Village to Village by Paul Hatfield, Jan. 25, 2010

If anyone ever had doubts as to CAO Miguel Santana being the Mayor’s mouthpiece, they were erased at tonight’s Los Angeles City Council Budget and Finance Committee’s meeting at Van Nuys City Hall.

Mr. Santana merely parroted everything in the Mayor’s recent proclamation:  the city will prostrate itself to the unions.  The Mayor has no stomach to play hardball with the unions over pensions or compensation.  By stating that Chapter 9 Bankruptcy is off the table as a negotiating tool to induce significant concessions represents complete surrender.

No one wants bankruptcy, but all sensible citizens want it hanging over the heads of the union leaders like the Sword of Damocles, ready to fall if they prove to be intractable.

Santana was also resigned to no concessions in the level of participant plan contribution increases.  Apparently, he was either unaware of the Federal Court decision in San Diego or chose not to share the information (another way of saying he lied). What do you expect from this city’s administration?

Santana said the city was “broke but not bankrupt.”  That’s like saying a woman with child is a lttle bit pregnant.

Councilman Smith at least had the common sense to recognize that pension reform was critical to our survival.  Parks was unusually quiet.

Prior to the start of the meeting, Jay Handal of the Westside NC and Chair of the Mayor’s Budget Advisory Committee delivered a cogent message to KABC Radio and the LA Weekly regarding the recommendations made last Saturday in the Committee’s joint meeting with other NC members.

In essence, the Mayor would rather turn LA into a third world city than take bold and rational action to negotiate sustainable benefit plans.