UPDATED EDITOR’S NOTE: I was invited Wednesday morning to appear on CNN on Thursday sometime between 8:30 A.M. and 9:30 A.M. to respond to the mayor’s statements but disinvited at 6;30 a.m. Thursday morning.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa went on a media blitz Wednesday to defend his plan to shut down nonessential city agencies two days a week starting Monday despite being told he didn’t have the authority to carry out his edict.
In apparent damage control from his announcement Tuesday, the mayor got on CNN to tell a national audience what he’s up to..
“We don’t
expect that we would be closing City Hall, if you will, two days a week
beyond July,” the mayor said during a morning interview on CNN, according to the LA Times..
Villaraigosa, in the final stages of drafting his budget plan for next years, said more severe cuts in services would occur after July 1 with plans to lay off 4,000 workers permanently. He pleaded with unions most of which have contract protections against furloughs and layoffs until July 1, to take 15 percent pay cuts although police, fire, and DWP workers would be exempt from all cuts, furloughs or layoffs.
“There’s no scenario where we don’t have to
trim our services and the cost of our payroll,” Villaraigosa told CNN’s
chief business correspondent Ali Velshi.
Ron –
Would that be 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.?
I want to see you sock it to him!
Who needs the Mayor? Have him stay home without pay. Give him a pink slip. Besides his signature is already on file. This way he won’t have to get any ink on his grubby fingers. “Can” the Councilmembers too….Ooops, big money needs the mayor/councilmembers….my bad….
Its about time. At least the national media isn’t so stuck up that they can’t present two sides to an issue.
Ron Kaye, Walter Moore, Jack Humphreville, and Stephen Box should all be the “go to guys” when the media is seeking another side to the incumbent’s story.
Why is Nick Patsaouras filing a lawsuit?
Yeah…Why is Nick filing a lawsuit? Hmmm…
http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/city-news/former-board-sues-dwp/
How do politicians control their constituents?
They lie to their constituents.
Knock…Knock….Who’s there? Mayor!…Mayor who? Mayor have your vote?
Knock…Knock….Who’s there? Mayor!…Mayor who? Mayor have your vote?
Nick filed the lawsuit as a taxpayer against DWP and we are happy he did. He knows about DWP as a former commissioner which makes his argument even stronger. It took a citizen to get action with DWP.
Knock!…Knock!….Who’s there? Mayor!…Mayor who? Mayor have your vote? No! You lie like a dingy rug.
AS far as “workers” to stay home, he can start with the staff of the Mayor’s Office, then work thru the Council Office. Neither is a “revenue-generating” department, nor is concerned with public safety (e.g., LAPD, LAFD, etc.), nor will their having the days off affect trash collection, nor any other truly critical service, other than breath mints for the Mayor.
Here’s the reason Patsaouras is suing:
This action is a taxpayer lawsuit brought pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure §526a to challenge the legal integrity and propriety of the refusal of the LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF WATER & POWER (DWP) to honor its commitment to the citizens of the City of Los Angeles and to the LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL to transfer the sum of $73.5 Million to the CITY’S reserve fund from DWP’S total operating revenues, which sums, Petitioner contends, represent legally binding commitments to the CITY’S reserve fund, as per the DWP’S current and past practices and polices, and the affirmative and unequivocal oral and written representations made by top-ranking DWP representatives to the CITY COUNCIL at various times during the past year, the latest being on March 1, 2010, at a meeting of the Budget & Finance Committee of the CITY COUNCIL. Petitioner seeks a Court Order directing the DWP to effectuate the transfer of said $73.5 Million forthwith so as to obviate a possible budget crisis for the balance of this current fiscal year.
For the full story see ourla.org
http://ourla.org/latest/1849-nick-patsaouras-files-suit-against-dwp-for-735-m-promised-to-city
Hey, the Mayor’s backing down: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100407/ap_on_bi_ge/us_la_city_budget_6
The City isn’t going to “run out of money.” There’s plenty of money — it just needs to be transferred. This is a cash flow problem, not a “we have no money” problem. Frankly, the fact that she’s claiming the opposite is really worrying … can’t her office tell the difference? Or is she playing politics, despite her claim to “take politics out” of the situation (see article)?
Things that make you go, “Hmmmm”
Meanwhile everyone seems to have forgotten about the bursting, ancient water pipes – how much did the floods cost just this winter alone? – manhole covers that explode, power lines especially in the hills that go down with every wind or rainstorm, uncleared brush on DWP land that created fires. The stuff that DWP was claiming just recently was the real reason it needed to hike our rates.
NOW it’s all about “green” this and that, to avoid federal fines or something, money to pay pensions for DWP workers and for the extra staff the City Council Itself insisted DWP take on instead of really laying them off (Hahn, Koretz, Alarcon, Rosendahl and the rest attacked Santana so much for being “Heartless” for caring about what Wall Street thinks, they may have driven him to drink, but then again, he WAS at a Cooley roast with all that it entails, it’s just that unlike SOME there, he didn’t have a city-paid driver to take him home).
What really rankles everyone is that no one knows WHERE the money is going now, let alone how much they really need and to do what. Kind of sounds like the whole city of L A under this city council as well as the mayor.
I am embarassed to say that I was once a supporter of the Mayor. However, he has been a great disappointment and driven this city to the ground with his arrogance and carelessness. I am so angry by the mayor’s actions that I will be supporting the recall. If you disagree with the Mayor’s destruction of our City and the financial crises he created, please join me and volunteer to carry out the recall. Check out
http://recallcityhall.org/petition-to-recall.html
“Why is Nick Patsaouras filing a lawsuit??
Patsaouras wants to ensure ratepayers are double taxed on their electric bills.
After the courts ruled the water transfer illegal Patsaouras was like, oh no, they might declare the power transfer illegal too. We can’t have that happen because the DWP needs to be an ATM for the city. You know? Since the city is in jeopardy and needs the money, there’s a chance the courts just might declare the doubletax to be legal. Quick, where’s Trutanich? Oh yeah he’s off somewhere being the Superhero of Supergraphics. Alright I’ll do it myself.
Congrats ratepayers, if Patsaouras wins the city will have legal precedent to raid the DWP for years to come.