They have gone too far this time — now it’s not 1,000 or 2,000 or even the mayor’s 3,000 layoffs.
It’s 4,000 — fully one-third of the narrow band of the 12,000 workers who they have deemed eligible for job eliminations
The other 40,000 city workers are exempted because they are in public safety, health and other social services or work for the Harbor, Airport or DWP.
We spent billions for libraries and parks, pay through the teeth for everything we get and now we will get nothing at all.
Wall Street says they must act to borrow the billions they need to get through this year and next so they have to gut the heart of the city.
They had their chance back in June when they knew the Early Retirement Incentive Program for 2,400 senior staffers was unaffordable but they gave the unions what they wanted.
They had their chance in October when they gave the unions all the power in exchange for concessions they didn’t even get them through December?
They balked at 1,000 layoffs so the mayor pretended he had the power to order them. So they figured out how to transfer most of those workers to payrolls that got them off the general fund.
He upped the ante to 2,000 then 3,000 layoffs and the unions said they had a four-month-old contract that protected them.
So the Council one-upped the mayor on Thursday and took it to 4,000 in a back room meeting and tried to squelch all debate. No study, no public discussion, no rhyme or reason except to bluff the unions back to the bargaining table in hopes they will make more concessions.
Fat chance. It’s a game of bluff and we will all lose. Those responsible must pay the price.
r
The next headline is the unions save the city with a 5% pay cut and an increase of pension contributions to 9%. But this only takes care of next year, what happens in 2011-2012 when the deficit balloons again? More threats of layoffs to get more pay cuts from the frightened city workers (and remember you can always scare a city worker with little effort)?
People, get real. What did you expect from Villar & the clowncil?
But nooooooo, you kept voting & re-electing these pigs.
You got what you deserve — enjoy! That goes for you, Ron, also. Did you speak up last year against the mayor? Nooooooo, let’s not rock the boat.
I’m getting more popcorn to sit & watch this great show.
Why is it that none of these clowns EVER mentions cutting spending -like eliminate the CRA, aggressive collection of outstanding receivables (such as parking structure operators who owe the City MILLIONS of dollars – pull their City business licenses and padlock their facilities, then swear out warrrants against them for theft of City resources, etc…..), trim the Mayor’s Office staff by 50%, trim the Council Offices staff by 50%, cut travel budget by 50% (has anybody down there ever heard of electronic tele-conferencing?), stop feeding the starving artists/performers and let them find a paying gig on their onw like I have to do instead of sucking on the taxpayers’ teats, stop subsidizing block parties and book fairs in Mexico, outsourcing studies and reviews and evaluations,etc., when there are hundreds of City employees WELL qualified to conduct such studies, and giving away rental value of City-owned property for $1 per year, and subsidizing developers’ schemes (especially those who have failed in the performance of prior year’s contracts!), and hiring department heads who have very visible conflict of interest commitments and then not holding them to a meaningful level of accountability, …..
The Garcetti Gang is simply spending the taxpayers’ money as though it came from an unlimited source, without regard to the demands of any other budgetary items.
In China, such behavior would not be tolerated at all – the members of the City Council would be taken out to the town square and shot dead – call that behavior barbaric, but it gets results!
Oh, and what is the status of the AEG refund for police overtime for the Michael Jackson parade? Come on, Mr. City Attorney – do your job, or are you hiding something also, did AEG buy you out, too?
Or are you expecting us to simply forget about it?
And some of these clowns actually hope to get re-elected – HA HA HA – no f&%#_+”? way – it’s all on tape, ladies and gentleman – you failed and you will not get another turn at it – you are done, done, DONE! Go get a real job, if you can!
How about cutting the City Council’s inflated salaries in half. $178,000 a year and the chief of staff making $158,000 a year. Something is wrong with this picture. They need to sacrifice just like everyone else. CUT THEIR PAY NOW!
Double Ditto Hank & 9:50 p.m.
How about the Council taking a pay cut by 50%. In these times $178,000 is outragous and the Chief of Staff making $158,000 a year is unacceptable. SET AN EXAMPLE!
How about the Councilmembers taking a sweet little pay cut………say 50%. $178,000 a year plus a car and gas and while you are at it how about the Chief of Staff that makes $158,000 and a car and gas. SET AN EXAMPLE!
Dear Hank,
Please don’t call the City Council the “Garcetti Gang.” Keep Eric out of your criticism and be fair – this is the Mayor’s fault and maybe some of the other City Council members. Eric has been trying to solve this problem, but the rest of the leadership needs to get a reality check.
Thank you.
Are we to believe this catastrophy occured in the last 6 months? Who knew what and when? The past CAO`s departure leading up to last municipal election starts to smell………….
Amazing… Like, your house is on fire. Up rolls the trucks, out come the hoses, in the front door.
But wait a minute! Don’t get the furniture wet. And please take the pictures down before you vent the wall. And if you don’t mind, try not to track your boots on the shag in the bedroom.
The fix is simple, and maybe that’s the problem. Spending only what you make takes more humility than the governance can apparently muster.
Dear Patty,
I don’t know who you work for, or why you seem to personalize criticism of Garcetti, but he is as culpable as the rest, if not more so. He helped set up, and then approve, the 25% salary increase for the COCU when he knew that the money would initially come from the reserve fund. That strategic error, going into an economic downtrend with the ASSUMPTION the economy would improve, has brought us to this point. Why not ask him about it, and let us know what he says? Heck, didn’t he sign off on salary increases at DWP, already the highest paid municipal utility workers in the country?
Having written letters to the mayors office and city council for years and never getting much more than an automated reply, I can say that if city staffs are cut – I would never notice their absence.
Most of the contact in the city parks with the public comes from volunteer coaches – if they keep someone available to cut the grass, clean the toilets (which they don’t do anyway)and provide toilet paper – we’ll never notice city employees are gone.
At the library, city staffs never want to be bothered to assist anyone – they roll their eyes at the thought of serving the public, “do it yourself” is the motto.
Meter maids? – they’ll never let them go, but would we cry over their demise?
In short, most city service has made itself dispensable. Outside of the public peacocking, the mayor and the city council don’t really do much. If it wasn’t for the news reports and soap operas, would we notice if they went away either?
Fifteen days ago, the City Council voted to “wait and see” for 30 days.
Now they’ve voted to order other people to come up with a list of possible lay-offs, and voted to “wait and see” for another 45 days.
Each day of delay increases the deficit by $338,000.
So this 60 days of denial and dithering will put us over $20 million deeper in the hole.
This is leadership?
I didn’t win the Mayor’s race, obviously, but I haven’t let a little detail like that stop me from trying to fix the City. If you’d like to see some concrete proposals to eliminate the deficit, visit my website: http://WalterMooreSays.com
THese clowns knew this was going to happen a couple of years ago and everytime they wait more money is lost. Why did the Mayor grandstand to say he was immediately going to proceed with the layoffs. Now he’s acting like a sissy and allowing the clown on council to further get us in debt. I’ve never heard and seen so many people disgusted and frustrated with this group of losers called “city council members.” Yesterday they behaved like a bunch of juveniles. They don’t know how to speak intelligently to people without sounding like a bunch of thugs like Alarcon, Reyes and Smith. Shocking they all got elected but I will bet to say NEVER AGAIN. DO NOT VOTE THESE CLOWNS EVER AGAIN TO OFFICE.
Antoinette Christovale from Office of Finance who is “supposed” to be in charge of collecting taxes should be fired.
Not only does she not collect taxes when it is due, it is well known they make numerous errors and hound businesses who have paid their taxes.
Myself like many others keep meticulous books and records. Yet, every year I have to take my bookkeeper with records down to their offices to correct them.
Even when they agree, they still send you bills. and to collection.
Christovale”s office does not return calls.
Then you get sent to a collection agency with only a PO Box on Figureoa.
Myself, like the others have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars just to make them go away. Otherwise it is reported on our credit reports.
I talked to the people at that PO box. They said they always get people coming in asking if this is some kind of scam.
Of course it is, it’s LA City government!
I have already moved one of my businesses out of the city limits, still have as many clients, make more money with less aggravation. Now looking to move the other business out.
HORRAY FOR THE PEOPLE. GOOD FOR DENNIS WHO HAS BEEN FIGHTING AGAINST THE BILLBOARDS. This shows how people in this city are sick and tired of and starting to fight back on their own. It shows that the people can actually get more done then council members. Thank you Dennis for fighting for us. We need a grass root candidate for CD2. Mitch Englander has the same endorsements as Chris Essel had. VOTE NO on Mitch.
“”"”"West L.A. planning panel rules against 3 digital billboards..The decision on two Westwood Boulevard signs and one on Santa Monica Boulevard is a victory for homeowner associations and an activist group.
This must be something Patty missed- Wasn’t it Eric Garcetti as Council President who rushed that Solar Energy Measure B ballot request past his colleaues just over a year ago, leaving out a few major details that deprived the CMs of the opportunity to fairly judge the merits? And weren’t there some unanswered questions that included dollar figures on costs and benefits that should be included in such a presentation? Fortunately, that disguised gift to the DWP’s real manager, the IBEW, was rejected after a lot of hard work of activists. Isn’t Eric supposed to work FOR the benefit of the public and NOT for special interests like unions? Just a thought, Patty.
And it’s Eric who finds something to say for everything, especially when it’s something to advance his personal passion of making Los Angeles the “greenest” city in the country, echoing the Mayor’s statements. And this comes at no cheap cost. Most “first-of-its-kind” applications are both very expensive and have not been fully de-bugged. Remember the high prices of nearly all electronics, to name one area as an example? Early models were very expensive but later versions gave us better products at prices that were a fraction of the original versions.
Does L.A. have to be a guinea pig for these try-outs or experiments? Eric probably didn’t care since it was not his money. And guess whose money he has been spending all along? Definitely not Eric’s. Maybe some changes would help them all to develop some sense of responsibility for their spending. How about putting in a percentage of their own pay for their choices, or possibly suffering some personal monetary penalties for bad moves? Then they might be motivated to think, for even just a moment, about what they are doing at all stages, and not just when they are at the doorstep of the Bankruptcy Court.
You can look around now and see the consequences produced by the over-spending, giveaways and sweetheart pacts with unions and other special interestes. Within the city’s entire workforce there has been no uniformity of exposure to the “shared sacrifice.” The sacrifice, so far, has been borne mostly by the public. The tally of expenses mounts daily while the Mayor and CMs wring their hands as they engage in a search for eliminating “positions” but not employees. Following a business model over a family model for conducting operations might have worked out better. And don’t a lot of family businesses have at least some of their members work without pay when things are going bad?
The LAPD and especially the LAFD need to be cut. They’re about 70% of the budget & there is no other way to fix the structural deficit without cutting there and imposing on ALL of their employees — along with all the other city unions — a 5-10% pay cut (like some unions are doing now and should continue to do so).
And civilian union members should be SCREAMING at their union heads to negotiate with city and accept pay cuts if this will eliminate the need for large scale layoffs. A 5-10% cut in pay is better than the 100% cut in pay for those will be laid off.
Remember the creed: “An injury (or layoff) to one is an injury to all.”
Union bosses should not be playing Russian roulette their members. Just accept pay cuts and get it over with!
WTF??? Does this moron who posted “rank and file union guy” think we are dumb???? He posts to LAPD and Fire cuts and wants us to believe he reps the rank and file. Yeah right, you weak ass thinking we’re stupid. Yeah cut LAPD and Fire and let the crime go wayyyyyyyyy up. Maybe then the idiots on council will get the message when the gang bangers and prison inmates now being released move into their backyard. Helloo, city budget is $8 billion and LAPD is $1 billion which equals 1/8th of entire budget.
Stop whining 10:00AM. You can accept a pay cut like everyone else. Crime won’t or shouldn’t go up if we cut the pay of cops and especially firemen. If you don’t like it leave (plenty of people will gladly replace you) and work in the private sector like myself.
1000 AM – being a former civilian worker at the LAPD, I witnessed mind numbing examples of waste and abuse of the tax dollars. They had Live of Duty officers working office jobs that should have been medically discharged. I watched two officer inventory personal effects taken in a raid that ran for a full twenty four hours. Granted the LAPD does a wonderful job, but these examples are the tip of the iceberg. The sense of entitlement by these cops will make you puke. They don’t want, they expect the City to not cut their benefits or pay, while the narrow band of 12,000 sit by and watch 4,000 jobs disappear.
How many signatures are needed for a recall?
It astonishes me that the Mayor and the City Council has let this get to this point. They are all to blame; are they not the city leadership? It was clear that the warning signs were there more than five years ago if not longer, yet the so called city leadership only acted on behalf of their own special interests and not that of the City. These clowns are now acting like they are doing something great to try and avoid layoffs or to come up with a reactive solution to save the City from BK. Had the Mayor acted like a Mayor years ago and paid attention to City Business, instead of trying to get in front of every camera in town, I would venture to say that the city would not have been run to ground.
1. The Mayor’s Office hs more than 200 staffmembers, more than any other Mayor. Why does the Mayor’s Office need 13 Deputy Mayors, several Chief of Staff/Deputy Chief of Staff and a Press Office of more than 12 staffers? He needs to LEAD BY EXAMPLE and start the layoff process with his own office.
2. How can Council approve raises for the DWP and start laying off 4,000 city employees? I realize they have their own budget, but it really doesn’t seem to make any sense in this time of financial crisis to give raises and lay-off others??
3. Council needs to take a pay-cut too….they make more than any other Council in the entire United States….Stop picking on those who are living paycheck-to-paycheck, trying to keep their families fed and off the streets!
First of all, the Mayor has more than 225 staffmembers, more than any other past Mayors. Why does he need 13 Deputy Mayors, several Chief/Deputy Chief of Staff, more than 12 press staffmembers? He needs to LEAD BY EXAMPLE and start laying off his own staff!!!!!
Raises for DWP, then layoffs for other city departments…..doesn’t do too much for morale or faith for our so-called leaders??? I realize that DWP has there own budget, buy check out the irony of it all…
Councilmembers need to also LEAD BY EXAMPLE and take paycuts too. They make just as much as judges????? WTH???? Don’t pick on the workers who are now living paycheck-to-paycheck, trying to keep food on the table and their families off the streets! It’s totally insane….the rich get richer, the poor get smacked to the ground and out into the streets!
How much does Getty House cost? Kick the Mayor out of it. Should save several millions.
Just want to differentiate myself from the Patty who posted above as I disagree. I think the goal of the City Council (and the mayor) in the past year or so has been to run up the city debt to the point of declaring bankruptcy. Then the city won’t have to pay their vendors, lawsuits will go away (May Day payouts, anyone?), and union contracts will become null and void.
Just look at one issue alone: use of outside counsel. Whenever there’s a lawsuit, whether it be workers comp or police brutality or discrimination, the City Attorney’s office refuses to settle ones that are losers (that the City caused the harm). Why? So that law school buddies of the City Councilpersons could be hired as outside counsel. And get this, in order to be on this list, a law firm hoping for this business has to agree not to take on any cases against the City.
So if you have a legitimate case against the city, good luck in finding a decent lawyer.
And just think, look at the Tennie Pierce case. Jones Day was hired to defend the City, but was supposed to spend only so much $. The City ended up having to settle during jury seating when it became apparent it would lose…and Jones Day sent a bill for over a million dollars!
Just look at the issues Hank brings up and you can see why the City is hurting. Where is the money going to come from to pay back the one billion-plus loan that comes due in June??????
Oh, guess what’s next. The 9-1-1 staff (including the technical staff who keeps the equipment working) is being cut. So good luck phoning in your emergencies if the equipment’s down at that time!
Oh, guess what’s next. The 9-1-1 staff (including the technical staff who keeps the equipment working) is being cut. So good luck phoning in your emergencies if the equipment’s down at that time!