EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was first published in the North Valley Reporter.
F
is in the hands of Austin Beutner, a Wall Street wizard who made his
fortune
taking over distressed companies and bringing them back to life.
As
interim
DWP General Manager and de facto mayor in charge of a dozen key
departments,
Beutner’s
hands have never been this full.
He is a
man who says the past doesn’t matter, it’s what you’re doing now to solve
problems that count. Yet, the past corruption at the DWP, a renegade utility
that has operated outside of public control, and the long-time overspending
throughout city government haunt his every move.
Strip
clubs, drinking on the job, theft at the DWP and our elected officials
commitment to protecting city workers while cutting services and squeezing more
money out of the public – Beutner seems powerless and not very interested in
delving deeply into what’s broken, or carrying out the dramatic changes needed
to turn LA around.
This
isn’t like anything Beutner has ever faced before. He has no political experience nor shown any real
sense of the understanding that government isn’t just a business.
From
everything he’s done in his six months of building his power base at
City Hall,
Beutner seems to think the public is like customers and the interests he
has to
align are the politicians, managers and unions.
The
result is its pretty much business as usual at City Hall.
The mayor’s budget just adopted by the City
Council is no different than the budget last year. It is based on
optimistic revenue
projections; cuts that are unlikely to achieve expected results in a
timely
manner, the possible sale of parking lots and meters and heavy
borrowing.
Brilliant
as Beutner is, there are no indications that his plan to get the city
out of
the financial crisis is any different than it has been for several
years:
Survive the next month, the next quarter, the next year and hope for an
economic
miracle. Maybe it will happen but few believe the economy will rebound
any time
soon, especially LA with high unemployment and soaring poverty rates.
If real
change is to come, it is going to take a massive grassroots rebellion.
LA needs
new leaders, a new vision and a new deal for the public and city
workforce to
provide stability for business to grow, security of workers and
protection for
public services.
The LA
Clean Sweep Campaign 2011 (lacleansweep.
com) is trying to do just that by lining up challengers for the
seven
even-numbered Council seats on the ballot next March. Success depends on
ordinary citizens getting involved and contributing what they can. This
is our
city where we live and work. Our futures depend on it.
Ron, you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. Beutner is going to leverage the City `s assets for a quick buck and damned the shareholders and employees. After all, isn`t the way he made his millions? As far as Tony, first, he cannot balance his own check book and secondly he rather play, as documented in the Times, than work. Lucky us.
There is something totally wacko about this whole scenario. If I were a billionaire working for a buck, the last thing I’d do is try to run DWP with the corporate mentality of slash and burn, rid the place of managers and employees, and reduce the costs enough in the short term to sell the company to the next fool for huge profits. This is how he and his mentor Riordan made their money. The IBEW has a stranglehold on a department that is a monopoly. Getting rid of a few managers won’t do a darn thing since he can’t touch the employees. Is he also going to rid the department of all the crap political “consultants” parked there by the Mayor. Even if he does, which he won’t, what does he hope to accomplish there in the little time he plans to be there? Nothing of any value, other than some sound bites for the Mayor.
Now, if I were a billionaire, I’d remind the Mayor of his fiduciary duties of the position, guide him how to run a city and assist him in hiring intelligent and committed individuals to key posts that would care for the city’s interests rather than the Mayors’.
Clearly, he crossed that line when he took the DWP job. I have no idea why Beutner is here or why he is needed. He is as clueless as the Mayor, and we don’t need two. A billionaire who wants to be a Mayor, and a Mayor who lives like a billionaire.
blah blah blah blah says Beutner.
blah blah blah
Then he takes our money.
To May 29, 2010 4:36 PM:
Whatever you think of Beutner, he is anything but clueless. Whether you think he is an honorable successful business man, or a corrupt Wall Street takeover artist, he is sly as a fox and knows exactly what he is doing and what is going on around him.
So the real question what is the real plan – the big picture?
Are they going to sell off DWP assets?
Are they going to sell other City assets to their friends on the cheap?
Will sweetheart contracts be let?
While I am waiting for “hell to freeze over” – change to come to LA to save it.
Can anyone tell me where there is a city in Southern California that has a decent government that someone from the middle class can afford to live in?
I am ready to move.
If we broke LA into about six new cities, there might be a hope. This mayor is clueless as he drives business, middle class, and experienced civil servants out of the City. This place looks more like a banana republic every day.
Breaking up the city is not the solution. Where is the guarantee there will be clean politicians there. We need to clean LA. Politicians have had a free ride for way too long. Send one or two to jail, and this city will turn around for the better.
We need to recruit Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy as our D.A. here in LA.
She is largely responsible for putting Detroit Knucklehead Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and a number of others politicians in jail.
And when he DID violate his probation they did send him back to the slammer where he belongs.
Get it Villaraigosa, AlargCON and others who need to be in the slammer with him!?!
“Beutner seems to think the public is like customers and the interests he has to align are the politicians, managers and unions.
The result is its pretty much business as usual at City Hall.”
I guess we will see if the usual suspects are the interests he has to align. Chances are you are right. I don’t, however, think Beutner or City Hall sees the public as customers. City Hall sees the union as customers and shareholders (their stock being the bought politicians). The public is nothing more than the money base and they will squeeze as much as they from can the us, providing the most minimal of services they have to. If we were real customers, they’d do what they could to keep our business. Problem here is there are no competitors for the services they provide.
I met Beutner. The man never cracked a smile. He was as cold as stone. ‘Hardly the transparency poster child.
Then again, maybe that was transparent.