Three (Bronx) cheers for Antonio Villaraigosa — he boasts today that his decision to kill the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, the central reform that went into the new City Charter a decade ago, will save $2 million.
Only $210 million to go by June 30, $483 million to go next year, and $773 million to go the year after.
Of course, the deficit will be $2 million higher by the weekend so it’s not clear he achieved anything except to make it perfectly clear that his escalating assertion of powers he does not have under the Charter is as much a sign of things to come as his intention to keep Neighborhood Councils as weak and irrelevant as possible.
If the consequences were not so serious, you can have a laugh watching the City Council call in one department after another and express amazement, as they did today in their brief Monday meeting, that there are not enough mechanics to maintain police, fire and other vehicles and utterly no coordination between the many departments that service their fleets themselves.
One after another, Council members take the microphone to demand reports and studies, consolidation and reorganization.
The bureaucrats assure them that they are doing all they can with their great staffs and will set up a task force to achieve every new task assigned them even as more of their workers retire, transfer to the DWP and get layoff notices.
The same was true of the reports from the IT technocrats except they had to admit it will take years and millions of dollars to fix the dozens of different computer systems that can’t communicate with one another.
It’s just a made for TV unreality show so don’t take any of it too seriously.
Like the mayor’s elimination of the Environmental Affairs and Human Services departments on Friday and DONE on Monday, nothing is really achieved except savings on paper from the supposed elimination of jobs.
For the general managers of city departments it’s a nightmare.
Last Friday, the mayor sent them a missive that requires a semanticist to understand. As best I can figure he was telling them to come up with a list of people to fire to reduce staffing by 4,000 and report how their departments would operate with up to half as many people.
And on the other hand, he said they shouldn’t bother. He and the City Administrative Office would tell them which jobs and services to eliminate.
It is all chaos which should inspire Wall Street to lend the city the billions of dollars it needs to pay its bills over the next few years.
And why not? The city has assets — many of which will be sold off in the next few months at a fire sale — which can be seized when it fails to meet its debt obligations.
Already, many inside City Hall are murmuring that selling the P in DWP would bring in enough money to keep LA from sinking into bankruptcy.
Nobody is supposed to care about any of this as long as the garbage gets picked up.
With tree trimming, parks and youth programs, libraries, building code enforcement, community planning about to join street and sidewalk paving as obsolete city services, the average person isn’t likely to get much more than that out of the city for years, if not decades, to come.
Fortunately, the mayor is protecting the cops and firefighters for which we should all be grateful since they will likely be needed more than ever as the quality of life declines, jobs keep disappearing and the poor become ever more restless.
If this was a stock market crash instead of a city burning in the failure of its leadership, you would be hearing cries across the city from homeowners and business owners of sell, sell, sell.
But who is there to buy?
Why don’t you lead by example and start the elimination process with your staff of more than 200, including 15+ Deputy Mayors/Chief of Staff…come on really?
Leaders have to lead by setting an ethical standard above reproach. Does anyone respect the Mayor and the 15 Clowncils? It is going to be a food fight now.
In light of the 4,000 City employees now targeted for layoffs, the following position was recently posted on the City’s Personnel website:
“Assistant to DWP’s General Manager: $152,000.00 annually.”
http://personline.lacity.org/job_list/index.cfm?FuseAction=Showspec&CC=9185
Three librarians could be saved with that salary. Am I missing something here?
There are departments with at least 50 people in management who do nothing but “manage” a dwindling force. Eliminate these useless layers of management for millions in savings.
The mayor is playing risky politics..he’s sending the entire city into a state of fear and panic so he can cut the departments in his way and give to the ones who support him..I wonder where he got that example??
why do we need the highest paid mayor, 10-15 deputies, almost 100 mayor’s aides, 15 city council members each with their own entourage if they are just gonna drive the city into bankruptcy?
Do people understand what’s actually going on here or are you buying this BS?
Its City Management that made the mess so they should start cutting at top. The City is so top heavy its rediculous.
So, are they just rearranging the chairs on the Titanic?
they are rearranging the chairs on the Titanic while broadcasting to the world that the ship is sinking because of the “peasants” on the bottom floors, but they also say the ship can still be saved if the peasants give all their valuables to those upstairs.
When the higher ups do the cuts, the obvious victims are at the bottom, the ones those on top never interact with. No GM is going to cut his/her immediate staff (ergo top heavy admins).
I suppose the same applies to the mayor and council.
Saving DONE=2 years of Parks’ pension
Saving one lower level employee = one year of Getty House rent
Saving another employee = 10% pay cut from Councilmembers
Also, perhaps union leaders can contribute 10% of their pay towards the pension fund
“Assistant to DWP’s General Manager: $152,000.00 annually.”
Yeah you are. The DWP is not paid out of the general fund so even if you eliminated that position it wouldn’t matter.
Already, many inside City Hall are murmuring that selling the P in DWP would bring in enough money to keep LA from sinking into bankruptcy.
That won’t ever happen. There’s a 200 million deficit this year. How much money does DWP contribute to the general fund annually? Roughly 200 million, most from the P.
If you’ve had enough, let’s organize a recall of the entire Council and Mayor. Let’s just do it. And then let’s reform the Charter as it should have been in 1999. A system of boroughs with decision making power of their distinct communities. The fifteen fiefdoms of the largest City Council Districts in the nation must be ripped apart. The people are restless and fearful of what these guys are doing…. let’s get the recall underway.
His dishonor the mayor is off on another junket to Washington on our dime, so the City Council waxed all eloquent in front of the very workers who’s jobs they will gladly destroy when their lord and master gets back. Now they want to “investigate” the fesibility of cutting outside contracting by 10%! How about cutting outside contracting by 100%. Isn’t that why the City hires people, to do the work! I think it is time to pare the council down to 3, make the mayor’s office an honorary one with a salary to match. Get rid of all but 1 deputy mayor (after all the US president only has one vice president!), cut the operating budgets for the electe elite by 2/3 and their staff by 75%. That would go a long way toward preserving jobs and saving money!
By-the-way, a little bit of trivia. Do any of you know that our council persons make more than a U.S. Senator or the Top Aid to the President! Man, I really am in the wrong business. Bankrupting the City and getting paid $178,780.00 to do it too!!! Sweet!