Monthly Archives: September 2009

LACERS Pension Board Approves 15-year Payback for Early Retirement Deal

Posted on September 9, 2009 by

Setting the stage for a showdown over cutting city spending, the LACERS Board approved the Early Retirement Incentive Program (ERIP) that will cost up to $150,000 each for an estimated 2,400 workers. The board which oversees funding of pensions and … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Los Angeles | Tagged , , | 50 Comments

DWP’s Week That Was — Burst Water Mains, Blank Checks and Measure B Revisited

Posted on September 8, 2009 by

Sometimes, the threads of the news come together so elegantly you’d think there was an invisible hand at work making sense of it all. At least that’s my experience from time to time over the years.Take the fact that last … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Hot Topics, Los Angeles, Solar Energy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

Hostage City: Free LA from the Union Stranglehold

Posted on September 7, 2009 by

. When I was a young journalist, I got involved in leading my union and fighting for empowerment of journalists in the newsroom, for equal pay for women and for the integrity of the news report. It was a time … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Community Activists, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | 25 Comments

Parks’ Warning: LA Is Going Broke Fast, Faces Layoffs, Cash Flow Crisis, Bankruptcy Threat

Posted on September 5, 2009 by

In a Special Report on OurLA, LA Councilman Bernard Parks portrayed the city’s financial condition in dire terms Saturday, warniing of “severe pain” that is coming.Speaking for more than two hours to the LA Neigbhorhood Council Coalition at a meeting … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Community Activists, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , , | 18 Comments

The Deceit of Power: City Hall’s Early Retirement Fiasco and the Ugly Truth

Posted on September 3, 2009 by

Back on June 26, the day the City Council approved “in concept” the sweetened retirement deal for 2,400 city workers, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa could not resist the temptation to boast  that it would “save jobs and preserve services.” He called … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Bye Bye Nahai — A Symptom of DWP’s Power Outage

Posted on September 3, 2009 by

For the second time in six months, DWP’s demand for a blank check for billions of dollarsfrom ratepayers was rejected. Back in March, voters repudiated the phony Measure B solar plan that wasn’t a plan. On Wednesday, the reprocessed Measure … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Union Power: LACERS Board Moves Toward Approving Risky Early Retirement Deal

Posted on September 1, 2009 by

Rejecting a staff recommendation and warnings from the City Attorney’s Office, a board committee of LACERS — the city’s civilian pension fund — voted 2-1 Tuesday to allow unions to pay back the costs of the early retirement incentive program … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | 30 Comments

A World of Political Absurdity beneath the Smoke-filled Sky

Posted on September 1, 2009 by

It’s dizzying sometimes trying to tell the smoke from the smokescreen in the burned-out world of LA politics and politicians. The wildfire now raging out of control in the Angeles National Forest from La Canada to Acton, from Sunland-Tujunga to … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Appraising the CD2 Race: Stopping the Machine

Posted on September 1, 2009 by

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the new edition of Nina Royal’s North Valley Reporter. With the money rolling into their war chests, Chris Essel and Paul Krekorian are on track to raise 10 times as much as the … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Community Activists, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , , | 17 Comments