“DWP says it will fire workers,” shouts the Daily News across the top of the front page.
“DWP to fire two caught in sting,” whispers the Times over a two-paragraph story at the bottom of page B-5 with a somewhat longer story online.
Both newspapers sent reporters to Interim DWP General Mayor and First Chief Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner’s morning press conference Wednesday so did local TV stations, most especially CBS2 which broke the story of workers drinking and driving and going to a strip club while being salaries up to $144,000 a year.
It’s easy to see this is a story of great public interest and significance, unlike the ridiculously hyped LA boycott-Arizona power shutoff story.
The boycott is phony and has no substance. Arizona’s power official only said he might recommend looking at retaliation if it had any real effect. And the problem with Arizona’s illegal immigrant law is in its symbolism and implementation which could lead to abuses and enormous liability claims, not in its substance which is basically the same as federal law and LA’s Special Order 40, both of which are enforced.
So why would the Times lead page B-5 with a catchup story on unplugging LA while caring so little about the DWP story, the editors not only buried and briefed it but called it a “sting” when it was an undercover hidden camera investigation? No one was lured to the strip club or liquor stores.
First and foremost, the Times institutionally doesn’t give a damn about LA or its people and never has, unless they are rich or famous or Hollywood celebrities — like Times staffers like to see themselves despite their company being in bankruptcy and their numbers down by more than half.
So the fact the DWP is the focus of the public’s growing discontent and the cash cow holding together a city government teetering on the brink of bankruptcy itself is of no importance.
Then, there’s the Times’ pride: It has a long history of ignoring stories broken up other media and the arbiter of the importance of all things Los Angeles even, as in this case, when the video of DWP workers aroused the sleeping population far more than rate hikes and the 100 years of DWP scandals.
Having said all that, the Times editorial decision does have a logic whether the editors actually thought about it or not.
Beutner is carefully managing the worker drinking-strip club scandal on the advice of PR people and political strategists.
It has to go away before the DWP can go after the long series of rate hikes it wants to pay its bloated payroll, appease IBEW Local 18 boss Brian D’Arcy with a couple of thousand more jobs and buy cleaner energy no matter how many billions is squeezes out of the public’s pockets and the local economy — money that will mostly go to giant Chinese and other corporations.
So he holds a quickie news conference to announce termination proceedings have started against two of the workers and others might face the same consequences while a broader investigation is under way to get closure on suspicion such conduct is widespread at the utility with at least the passive consent of managers who also are IBEW members.
You can bet little will come of the broader investigation. Beutner already has assured us he doesn’t care about the past so the probe won’t go very deep into the DWP culture, certainly won’t look at the people who have no work to do except unlocking and locking a warehouse door or the scams involving the theft of “surplus” DWP property..
Diminishing the significance of his statements further is there is a better than even money chance nobody will ever be fired unless D’Arcy gives the green light which he might do if he fix the culprits up with cushy jobs with his brethren in the private sector, IBEW Local 11.
That still leaves the problem of appeals to the Civil Service Commission and the rules put in place by our elected leaders to make sure that there is no workplace discipline anywhere at City Hall and workers never lose their jobs no matter what they do.
You might remember the two garbage men who a few years back rang up thousands of dollars in bills for personal calls on their city cell phones. They not only weren’t fired but they were given most of the rest of their lives to repay the city, supposedly because they didn’t understand the phones weren’t for personal use.
In days gone by, Beutner’s strategy would work. The Times would eventually declare case closed and come back in a year or two with an expose of its own of past DWP abuses.
But the journalistic world has changed.
The breakdown of the rule of law and of public service at City Hall is all over talk radio and getting extensive TV coverage. The internet is filled with bloggers’ reports on the DWP and City Hall’s endless list of failures. Viral email extends their reach to thousands of others. Citizen watchdogs are penetrating the walls of secrecy.
This scandal and all the other crimes against the city being committed by our elected officials won’t go away as easily as they did in the past. That is the light at the end of the dark tunnel that our city government has become — something that the political machine has yet to come to terms with.
The reason the LA Times ran the DWP Workers story in bold haedlines must be the same reason the Daily News used to run blaring headlines that would’ve made William Randolph Hearst shudder.
It starts off as alarmist headlines, then after a while the readers see through the bs and eventually stop buying the paper.
I agree with 150% about the LA Slimes coverage of local news. I don’t remember them even covering the story of the DA’s Public Integrity Unit investigating city council over the deceitful way they voted to raise our DWP rates. The LA Slimes spinned the ridiculous protest of only 20 people at the Laker game against Phil Jackson but the print version had a huge photo of the protesters making it seem it was a big deal. LA Slimes has lost 14% of subscriptions and falling fast. Instead of reporting the news, they are the Mayor’s and clowncils pr spinners. The best place to get news now is the internet and some of the nationwide sites. Why hasn’t the LA Slimes reported the Majority of America support Arizona? Even another site had a story of how many people voted via a poll against city council boycott of AZ and the Slimes didn’t post a story on it. They also buried the story of the Deputy shot in Aziona to the middle part instead of putting it on the front page last month.
LA Times has great sports coverage though. Go Plaschke and Adande!
And speaking of the LA Slime and Arizona – a couple of days ago, the Slime ran an opinion survey on its Web site on the subject of the new Arizona illegal immigrant law, which BTW mirrors not only Federal law but also a California law – funny, nobody mentions that!). The results of that survey have never been reported in print by the Slime. Know why? The last time I looked at the numbers during the survey period, the “Agree” position (in favor of the law) was voted by almost 95%, the “Disagree” position, (shared by the editorial board of the Slime) was voted by only 5%. So if the Slime doesn’t report it, then it never happened, right? I haven’t seen a status report in the Slime on that “non-story” either.
So how’s the investigation going regarding the Michael Jackson funeral parade expense coming? Have any invoices for services gone out yet?
Excellent article! Really excellent! The TIMES hasn’t been this out of touch since Three Strikes, Prop 13, the Davis recall, the Bird recall, the election of Reagan, the Arizona law, . . .
The biting cynicism of the comments on the LA Times’ own website (at least the ones they publish) must tell the tone deaf people there that the public isn’t buying it (the DWP “firing” story, not the paper–they know no one buys the paper).
I’ve never seen anyting like it: people are really pissed at the effort of officials like TV to hijack the city and ignore the pesky voters. Its great! And the TIMES cannot smother it as it usually does.
And after seeing MLK hospital collapse under the weight of union-protected incompetence, and seeing no one fired from the city despite the worst recession in 50 years, everyone down clueless UCLA freshman knows the score.
(OK, OK, everyone except the Times and its likeable but clueless one-trick pony George Skelton, who “knows” that raising taxes and eliminating the 2/3 vote requirement that stands between Sacramento and Athens is “best” for California).
Poor George: in Greece, he’s the man insisting on retiring at 55, supported by Germans who work to age 67, and sees opponents as motivated only by “greed.”
We all remember that the MLK incompetents shut down a needed hospital–and then were allowed to lateral into other county jobs and no one kept track of them (county people said it was a “mistake,” that “shouldn’t have happened.” There was “no way to trace them, sorry.”)
The cynicism about the DWP “firings” has to be heard to be believed. People are talking about it in Starbucks lines. And the biting remarks include the TIMES for playing it as if it were a firing.
Please keep this website going! If you’d been around 15 years ago, no telling what might have been averted.
thank you!
Fantastic article! The LA Times disgraceful coverage of the DWP scandal became even more evident today. This paper is now purely a PR and spin tool for a select few. What happened to journalistic pride?
Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Stories are rampant about workers screwing around during working hours, supply chain shenanigans, political appointees being appointed to positions that really require skills, and out and out theft.
This is just another eason why we need a Rate Payers Advocate / Inspector General and protection of whislteblowers.
When I walk my dog in the morning and see the Times lying in my neighbors’ driveways, I really think less of them. I can only assume that they read the paper and believe what is in it. I mean this with all sincerity. I feel bad for them for their ignorance.
Have to admit I subscribe to the Slime on Thurs-Sun, not because I read it, which I don’t, but we have a 15 year old incontenent dog who pisses on the kitchen floor. What better rag to soak it up. So don’t pity the neighbor, he may have an old dog, or has to spray paint patio furniture and uses it to mask. There are many uses for old newspapers, I just found that subscribing means I have a stack of new unopend newspaper for whenever I need it.
Funny, I bring the paper in the house in the morning and leave it on the kitchen table for my wife, who is retired. When I come home, it is still in the plastic bag, waiting to be thrown in the pile.
LA Live powers are already seducing the de facto Mayor. Austin Beutner shot a contest free throw after the 1st quarter of Suns v. Lakers. Whores and pimps, crooks and liars have infested Downtown.
Do not put it past the Mayor to fire the employees just for the headlines. When the fired employees appeal, it will be years down the road that they will get their jobs back or huge cash settlements for wrongful termination.
When these employees collect their cash settlements, the Mayor will be able to say that he tried, and everything will have been forgotten.
Can you say Tennie Pierce?
You gotta ask yourselves if they have already cut depts. so far down, then what the hell does the Mayor still need his 17 Deputy Mayors to do? Why are there so many in the Mayor’s office doing nothing but screwing around making 6 figures? Why didn’t the Mayor announce his hires to do entertainment strategy and partnerships for him and the LA Slimes nor Daily News cover that story? I found out by reading a website where the female received some stupid award. The other guy who the Mayor hired was never mentioned back in Feb. Why is Tim Lewieke getting all the development business at LA Live. WE know the Lakers hate our politicians and thanks to Betty Pleasant for printing the parade story about Kobe telling everyone not to let the Mayor near him on the bus.
Why beat a dead horse. The Mayor and City Council are morally bankrupt. Everything they do is for show. No one gives a damn about the city.
JUST CALLED THE LA TIMES BECAUSE I FOUND OUT THAT ONLY CERTAIN ZIP CODES ARE ENTITLED TO THE SUNDAY MAGAZINE. IF YOU DO NOT LIVE IN THE PREFERED ZIP CODE YOU ARE OUT OF LUCK. I CALLED AND WENT BALISTIC. WE ALL PAY THE SAME PRICE AND THEY STATED THAT IN ORDER TO CUT COSTS THEY HAD TO PICK AND CHOOSE WHO GOT THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE. RED LINING IS WHAT I CALL IT. THEY NOW HAVE TO SEND IT TO ME VIA THE USPS.
We should add the local stations especially Channel 7 that does more pr spin for the Mayor then any other station. Chan 7 has received more awards and certificates from the Mayor. None of the local media at top of the hour aired the 9 students arrested who blocked Wilshire Blvd. in front of the Federal Bldg. protesting they want the Dream Act giving illegals aide to go to college. Its on their websites but no mention on newscast. This is why I’m starting to watch O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, cable news. They’re covering more local especially because our local news isn’t reporting the facts on immigration issue.
Thank you 4:33 for alerting us. Just got off the phone with LA Times to find out that my zip code was also not covered. Was going to cancel, but got a half price offer. If they continue with these discrimanatory policies, I will cancel.
Yup! There’s lots of reasons to get the paper delivered. The Daily News for the NYT crossword, the Sunday Times for training puppies, sopping up spills, coupons and my daughter’s favorite comic strip.
I just scoffed at Channel 2 & 9′s reporting of the firing story. TV banner headlines and self-congratulations for breaking the story, the upshot of which was TWO WHOLE FIRINGS!
What a frickin’ joke!
I no longer complain about the TV channels. Quit watching them. Five minutes of trivial news on a half hour segment with newscasters thanking each other by name, as though they matter and their banal chatter amongst themselves like they are at a private party.
LA Slimes loves to report on Latino bullshit stories. Notice all the gang banger stories. To show how horrible our media is not one single outlet reported the FACT that the guy who organized the immigration protest against Phil Jackson had been arrested for 4 FELONIES of voter fraud by the DA and Calif. State Secty Office. His court case was today but got continued until next month. You would think this is important info on who Nativo Lopez, pres. of Mexican American Political Assoc. is. BUT NOT A WORD FROM ANY MEDIA. This is how crooked and bias and unbalanced our media sadly is. Gotta luv Hannity who today slammed Obama for allowing the Mexico’ Presid. Calderon to critize Arizona (our country) in front of Congress and dumb ass Democrats applauded him. This is how outrageous and stupid our gov’t is getting. Who is standing up for America if not these fools?
Guys, have you not figured it out yet? Tony is grooming Beutner as his successor. That`s why he has abdicated his responsibilities and authority to this politically ignoramus.
DWP is corrupt to the core. Everybody knows it except Cooley. Of course he is too chicken to go after D`Arcy . D`Arcy will make Hoffa look like a Saint. Cooley should follow the money spent on Measure B.
Curious to see how Villaraigosa will spin this D.A.investigation, after pummeling Hahn`s administration as corrupt.
Anonymous on May 20, 2010 3:33 PM is right on the mark. When it’s appealed, the rules pertaining to appeals, probably made my those who are voted into office by the unions, will surely allow for a hefty pay out for wrongful termination. We have seen that with misbehaving teachers. Even if two are fired, as someone else posted, that’s two workers and the culture isn’t close to changing. I see this in other departments as well.
I know y’all will roll your eyes when I write this, but this really has become some odd form of socialism. The labor rules, the wealthy corporations have joined forces with the unions and politicians, the press is censored (or brainwashed) and democracy as we know it has disappeared. Taxation without representation happens. Rate hikes are justified by cost recovery-yet the cost recovery is the cost of those raises and pensions. So they can tax away in the guise of a rate hike. When called on it, even by a judge, nothing comes of it (like the water bills and prop 218). Check out this link:
http://www.socialismconference.org/
Okay, so the sky may not be falling. The government will not call itself socialist. But, it is happening. Something is so wrong with the entire picture and those of us that see it aren’t quite united (or rich or savvy) enough to fight back. Those that cry out are seen as crazy and we continue down a very awful path, helpless and mad and tired and broke.
What is crazy is to refer to the problem as “socialist.” It is simply silly to use word games as serious discourse.
Anonymous on May 20, 2010 11:09 PM – Yes, it is silly to use the word on one hand. However, please check out the site and surf some more. Check out the speakers and their topics. Check out their associations with existing elected officials (separate searches).
As I said, the word will not be used in this country, however, the movement exists and their beliefs have gained momentum and are codified by our elected officials. A major part of the movement is the labor unions who seem to have brainwashed the members they apparently represent. And, as said, it’s an odd form-sort of a twist. Two strong forces (corporate and union) seem to be merging and their power outnumbers us to the point where we are taxed, penalized and ignored. Any kind of accountability is nestled in procedures and processes that keep the status quo.
Non somebody from the LA Times or some other journalism outlet needs to go after the LAPD’s higher brass for the disbanding of their counter terrorism unit! What the heck are those guys smoking at the LAPD? Sounds like The Chiefs over there are asleep at the wheel. Can we get that Boston guy back? These guys are idiots. I want to see that story?
Archie Supports Fair Play on May 21, 2010 5:39 AM wrote:
“Temptress LiLo (Lindsay Lohan) will stay out of prison until the troubled celebrity’s court date. Celebrity justice strikes once more”
She must have ties to DWP.
Good for Cooley going after DWP even harder.
“PROBE OPENS INTO ALLEGED MISUE OF DWP’S CORPORATE CREDIT CARDS.” Let’s see how the little man Beutner spins this one. I was shocked to see one of the employees the DA’s Public Integrity unit in this investigation is from Tehran. To the poster Cooley wasn’t afraid to go after Alarcon for living outside his district so I give him credit. To the poster on LAPD terriorism unit, only 20 officers were re deployed elsewhere. The unit is pretty much still intact.
At this point, no matter what the papers and news outlets say, this is a *proposed* discharge. The employees still have their opportunity to give their side of the story, so that Management can make a more informed decision. Then, yes, they will have the opportunity to appeal. It will be assigned to a hearing examiner, and DWP will have to present their case, and so will the employees. The Hearing Examiner will consider all the evidence and make a recommendation to the Civil Service commission.
At the civil service commission meeting, both sides will present exceptions to the hearing examiner’s findings. The commission can do one of two things: 1) Make the employee whole, or 2) Approve the department’s initial decision. They can also pressure both sides to come to a settlement. The settlement may be whatever the hearing examiner recommended, if he recommended something other than the penalty the department imposed originally; or it can be some other compromise. If the parties say they will not/can not settle, then the commission has to either make the employee whole (throw out all the discipline and give back-pay) or do what the department wanted in the first place.
Depending on the quality of the commission (all mayoral appointees), they could go either way. A good commission, with smart, responsible people on it, will usually be consistent in doing what’s best for the City (the public). A bad one, and there have been some VERY bad ones, will act as if the City is an orphanage and, to paraphrase one very bad commissioner from years ago, “I’d rather have this person earning a living than on the street unemployed” no matter what the transgression was.
The current commission is very, very good, from what I hear. Experienced in labor law and labor relations, very fair, and with the City’s best interest in mind. This does not mean they always side with Management — it means that they have the public’s interests foremost, and if they see a sound, well-presented case with good evidence, they act on it. If they see a crappy case that’s going to lead to a lawsuit, they act accordingly there, too.
InsideOpinion on May 21, 2010 8:53 AM said:
“If they see a crappy case that’s going to lead to a lawsuit, they act accordingly there, too.”
Crappy or not, don’t lawuits happen and doesn’t the city settle rather than fight?
How long does this entire process take? How much staff time and resources is expended on these cases?
I was shocked to see one of the employees the DA’s Public Integrity unit in this investigation is from Tehran.
Why?
Talk about slimy LA Slimes can you believe they didn’t even have the story in the printed version of the 9 students ARRESTED for shutting down Wilshire Blvd and protesting immigration. Channel 7, 2, 9, 4 didn’t run the story either. So the person who says they no longer watch regular local news but turning to cable is right on target. Its bad enough our city council members and Mayor are corrupt but now our local media is no better then they are and are proving to be just as corrupt. I agree the internet and sites like this give us info others refuse to report especially on the immigration issue. This is why Los Angeles has become a “santuary city”
anonymous on May 21, 2010 9:00 AM
The whole process takes around 6 months, give or take.
Yes, employees can sue anyway, but they have much less incentive if the administrative process has upheld the discipline. Which is why having a good commission is important. One that’s staffed with loose cannons who are anti-discipline in favor of being a welfare agency for the City, end up costing the City even MORE. Not only do they make employees whole who shouldn’t be made whole, costing the City the backpay, but they also give the employee fodder for retaliation lawsuits — not because there was truly a problem with the case, but because they just don’t want to uphold discipline.
They cost the City in other ways, too … supervisors who are asked to document and follow the very demanding, time-consuming process, only to have it blow up because a lousy commission wanted to keep a problem employee employed, give up and stop holding people accountable. Good employees find themselves being saddled with all the work because the bad employees can’t be relied upon and the supervisor is too bitter to try again (not to mention sometimes they’re named in the lawsuits, too). City employees overall find themselves in the position of having to defend their work ethic to a skeptical public — all, because of a lousy few employees and commissioners/managers who don’t want to hold them accountable.
As I said, the current commission is very good. But a lot also depends on the quality of the evidence, the ability of the department’s advocate to present the case to the hearing examiner, and the quality of the hearing examiner. This is a long way from being a done deal.
anonymous on May 21, 2010 9:00 AM
The whole process takes around 6 months, give or take.
Yes, employees can sue anyway, but they have much less incentive if the administrative process has upheld the discipline. Which is why having a good commission is important. One that’s staffed with loose cannons who are anti-discipline in favor of being a welfare agency for the City, end up costing the City even MORE. Not only do they make employees whole who shouldn’t be made whole, costing the City the backpay, but they also give the employee fodder for retaliation lawsuits — not because there was truly a problem with the case, but because they just don’t want to uphold discipline.
They cost the City in other ways, too … supervisors who are asked to document and follow the very demanding, time-consuming process, only to have it blow up because a lousy commission wanted to keep a problem employee employed, give up and stop holding people accountable. Good employees find themselves being saddled with all the work because the bad employees can’t be relied upon and the supervisor is too bitter to try again (not to mention sometimes they’re named in the lawsuits, too). City employees overall find themselves in the position of having to defend their work ethic to a skeptical public — all, because of a lousy few employees and commissioners/managers who don’t want to hold them accountable.
As I said, the current commission is very good. But a lot also depends on the quality of the evidence, the ability of the department’s advocate to present the case to the hearing examiner, and the quality of the hearing examiner. This is a long way from being a done deal.
Where can I get my ANTI-INCUMBENT Tshirt. Whoever selling them will make a fortune. Our city not only has gone down the toliet but now its becoming a lawlessness place to live. Today in council the renters went haywire and assaulted police because they didn’t get their way on rent control. They demanded their rent not be increased. I’m glad the landlords won. Yesterday you had students protesting without a permit and cause havoc, the illegals cost the city over $1 million so they could march. All the while the media sits by and says nothing. Not one politician has the courage to at least pretend to be a leader and state lawlessness will not be tolerated. WE have politicians and media in bed together and the residents are paying the price for their irresponsible, incompetent, ignorant behavior.
“As I said, the current commission is very good”.
Why is this commission so good? Found them to be the opposite. Corrupt SOBs, depending on the case. Lets not get carried away by the blatant abuse by DWP employees. More often than not, it is the city management that should be indicted. There are two sides to every story. Don’t try to be the judge and jury too. Many employees have been wrongly accused/abused by the corrupt management in this city and got no relief from the Civil Service Commisssion.
Just wanted to share with you a little blurb from Eric’s newsletter that I received in my email box – I have a feeling that things will be turning around soon in LA:
Council President Eric Garcetti’s work on a sound spending plan for next year culminated Monday night with the 13-1 passage of a balanced budget. Garcetti led the battle to ensure the budget was balanced on real numbers and that it laid a course for structural reforms to secure the City’s long-term fiscal stability. That stability would bring consistency to city services like public safety, libraries, and street repair in both good economic times and bad.
To May 21, 2010 10:00 AM
Your comments about someone’s Nationality is biggoted.
To: insider opinion too on May 21, 2010 5:09 PM
My involvement with management’s ability to discipline workers refutes your claim that management should be indicted. In my department, if an employee needs discipline, there is a chain of command. The supervisor must write up the employee. Management cannot skip that chain. If management does, the worker runs to their union rep and all hell breaks loose. More often than not, the supervisor does not write up the unruly worker and nothing is done. The rules dictating civil service enable the behavior and ties management’s hands.
Is “Patty” (8:57 p.m.) Eric Garcetti’s drag name?
LMAO re Garcetti post. Its obvious all this bullshit is getting to those losers on council. You have Janice Hahn being recalled by her district now. Yesterday you had the Mexican Mafia thug Alarcon blaming and snitching to the media the whole rent control mess and fight afterward was of Garcetti and Rosendahl who changed their votes at the last minute. To show the disrespect, arrogance, no class, uneducated fools on council, even though I didn’t agree with the renters the fact they had to wait 4 HOURS for those assholes to finally listen and bring the motion forward is BS. There were kids and senior citizens in the audience and they waited. How in the hell can these moron council members not care and have a conscience and keep all those people waiting. Where is my Anti-Incumbent T shirt?
Patty, I am unequivocally certain you need medical attention for mental illness. You have been quiet for sometime with this Garcetti crap and I was at peace. Eric is done. Kaput, period, over. Wesson will be the next Council Prez on July 1st, and in 2013 your pretty Eric will go back to teaching where he belongs, so, PLEASE, leave us alone. He brought it to himself, because he has no balls, you cannot depend on his word and he cannot make a decision, if his life was on the line. You can separate the men from the boys when times are tough. Your pretty Eric has failed the test.
To the last comment before mine, you say that Eric Garcetti is over – in one sense, I can see that, he is a massive failure, but on the other hand:
1. He is aggressively seeking national news coverage.
2. He seems to get it both ways – low income and environmental people think he is the best thing since baked bread, yet he gives away the city treasure to wealthy developers without any substantial or equitable benefit for the people. He has more Teflon in him than Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton within his core constituency.
3. He is using the “triangulate” move to the center that worked for Clinton and hints for a higher office. This was evident in his about face to the renters and give in to the landlords (forget your opinion on this issue, just look at the strategic moves he is making).
4. He is very concerned about bad press to the point of shutting down free speech (in violation of the Brown Act) and even restricting the press as reported by Eric Leonard on KFI on May 21, 2010.
Please!!!! none of these bafoons will get elected if the people truly are fed up with them screwing around and turing our city into a 3rd world country. I received an email from someone who saw Lisa Sarno at council. She’s making $135,000 to plant trees. We need to find out who the corporate sponsors are she said in council that is helping donate $$$ to plant $1 million trees. So far about 200,000 have been planted. Libraries hours cut, park hours cut, officers OT and patrol cut, city depts. cut and merged but the dumb ass Mayor is wasting money on TREES.
Dear Anonymous on May 22, 2010 8:26 AM-
Well said and bravo. I just hope his strategy fails him.
Yeah 8:51AM. Ron should expose the fraud of the million trees program. Who contributed and where the money has been wasted. It will be a BIG relevation. LA Slimes won`t do it, as they are supported by the same contributors.
Yup, why are the entertainment studios donating money for those stupid trees? Is this the connection the Mayor wanted by hiring the other village idiot Jay Carson and the other Deputy Mayors in his so called “Entertainment Vision Unit.” Agreed no way will the Slimes or any other paper cover these types of stories. This is why all local media coverage is losing subscriptions. People getting more and more info on internet. The entire nation reported on the dumb asses we have in council and the Failure of a Mayor.
The outrageous rate hikes are NOT going to fly. The gov’t wants everoyne to cut back except them. When people start getting these rate hikes in the mail, the whole rotten council will be out. City Hall has always been a DIRTY BED. I had to deal with the Dept. of Trans for 30 yrs. You could fire off most of these workers. They have nothing to do and can be found in restaurants for most of their shifts, or doing unnecessay paper work just to keep busy. At least half should go! We don’t need them. These make work jobs are not needed in a depression. Everthing should be reduced and downsized including DWP $350,000 yearly paychecks. They act like the big bailout banks!
A problem endemic in all departments. City Hall is a job welfare organization on the back of taxpayers. Start with the Mayor’s office.
To Insider Opinion (real original).
If you’ll drop the attitude and read what I wrote before carefully, you’ll see that I specifically said that my definition of a good commission does NOT mean that they always side with Management. A good hearing examiner and a good commission will be fair, and yes, that means that someone somewhere is going to be unhappy.
By the time an employee has been through all the progressive discipline that’s needed to get to the discharge stage, they’ve gotten what’s coming to them. If an employee’s attendance is so horrendous that they’re being fired, then it’s usually taken years — literally, years — of oral warning, writeups and suspensions before the discharge is done. If the employee didn’t get it after various suspensions, what good will more suspension do? None, absolutely none. At some point you have to get rid of them. Then they cry and complain about how unfair it all is, and what a kangaroo court, and all the other nonsense I’ve heard as a supervisor. And in case anyone’s wondering — yeah, I HAVE fired several people who worked for me. And my other employees thanked me.
“It has to go away before the DWP can go after the long series of rate hikes it wants to pay its bloated payroll, appease IBEW Local 18 boss Brian D’Arcy with a couple of thousand more jobs and buy cleaner energy no matter how many billions is squeezes out of the public’s pockets and the local economy — money that will mostly go to giant Chinese and other corporations.”
How ignorant can you possibly be, Ron. How many Power rate hikes has the DWP had in the last ten years? How much is paid per kWh? Compare that to Southern California Edison.
As for your claims on “bloated payroll”, compare the salaries of the tradesmen and skilled technicians to neighboring utilities. Go ahead, look–since you obviously didn’t. Comparable, aren’t they?
Mr. D’Arcy pushed for a large increase in DWP technical employees to maintain the aging power system, which still has quite a bit of equipment in service dated to the early 19th century. The workforce is aging as well, as many employees maintaining the system are or coming upon eligibility for retirement with no new hires to carry the torch. But, Mr. Kaye, this isn’t an issue for you. No, those magical faeries keep the lights on to your rag of a paper / slipshod journalism factory.
Our Mayor and the citizens of Los Angeles made a push for “green” energy, completely oblivious the the capital required and other costs of generating horribly inefficient “green power.” And how dare the DWP ask for money to begin these projects. According to you, they are just using it for their “bloated payroll.”
The DWP also awards contracts just like any other government agency–to the lowest bidder. Now, you claim they are just handing over money to the Chinese. Again, your ignorance must keep you in your coma of bliss, because obviously you’re completely unaware of what is really happening.
Are you even aware of how many hundreds of millions of dollars the City takes from the DWP yearly?
7:05, Ron Kaye has no clue what goes on at DWP and I’m convinced the guy doesn’t care. He just keep repeating the same assertions to push his agenda, whatever that may be.
He says DWP workers are overpaid even though he has no clue what other local utilities like Edison pay their workers (hint: they pay more).
He says the mayor is misappropriating ratepayer money by investing in green energy, totally oblivious to the fact it’s the State that’s mandating it under penalty of fines.
He claims DWP is not doing anything to wean itself off coal. In reality, they dropped Mohave coal plant a few years back and have agreed to carbon standards that prevent them from renewing existing contracts with the remaining coal plants once they expire.
He claims D’Arcy is using political pressure to keep DWP reliant on coal because it means more jobs for his union members. The truth is, no IBEW members operate coal plants, which should have been obvious since the only two coal plants DWP co-owns are out of state.
He repeatedly asserts DWP rate hikes are going to bloated salaries. In actuality the rate hikes are geared toward executing projects mandated by state and federal initiatives that fine the utility (AKA ratepayers) if there is non-compliance – The RPS, GHG Standards, NERC regulations, etc.
He makes a big stink whenver DWP hires people and says the driving force behind hiring is D’Arcy trying to increase his union dues. In doing so he ignores how 1/3rd of the workforce was eliminated during deregulation (and the current workforce is still nowhere near pre-deregulation numbers), infrastructure that was neglected during deregulation has to be fixed, an abnormal portion of the workforce is close to retirement, and there are a ton of new projects on the horizon (IE Smartgrid, Electric Vehicles, etc) that need labor to get done. This is on top of the federal and state mandated projects I mentioned before. DWP wanting to hire is far from unreasonable.
I could keep going but it doesn’t matter. Ron doesn’t represent the whole of LA. He represents aging conservatives who want the West Valley to secede so they never have to venture south of the 110 ever again. Then they can have the lily white Mexican hating suburban enclave they always dreamed about.
Actually Ron Kaye represents a lot of people in LA who are fed up of DWP employees’ bloated salaries and incompetence. And no we are not all white aging conservatives. Ignorant comment.
Yeah, you guys are fed up with DWP’s bloated salaries (that are really just industry average) and DWP’s incompetence (incompetence must mean having some of the best reliability ratings out of all utilities in Southern California). And you guys complain about rate hikes (even though Edison rates are 20-30% higher and in the same time period that neighboring utilities have had 3-4 rate hikes, DWP has had none).
As far as Ron representing aging white conservatives, that’s straight from the interview piece USC wrote on him. Judging by the anti-Persian and anti-Mexican rhetoric this site attracts, I’m not surprised.
I hope you are not charging the taxpayers for your time on the blogs.
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