The Department of Water and Power is at the heart of the story of Los Angeles’ transformation into the city it is today, the light and the dark of it, the play of good and evil.
It is the soul of LA, the shimmering lights and hopes of the city and the dark side of its “Chinatown” past — and present.
Writer Yasha Levine in an article on Alternet.org today and excerpted on OurLA.org captures the origins of this story from the theft of the water in Owens Valley a century ago that turned the spectacular beauty of the area into a dust bowl to the DWP’s plan now to cover the lake bed with 80 square miles of solar panels, the largest such installation in the world.
“L.A.’s New Scheme to Plunder Owens Valley Water, This Time with Solar Panels” reads the headline. “L.A. has sold the idea of enriching the residents of the Owens river valley before, while ripping them off in the dark. Will the residents buy into it.”
The story links back to an article at SierraWave.net about the visit to Owens Valley in January of David Freeman, interim general manager of the DWP, a post assigned him after he served as Harbor Commission president and deputy mayor for energy and the environment. 
Freeman is the darling of environmentalists, the apostle of solar energy — and a profiteer in clean energy like the mayor’s behind-the-scenes political operative Ari Swiller and others who have found Antonio Villaraigosa an easy mark for their hustles.
With his cowboy hat and sweet-talking good old boy southern malarkey, Freeman was resurrected by the mayor with the help of his business partner, Swiller.
It’s dirty little power games these clean energy advocates and investors play.
Apart from his connections, Freeman has the credibility to get away with
lying through his teeth, telling whoppers so big and so smoothly that he is one of the greatest con men in a city filled with con artists. It’s that quality that got him fired by Mayor Richard Riordan a decade ago as DWP general manager. It’s that quality that allowed him to preserve his reputation despite wasting tens of millions of dollars on green energy without actually generating any.
Back in January, Freeman brought his act to what he regarded as easy marks in the Owens Valley.
About 200 people came to a Methodist Church to hear his pitch to pave the dust bowl with solar panels and make them all rich, according to SierraWave.net
“He made them laugh and he made some mad,” reported Bennett Kessler, describing Freeman as being “viewed as a man with the personal power to push projects through and
manipulate people in the way.”
The next day before the County Board of supervisors, Freeman used “the same country charm … found mostly a positive response until Supervisor Susan Cash laid out the colonial
failures of DWP to treat the Owens Valley as an equal, to treat people
and the land with respect,” Kessler reported..
Cash seized on a comment by Freeman regarding his refusal to release DWP land around Inyo that strangles its economic development, saying, “You closed that door. More conversations need to be had. This
is not pristine land here.”
She challenged him on DWP’s failure to live up to its 20-year-old agreement to restore the area to its “pristine” past and other issues, “I feel like you’re bringing me flowers and won’t show up for the
rest of the dates.”
Finally, she threw in Freeman’s face that he had told KABC that DWP owns Inyo
lock, stock and barrel. “Don’t you see that’s offensive?” said Cash.
Freeman denied saying it. Cash called his hand on the lie. “I saw you
say it on television,” she said.
Freeman reached for an excuse.
“I was making a joke.” That didn’t fly with Cash. “The internet words
‘epic fail’ come to mind,” she said. “Some people don’t like our
style,” Freeman said.
Freeman is a liar who will say anything to get his way and with the bottomless pit of DWP ratepayer money and the political clout of LA, he will undoubtedly be able to pay off the folks in Inyo to let the DWP plunder them again. It’s why he fits in so well as part of the mayor’s team.
This is an administration that thinks only of its own political, and
in some cases economic, advantage without regard to the public
interest, without regard to the quality of life in the city, without
regard to the future.
It’s why the irritating David Nahai was
fired and the seductive Freeman was brought in.
The mayor tries
to portray himself as the green mayor of the “greenest city in America”
when he actually has done precious little to deserve the title,
initiated not a single major green energy project — until now.
Now,
the mayor and the DWP are desperate.
LA has the dirtiest
coal-burning power portfolio in America, a rotting infrastructure for
water and power, the least renewable energy of any major utility in the
state, and rates that have been rising rapidly despite its advantages to
keep them low.
It’s biggest problem, apart from a long history
of sweetheart deals with contractors and mismanagement, is its labor
costs. DWP workers are paid 30 to 40 percent more than other city
workers for comparable jobs, paid 20 percent more than other utility’s
workers for most jobs. That’s why the infrastructure is rotting and
there’s so little green energy.
The desperation comes from the
state mandate for utilities to generate 20 percent of the city’s energy
by the end of this year, and by the mayor’s boast to reach 40 percent
and get rid of the coal-burning power plants by 2020/
When you’ve bankrupted the city to the point basic services are being
slashed and you’re selling off the city’s assets to your friends at a
fire sale, you need to do something to save your political career. If
you’re in that position, your name is Antonio Villaraigosa.
So he has bet his career on David Freeman’s ability to sell the City
Council, which lives in fear of seeing their own careers go up in the
smoke of their gross financial mismanagement, on approving spectacularly
higher rates for decades to come without a ratepayer rebellion.
Billions of dollars, tens of billions of dollars, are needed but there
is no plan, no long-term methodical approach on how to rebuild the
infrastructure and generate clean power and provide clean water.
There is only desperation and a plan to just get through this year and
possibly next — just like there is no plan to get through the budget
crisis beyond this year and next.
The mayor wants every ratepayer to cough up just $2.50 a month to
generate all of $30 million a year to replace the dirty coal-burning
plants. At that rate it would take most of a century to get the job done
– at which Freeman says with poetic flourish the planet will be dead
because LA didn’t go solar fast enough without regard to cost or
efficiency.
Of course, the $2.50 surcharge will soon by $5 and then $10 and then
whatever it takes to save himself and keep up the myth of his
leadership.
The DWP has its own plan for the next year. It’s called the ECAF (Energy
Cost Adjustment Factor) and is supposed to allow for quick increases in
rates to reflect fluctuations in gas and coal prices. The ECAF is now
limited to 1 percent per quarter and Council approval isn’t needed.
Back in September, the DWP tried to increase the ECAF to 20 percent per
quarter but Council members panicked at the prospect of public outrage
and squelched that.
So now the DWP has come back with a new plan to impose and 8 percent
ECAF increase on April 1 as part of an overall 20 percent increase in
the next 12 months, a 33 percent increase over the past two years that
amounts to $700 million a year in extra revenue, $130 million of which
will go directly into the general fund to help bail the city out of its
budget crisis..
There is no plan beyond next year — at least none that the public, the
ratepayers are allowed to know.
Given the DWP and City Hall’s desperation, there is no doubt this is
just the beginning, the years ahead will be worse for the public with
rates doubling and tripling by 2020.
Contracts to buy solar and wind energy are stacked up waiting for the
DWP to find the money to pay for them to meet the 2010 goal of 20
percent renewable energy goal.
The DWP is paying premium open market prices for this energy and doesn’t
own it although officials justified their rooftop solar energy plan
under Measure B — a plan that would have required all $3 billion in
solar being owned and maintained by the DWP and its union, IBEW Local
11.
Voters saw through the costly lie and rejected Measure B but the mayor
has so little respect for the people, he has greenlighted the same plan
anyway because IBEW bully boss Brian D’Arcy provides much of the
campaign cash that keeps him and the Council in office.
So his future, the DWP’s future, the city’s future, is in the trembling
hands of none other than David Freeman.
Unfortunately, Freeman is the problem, not the solution.
He took over as interim GM with the promise that a qualified utility
manager would take over within six months. The six months is up because
nobody qualified will take the job since they are well aware that
Freeman’s next post is going to be president of the DWP Commission or
once again Deputy Mayor for energy and the environment.
Why would anyone take over a utility with as many problems as the DWP, a
utility that has lost the confidence of the people, when they would
facing constant interference from Freeman and the politicians and a
union that has all the power?
The Chinatown story was about the rape of the land and water from the
Owens, land we still own and water we still use, the theft of the entire
San Fernando Valley to store the water in natural underground caverns
and for real estate developments that made billionaires of insiders.
Chinatown II is about the rape of Los Angeles itself to enrich a new
group of insiders, to protect politicians who have failed us in every
way. If we don’t resist this assault, it won’t matter much whatever else
we do.
In 2004 Angelenos overwhelmingly (764,536 / 76.30% Yes votes) approved Measure O to issue $500 million in bonds for projects that clean up polluted storm water, and bacteria in the City’s rivers, lakes, BEACHES and OCEAN. The Cabrillo Beach, in Council member Janice Hahn’s District, was given a FAIL grade for water pollution by the Heal the Bay’s Annual Beach Report Card in 2009.
Is this what the NO Leadership Los Angeles City Council calls leadership? The Council is now considering raising service fees and asking constituents for parcel tax increases when they can’t deliver on previous measures.
I fail to understand how anyone in the Owens Valley area could be considering even remotely tolerating another dance with the DWP devil.
Doesn’t history mean anything anymore?
I hope everyone reads the whole article.
In it we find that both the Audobon Society and the Chamber of Commerce support this idea.
Why? Because Freeman is right.
What is wrong with his proposal, please tell us.
Mayor Moron has fired all the honest General Managers. Along with Freeman there is another con artist still around to ruin your neighborhoods and degrade the quality of life in the city.
Susan Cash-my new hero.
The mayor tries to portray himself as the green mayor of the “greenest city in America” when he actually has done precious little to deserve the title, initiated not a single major green energy project — until now.
So I guess the Pine Tree windfarm isn’t a major green energy project to you.
Which is funny, because that’s exactly what it is.
I don’t like the guy but to put things in perspective, Freeman is also the guy who decided to return water to the Owen’s Valley as a gesture awhile back. And as interim GM, one of the first things he did was kill the First Solar deal, which was a good thing because that deal would have screwed over ratepayers with the unrealistic deadlines and harsh penalities for failing to meet those deadlines.
That article is just a demonstration of NIMBYism. If you construct something, nobody wants it near them. It’s the same problem Nahai had with Green Path, the same problem that’s going on with underground transmission in the westside, and now it’s an issue with the solar station.
DWP workers are paid 30 to 40 percent more than other city workers for comparable jobs, paid 20 percent more than other utility’s workers for most jobs. That’s why the infrastructure is rotting and there’s so little green energy.
Except for clerical positions, there are few comparable jobs between DWP workers and other city workers and the gap is roughly 20%. Then again other workers don’t have to deal with being electrocuted if they make a mistake. Meanwhile workers for Southern California Edison and private utilites make more money. And other municipal utilities have salaries that are comparable. How long have you been perpetuating this lie Ron?
4:23 PM wrote: “Then again other workers don’t have to deal with being electrocuted if they make a mistake”
I suppose those ACT’s who have been mauled by dangerous dogs (no money for radios to call for help) or ACO’s that go into dangerous situations to rescue animals don’t matter, huh?
Then there’s the emotional aspects that are overlooked altogether. But, no worries, the families of the suicide victims probably aren’t reading your comment.
This is but one other department. My guess is other service departments have their share of risks as well.
4:32, It’s my understanding that DWP workers get paid for luxuries far beyond the comparable pay rate you mention. Please explain how important it is for DWP workers to take breast feeding classes or to go to school (at rate payers’ expense) and take classes unrelated to the work they do. Is it true your facilities have fully equipped gyms? Can other department employees use them?
If I am wrong, would you please provide us with a copy of the DWP union contracts to set the record straight?
“Audobon Society and the Chamber of Commerce support this idea”.
And your point is? One is a “bird” association and the other one is business at any cost; the community and neighborhoods be damned. Why would you be more credible than others.
DWP employees are grossly overpaid due to their corrupt IBEW boss and even more corrupt politicians he bribes with election money. If they are so special, let them find another job with the same pay and benefits. Enough of this nonsense.
Love the blog, i found you via bing and will be bookmarking you right now.
oh you can usally catch me over at bontrade
Antonio Villaraigosa has ushered in an era of Tammany Hall with the union corruption of our City. I predict he will fall very hard… possibly with criminal actions against him.
To March 2, 2010 4:23 PM:
Stop picking on clerical workers. They work as hard as anybody and sometimes bail out their bosses by catching mistakes and covering for them. Clerical workers are part of the team and contribute to the overall work product.
4:59, What are you playing, victim Olympics? If you’re gonna run a comparison, you start at the job class. You don’t compare a cop or Animal Control to an engineer. You compare an engineer to an engineer. DWP is mostly engineers, construction, and other support jobs. It’s like Ron’s old comparison complaining about how DWP tree surgeons are paid more than other department tree surgeons. Well there’s a difference between cutting a tree above a power line that can kill you, and trimming a tree above a swingset in a park. The only validity I can see in Ron’s comparisons are clerical jobs doing the same thing, which brings me to…
9:12, this is the second time you’ve singled me out to stop picking on clerical workers. First of all, basic reading comprehension says just because I use the word “clerical” doesn’t mean I’m picking on clerical workers. Second, Ron has brought up the example of clerical workers getting paid more at DWP for doing the same job than at other departments ALMOST EVERY TIME he argues DWP workers are overpaid. I don’t know why you’re choosing to keep your mouth shut whenever he makes that assertion and then get all supersensitive when I uses his assertion as a baseline. I happen to agree with Ron on the issue of clerical workers. Clerical workers for the most part, do the same work. But I disagree that Ron uses this example to tokenize the whole DWP, when most of the work is specialized for the utilities industry.
4:32, personally I think the breast feeding classes are bullshit. I’m also speculating you have no clue what the benefits at private utilities like SCE are. Still there are two ways to look at DWP salaries. One is to compare them with the Council-Controlled Departments. The other is to compare them with municipal utilities and private utilities. The former paints the picture that DWP employees are paid excessively. The latter paints the picture DWP employees are paid competitively. Ron only uses the former comparison because it helps him arouse anger against civil servants, the IBEW, and the politicians. He never uses the latter because even though it’s a valid way to look at the issue, it doesn’t help his emotional appeals. In his post above, he pulled those salary percentages out of his ass. My own opinion is if Ron is going to use lies, half-truths, and logical fallacies to influence public belief, he’s no better than the politicians he’s ripping. Because that’s exactly what they do.
The new trend in LA politics is to have Goliath call David a NIMBY.
When local people speak up against out-of-town Big Business interests trying run over and silence the small citizens, they are labeled NIMBYs.
What about locals in Wilmington sick of ground water pollution by the oil companies and “environmental racism” – are they NIMBYs?
Be careful with this foolish label (NIMBY), you may find that it sticks to you in a future battle.
To March 2, 2010 11:51 PM: When you single out clerical workers, be careful, they can make the same argument that you are making about engineers and other classes at DWP.
Not all DWP engineers are involved directly in power or water or have special skills over an equivalent in the other City departments. For example, what about communication/network employees (eg engineers, communication electricians) at DWP or other City Departments?
What about painters or even electricians or electrical mechanics? There are also different classes within DWP work that involves lower voltage work.
If you argue that this is specialized and that you get the experience on the job, in this case a utility, the same argument can be used by clerical workers that perform special projects such as invoice tracking, customer billing, timekeeping, etc.
Just because you work at DWP in almost any civil service class that you choose, doesn’t mean that you are so specialized, so knowledgeable, that you could not be replaced by someone with the same class at the City – no one is irreplaceable. When people are hungry, they can become very smart and alert, adapting to similar jobs very fast and possibly out performing incumbents at DWP, especially those who have a lot of senority.
Better to be called a NIMBY than a “BLOCKHEAD”…I’m “NIMBY” DAMMIT!
11:51 PM -
Call it what you want. I’m rebutting the statement that DWP workers deserve more because they could be electrocuted and opted to use ethos and logos in that process.
Job class is an understandable argument(though price fixing does come to mind). ‘Pointing out job hazards was a weak argument. Ergo the “hazard” comparison.
The truth is that DWP could EASILY hit their 40% FOR FREE if they weren’t dead set on monopolizing, recentralizing and destabilizing the grid using remote, destructive Big Solar and Big Wind.
Los Angeles has enough solar insolation to be a NET EXPORTER OF PEAKER POWER from its rooftops alone, yet the city bakes and sprawls endlessly, while imperialist adventures to outlying communities waste time and money.
If LA would simply fund its AB 811 loans (no risk loans because city takes first lien on property), expand its net metering program and implement a basic Feed in Tariff (so property owners are PAID fairly for producing more clean energy than they use), LA could have all the solar power it needed and then some, at NO NET COST TO RATEPAYERS!!!
This is not funny math, this is simple. Ratepayer generators will net out the cost of their systems by a combination of offsets (net metering), amortization of loans (AB 811 is 20 years), and FITs (to encourage oversizing where it makes sense). They will also see increased property values immediately without increased property taxes.
Loans cost the city nothing and can even make it a small amount in interest if it administers funds carefully. Net metering costs the city nothing because it greatly decreases demand for the most costly power, and fuel/delivery costs are offset. FITs for the tiny amount of power produced above that used that is then re-sold at peaker rates costs virtually nothing.
THIS is what all utilities are afraid we will realize. That we can not only “green the grid” but that we can stabilize and democratize it using point of use solutions within our built environment. These clowns are panicking that we will learn the truth, but they hardly need worry since the media REFUSES to report on this simple paradigm that could save the economy, property values, our wilderness and our planet. It’s horrifying that people are ignoring this!!
We need to push for $250 million/year in AB 811 funding so we can install efficiency upgrades and solar panels on our homes and businesses. We need to push for Feed in Tariffs for those who produce clean power above and beyond what they use. We need to publicize this FREE and FAIR way to clean our grid, and STOP the destruction of our beautiful wilderness (Pine Tree Wind and Owens Valley are 2 great examples).
3:55, I agree that specialization is gray issue and that’s because you can look at the topic from various angles. It brings up a few points of ambiguity.
- You have job classes that are very unique to the industry (Linemen, Groundmen, Load Dispatchers) and you have general professions that are debatable (Clerical, Engineering). Within the debatable professions you have focuses that have different degrees of specialization. With engineering you have communications (your example) and protective relaying. Communications is more readily transferrable. Relaying isn’t because if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can black out an area. All of these jobs, including the unique ones are under the same union and move in the same direction so unless the union gets split, there’s no fair way to do this.
- The other part of the argument, that the higher pay is justified because it’s competitive with other municipal utilities and private industry, totally gets negated on this blog.
And for clarification – Electrical Mechanics still do high voltage work (the last DWP employee to get killed was an Electrical Mechanic), and the title Electrician implies lower voltage work inside a building.
possibly out performing incumbents at DWP, especially those who have a lot of senority
Civil servants with seniority seem to automatically be viewed as lazy and dispensible. This is not true at all in practice.
destructive Big Solar and Big Wind
You can’t call Solar and Wind destructive to the environment without looking at the long term effects of carbon emissions from other sources. It’s a lopsided view.
I like the ratepayer rooftop solar idea but achieving even 20% green energy by 2020 would be impossible. It’s also expensive on both ends – both on ratepayers to install the panels (even with loans) and on the utility to upgrade the infrastructure to perform the 2 way metering and protect it
And even though I know what you’re trying to say, “peaker power” is a phrase used to refer to power generated by gas peaker units, not power sold on the energy market during times of peak use.
Great post!
Excellent job.
Good post, thanks
Great post!
Excellent job.
Yea you are totally spot on.