employees, but for civilian employees as well. You may hear plans about gaining concessions from unions or selling off the City's parking garages and
meters. At this point, however, those are just plans, and hard decisions had to be made. In order to retain civilian employees, keep the City financially solvent and maintain a good bond rating, the only viable option is to enact a hiring freeze, reduce the City's cost, and minimize required layoffs.

The City Council will be considering the budget on Monday, May 18th in the City Hall, Room 340 at 10 am. I invite you to come and participate in the budget process. Members of the public will be afforded an opportunity to address the Council and share their opinions.

Regardless of how the Council votes on the budget, drastic change is inevitable. As we reassess and rebuild in the coming months and years, I look forward to working with you to use this as an opportunity to redefine the City and how we provide services. My commitment to fiscal responsibility while maintaining high quality constituent services remains strong.

Respectfully,

BERNARD C. PARKS
Councilmember, Eighth District
www.BernardParks.com
213-473-7008

A Free Gift for Michael Trujillo

I'm sensing that the Mayor is being more fiscally responsible than Council Member Greig Smith. But I could be wrong. Read on from the sleeping man:

===

On Wednesday May 13, I voted with the majority of the City’s Budget and Finance Committee to fix Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s proposed budget which is balanced on $326 million of uncertain assumptions that would have bankrupted the City by the end of this year.

The Chief Legislative Analyst and the City Administrative Officer, who serves as the City’s chief financial officer, both concur with the Committee majority that Mayor Villarigosa’s proposed budget is unsustainable.

Since that time the Mayor has engaged in scare tactics and fear mongering instead of working to find solutions for the City’s financial problems.

Even worse, Police Chief William Bratton threatened to take away Police Officers from the districts of Councilmembers who do not cave to his agenda and the Mayor’s budget-breaking demands.

My colleagues, Councilmen Bernard Parks and Bill Rosendahl, are honorable public servants who do not deserve political retaliation for their difficult decision to preserve City services while keeping the City solvent.

As a 16-year LAPD Reserve Police Officer, I reject the implication that I oppose our Police and Firefighters. I have put my life on the line to protect the people who live and work in Los Angeles and public safety has always been and will always be my top priority.

Mayor Villaraigosa’s plan to remove current rank-and-file Police Officers from the streets with mandatory furlough days to pay for his new Officers fails to make sense.

Furthermore, the Mayor fails to provide a viable revenue source for these new hires. His budget relies on hundreds of millions of dollars in union concessions that he has failed to obtain in 15 months of ongoing negotiations.

The City is projected to reach a $1 billion budget deficit in 2010. Mayor Villaraigosa funds his proposals with one-time revenue that will not fix our ongoing budgetary problems.

A deficit of this magnitude will force the closing of parks and libraries and decimate critical services such as street paving, sidewalk repair and traffic improvements.

The drastic downturn of our economy has created the worst budget scenario in City history. The City, like all families all across America, has had to make sacrifices, cut spending, and make do with less.

In addition to the 26 mandatory furlough days my staff and I will take under the Committee’s revised budget, I am cutting my office salaries and General City Purpose funds by 10%. This is on top of the 10% cut to office salaries I gave back in the current year’s budget.

I fully support the hiring of additional Police Officers and the expansion of the force. I will not, however, endorse a fiscally irresponsible plan. The hiring freeze is a temporary delay to LAPD’s expansion until the City can afford it. I urge the Mayor and Police Chief to tone down their rhetoric and work with the Council to achieve real solutions based on sound fiscal policy.

Greig Smith
Councilman, Twelfth District

Citywide Neighborhood Councils Rally to Save Themselves

Dear Friends,

Here's what the Mayors NC Budget Committee sent to City Council tonight as their formal proposal. It was a heated time. The NC Budget Reps were in a militant and determined mood:

1) $45,000 annual funding budget (in line with the Mayor's recommendation)

2) No sweeps of any kind of saved and/or unallocated funds

3) City Clerk does the election with no cash contribution by the NCs

There was much discussion regarding sweep of money in hand, who does elections and how much the City should allocate annually for the coming budget year.

After a long and spirioted debate, a unanimous vote was taken affirming the information above.

That debate included the actual cost of the City Clerks budget to oversee & manage the elections, as well as the most important issues of both our cumulative volunteer hours annually, our value to the community, and the fact that over the years of our existence, we have never received a percentage increase in our annual budgets, unlike that of the other departments in our City.

We look forward to as many N.C. members and their constituents coming out to support our position at the following meetings:
Tuesday 5/12 10 A.M. City Council
Tuesday 5/12 1 P.M.: Budget and Finance committee

Currently, based on return e mails, we expect more than a hundred N.C. members to appear at the Budget Committee at 1 P.M.

Be sure to come early and fill out a speaker card.
OUR VOICES MUST BE HEARD.....

Sincerely:

Jay Handal
West Area Budget Representitive
Chair: West L.A. N.C.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Monday

When it comes to shared sacrifice for LA's Neighborhood Councils in the current budget climate, the Daily Breeze agrees that the 10% reduction proposed by the Mayor is fair.  So does Eric Garcetti. Yet Sleeping Greig Smith and Bitter Bernie Parks want to slash the panels' annual stipend to an amount equal to the the price of a two bedroom home in Van Nuys  - in 1958.  Smith is apparently so resentful of the Councils in his District that he's willing to play economic hardball.  However before that happens City Hall will be under siege from SLAP-happy Bastille stormers fresh off their historic victory on Measure B.  It's unlikely Sleepy and the Bitterman will be able to find more than a handful of CMs who will want to face pitchforks up their patoots.

Council President EricGarcetti is asking his constituents what should be done with all the new Obama era spendalus money targeted for his District.  Atwater Village Newbie has a good answer: "Do your job."  Rather than creating photo opp worthy new projects focus on fixing what's already broken.  Good advice.

The always on top and politically active Beckford School moms and dads in the San Fernando Valley are stepping up again.  They're joining with some neighboring schools to stage a protest rally against the LAUSD's nonsense.  Pretty impressive in that they've lined up both controversial school board member Tamar Galatzan as well as comedian Sandra Tsing-Loh.  Via the Beckford Parents Blog.

LAUSD couldn't entice big name educators from the East Coast to come and run the new multi-million dollar "arts" high school downtown so they've turned to Van Nuys instead. The Downtown News reports that Suzanne Blake of Vista Middle School will helm the new campus, which has been the target of criticism from within several camps in LA.

Speaking of the Downtown News apparently our friend and blogger Don Garza from Central City East has a problem with the paper.  Don feels that the News is spamming him with weekly news updates and can't seem to get off the list.  We think that both the News and Don Garza are excellent sources of information about our City's center however perhaps our other friend Jon Regardie, executive editor of the paper, can get Don off the list or at least take him out for a cup of coffee and patch things up.  We hope so.

We noted recently proposals in the State Legislature to sell the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, most likely to USC. Apparently County Supervisor and Coliseum Commission board member Zev Yaroslavsky is aghast at the idea.  The Coliseum Commission - a confusing joint powers arrangement of the City, County and State - has really done a poor job over the years managing the facility, probably botched any chance for pro-football in LA proper and has allowed the facility to forgo much needed improvements.  There is no doubt USC would do an excellent job of running the stadium.  Zev needs to think less about his season tickets and stop acting like a Bruin.

Wally's harbor gig "swims with the fishes"

"Clowncil vs. Mayor Vallar" plays out at the Harbor in the "Wally Knox Affair.

From the Daily Breeze.

Citing growing budget problems within the Harbor Department and citywide, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday unanimously nixed a new high-ranking post at the Port of Los Angeles that was created by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Wally Knox, who was appointed just last month as the port's deputy executive director for external affairs, will continue to work in a temporary capacity, pending further consideration by the City Council, according to port spokesman Arley Baker.

This tug of war between these "two esteem City Hall factions" foreshadows what may become common in the years ahead as the second term of Mayor Villar heads towards "lame duck" status.

"This sends a message to the mayor that he can't take us for granted," Councilman Bill Rosendahl said. "He has to see us as a partner in everything we do and we all need to be open with each other."

Update: Proposal to Cut NC Funding from $50,000 to $11,200 a Year

Information went out today in a Special Information Bulletin which stated the Budget and Finance Committee will be recommending to City Council that the NC funding program be reduced to a total of $1M for next year - this roughly breaks down to $11,200 instead of the $50,000 per NC. There was no change to the current rollover policy and no changes to the Mayor's proposed 20% reduction for the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment. If you wish to express your opinions and concerns about the Mayor's 2009-2010 Proposed Budget, you can appear for public comment at both the Budget and Finance Committee and full City Council, submit Community Impact Statements via the City Clerk, or send your letters and emails to your elected Councilmember. You can also follow the deliberations on your home computer via Live Streaming Audio here, or on LA CityView, Channel 35, for live coverage. The Budget and Finance Committee will convene on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 to finalize their complete recommendations to send forward to the City Council. The full City Council will then begin holding special meetings to consider the Committee's budget recommendations on Monday, May 18, 2009. Updated Budget and Finance Committee Agendas and City Council Agendas can be found on the City's home page, City Meetings and Agendas calendar.

If you can't make it to the meetings, please use the COUNCILPHONE -- a telephone system that allows the public to listen to live coverage of City government meetings from any phone-can be accessed by dialing the following numbers from the listed locations:


Downtown (213) 621-CITY (2489)

San Pedro (310) 547-CITY (2489)

West Los Angeles (310) 471-CITY (2489)

Van Nuys (818) 904-9450

Council to Reduce Neighborhood Council Funding from $50,000 to $11,200

Date: May 6, 2009

To: Neighborhood Council Friends and Colleagues
From: BongHwan (BH) Kim, General Manager, Department of Neighborhood Empowerment


Dear Friends and Colleagues:

This is to inform you that the Budget and Finance Committee will be recommending to City Council that the NC funding program be reduced to a total of $1M for next year - this roughly breaks down to $11,200 instead of the $50,000 per NC. There was no change to the current rollover policy and no changes to the Mayor's proposed 20% reduction for the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment. The City is faced with a budget deficit of roughly $500M and the Council recently approved moving ahead with the process of laying off over 400 people. This is the time for Neighborhood Councils to educate and advise your elected officials as to the importance of the NC funding program as they move through their deliberations.

The Budget and Finance Committee will convene on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 to finalize their complete recommendations to send forward to the City Council. The full City Council will then begin holding special meetings to consider the Committee's budget recommendations on Monday, May 18, 2009. On or before June 1, 2009, the Council must approve or modify the Mayor's proposed budget and submit it to the Mayor for approval. The Mayor then has 5 days to act on the budget as adopted by Council. Updated Budget and Finance Committee Agendas and City Council Agendas can be found on the City's home page, City Meetings and Agendas calendar.

If you wish to express your opinions and concerns about the Mayor's 2009-2010 Proposed Budget, you can appear for public comment at both the Budget and Finance Committee and full City Council, submit Community Impact Statements via the City Clerk, or send your letters and emails to your elected Councilmember. You can also follow the deliberations on your home computer via Live Streaming Audio here, or on LA CityView, Channel 35, for live coverage.

Please contact your Neighborhood Empowerment Analyst if you have any further questions.