UPDATE: The piecemeal disclosure of the city’s financial troubles continued Thursday morning with City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana reporting tax revenue has come in $186 million below the budget with sales taxes down 16 percent versus the budget forecast of 6 percent. “The city hasn’t seen this since the Great Depression,” Santana said., after his letter outlining options from city officials was leaked..
The mayor flits from photo op to photo op, tweeting all the way about the fantastic job he’s doing leading the city’s efforts to deal with the rain while the City Council spends endless hours debating the virtues of marijuana and lactation rooms.
And the first the public knows about plans to sell off airports and other assets comes from a leaked memo.
Nero would be proud to know that his legacy of imperious and incompetent leadership is still alive after all these years.
This is how you ruin a city, not run it. If there honor among these thieves, hari kari would be their only redemptive option. Maybe that’s what they intend by committing political suicide like this.
The city is in dire straits, the result of years of giveaways to unions, subsidies to developers, heavy spending on social welfare programs while the streets, sidewalks, water pipes and electrical grid deteriorated.
They are giving new meaning now to what we have long known: City Hall is for sale.
But now it’s not the corruption of political money and the “juice” that feeds a complex network of politicians and their gofers, lobbyists, lawyers, consultants, PR manipulators, contractors, unions and all the others who live off the public treasury.
Now what’s for sale are parking structures, Van Nuys and Ontario airports and whatever else they can find a buyer for to keep the cash flowing to avoid bankruptcy.
What’s next the DWP and LAX, the zoo and Convention Center?
Or will laying off 1,000 city workers, presumably with golden handshakes, on top of the 2,400 retiring with sweetened pensions be enough?
“Revenues are significantly lower than original projections and we are
prepared to make tough decisions, including layoffs and cuts in
less-essential city services to our constituents,” states a letter
being circulated among city leaders. A draft copy was obtained by The
Times.
“We will consider the elimination, consolidation, or outsourcing of
city assets and services, furloughs and layoffs where permissible,
continued managed hiring with consideration of a hard hiring freeze and
public-private partnerships that will generate revenue.”
Every department in City Hall is in chaos and public services shrinking without any regard to what’s important. They ignored every warning and kept on spending like there was no tomorrow.
Well, tomorrow is here and the bills have come due.
They talk about creating jobs but they are and have been killing jobs. They are and have been pandering to poverty and destroying the middle class and the hopes and dreams of those working so hard to become middle class.
They are worse than Bernie Madoff who only stole from the rich. They steal from the rich and poor and everyone in between and betray their oaths of public office.
They treat us like we are fools, people of no account.
The mayor talks of dreams of subways and green energy and great jobs and good schools but we know now they are just pipe dreams to lull the people to sleep.
All he talks about is himself and how happy is he and what a great job he is doing, never a word of truth about us.
It’s unbelievable really. They treat their bosses, the people who pay the bills, with contempt and do their best to keep us divided and weak, apathetic and defeated.
Those days are over and their days are numbered. They can’t hide the truth any longer.
They have only one way
out and that’s to sue for peace with the four million people who
trusted them to be their public servants, not their haughty masters.
Instead of thwarting Neighborhood Councils and community leaders at every turn while they huddle in back rooms with union bosses and the civic elite, they need to go out in the community and get an earful.
Instead of phony budget surveys and scripted Council meetings, they need to empower their local community leaders and support their goals.
Instead of secrecy and arrogance, they need to open their doors and windows of City Hall and humble themselves by giving the people a seat at the table of power.
It will surely happen whether they do it voluntarily and honorably today or in the months to come at the polls and in bankruptcy court.
City employees are demoralized, bitter, angry and resentful, because their leaders have and continue to betray them. Guess who will suffer. The constituents. Right,Ron. Rome is burning and our leader is doing yoga.
Wow!! This morning the CAO reported the shortfall for this year has climbed to an astonishing $186 million! I bet you they knew it all along. They manufactured the numbers by wrong assumptions…….postponing the bad news, which any thoughtful, decent person knows, it gets worse with time, unless you deal with it right away. But, it would had distracted our continent hopping Mayor from his Hollywood appearances and yoga meditation.
Good luck to all of us!
Why would City employees be “demoralized, bitter, angry and resentful”? Who else in LA has great wages, 100% job security, defined benefit plans and secure benefits? I would love to work for this city. They should be very pleased with what they have. It’s tough out there and we need them to do a good job for us.
Don’t let anybody kid you. Look at ALL the numbers!!!
Its is probably closer $400 mil!!!
It`s unbelievable that City Hall is seriously talking about bankruptcy, while Antonio wants to attract businesses to L.A. What do they think ? That there are some kamikazes CEOs out there?
the ignorance of city hall will take los angeles to bankruptcy there is no other way out of this there is no vision from this crooks and liars
You who would like to work for the city has no idea what you you speak of. Neither did I when I started. I’m early retired out from the stress (mostly). Like you, I doubt I probably would have listened to the advice but I wish someone had warned me back then of what I’d be in for especially since earning my tiny pension has reduced my future Social Security payments by 40%, something else I learned too late. Now I’m old and out looking for a job in the middle of an economic disaster exacerbated by the politicians and speculators. Yeah, City work, real hot!!
The Mayor is busy giving the weather report, an extremely painful rendition of reading the script. Please God make him go away.
Sell Getty House to the highest bidder. We’ll throw in the occupant as a bonus. A gardner will be needed to maintain those green lawns.
It is the innovative entrepreneur we need to look to for new jobs. But, what makes an entrepreneur? Passion over something beyond his or her nose, explained in Save Pebble Droppers & Prosperity on Amazon and claysamerica.com. They are willing to make waves and wakes in placid waters without fear of retribution by the powers that be, to be cold, hungry and anxious when others are calm, because they see something others do not. claysamerica.com
Try being an entrepreneur in this City. I have been for over 30 years and the last ten have been miserable.
Yes, City employees are demoralized, not to mention embarrassed — and wouldn’t you be, if you were “led” by this pack of spineless thieves? We’ve been on tenterhooks for two years — there’ll be layoffs, there won’t be layoffs, there’ll be ERIP, no, yes, furloughs, maybe, maybe not. Exactly the OPPOSITE of what any well-managed organization would do. Employees have been jerked around — no one knows what’s going to happen, there is no relief from the stress. City employment is no longer secure except for the few that have been here long enough to land on their feet (almost) no matter what happens.
They should have cut the City workforce several years ago — set your core priorities and responsibilities, and cut everything else. Today there’s an LA Times article about 1,000 cuts but still hiring cops. Great – now the idiots that sit up there will start that debate over again, for weeks, and once again nothing will be done. It is not only the unions, it is not only the employees, it is not only middle and department management that are to blame. The Council and the Mayor are to blame for not having the will (or the brains)to do this when it would have done a tremendous amount of good. THIS is leadership?! THIS is the view from the top?! Why on earth did people vote for these clowns — anyone especially who voted for Villaraigosa in the last election needs to have his head examined!
Reality Deficit Disorder — it’s no lie!