Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Wednesday

More excellent reporting from the Latino Politics Blog. A recent post notes that the state legislators who drive the three most expensive government provided vehicles are Senator Ron Calderon, Senator Gil "Two Bill Gill" Cedillo and Senator Dean Florez, who according to the LA Times drive a Cadillac STS, a Lexus 400H and a Lexus LX 400 respectively, all on your dime. The blog couldn't have put it any better when they said "I think that in a climate where so many of us are penny pinching, asking students to make sacrifices or go without summer school, Cal Grants, and face fee increases at public colleges and universities, it certainly leaves a bad taste in the mouths of Californians to have to foot the bill for luxury cars for the state’s already well compensated elected leaders."

Once again William Bratton proves he doesn't get the LAPD or Los Angeles tradition and screws over the men in uniform.  This time he's going against the wish of the both the LAPD union and the film industry by banning retired LAPD officers who work film shoots from wearing LAPD uniforms.  Instead Bratton wants the officers to wear something resembling some local business improvement "safety ambassadors" wear.  The film industry is right to concern than when dealing with issues on a film location the officers wearing the new uniforms won't command the same respect.

So the Mayor has supposedly found private funds to pay the parade to mark the LA Lakers World Championship yet he says even if he hadn't located the donor cash he would have spent City funds anyway.  The Mayor also claims the parade will earn $15 million for the City.  Questions: 1) Who is funding this parade and what do they get for it, 2) Where does the Mayor get off saying he'd spend the funds anyway and, 3) Who really believes this parade will generate $15 million in taxes for the City?

The DWP implemented a "cash for grass" program and no its not related to this photo.  Homeowners who replace their lawn with water saving plants, rocks or cement will get $1 for every square foot of thirsty lawn they remove. Of course, the DWP is playing a bit smart here; if you haven't been watering your lawn and its already dead they won't pay you to remove it.

Neighborhood Councils are among those invited to a "volunteer appreciation picnic" organized by the Mayor on June 27th. No word on how much this costs or who is paying for it but a memo sent by Villaraigosa staffer Antonio Sanchez includes the real reason why the event is being organized: "We hope to organize a picture with neighborhood council members and the newly elected City officials."  There you go. One giant photo op.