Mayor Villaraigosa's Chief of Staff Robin Kramer to Resign this Morning

" Three Decades of Service to Los Angeles Leaders"

Ron Kaye is reporting that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Chief of Staff Robin Kramer will announce her resignation this morning at a 10:30AM Press Conference.

According to Kaye, Kramer will be replaced by the "General Secretary of Gang Intervention" Rev. Jeff Carr.

Kramer, who has worked the hallways of City Hall for three decades on the behalf of Councilman Richard Alatorre, Mayor Richard Riordan and others, is the latest high profile departure at City Hall. She joins the likes of LAPD Chief Bill Bratton, LAFD Chief Douglas Berry and Mayoral Legal Council Thomas Saenz, who have tendered their resignations in the past couple of months since Mayor Villaraigosa won his second term.

The big question here is why the selection of Rev. Jeff Carr to replace Kramer as Chief of Staff ??

In the past few weeks, local papers, bloggers and community members have question the awarding of contracts, the work performance of GRYD sub contractors, and the general direction of the Mayor's efforts to combat the gang problem in the City of Los Angeles.

Further, is Carr the right person to re focus the Mayor's 90+ staffers on second term goals ??

** The Daily News Veteran Political Writer Rick Orlov, has this observation about Jeff Carr.

Insiders say Carr will likely have a more demanding style than Kramer, who is widely respected and well-liked among City Council members and has been considered a major influence in helping the mayor get his policy initiatives approved.

** The Los Angeles Times adds this regarding Mayor Villaraigosa's staff shake up.

The mayor is also expected to bring on Jay Carson, the spokesman for U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential bid. Two years ago, the New York Observer portrayed Carson as "Hillary's hard-hitting hipster," a political operative in skinny jeans who hung out at Spy bar in New York.

Although the exact duties are still unclear, one possibility is that Carr would be the mayor's chief of staff and Carson would be chief deputy mayor. In that scenario, Carson would look at the mayor's big-picture agenda while Carr would handle day-to-day management.

** Mayor Villaraigosa makes it official. Jeff Carr is new Chief of Staff, Jay Carson is new Deputy Chief of Staff. Thought to ponder, will Carson become the "voice and face" that spins Mayor Villaraigosa's second term objectives ?? Where does the hiring of Carson leave Matt Szabo ??

** LAPD Chief Bill Bratton has this comment about the promotion of Jeff Carr to the Chief of Staff position.

“While Robin Kramer's departure leaves a big void in the Mayor's staffing, Reverend Jeff Carr's appointment to fill that void is an outstanding choice,” said Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton. “His selection clearly demonstrates the Mayor's continued commitment to public safety, and further elevates public safety as an even higher priority.”

** Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Dan Grunfeld is also leaving according to the LA Times.

** LA Weekly's Editor Jill Stewart has this observation.

Rumors swirled after the mayor returned from his vacation to Iceland and his paid-for-by-others vaycay to South Africa, that some top city employees were mortified when Villaraigosa insisted on chatting at length about his sightseeing, yet showed little interest in the massive policy problems awaiting him: City Hall is sinking into a desperate budget crunch and pitched debates rage over who is to blame for approving the $1.4 million to $4 million in taxpayer money spent on the Michael Jackson funeral.

Now, the likable and sharp Mother Superior is leaving?

** Link here to Mayor's Office "rambling press release" as posted by the "WWG".

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

LA Bridges reincarnated as GRYD ??

"Gang Programs, Invitation to Fraud and Graft then, and now ??"

LA Bridges here again ?? Maybe ex. City Controller Laura Chick can be brought back to audit,(something she never did as controller regarding LA Bridges), the latest incarnation of gang prevention and intervention programing known as the "Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development".

The Los Angeles Times, to their credit, exposes the problems with the agency "Unity T.W.O."
and those include the following according to the Times.

......Officials called in Unity T.W.O., a high-profile South L.A. intervention agency and City Hall contractor that has received more than $350,000 in public money this year and considerably more in the previous five years.

Unity T.W.O. never showed up -- and yet, days later, it submitted a standard form to City Hall reporting that it had responded as promised and spoken with gang members in an effort to reduce the tension, according to sources close to the city's gang-reduction efforts.

The discrepancy was the latest, and perhaps last, stumble for Unity T.W.O. According to documents obtained by The Times, including financial reports and e-mails between Unity T.W.O. and City Hall, the agency has left gang-reduction supervisors, city officials and nonprofit executives frustrated with its operation. The documents paint a portrait of a troubled, overwhelmed agency -- of overdrawn bank accounts, blown deadlines and missed payrolls.

More problems.......

In May, two staff members in the mayor's Office of Gang Reduction & Youth Development (GRYD) submitted sexual harassment claims against Unity T.W.O. employees -- "unwelcome sexual advances, inappropriate remarks and continued harassment even after our staff asked them to stop," according to one document. Unity T.W.O. workers were ordered to stay away from GRYD's female staffers.

Enough is enough........, even for the Rev. Jeff Carr, "General Secretary of Gang Intervention" (He does not like being called the "Czar", goes against his political train of thought).

By June, executives at Soledad Enrichment Action, which hired Unity T.W.O. as a subcontractor in the Newton area, were having difficulty even making contact with Fletcher and other Unity T.W.O. workers and resorted to sending a letter asserting that "we have no record that substantiates that any services have been or are being provided by your agency." City officials also were raising questions about Unity T.W.O.'s decision to "delegate" responsibilities to yet another intervention organization."OK.

What exactly does he do then?" e-mailed the Rev. Jeff Carr, GRYD's director, referring to Fletcher. "Still don't know," replied Jorge Reyes, a GRYD supervisor.

Fletcher seemed stymied by the bureaucracy's confusing demands."We want to comply. We will happily comply. But please help us do so," he wrote to Carr and Villaraigosa on June 26.

Word on the "Street" is that Unity T.W.O. is not the only sub-contractor who has problems with being forthright when it comes to documenting their work. E-mails are making the rounds about "sub-contractors" who are "double-dipping" on the city dime.

Then there is the question of transparency in the hiring process when it comes to the GRYD.

Lets use the latest "connected non-profit" Legacy LA as an example.

Posted in the "comments" were the job titles for Legacy employees.

Current "Legacy LA" Employees,

Jenny Krusoe"Director of Development"

Maria Lou Calanche"Exective Director"

Monique Moncayo"Director of Youth Outreach"

George Sarabia"GRYD Program Coordinator"

What oversite did the GRYD have in the selection and hiring process ? Were job fliers past out in the communities ? Where is the openness and transparency in who gets hire ?

But the last sentence in this paragraph gives us the sad truth.

"There has to be rules. If there aren't rules, people will abuse this thing, and I think the city is making an honest effort to do something to stem the violence," said Ted Baker, a case manager with a group that works closely with Unity T.W.O. in South L.A. "But you still have to have real contacts on the street level. There is no other way to break that cycle. I just don't know. The politics here run pretty deep."

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

Spotted: RevCarr on Twitter

That's Reverend Jeff Carr, Deputy Mayor of Gang Reduction and Youth Development to you. His latest:

Going to Mayor Villaraigosa's Day of Service tomorrow. Join thousands in giving back to Los Angeles. Then join us for a party at City Hall.

He needs followers—help him out.

Update:

One year ago there was a major take down of the Avenues gang in Glassell Park. Tomorrow from 10-2pm there's a block party. What a change.

"LA OBAMA TIMES" Q & A with the "GENERAL SECRETARY OF GANG INTERVENTION"

For months the newly appointed Gang Czar, errrr, "GENERAL SECRETARY OF GANG INTERVENTION"Rev. Jeff Carr, has been feeling out the "Homies" as he seeks clarity in solving our "Domestic Terrorism/Gang Problem".

The Rev. Carr took timeout away from his "mission of clarity" to sit down with a scribe from the "OLD GREY HAG ON SPRING STREET" and this is the result.

Among the highlights are the Rev. Carr's support for the Laura Chick approach to gang intervention which place "centralize" control in the hands of the Mayor"s office.

In addition, Rev. Carr is bullish on faith-base groups having a key role in gang intervention. Thus look for "Fellow Traveler" Father Boyle to play a key role (some of you will have a bloggin responce to that).

But absence in this Q & A is an "A-U-D-I-T" discussion to show what has not worked in the past. That needs to be a part of the discussion.

I'm sure some will have comments on this topic.

****From this afternoon on the LA Times website****