“We are not allowing for more corruption.” — LA Ethics Commission President Helen Zukin arguing that the limit on gifts to politicians be raised from $100 to $400 in the light of the mayor’s flagrant disregard of the laws on disclosure of gifts and conflicts of interest.
What a perfect epitaph for a city’s leadership that has lost its way, immortal words that ought to be chiseled into the stone at the entrance of City Hall instead of noble platitudes about commitment to serving the public.
Like so many in the city’s civic, business, labor and political arenas, Zukin is quite content with the level of corruption we’ve got. After all, it works for so many of them why should they want to clean up City Hall and restore confidence of the ordinary folks who pay so dearly for a government that has failed them.
This is a city that is closing libraries and parks, charging the people who pay the taxes for the full cost of every service they get, firing workers, buying jobs no matter what they cost, trampling on the quality of life in residential neighborhoods by ignoring its own zoning rules.
Today, the City Council will green light the selling of valuable — if grossly mismanaged — city assets by approving the plan to lease parking lots for 50 years to private operators, a deal now scheduled to take at least six months longer to complete than expected. It won’t be the last fire sale of city assets with revenues declining and the cost of salaries, pensions and health benefits soaring.
Corruption and the mediocrity of City Hall’s leadership have produced massive deficits, the biggest job losses in the country and poor public services.
It’s taken financial wizard Austin Beutner just six months inside City Hall to come to the same conclusion.
“We need to untangle decades of bad policy and red
tape that are strangling private-sector employment in our city,” the dollar-a-year man in charge of the DWP and all things economic wrote today in the Daily News.
“One
thing I’ve learned in my brief time as the first deputy mayor – there is
too much talk and too little action…Decades of poor policy and bad practice have combined to make Los Angeles a hard place for businesses to succeed.“
Beutner’s mission is to make the city “business-friendly” by using the public’s money from the DWP and the Community Redevelopment Agency to spur job growth and to expedite whatever business wants by short-circuiting the planning process.
None of that will make much of a difference to the city’s financial health in the short-term as the deficits shoot past the $1 billion mark in the next couple of years.
Beutner compares LA’s troubles to those of IBM a few years back when the new CEO declared: “There’s been speculation as to my vision
for IBM, and what I say to you is the last thing IBM needs right now is a
vision. What IBM needs is a series of very tough-minded, market-driven,
strategies that deliver in the marketplace.”
“It worked for IBM. It’s working for L.A.,” Beutner wrote.
It is the fatal flaw in what he is trying to do.
The business of City Hall is not business. It is governance with the goal of improving the quality of life for its residents, which includes a healthy business climate, job opportunities, public safety,libraries, parks and all the other public services we rely on.
“The city of Los Angeles is a service business;” he acknowledges but then adds:”our
customers are our taxpayers.”
The taxpayers are not customers; they are the shareholders, the owners of the city. It’s not the politicians, bureaucrats, businesses that own the city; it’s the people.
That’s why the vision of what kind of city LA is and what it should be is far more important than deals to bring in the U.S. headquarters of a Chinese company importing electric cars made in its home country.
It may not be Beutner’s job to provide the vision for LA’s future. But it’s somebody’s.
If not him, who?
A classic case of raising the bar so many can pass under easily
Good work ethics commission, we can count on you!
Los Angeles Ethics Commission…isn’t that an oxymoron?
Or more accurately a collection of morons?
There is no hope.
I heard about Zukin’s proposal and thought that it makes her job a bit easier, doesn’t it? Afterall, raising the limits will certainly appease the restless masses demanding reform!
Speaking of being out of touch, am I am supposed to buy into the thinking that bureaucrats can create a vision for my future as a resident and taxpayer? This comes from a man who was hailed as a Wall Street whiz yet works within the limited confines of city hall. Beutner still doesn’t understand that we don’t serve at his pleasure, it’s the other way around.
A Clean Sweep is needed whether it is by ousting those 7 council members up for re-election or through a bankruptcy court. Then we all will see much better.
Rename it the LA City Unethical Commission, and send the members to a simple ethics class where they can be taught the basics of right and wrong, lessons we all learned as kids.
How can Los Angeles Council do anything right when they can’t obey their own council rules? Council members continue to violate their own rules with NO repercussion.
Council Rule 19
All members shall be in their respective seats at said hour of each regular Council meeting and at the time set for the session of any adjourned or special meeting.
August 10, 2010 “Council Awaiting A Quorum” Again as Council members Richard Alarcon, Tony Cardenas, Paul Koretz, Bernard Parks, Ed Reyes, and Herb Wesson were late which are customary here in Los Angeles.
Angelenos take a look at how Council rubber stamps everything the mayor brings forth as Council ignores the public. Where is the CHECKS AND BALANCES?
RULES OF THE LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL AS AMENDED (July 2009) http://cityclerk.lacity.org/cps/pdf/CouncilRules.pdf
Los Angeles Council File: 10-1191
Comments to Energy and Environment Agenda No. 1 CFI 10-1191 Christina Noonan
We object to this appointment.
Ms. Noonan appears to have a background in Real Estate, not Utilities. We do not find that this appointment would be wise considering that the sale of the DWP headquarters has been presented by Austin Beutner, who is connected to hundreds of companies through his investments.
http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2010/10-1191_misc_7-19-10.pdf
August 10, 2010 Council Votes to Confirm Mayor’s
Nominee Ms. Noonan to the DWP Commission
Item 2
Richard Alarcon YES, Tony Cardenas YES, Eric Garcetti YES, Janice Hahn YES, Jose Huizar YES, Paul Koretz YES, Paul Krekorian ABSENT, Tom LaBonge YES, Bernard Parks YES, Jan Perry YES, Ed Reyes YES, Bill Rosendahl YES, Greig Smith YES, Herb Wesson YES, Dennis Zine ABSENT.
Beutner ignored all city personnel rules and regulations in appointing Michael Logrande Planning Director with no competition and no qualifications. This guy is the effective Mayor, for one reason only; he is wealthy. Why don’t we just hand over the governor’s position to Meg Whitman. She is rich and thus is entitled. We can appoint Caruso the next Mayor under the new rules in LA. You are qualified, if you are wealthy.
Comparing the arrival of a new CEO at IBM to the bunch of unethical clowns in the management of the City of LA is like comparing apples to oranges. The CEO of IBM was tasked to manage all of the resources of the corporation for the benefit of the shareholders and he did – the shareholders were rewarded with a strong and ethical performance. Each and every IBM employee (and I was one of them) was called upon to provide an honest day’s work, to meet and exceed performance objectives, and to continually look to improve every business process and product over which they had any control. And the share value just kept going up, thank you.
So what has the CEO of the City of LA done to share value – nothing – it’s bottoming out. And the Board of Directors (the City Council) and nothing but bag men (and ladies). But then it permeates right on down the line – to the bulk of the employees of the City of LA – drinking during work hours, handing breath mints to the Mayor, filing greivances, attending lactation classes, filling out forms, taking stress leave, managers not managing (leaving early to take their kid to a soccer game but not losing a nickel of salary), managers with no subordinates (check out the Harbor Department for that little anomaly!), double-dipping (employed while drawing a pension!), etc. etc.
I had hopes that we had a City Attorney who would enforce the law, but he’s a wuss – where is Ticketgate stalled? Typical lawyer – everything’s in review, nothing ever gets completed, nobody goes to jail – why even have Council rules if nobody obeys them let alone enforces them? How about a citizen’s arrest of all of these scum………
Costa Rica looks so good, even Ecuador or New Zealand – I’m packing my bags………
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Beutner’s Kool-Aid Tastes Funny
Do not drink the Kool-Aid from Spring Street.
http://waltermooresays.blogspot.com/2010/08/beutners-kool-aid-tastes-funny.html
The City Attorney is staff to Mayor and City Council. Should not be an elected position.
There are approximately 300 million Americans, the U.S. Deficit is 13 Trillion and rising, perhaps the government can give $2 million to each of us to help kick start this economy…?
“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”
—Darth Vader
9:05 on Aug 11th,
That’s a damn good point. I never thought of that. Good one!