"As you know we have a problem this year and it's not going to get better in 2010-11 and onward. The picture is not very bright." -- Interim City Administrative Officer Ray Ciranna, May 5, 2009.
"This is just the beginning, next year is worse." -- Assistant City Administrative Officer Tom Coultas, Dec. 12, 2009
Don't blame the bureaucrats for this City Hall financial crisis that will force drastic action to avoid bankruptcy. Blame your elected officials who failed to heed the warnings and follow their advice, and hold them accountable
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Here's a retrospective on what was reported and recorded here, starting with this video and article on May 5 of last year, showing how the mayor and City Council failed in their duties to deal with the financial crisis despite being told over and over that hard decisions were needed.
MAY 5, 2009:
City Council to Unions: Your Jobs or Your Money
MAY 13, 2009:
MAY 18, 2009
MAY 19, 2009
Back Slaps, High Fives, Heroes -- and Catastrophe for LA
MAY 21, 2009
JUNE 3, 2009
JUNE 18, 2009
The Sweetheart Deal: City Hall Will Beg, Borrow and Steal to Protect Unions
JULY 19, 2009
AUGUST 6, 2009
"This is just the beginning, next year is worse." -- Assistant City Administrative Officer Tom Coultas, Dec. 12, 2009
Don't blame the bureaucrats for this City Hall financial crisis that will force drastic action to avoid bankruptcy. Blame your elected officials who failed to heed the warnings and follow their advice, and hold them accountable
.
Here's a retrospective on what was reported and recorded here, starting with this video and article on May 5 of last year, showing how the mayor and City Council failed in their duties to deal with the financial crisis despite being told over and over that hard decisions were needed.
MAY 5, 2009:
City Council to Unions: Your Jobs or Your Money
MAY 13, 2009:
10,000 LAPD Cops or Thousands of Layoffs? Buyouts or Layoffs? City Council's Fictitious Budget
MAY 18, 2009
Scandal, Failure, Anger, Bankruptcy: Will the Public, Unions and City Hall Partner for a New LA
MAY 19, 2009
Back Slaps, High Fives, Heroes -- and Catastrophe for LA
MAY 21, 2009
Wendy Watch: Is the New City Controller Right in Calling the Budget "Fiscally Responsible"?
JUNE 3, 2009
Shared Sacrifice: You Pay More and Get Less
JUNE 18, 2009
City Budget Mysteries: Dire Consequences of City Hall's Nasty Money Games
JUNE 24, 2009Is This What They Mean By Shared Sacrifice?
JUNE 26, 2009An Offer They Can't Refuse: Council Gives City Unions What They Want
JULY 3, 2009The Sweetheart Deal: City Hall Will Beg, Borrow and Steal to Protect Unions
JULY 19, 2009All They Want Is Your Money...
AUGUST 3, 2009Play Now, Pay Later -- The Road To Ruin
AUGUST 4, 2009The People's Hero, Sally Choi: City's Sweetheart Early Retirement Deal Blowing Up
AUGUST 6, 2009
Days of Reckoning: Don't Forgive Them, They Know What They Are Doing
SEPTEMBER 3, 2009
SEPTEMBER 13, 2009
>
SEPTEMBER 18, 2009
JANUARY 21, 2009
The Deceit of Power: City Hall's Early Retirement Fiasco and the Ugly Truth
SEPTEMBER 5, 2009Parks' Warning: LA Is Going Broke Fast, Faces Layoffs, Cash Flow Crisis, Bankruptcy Threat
SEPTEMBER 13, 2009
Day of Reckoning: Begging, Borrowing and Now Stealing -- City Hall's Exercise in Futility
SEPTEMBER 16, 2009LA in Crisis: Do They Have a Clue? Do You?
>
SEPTEMBER 18, 2009
All in the Family LA-style: City Hall and Unions Cut Back Room Deal but It's None of Your Business
SEPTEMBER 22, 2009Terms of Endearment Deal: ERIP or Ripoff?
OCTOBER 9, 2009100 Days, $100 Million Deeper in Debt: Paralysis and Cowardice at City Hall
OCTOBER 13, 2009When the Going Gets Tough, the Weak Stall for Time and Pray for Miracles
OCTOBER 30, 2009Pray for LA: Only Fools Would Gamble It All on an Economic Miracle
DECEMBER 12, 2009ERIP and the Budget: Honor Among Bureaucrats in the Face of Official Deceit
JANUARY 21, 2009
Ron Kaye
The Mayor is going to continue to cut every single service department EXCEPT LAPD until there is nothing left of Los Angeles, while he himself continues to play games with the unions.
That is what has happened for the past three years. That is what he and his friends around the horse shoe are DOING RIGHT THIS SECOND.
How long have we seen this crisis coming?
Three, four years? Yet nothing has changed in terms of the course the Mayor and friends continue to set.
With the new cuts we mere members of the public just learned about in the LA Times today, Service departments - departments who work directly with the public - are looking at a workforce that is nearly CUT IN HALF with this last round of BS.
People will be losing jobs, and citizens will be losing services that, for some, are lifesaving. How can he be so heartless? No problem. No one is fighting him - certainly not the people around the horseshoe. Certainly not the electeds who are supposed to safeguard the citizens of this City.
What on earth is going to make the Mayor change his tactic?
The only way some semblance of a services structure in Los Angeles will survive this insane man is getting rid of him and/or making him cut LAPD - the bulk of the City's budget - along with everyone else, or bankruptcy.
Which do you choose?
Do nothing and you have more of what is going on right now. The Mayor can do this until hell freezes over. He's proving it right now with this next round of cuts - laying off people who have no idea the axe is coming and who he and the City Attorney hope won't fight.
So we have another false "save". Then the man can do it again. And again. Because those who can add 2+2 know this plan won't take care of the problem. They've said so for three, maybe four years.
Having this continue - is that okay with you? With me? With the people of this insane village?
I truly hope not.
"Don't blame the bureaucrats for this City Hall financial crisis that will force drastic action to avoid bankruptcy. Blame your elected officials who failed to heed the warnings and follow their advice, and hold them accountable"
Amen, amen, amen.
Great minds think alike -- and Ron, yours and mine do too, every now and then.
This letter from Villaraigosa and five of his City Council chums to the City Administrative Officer is the most shameful attempt to pass the buck I've ever seen. And believe me, as a trial lawyer, I've seem some real buck-passing.
Anyhow, here's my take on the "Dear Miguel" letter:
http://web.mac.com/waltermoore/WalterMooreSays.com/Blog/Entries/2010/1/21_Villaragosa_And_City_Council_Write_Lame_Letter_In_Clumsy_Attempt_To_Pass_The_Buck_400_Million_Times.html
The bravehearts want Santana to take the fall. They are not only deceptive, stupid , shameless, they are also cowards.
Caruso,
It's time!
I got depressed this morning when I read in the DN that the mouthpiece Szabo " has been assigned the task of developing the overall financial strategy for the City." It is a disgrace and alarming how low we have fallen. No wonder the City is at the brink of bankruptcy.
The sleazy backroom deals are well, alive and healthier now than in Hahn`s administration. The Gephardt group got another $60,000 in lobbying fees at the Port, bringing the total to $265,000. Keep in mind that it is a no competitive contract, as it is at LAWA, awarded under the GM`s authority starting at $150,000. No wonder the city is considering bankruptcy.
Walter, Miguel wrote that letter.
It's not who wrote it that matters, it's who SIGNED it and WHY: Villaraigosa and the four Clowncil Cronies signed it to dupe YOU into thinking it's Miguel's job to balance the budget.