At the moment of truth, the nation’s highest paid city officials blinked Wednesday.
They blinked at layoffs. They blinked at eliminating or slashing funding for the disabled, for the elderly, for Neighborhood Councils, for Environment Affairs, Arts, Culture, for just about everything that was proposed to stave off bankruptcy.
They blinked and squinted in the face of the daunting task of cutting spending, cutting staff, streamlining government.
Watching hour after hour on Wednesday of the City Council confront the truth of what they have wrought was like suddenly being transported to a strange planet where everything works backwards.
Are they crazy? Or is it us for allowing them to get away with creating such a calamity?
The confusion, the ignorance, the vacillation, the nonsense — it was amazing. Even more incredibly, their efforts over eight hours of budget cutting actually increased the deficit from $208 to $212 million.
They didn’t even know they have allowed nearly 60,000 households to pay nothing for trash collection even as they tripled the fee for every other single family home in the city with a broken promise to hire more cops.
They didn’t know there’s no other community in California that gives more than a 30 percent reduction to the poor. They didn’t know their 100 percent subsidy was putting the Sanitation Department $7 million in the red even with the massive increase on everybody else.
They didn’t know because it was just one of a thousand irresponsible acts that allowed them to turn City Hall into a political machine that pandered to segments of the population and their concerns while they gave away the city in sweetheart deals to unions, contractors, developers and consultants.
They didn’t know and they didn’t care because they were big shots with free cars and fancy suits and perks and staff serving their every need.
Well, those days are over and they are scared to death. What are they going to do if they lose these cushy jobs, become lobbyists or maybe parking attendants at the city lots they want to sell to cover a small fraction of the deficit they created?
You couldn’t help but have a laugh when they asked bureaucrats to verify the eligibility of the 60,000 subsidized trash fee beneficiaries or found it was illegal to ask contractors to take a 10 percent cut in what they’re paid in exchange for preferential treatment on future contracts.
They were near tears when they heard there are only 300 jobs open at the Harbor, Airport and DWP to protect the 1,000 to 1,500 city workers who might be laid off. But that didn’t stop them from putting off starting the six-month process for layoffs for at least a month and possibly forever, if the majority gets its way.
And it didn’t stop them from urging those proprietary departments to cancel contracts so other city workers’ jobs can be saved even if it costs more or adding to the massive unfunded pension liability by adding 500 more workers to the 2,763 already getting sweetened retirement checks.
As the hours dragged by and they got giddy from having to put in a full day of work, it became clearer that there was a certain rationality to what they were doing.
Their political machine was leaking oil, the tires were flat, the body rusted out. They knew that from the Council Chambers packed with hundreds of volunteers and workers and people dependent on critical city services.
They were desperately trying to put the machine back together again to save themselves by assuring all the constituencies they really weren’t going to pay for the failure of the city’s leadership, that the plan put forward on behalf of the mayor by City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana would never touch them.
All they achieved was the waste of even more time, after months, years of dilly-dallying while the financial problems got worse.
Santana told them with remarkable calmness that the $200 million emergency fund is needed to cover this year’s deficit and needs to be replenished with the $100 million from selling parking structures and every other dollar they can scrape together.
It was necessary, he said, and not just in case of natural disasters. Credit agencies have already downgraded the city and will do so again unless they see money in the bank and a long series of credible actions or the cost of borrowing will rise sharply.
And that’s the real plan. The city intends to borrow billions to pay its current bills. It’s ready to sell off future revenue sources to pay its current bills. Its looted every dollar in special funds to pay its current bills.
And tomorrow? There’s no tomorrow, they will all be termed out and living high on their city pensions. It’s the rest of us that will have to live with the havoc they are creating..
WTF!@#$%^* Councilman Huizar just said on TV that he knows the city has millions of uncollected money out and the city should do more to try and collect it.
IS HE OUT OF HIS F–KING MIND? People are stressed and afraid they will lose their job and this idiot is saying this now. This group of morons don’t know what the hell they are doing.
Watching this fiasco over the last few days, has been a truely pitiful, painful experience. Today as the CAO’s office was reading off the list of unspent monies in various departments and having the council agree to move the each “pot of gold” to the reserve fund reminded me of myself. As a child many years ago, when I wanted to go down to the corner store and buy some fireballs or candy cigarettes or maybe even some of that sugarwater bottled in wax soda bottles, I would gather all my pennies from various spots in my bedroom hoping I had enough to pay for this one trip on this one afternoon for this one quick candy fix.
I’m convinced that we NEED bankruptcy. It’s the only way out of this mess. Anything short of that will enable this group of clueless buffoons to hem and haw, deny and distract, huff and puff for another day as the hole they have dug for us all gets deeper and deeper and deeper.
Watching this fiasco over the last few days, has been really a pitiful, sad experience. Today as the CAO’s office was reading off the list of unspent monies in various departments and having the council agree to move each “pot of gold” to the reserve fund reminded me of myself. As a child many years ago, when I wanted to go down to the corner store and buy some fireballs or candy cigarettes or maybe even some of that sugar water bottled in wax soda bottles, I would gather all my pennies from various spots in my bedroom hoping I had enough to pay for this one trip on this one afternoon for this one quick candy fix.
I’m convinced that we NEED bankruptcy. It’s the only way out of this mess. Anything short of that will enable this group of clueless buffoons to hem and haw, deny and distract for another day as the hole they have dug for us all gets deeper and deeper and deeper.
What’s the over/under on the number of months until L.A. declares bankruptcy? 12?
Does anybody on city council seriously expect to move to another office after this complete failure of leadership?
Seriously, take Rosenthal for instance. What is he going to run on for the US Senate in a few years? I was willing to let the city hit bankruptcy court to “protect” bicyclists, elderly and the poor?
When Janice Hahn’s rivals for LG attack her for a failure of leadership to address LA’s financial calamity what is going to be her talking points? Tax the wealthy? “Fighting” for “working families”?
This budget crisis is going to ruin the future careers of all L.A. elected officials — and for good reason considering Ron’s post today. The only winners here are John Shallman, Gary South, John Fairbank, Parke Skelton, Ace Smith, etc.
And that’s the real plan. The city intends to borrow billions to pay its current bills. It’s ready to sell off future revenue sources to pay its current bills. Its looted every dollar in special funds to pay its current bills.
And tomorrow? There’s no tomorrow, they will all be termed out and living high on their city pensions. It’s the rest of us that will have to live with what the havoc they are creating..
Ron, are you really that stupid? You JUST NOW realized this? Oh, boy.
BTW, there won’t be any City Pensions available after they’re termed out. But, in the ol’ boys network, there’s always a job waiting.
And Tony claims to be a leader? Where is he? Probably doing yoga with LU.
Time for recall.
To paraphrase from “A Man for All Seasons,” … “Ron, two days ago you were passionate about not cutting. Now you’re passionate about cutting. We must just pray that when your head’s finished turning, your face is to the front again.”
So cut, or don’t cut? How do you feel today? How will you feel tomorrow?
There. Is. No. More. Time. There are no more options. Huizar’s suggestion is all well and good, but it will take weeks or months before the missing revenue is brought in. Alarcon did his usual “I’m lost so I’ll get pissed and hope people think I look like a powerful leader.”
It was so entertaining watching the council dance around the real issue of over spending like the dirt bags they are. I had to flip a coin to determine who was the biggest moron between Alarcon and Huizar. Alarcon ran around whining like a 10 year old brat that wasn’t allowed to get a toy at the market. Huizar is a complete mess.
So what was the outcome? just rewind the video from June of last year when the same idiots sat on their hands and did nothing steering this city into a huge mess. But the Mayor wins the front seat on the special bus. Its not shocking this sorry excuse for a human being couldn’t pass the bar and may have falsified his grade school diploma.
If Tom Bradley were alive he would be in the back row of council chambers with tears in his eyes…mostly from laughing.
It was so entertaining watching the council dance around the real issue of over spending like the dirt bags they are. I had to flip a coin to determine who was the biggest moron between Alarcon and Huizar. Alarcon ran around whining like a 10 year old brat that wasn’t allowed to get a toy at the market. Huizar is a complete mess.
So what was the outcome? just rewind the video from June of last year when the same idiots sat on their hands and did nothing steering this city into a huge mess. But the Mayor wins the front seat on the special bus. Its not shocking this sorry excuse for a human being couldn’t pass the bar and may have falsified his grade school diploma.
If Tom Bradley were alive he would be in the back row of council chambers with tears in his eyes…mostly from laughing.
Tom Bradley would not have “tears in his eyes….mostly from laughing” or for that matter J.Ferraro. They would have solved the financial mess months ago, and we would not have a bunch of charlatans parading in front of the cameras, as we witnessed today. Those were MEN. We got now school children destroying the City in front of our eyes. We deserve it. We elected them.
I can’t jump on the sarcasm train on this one. We are living in painful times. I can’t fault the city for giving utility discounts to low income residents. Those residents are the ones who are trying to live on $9 an hour in one of the most expensive cities in the nation.
The only thing that bothers me is that, with all the economic experts available in the city at UCLA, USC and CSUN, why don’t city leaders have long talks with them about the changing state and city economies? Once they gather all the depressing information then they can start to formulate a coordinated plan for how to cope. If taxes must be raised, who will pay them? If the low-income discounts have to go, how many people will suffer or move away? And more importantly, what do the professors have to say about how to create more jobs in L.A. and how to attract more industries here?
There are lots of people who study the future of cities and economies for a living. All of the smartest people work for the universities. City leaders should consult with them.
I can’t jump on the sarcasm train on this one. We are living in painful times. I can’t fault the city for giving utility discounts to low income residents. Those residents are the ones who are trying to live on $9 an hour in one of the most expensive cities in the nation.
The only thing that bothers me is that, with all the economic experts available in the city at UCLA, USC and CSUN, why don’t city leaders have long talks with them about the changing state and city economies? Once they gather all the depressing information then they can start to formulate a coordinated plan for how to cope. If taxes must be raised, who will pay them? If the low-income discounts have to go, how many people will suffer or move away? And more importantly, what do the professors have to say about how to create more jobs in L.A. and how to attract more industries here?
There are lots of people who study the future of cities and economies for a living. All of the smartest people work for the universities. City leaders should consult with them.
As a 29 year City employee I am taking advantage of ERIP and I could not be happier to go. My theory is that we can thank term limits for this disaster! When we had Mayor Bradley and John Ferraro and many others, we had experienced invested leaders. The only leaders we have now are Bernard Parks and Greg Smith. Everyone else is worried about the next job. The new guy is a complete idiot – Zuma Dogg knows more about the City than he does. Rosendahl has a good heart but he too is clueless. Elections should be the only term limits!! If a Council member or Mayor does a good job for the City, he/she will get re-elected. There is a lot to be said for dedication and experience. This group is a joke.
We don’t need economists. We need adults, not the juveniles with keys to the treasury. The city is not a social/public welfare agency. Many departments have to be eliminated and the others cut to size i.e. lay-offs in departments that bring no money or save money for the city. The first place to start is with the Mayor’s office of overpaid charlatans who are a serious drain on the budget.
Spiffy, you are funny. “….economic experts available in the city at UCLA, USC,and CSUN, why don`t city leaders have long talks with them……….” Do you think a Mayor, who has failed the Bar exam 4 times, and CMs who were gophers for previous CMs, are going to have rational,
intelligent discussions with smart people? We are doomed.
Well, the Garcetti Gang kicked the can down the street again – 30 day deferral in order to possibly comeup with a revised plan that might include some of the non-critical positions in LAPD as candidates for lay-off/transfer/etc….
THE PROBLEM IS NOT THE 3.25% REDUCTION IN INCOME,
IT’S THE 10% INCREASE IN EXPENSES – like the Mayor’s Office has bloomed from 100 for 200+, the COuncil sent half a million dollars to a book fair in Mexico, another couple of hundred thousands to fund artist/performers who can’t get a paying gig on their own (the rational is a scream – next door to the performance center are restaurants that will receive increased business so they will have to go hire additional staff (yeh – illegal aliens to wash dishes and bus tables and fry up those burgers!)…..
RECALL GARCETTI’S GANG AND IMPEACH TEFLON TONY!
Well, the Garcetti Gang kicked the can down the street again – 30 day deferral in order to possibly comeup with a revised plan that might include some of the non-critical positions in LAPD as candidates for lay-off/transfer/etc….
THE PROBLEM IS NOT THE 3.25% REDUCTION IN INCOME,
IT’S THE 10% INCREASE IN EXPENSES – like the Mayor’s Office has bloomed from 100 for 200+, the COuncil sent half a million dollars to a book fair in Mexico, another couple of hundred thousands to fund artist/performers who can’t get a paying gig on their own (the rational is a scream – next door to the performance center are restaurants that will receive increased business so they will have to go hire additional staff (yeh – illegal aliens to wash dishes and bus tables and fry up those burgers!)…..
RECALL GARCETTI’S GANG AND IMPEACH TEFLON TONY!
Hank, I am with you. BTW, Patty, Eric`s admirer, who thinks he should succeed the narcisist yogi,you have been quiet…………..Have you seen the light?
Ron, you must be tired. “……..termed out and living on their city pensions….” Yes, pensions are fat, but they cannot support $150 bottle of wine! They will be lobbyists for LA Live, developers, CIM, D`Arcy etc, anyone they have fed from the public trough. Look how Fabian is making a killing!
The only leaders we have now are Bernard Parks and Greg Smith.
This has to be a joke by the poster. Bitter Bernie needs mental therapy. He is double dipping collecting a $294,000 pension and one of the highest paid council members in the nation at $178,000. He’s chair of Budget so he’s responsible for this entire mess with his other croonies on that committee. Have you noticed how childish and juvenile it is for Parks to move his seat in chambers next to Perry. If that doesn’t show his insecurity!!!
The CAO’s updated version will be very interesting. They are probably crunching the numbers right now. And it will not be pretty.
And as for the parking facilities, there will be a rude awakening when the transaction does not get done, or if completed, at a low ball price. This is new money, and if investors don’t like the deal and the terms LA wants to dictate, they walk.
As for the rating agencies, watch out. LA is in for another downgrade.
NYC 1975 all over again. And we do not have the State to bail us out.
Fellow Citizens of Los Angeles -
Not only are we being govern by individuals of questionable ethics and abilities, remember Proposition R (ethics, ethics, ethics and we want an additional 4 year term of office, even though the ethics portion doesn’t require a citizen vote, but it won’t pass unless we can confuse/lie to everyone with two unrelated items on one ballot measure that’s an unconstitutional act) or Proposition S (the phony phone tax that will go to hire more police . . .NOT) or we’re raising the trash fees to also hire more police . . .NOT 2 and the list goes on, but now there’s another shenanigan.
Sunday last, the 31st of January and last night the 3rd of February, Channel 35, our City television station, did not broadcast the re-runs of the City Councils meetings. Why is that? Instead we were given feel-good classical music briefs (which I did enjoy for awhile) and episodes of our City Departments at work (which was informative). But why wasn’t the Council Meetings re-runs shown to the public? For the last few years they would “always” be shown, always. Who made the decision not to show them? If our elected officials didn’t want the Citizens to see them in action, democracy at work, then a crime has been committed.
Council meetings on Ch 35 are also not being rebroadcast at midnight and yesterday, not even in the evening – yesterday’s meeting ran all day so that may be a one time thing, but midnight and Sundays seem gone, replaced by bland old “arts.”
I have been a City employee for 20 years. I have seen this City at its best and now I am seeing it at its worst. Because of term limits and unions – we are now on the verge of bankruptcy. Most City employees care very much for the City and its residents (we really do try hard to do a good job). Please consider a campaign to restructure City government. Much of this mess is due to our governing structure. We really need to adopt a City Manager form of government, make our City Attorney and Controller appointed officials (not elected). The Mayor’s Office adds no value – they only make a mess of things. We need on very strong a capable manager to make the tough decisions to hire, fire and cut budgets and programs as needed. We still do business as if it’s the 1950′s. All our money is tied up in salaries and there is nothing left to pay for infrastructure. Changing our governing structure will make a significant difference. We need a real manager – not a politicain looking for his/her next political office.
I have been a City employee for 20 years. I have seen this City at its best and now I am seeing it at its worst. Because of term limits and unions – we are now on the verge of bankruptcy. Most City employees care very much for the City and its residents (we really do try hard to do a good job). Please consider a campaign to restructure City government. Much of this mess is due to our governing structure. We really need to adopt a City Manager form of government, make our City Attorney and Controller appointed officials (not elected). We need on very strong a capable manager to make the tough decisions to hire, fire and cut budgets and programs as needed. We still do business as if it’s the 1950′s. All our money is tied up in salaries and there is nothing left to pay for infrastructure. Changing our governing structure will make a significant difference. We need a real manager – not a politicain looking for his/her next political office.
I have been a City employee for 20 years. I have seen this City at its best and now I am seeing it at its worst. Because of term limits and unions – we are now on the verge of bankruptcy. Most City employees care very much for the City and its residents (we really do try hard to do a good job). Please consider a campaign to restructure City government. Much of this mess is due to our governing structure. We really need to adopt a City Manager form of government, make our City Attorney and Controller appointed officials (not elected). We need on very strong a capable manager to make the tough decisions to hire, fire and cut budgets and programs as needed. We still do business as if it’s the 1950′s. All our money is tied up in salaries and there is nothing left to pay for infrastructure. Changing our governing structure will make a significant difference. We need a real manager – not a politicain looking for his/her next political office.
And we need City employees that can actually figure out there’s no need to post the same comment three times.
2:45 pm stop attacking the messenger. The city employee that posted three times makes some good points. At least 2:45 pm is making a suggestion to try and solve the problem. I posted a message twice yesterday and others have done the same. In my case I received a message that the server was unavailable leading me to think my post didn’t make it through. I waited a little while and posted it again only to see that it got double posted. If you don’t have anything constructive to contribute don’t waste your time posting silly, childish attacks. If you have a suggestion how the city can get out of the mess it is in, I would love to hear it!
At least 2:45 pm is making a suggestion to try and solve the problem. I posted a message twice yesterday and others have done the same.
Should be “At least the city worker is making…”
Most of us post more than once due to the message that the server was unavailable. Duplicate & triplicate messages should be deleted.
Did somebody write that Parks changed his seat to sit next to Perry because he was insecure?
Oh. My. God.
So just for the record, every time a new council member is seated around the horseshoe, they are seated in alphabetical order. We just got new members and that would have changed the order.
So genius, if we got a new council member by the name of Krantz, they would sit between Koretz and Krekorian and move everyone down a seat.
Learn your material!
Ron, why not put together a think tank to submit “Real-Time” solutions.
Here goes my two cents worth, 3-4 seemingly small changes that would net HUGE results.
1. Mandate all city workers (where feasible) Telecommute. Ivory towers cost us untold fortunes. I can not think of maybe 4 or 5 departments that require “in the field interaction”. Almost every city employee sits in front of a computer monitor all day long. Why can’t they do that from their home? With the advent of Skype and other interaction software the city employees could be a hell of allot more productive and happier. This by the way, could also be adopted into city law and would go a long way in solving a lot of other problems in the city. Traffic Jams could pretty well be eliminated; the amount of gas purchased; smog created; time wasted. Remember the city is the largest employer in So Cal.
2. Mandate 4-10s, by shifting to a 4 ten hour work day you could actually have six working days and a happier work force. By taking your departments splitting the work force in 2 and having them alternate you again would eliminate 20% of fuel wasted. The quality of life would improve dramatically, and if they were working a 6 day work week more of the city needs could be satisfied. Oh and by the way every city employee should be given a buss/rail card and be expected to use mass transportation.
The two suggestions above would also make available allot of rentable space for city income, let alone the buildings that they could sell outright. Now, lets look at conservation at the remaining buildings. How many of the buildings have transferred to LED lighting? What is the insulation factors: what kind of heating systems are there? Are we using passive anything? And so on.
3. An across the board pay cut. I am looking at something fair, bring in a professional expediter to analyze the job demands of all departments vs. their job outputs and performance. These things are calculable, they can be judged by comparing to other cities or the private sector. Cut accordingly, I would estimate that there would be at least a 20% savings possible. Now total across the board eliminate expense accounts. Why does a city employee, I don’t care if it is the mayor or any one else, need to wine and dine any one? This in particular is nothing more than a stroke to their ego. Discretionary spending is dangerous, to us the tax payers. Our city council people especially should be paid like executives at honorable companies, their pay should fluctuate with the economics of their business (The city.) If the City is healthy and sound, moving in the right direction then we pay them more, however, when they screw the pooch, they suffer the consequences of their decisions.
4. This one is really a 2 parter. Cell phones and city cars. You can walk into any city office and you will see any where from 1 to 3 cell phones strapped to their hips. All while standing not 2 foot away from a multi million telephonic system that costs us the taxpayers millions a year to operate. Why does someone who works in an office all day long have a city issued and paid for cell phone. It would kill the average person to see LA’s cell bill per month. Some people in the field will always need them, however, take the police for example, you could install a VOIP system on their cruisers computer and their phones would cost nothing to operate. The city already owns the operation network and there is no limit on bandwidth.
Part B. City cars. How many city employees have city cars? Most drive back and forth to their offices only, some might be required to attend a meeting somewhere else in the city once or twice a week, Telecommute, Skype, VOIP. Rail and bus, or even 30-40 cents per mile. What a waste, there is always going to be a need for infield persons, but the overwhelming majority is for nothing more than an ego boost. Every other person in Los Angeles is required to drive back and forth to their jobs in their own cars.
Well there you go I would venture a bet that if these 4 things were implemented, that would trim at least 35% off the budget and not 1 job was lost.
Your friend Glenn
We had 4/10 in the Planning Department till Ms Goldberg, the Planning Director, who touts herself as being “Ms Green” at every Green conference in the country eliminated it, adding to the traffic problems, and caused a serious morale problem. The Zoning Adminstrators have to attend several night meetings for which they are not compensated, and now have to work everyday.
I can not think of maybe 4 or 5 departments that require “in the field interaction
I’ll give you 8 off the top of my head: LAPD, LAFD, DWP, Airports, Harbor, Public Works, DOT, Bureau of Engineering
Mandate 4-10s
I don’t see how this equals happier and more productive
every city employee should be given a buss/rail card and be expected to use mass transportation
Many city employees live in areas where mass transportation is not available. LA’s public transportation is pretty terrible which is why we’re a commuter city.
An across the board pay cut.
I agree with the auditing
You can walk into any city office and you will see any where from 1 to 3 cell phones strapped to their hips.
Did you bother to ask them all of them if it was their personal phone?
however, take the police for example, you could install a VOIP system on their cruisers computer and their phones would cost nothing to operate
Can you see the irony of retrofitting every cop car present and future with an expensive piece of technology, thinking that’s supposed to save us money?
How many city employees have city cars?
Very few. Whenever you see a city car, it’s usually someone going out in the field.
Wonderful to read!