I know it's asking a lot of people to actually get informed for themselves about things and make up their own minds but if I have to go back to the fateful City Council meeting on Nov. 7 and listen to these people prattle dishonestly about a half-baked solar energy plan, you should to.
The debate started with President Eric Garcetti asking -- or more precisely answering -- what he claimed were the 13 questions distilled from a secret report by the DWP's consultant that found the plan is "extremely risky," will cost ratepayers too much and doubts DWP's management is capable of handling the task.
Understand that the largest solar energy plan in U.S. history was introduced and approved for the ballot in three weeks while back room deals were being cut with various special interests to win their support or at the least keep them silent. The public was given none of that information, making what passed for public hearings a mockery of the whole idea of public discourse.
Stop me. I don't want to poison the well with my anger of what is the worst example of machine politics I've ever seen and I cut my teeth in politics in Chicago when Richard J. Daley was the Boss.
Let's start in the middle of the carefully scripted and staged debate where Dennis Zine makes clear the council really doesn't have the facts about this plan and calls for a lively debate during the campaign -- a debate the mayor and his team are trying to squelch by suing the ordinary citizens who point out the DWP itself barred solar developments for the last decade and believe this is the wrong first step, nothing but a sweetheart deal for the IBEW.
Then, he asks a softball question about whether the Neighborhood Councils and the public were brought into the process as required -- a question that prompts DWP General Manager David Nahai to turn as usual to dissembling and doubletalk, saying "Nowhere near enough." Listen here zine-nahai.mp3
The debate started with President Eric Garcetti asking -- or more precisely answering -- what he claimed were the 13 questions distilled from a secret report by the DWP's consultant that found the plan is "extremely risky," will cost ratepayers too much and doubts DWP's management is capable of handling the task.
Understand that the largest solar energy plan in U.S. history was introduced and approved for the ballot in three weeks while back room deals were being cut with various special interests to win their support or at the least keep them silent. The public was given none of that information, making what passed for public hearings a mockery of the whole idea of public discourse.
Stop me. I don't want to poison the well with my anger of what is the worst example of machine politics I've ever seen and I cut my teeth in politics in Chicago when Richard J. Daley was the Boss.
Let's start in the middle of the carefully scripted and staged debate where Dennis Zine makes clear the council really doesn't have the facts about this plan and calls for a lively debate during the campaign -- a debate the mayor and his team are trying to squelch by suing the ordinary citizens who point out the DWP itself barred solar developments for the last decade and believe this is the wrong first step, nothing but a sweetheart deal for the IBEW.
Then, he asks a softball question about whether the Neighborhood Councils and the public were brought into the process as required -- a question that prompts DWP General Manager David Nahai to turn as usual to dissembling and doubletalk, saying "Nowhere near enough." Listen here zine-nahai.mp3
Now
that you're in the mood, here's Garcetti who claims he took care of the
myriad problems with this measure himself so the public and the rest of
the council didn't need to know all the issues raised by PA Consulting.
Of course, he didn't read the 26-page report himself, only a one-page
cheat sheet, and admits now that most of the solar panels will come
from China where the largest number of jobs will be created by this
boondoggle. garcetti-solar.mp3
Skipping forward a little, let's hear from Wendy Greuel, who wants to be City Controller watching over the public's money, and claims she and the council asked all the "tough questions" so they tell voters the truth about this. Of course, she barely glanced at the cheat sheet prepared from the consultant's report so she didn't even know what the questions were.
So instead of talking about the measure, she talks about the goal of clean energy -- which comes as close to getting 100 percent support as anything greuel-solar.mp3
That's enough for now, I can only take so much of this in one bite
Skipping forward a little, let's hear from Wendy Greuel, who wants to be City Controller watching over the public's money, and claims she and the council asked all the "tough questions" so they tell voters the truth about this. Of course, she barely glanced at the cheat sheet prepared from the consultant's report so she didn't even know what the questions were.
So instead of talking about the measure, she talks about the goal of clean energy -- which comes as close to getting 100 percent support as anything greuel-solar.mp3
That's enough for now, I can only take so much of this in one bite
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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