The last item on the Community Redevelopment Agency’s commission agenda for Thursday says a lot about how City Hall operates and why it is so badly manages the public’s money and bungles most of what it is supposed to do.
“Memorandum” to “All CRA/LA Staff” from Chris Essel, the chief executive officer, reads the document for the meeting, “SUBJECT: DIRECT APPOINTMENT OF MR ACKLEY PADILLA AS ASSISTANT TO THE CEO.”
Sounds like a pretty good job, doesn’t considering Essel’s salary in the $250,000 range and all the other bloated paychecks at the CRA? Surely, a newly-created job like this ought to be filled — if it’s even needed — by some sort of competitive process that makes sure the most qualified person is hired considering how many smart, educated and experienced managers and real estate professionals are desperate for work.
“How does an unemployed, non-college grad land an Executive gig at CRA-LA? Easy…be Alex Padilla’s little brother,” messages my insider informant.
.
“Senator Alex Padilla’s little brother Ackley is assuming a top position w/o any competition … All this sounds fishy, at the same time big brother Padilla is running for Mayor. Ackley will most likely be in the six figure salary range….not bad for a guy w/o a college degree who will be overseeing people with multiple degrees … All this sounds fishy, at the same time big brother Padilla is running for Mayor.”
The answer to the how does something like this happen is easy: Everything at City Hall is a ‘fix,’ a self-serving game for the benefit of the insiders at the expense of the outsiders, which is to say the taxpaying public.
Essel justifies her abuse of the hiring process by arguing “exceptional circumstances” exist that justify a direct appointment without even having to interview staff, let alone outside candidates for a position she describes as “Chief Deputy to the CEO.”
“Mr. Padilla will be charged with assisting the Office of the CEO in accomplishing various assignments in the daily management and technical administration of the Agency. In addition, he will be responsible for internal and external affairs duties as required which will include working closely with the CRA/LA staff, LA City Hall staff, City Departments, and other stakeholders in order to better accomplish the mission of the Agency. Importantly, Mr. Padilla will be working closely with
assisting me in our continuing efforts in facing the challenges in Sacramento.”
The changes in Sacramento she alludes to are Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to abolish CRAs statewide as an effective waste of money that don’t create jobs, remove blight from poor areas or create home ownership as much as they amount to welfare to the rich — something that is truer in L.A. than anywhere with the billions going for luxury hotels, condos, entertainment complexes in downtown and Hollywood.
Essel regards Ackley Padilla as “exceptionally qualified” for this important job “because of his qualifications, experience and
record of accomplishment” starting with his big brother hiring him as a field deputy when he was a Councilman.
In that job, “he developed and implemented strategies to address community needs by coordinating delivery of various City services and infrastructure improvement projects including sidewalk repair, street lighting installation, and street resurfacing. He also successfully engaged and empowered community residents through the support and development of community-based organizations, neighborhood watches, and parent centers.”
Those extraordinary achievements — ones that every one of the 300 Council aides could claim — were greatly surpassed during his service on Councilman Richard Alarcon’s staff, a job that was terminated about the time the indicted Councilman took out papers to run for the Valley Assembly seat big brother and his pal Felipe Fuentes regard as their own private property.
For his part, Alarcon has no qualms about nepotism having gotten his daughter in a six-figure job as a Public Works Board commissioner and positioned her to run for his Council seat when he goes to jail or back to the legislature.
But I digress from the citations of Ackley’s qualifications that include having “worked for various offices at the City of Los Angeles for over eight years having advised a number of elected officials while building a strong network of relationships.”
His illustrious service in Alarcon’s office included “assisting” in getting social responsibility policies included in requirements for bankers doing business with the city, serving as “primary contact” for the negotiations for Plaza Pacoima, “a $78M retail
development project with the CRA/LA and COD, and preparing “summary briefs that provided policy background, analyses, and recommendations for consideration during Council meetings and Council Committees.”
Playing by the rules, such as they are, Essel gave her staff five days to protest in writing against this nepotistic act of favoritism. Apparently, no one did the appointment is on the CRA agenda as Item 12.
In the grand scheme of the misuse of billions of taxpayer dollars by CRAs, this is a small matter, just one more reason Republicans in the legislature should stop protecting these redevelopment agencies and the wealthy developers who benefit from this corrupted program.
If they were true conservatives, they would heed the words of Congressman Tom McClintock and vote today — the deadline for action — to kill the CRAs and help balance the state budget without phony gimmicks and bookkeeping tricks:
Ackley?
Are you ****ing serious?
Been witness to his crap when he was Padilla’s field deputy for years. A TOTAL LOSER. A dufus. Not qualified.
What a surprise.
I will not support Brown on anything if he does not abolish the CRA.
The evil red light camera program might yet live due to the cowardice and avarice of a wayward City Council.
Please act now to make sure our voices are heard!
Go here to learn how to help!
http://saferstreetsla.org/action/
And, the punishment for nepotism, favoritism and corruption is—-More rewards for the perpetrator. Corrupt Padilla will reward Essel handsomely. Woe to anyone who protests. They will be dubbed “troublemakers” and their lives made miserable by the managers and their compliant staff/sheep.
crooks and liars
Anybody who protests will be called a racist. You know the game.
You people lost. The sad part is that you didn’t even fight the system – you just gave the city away to crooks like Padilla, Villar, alarcon etc. And now they run the city.
Padilla has turned into the biggest of hacks. I remember him running around the State trying to defeat the redistricting initiatives.
Get a job for once, you crook.
CRA CEO Essel is not spending much time at the CRA. A month ago she appointed/promoted two staff to Deputy CEOs stating she is working in Sacramento to keep redevelopment agencies from being closed. Padilla’s salary as Assistant to CEO will be $134,000. No education is required to be a crooked dummy. There have been so many outrages staff promotions with only high school degrees. Most salaries at CRA are over $100,000.
Recently Essel promoted a contracts person processing boiler plate contracts with a high school degree to a $125,000 position. Essel stated this person had assisted in preparing procedures manual, computer upgrades and attended vendor fairs! So Padilla will be working with staff of equal pay and education.
The glowing remarks that Essel uses to support her choice of Padilla to fill the position is about as ridiculously self-serving and phony as the initial statement ex-governor Schwarzenegger issued to explain why Esteban Nunez’ sentence was commuted by him as Arnold viewed things from a legal perspective.
Both were products of unethical representatives allowed to hold public offices and neither having any shame for bad choices that they so blatantly exercised in the course of fulfilling their duties in “public service.”
And you have to think about how close Essel came to getting herself elected to the city council and providing her with another forum to apply her brand of (un)ethical action. But in the end, you might not have noticed this about her since there would have been so many other CMs out-shining her in that department. Essel would be left to look like a true rookie among the “pros” with their years sharpening up this talent.
And there’s no end to this in any future that we can foresee. Patronage politics in action.
it’s so simple and it’s so true, “if it’s blight, they have authorities. that simple language in the code and, therefore that California Code
Eminent Domain Report in California
http://bit.ly/lgndQE
In return, the city will pay the developer $2 million, far less than the amount the owner thought it was worth. But the agreement may be a win-win if it opens the door to the owner’s planned development of 48 homes on the remaining property
A competitive process? Making sure applicants are qualified to run departments? Ha! Not until and unless there’s a charter change giving General Managers and Assistant General Managers civil service rights (or rather, giving them back; they did have them once). As it is now, the Mayor can choose all his little friends to fill the top spots at departments, and/or threaten the department heads with discharge if they don’t follow his agenda — and he is doing just that. NO management experience? So what? No technical experience or background? Doesn’t matter! do exactly what I say? You’re in!
Employees generally are too scared to report the resulting malfeasance by these political hacks who don’t know any of the labor rules/policies and who don’t care. Everyone stays quiet; the public because they can’t really be bothered to do more than whine about it; the employees because they’re too scared to say anything; and the other politicians because they all have one or another skeletons in their closets.
Back when General Managers really could battle with Council, knowing they had at least some protection in their jobs, the City was better-run and it was staffed by people who cared primarily about the City, rather than being caught up in preserving their jobs. Think about it.
@Anonymous on June 15, 2011 9:18 PM
Yes, if and when Redevelopment Agencies are closed down/de-funded, the on legal mechanism that allows the use of Eminent Domain for Private use in California will be eliminated.
NONE of the staff at CRA are “civil service” employees. That it why promotions to unqualified people is so easy, and favortism abounds. Likewise, people who are not in favor are not promoted or transferred, etc. based upon a bunch of words like those Essel used in recent promotions. Personnel practices are horrific. Essel sent an email this week saying she did not punish staff who filed grievances by not considering them for promotions. There are 16 news positions and 16 direct promotions in the 2011-2012 CRA budget.
By the way, understand the City doesn’t know what to do with the $1 Billion dollars the CRA transferred to the City to hide from the State, doesn’t have staff that can figure the mess out
Where and how much has been budgeted by the City to carry out this function? What service cuts are forthcoming to make up for the shortfall?
So at the board meeting, they announced that Ackley attended Carnegie Mellon…..perhaps he attended an event there on his way to pub crawl one night, but never as a student….I just called the school and they have NO RECORD of his attendance there…meaning, he never even signed up to go. Go ahead, call them yourself and ask, the number is 800-226-8258.
So at the board meeting, they announced that Ackley attended Carnegie Mellon…..perhaps he attended an event there on his way to pub crawl one night, but never as a student….I just called the school and they have NO RECORD of his attendance there…meaning, he never even signed up to go. Go ahead, call them yourself and ask, the number is 800-226-8258.
Even with Civil Service, things aren’t much better. The crooks have figured how to get around that & it is just as bad as CRA.