Deja vu all over again, City Hall gets in trouble raiding airport funds
Is Ted Stein back at LAX mishandling airport funds to cover up holes in the city budget or does it just seem that way because the feds are investigating where the money went?
According to the Times, Federal authorities are questioning whether airport officials have been putting nearly $7 million a year into L.A. Inc., the city's convention and visitors bureau, for the last six years -- a total of about $40 million.
Airport GM Gina Marie Lindsey is scrambling to prove the money somehow meets federal rules that airport revenue go to support aviation, not tourism, and she concedes that the law involved is "very general, with lots of gray areas subject to interpretation."
You don't need a weather man to tell which way the wind is blowing when you got a mayor who can predict rough economic times ahead
No new taxes, no new fees, no new ...well maybe water rates will go up and who knows what else.
That's Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa talking to 500 business leaders at the annual United Chambers of the Valley luncheon Tuesday.
"We have raised the trash fee as much as
we can and this is not the time to seek any
other increases," Villaraigosa said.
So how's he going to cover the $400 million
budgethole he created? Well, fake layoffs,
creative accounting and borrowing worked last year so maybe he'll just cut public services this time. Now that is creative.
Is Ted Stein back at LAX mishandling airport funds to cover up holes in the city budget or does it just seem that way because the feds are investigating where the money went?
According to the Times, Federal authorities are questioning whether airport officials have been putting nearly $7 million a year into L.A. Inc., the city's convention and visitors bureau, for the last six years -- a total of about $40 million.
Airport GM Gina Marie Lindsey is scrambling to prove the money somehow meets federal rules that airport revenue go to support aviation, not tourism, and she concedes that the law involved is "very general, with lots of gray areas subject to interpretation."
You don't need a weather man to tell which way the wind is blowing when you got a mayor who can predict rough economic times ahead
No new taxes, no new fees, no new ...well maybe water rates will go up and who knows what else.
That's Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa talking to 500 business leaders at the annual United Chambers of the Valley luncheon Tuesday.
"We have raised the trash fee as much as
we can and this is not the time to seek any
other increases," Villaraigosa said.
So how's he going to cover the $400 million
budgethole he created? Well, fake layoffs,
creative accounting and borrowing worked last year so maybe he'll just cut public services this time. Now that is creative.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
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