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BOX SOAP – The City of LA’s self-crippling budget crisis gives new meaning to the phrase “If you want something done correctly, do it yourself.”

Consider these five examples of Do-It-Yourself management initiatives sponsored by the people of Los Angeles in response to the failings of City Hall.

1) The Inspector General for Revenue Collection, as proposed by the Commission on Revenue Efficiency (CORE), is a position that will have the authority and staff to collect the revenue owed to the City of LA.

The Byzantine structure of LA’s government has resulted in billing collection redundancies that leave individual departments responsible for collecting revenue but with little incentive or oversight. Focused on headcount and generating billing, department heads have allowed the actual collections to fall between the cracks, resulting in $541.1 million in bad debt.

When CORE released its 107-page Blueprint for Reforms of City Collections and the 67 specific recommendations including the creation of the Inspector General position, Chairman Ron Galperin pointed out “The City has no real centralized billing and collection process and systems are woefully outdated.”

2) The DWP Ratepayers Advocate, as championed by neighborhood council leaders such as Jack Humphreville, President of the DWP Advocacy Committee and CityWatch columnist, and as approved by 80% of the voting public who voted for Measure I which authorizes the Office of Public Accountability and the Ratepayer Advocate, to be effective July 1, 2011.

The movement to forge a relationship with LA’s Department of Water and Power, a Proprietary Department, was motivated by the failure of the Mayor and the City Council to control the nation’s largest municipal utility, owned by the people of LA but operating as if the relationship were reversed.

Responsible for delivering reliable, safe water and electricity supplies to the 4 million residents and businesses in Los Angeles, the DWP has also delivered controversy and drama that has resulted in a revolving door of General Managers and recent ballot measures that attest to the failure of City Hall to control this city asset, placing the responsibility on the people of LA.

3) The City Prosecutor is a position that would require bifurcating the City Attorney’s office, creating a position that would actually represent the people of Los Angeles. The current scenario has the City Attorney representing the City of LA as the client, while the people of LA are forced to provide their own legal representation.

The absurdity of the current one-sided legal arena was most recently demonstrated when Barry Sanders, Chair of the Rec and Parks Commission and retired Latham & Watkins Partner, appeared before the City Council in defense of his park advertising scheme.

Sanders complained that the City Attorney’s office should stop raising legal objections based on LA’s sign ordinance to the Parks Foundation sale of advertising in city parks and should instead be looking for ways to legalize it as “Government Speech” on behalf of the Commission.

Sanders singlehandedly made the case for the creation of a City Prosecutor for the City of LA.

4) Community leaders have long held that as long as the citizen oversight of the city’s departments comes from people appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council, the people of LA are not represented and there is no real accountability.

LA’s Commissions range in effectiveness and power, some meeting for mere moments on an irregular basis to approve consent agendas while others meet regularly and exert significant influence over city policy and operations.

Joe Barrett of Sunland Tujunga made it a campaign issue in the most recent elections that the people of LA should have a seat on each Commission that is filled by the neighborhood councils.

This would require a Charter amendment and a campaign to get a neighborhood council sponsored initiative on the 2013 ballot must start immediately.

5) Task Forces consisting of both city staffers and community leaders have stepped up to fill the void left behind as the city has bogged down in the budget crisis, demonstrating an effectiveness and agility that has raised the bar.

Under Chief Beck’s leadership, cyclists and the LAPD formed the Cyclists/LAPD Task Force and now work together on policy and programming, resulting in an educational program that is ahead of the state standard.

DONE’s GM, BongHwan Kim, points to the work of the Elections Task Force and the By-Laws Task Force as examples of community members partnering with city staff to move quickly and to maximize results.

Kim has long advocated for neighborhood councils to go beyond simple “median strip beautification” projects and to use each action as an opportunity to fulfill the City Charter mandate “To promote more citizen participation in government and make government more responsive to local needs.”

The East Hollywood Neighborhood Council took a simple constituent complaint about blight and formed the Route 66 Task Force, committed to engaging the people of the community and the city departments in a campaign to reconnect Santa Monica Boulevard with its Route 66 legacy.

PlanCheckNC has picked up the slack with City Planning, the Budget Advocates have made great recommendations on the Budget, and the LA Bike Working Group took the Bike Plan where the LADOT and its consultants were afraid to ride. Through it all, LA’s Task Forces are demonstrating that the future of LA lies in partnerships.

At this past Saturday’s GM Roundtable, Amir Sedadi of LADOT and Ron Olive of Bureau of Street Services both indicated that the most effective way for neighborhood councils to work with the departments on the delivery of city services is to engage the community, establish priorities, and communicate clearly on behalf of the neighborhood.

The people of Los Angeles have an opportunity, to get lost in the budget drama and the debates over “budget dust” or to seize this opportunity of crisis and to use the energy to fight for systemic change.

Now is the time for the people of LA to work together to bring the offices of the Inspector General, the Ratepayers Advocate, and the City Prosecutor to life, complemented by an initiative to create a “People’s Seat” on each City Commission and supported by Task Forces that address the ongoing power vacuum in Los Angeles.

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at: Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net.)

LOS ANGELES, CA. - MAY 18, 2011: Firefighters listen as the Los Angeles City Council worked on changes to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's proposed budget in the council chambers on May 18, 2011. Changes in the budget were made to both fire and police. (Anne Cusack /Los Angeles Time)

LA Times Blog, May 18, 2011

The Los Angeles City Council passed a $6.9-billion budget Wednesday, closing a $336-million revenue shortfall by shutting down some fire engine teams and cutting millions of dollars in police overtime pay but avoiding employee layoffs.

Unlike state lawmakers who recently found their budget deficit eased by an unexpected $6.6-billion surge in tax receipts, revenue projections in Los Angeles remain flat. But the budget cuts approved on a 15-0 council vote were less painful than in recent years, when officials slashed hundreds of jobs and enforced citywide furloughs.

Past layoffs, along with an assortment of concessions from city workers negotiated earlier this year, made balancing the 2011-12 budget easier, according to council President Eric Garcetti. He praised his colleagues for resisting the urge to take out loans to help balance the city’s books, a proposal Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had suggested in his budget.

“Look, it would be easy to take out a credit card,” Garcetti said. “It would be easier to kick the can down the road.”

That said, the council’s budget left the Los Angeles Police Department with $41 million in cuts that have not yet been accounted for. The department was prepared for a $20-million budget gap, but it saw that  figure more than double Wednesday when the council voted against proposed police furloughs and instead directed the department to come up with equivalent savings on its own.

Amir Sedadi, Interim General Manager of LA’s Department of Transportation, demonstrated that the honeymoon is over as he took his turn before the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee during the ongoing Budget Hearings.

The gloves came off at “Hello!” as Sedadi greeted the Committee by pointing out the late hour, revealing a perceived slight based on his 7pm position on the agenda.

He then took the Committee on a journey of his departmental headcount losses over the last couple of years but neglected to offer up any accountability for his performance and for the performance of his department. This was a huge shortcoming.

City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee reviewed Sedadi’s performance during the
Budget Hearings, finding fault with his creative staffing and budget solutions and taking him to task for moving Measure R funds from the intended infrastructure projects and using them for staffing. Chairman Parks clarified by saying “Measure R funds projects, not people.”

Councilman Smith offered his analysis, digging a little deeper and pointing out that the LADOT paid part-time crossing guards $2.2 million in bonuses on top of $5 million in salaries, causing LADOT staff to scramble for answers, finally resulting in Sedadi explaining “We did it because some of the staff worked weekends and evenings.” Smith called it “Shocking.”

Sedadi’s high point during his reign was the approval of LA’s Bike Plan and Councilman Rosendahl gave him bragging room with questions about the LADOT Bikeways Department and the implementation of the Bike Plan.

Sedadi pointed out that the Bikeways Department was fully staffed with seven engineers, two project coordinators, four paid interns and four unpaid interns. He spoke glowingly of the support of the community and the partnership between the Department and the public.

If only it were true. If only there were any results to show for the staffing commitment.

From LA Streetsblog to members of the Bike Plan Implementation Team, the criticism from the public and from the media is that the LADOT staff have failed to implement any of the Bike Plan projects and that they continue to show up for meetings unprepared and unwilling to move forward.

Prior to the Budget hearings, City Controller Wendy Greuel had taken Sedadi and the LADOT to task for failing to collect an estimated $15 million in unpaid parking tickets from “scofflaws,” or frequent law violators.

Demonstrating leadership skills that cry for evaluation, Sedadi had explained that the LADOT’s centralized unit for scofflaw enforcement has been disbanded because of budget cuts.

This short sighted budget solution resulted in long term revenue losses that could have gone a long way to delivering city services to the people of Los Angeles.

NBC4 has also been critical of Sedadi’s leadership, offering up news that two LADOT employees had participated in shooting a porn while on duty, in uniform, and in a city vehicle.

Most damning is the fact that LADOT management knew of the incident for more than two months in advance of the NBC4 broadcast but failed to initiate action until confronted by the press.

Adding to the well-rounded criticism of Sedadi’s performance came a whistleblower’s call to Greuel’s office that exposed the LADOT’s $2.5 million overpayment on an old contract while leased gear sat in storage accruing charges. Sedadi blamed old management from 2006, failing to mention that he was Assistant GM for four years and either missed the overpayment or failed to act on it.

Amir Sedadi first began working for the City of LA in 1990 and has served in several positions, including as Assistant Deputy Director of Transportation in the Mayor’s office and as the LADOT’s Liaison to the Mayor and City Council. He knows his way around City Hall.

Sedadi took over the reins of the LADOT six months ago, a role he prepared for by serving as the heir apparent to Rita Robinson, the City Hall veteran who capped her 35-year career with a tour of duty at the helm of the Department of Transportation.

When Robinson announced her retirement, transportation advocates from around the city expressed hope that the Mayor would engage in a worldwide search for a leader in transportation innovations and active transportation, one capable of serving as a “change agent.”

Common wisdom from the streets held that a promotion from within would result in “more of the same” while hiring from outside would represent a Mayoral commitment to Complete Streets and multi-modal transportation.

Informal surveys advanced candidates such as Long Beach’s Sumi Gant, San Francisco’s Tim Papandreou, Bogota’s Gil Peñalosa, New York’s Janette Sadik-Kahn, and Copenhagen’s Jan Gehl, resulting in a petition generated by Streetsblog that called for a “Game Changer” at the helm of the LADOT.

While Sedadi’s performance as the leader of LA’s Department of Transportation falls far short of minimal acceptable standards, the real call for accountability belongs to the mayor and his staff, past and present.

As the Mayor coasts into the sunset, as former First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner embarks on his mayoral campaign, and as Deputy Mayor Jaime de la Vega steers $40 billion in Measure R funding down the pike, Sedadi’s failure to perform calls into question any notion of accountability at City Hall.

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at: Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net. )

Although Los Angeles is facing another rough budget year, a city panel on Monday questioned a plan by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to take funds away from grass-roots neighborhood councils.

Villaraigosa has proposed taking back some $1.9 million in “rollover” neighborhood council funds – money that individual councils had set aside for unspecified future projects.

But the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee, reviewing Villaraigosa’s proposed $6.89 billion budget, said it would support protecting those funds.

“A lot of the neighborhood councils have been trying to be frugal and been saving up money for specific projects,” Councilman Paul Koretz said. “And we are just pulling the rug out from under them and I don’t see the fairness in that.”

Each of the city’s 90 neighborhood councils received $45,000 last year to fund its programs. Villaraigosa has proposed cutting that to $40,500 in fiscal 2011-12, reflecting the 10 percent reductions being imposed citywide.

B.H. Kim, manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, said the neighborhood councils are not protesting the 10 percent cut, but the seizure of funds they had set aside.

“Some of these physical infrastructure projects take more than one year to complete,” Kim said. “Some City Council offices have partnered with neighborhood councils as a way to protect the funds, but not all have done that.”

Councilman Bernard Parks questioned the pace of reforms at DONE, which were promised last year, when the city backed away fro plans to consolidate DONE with the Community Development Department.

“The original recommendation was to dissolve the department,” Parks said. “Then we came back and said to hold off until June 30 when we would get a plan to come forward. I didn’t want to keep it as it is.”

Councilman Paul Krekorian has been conducting a series of meetings to develop the reforms, intended to improve interaction between DONE and the neighborhood councils. Aides said he hopes to release his report this month.

Kim said DONE has dramatically reduced its costs and sought to deal with criticism about the handling of neighborhood council elections – they are supposed to be transferred back from the City Clerk’s office – as well as how the councils reach out to increase their memberships.

A job seeker listens to a recruiter at a job fair in San Jose. Last week, unemployment claims rose for the third time in four weeks, reaching an eight-month high. (Associated Press / March 22, 2011)

LA Times – From the Associated Press, May 5, 2011

WASHINGTON

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits surged last week to the highest level in eight months, a troubling sign a day ahead of the government’s report on April employment.

The Labor Department said Thursday that applications rose by 43,000 to a seasonally adjusted 474,000 last week. But that was largely the result of unusual factors, including a high number of school systems in New York that closed for spring break, the department said.

Still, it marked the third increase in four weeks. Applications have jumped 89,000, or 23 percent, in the past month. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose for the fourth straight week to 431,250.

“The trend is clearly upward, so that’s disconcerting,” said Kurt Karl, chief U.S. economist for Swiss Re. “When you get three or four weeks in a row of special factors, they’re no longer so special.”

Applications near 375,000 are typically consistent with sustainable job growth. Weekly applications peaked during the recession at 659,000.

Separately, the Labor Department said U.S. companies squeezed more work out of their staffs in the first three months of the year. But the overall gain in productivity was much slower than in the previous three months.

A slowdown in productivity growth is bad for the economy if it persists for a long period. But it can be good in the short term when unemployment is high because it signals companies must hire more workers in order to make further gains.

Still, rising unemployment applications and other weak economic data this week have prompted some analysts to worry that higher fuel prices may be causing employers to slow their pace of hiring.

The government is scheduled to release its April jobs report on Friday. Economists are projecting the economy likely added 185,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.8 percent. But some now say the number of jobs added could be lower and that May hiring could slow, too.

A Labor Department spokesman blamed much of last week’s rise in unemployment applications on the unexpected spike caused by New York schools. That resulted in 25,000 layoffs. The department didn’t anticipate the closures when making seasonal adjustments, the spokesman said. The employees affected were hourly workers, such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers, and not teachers.

One economists was skeptical that school recesses, presumably that have been on the calendar all year, would be difficult to adjust for.

“Whatever school holidays may have occurred in New York were most likely associated with the Easter and Passover holidays, which should not have come as a surprise to those who calculated the seasonal adjustment factors for this year,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc.

Other factors also contributed to the increase, the Labor spokesman said. Oregon launched its own extended unemployment benefit program, which caused an increase in overall applications in the state for unemployment benefits.

And auto-related layoffs rose, Some companies have shut down or slowed production because of parts shortages stemming from the earthquake in Japan. Those disruptions are mostly affecting Japanese automakers with plants in the North America. Honda Motor Corp. has slowed production at 10 of its U.S. and Canadian plants. Toyota has cut its U.S. production by two-thirds. Both have said they aren’t laying off workers. But the slowdowns also affect auto-supply companies.

Still, applications have risen sharply in recent weeks, raising concerns that high gas and food prices are cutting into consumer spending and slowing the economy. Businesses are also facing higher costs for raw materials, which reduce profit margins. They may be cutting back on hiring as a cost-saving measure.

Other recent data have also pointed to a weaker job market. A private trade group said Wednesday that a measure of employment growth in the service sector, which employs 90 percent of the work force, slowed for the second straight month. The report, by the Institute for Supply Management, still showed that employment rose, but at the slowest pace in 7 months.

The number of people continuing to receive benefits rose 74,000 to 3.7 million. Millions more unemployed are receiving aid from extended benefit programs put in place during the recession. All told, more than 8 million people received unemployment benefits for the week ending April 16, the most recent data available. That was 170,000 fewer than the previous week.

Although an unexpected increase in tax revenue might ease the state's budget woes, Gov. Jerry Brown has said he wants five years of tax increases to help ensure California's financial well-being for a sustained period. (Ken James / Bloomberg)

By Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2011

Reporting from Sacramento — State officials are reporting an unexpected $2-billion surge in tax receipts that will help lawmakers close the remaining $15-billion budget deficit, and the Capitol is humming with hope that more is coming.

But the windfall could complicate Gov. Jerry Brown‘s push for tax increases, which he says are needed for California’s longer-term financial health.

Some analysts say the surprise — the sign of a brightening economy — could be just the beginning. Revenue has crept up incrementally for months and jumped in April, when people paid their taxes. It may be time to raise projections, they say, with the potential for billions more to flow into state coffers.

“As much as a third of the deficit will probably, hopefully, disappear,” said Brad Williams, an economist and former chief revenue forecaster for the Legislature.

But Brown is not talking that way. As the governor prepares his updated budget plan for release in mid-May, indications are that he will try to mute such expectations.

“He’s taking a very prudent and conservative approach to this,” said Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer.

Some Republicans are already pointing to the extra revenue as one more reason why Brown should scrap his effort to hike taxes. But the governor remains insistent that the most sensible way to stabilize state finances is by balancing spending reductions and tax increases.

The revenue uptick, he warns, could be fleeting: State cash ebbs and flows, and it’s too early to speculate about what the current rise really means. Even if it endures for a year or two, it won’t be enough, he says.

For too long, the attitude in Sacramento has been that “money comes in, so let’s not do” anything difficult such as cut spending or hike taxes, Brown complained recently. He wants five years of tax increases to help ensure California’s financial well-being for a sustained period.

Republicans have thus far blocked Brown’s efforts to renew more than $11 billion in expired or expiring increases in sales, income and vehicle taxes. Connie Conway (R-Tulare), the Assembly minority leader, said the pile of unanticipated receipts has bolstered their cause.

“The revenue is a good indicator that it’s not necessary to raise taxes,” Conway said.

Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Bob Blumenfield (D-Woodland Hills), who supports Brown’s program, said that view denies the reality of California’s finances.

“It’s ignoring the glaring problem that’s before us,” he said. “We’re starved for resources and about to collapse on ourselves.”

Whatever boon the economy brings won’t be enough to bridge the entire shortfall, the Democrats note. About 40% of any extra general-fund revenue collected after June 30, when the current fiscal year ends, would go to schools unless California’s education funding law is suspended.

Democrats have already pushed through $11 billion in severe spending cuts and other measures to shrink the deficit. But Brown could determine in revising his proposed budget that some services that survived those cuts will cost more than expected.

“Even with these revenues, there’s no gravy train in sight,” said Brown spokesman Evan Westrup. “This will continue to be a tight budget.”

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), in a recent speech to the Sacramento Press Club, said he didn’t want to get “too excited” that California’s tax collections were outpacing projections. He noted that in April 2010, revenues collapsed “like a souffle.”

But this April, receipts continued their upward march. Jason Sisney, director of state finance at the nonpartisan legislative analyst’s office, said his office is still developing a new forecast, but there is cause for optimism. Monthly reports on new jobs in California have been bullish. And income tax withholdings, an indicator of future economic growth, have been strong, he said.

“The news to date has been good,” Sisney said.

Hector Barajas, a GOP strategist, said the revenue bump would complicate the governor’s plan to sell a skeptical public on raising their own taxes, as Brown has promised to do. People might simply say, “I’m not going to give you any more of my money,” Barajas said.

The extra tax revenue could also make some of Brown’s other proposals more difficult to pitch. Those include eliminating redevelopment agencies and a tax credit for businesses that hire in downtrodden neighborhoods.

Brown has said those measures, which have stalled in the Legislature, are necessary to save the state money. Business interests may now argue that they are less necessary.

Whatever the political complexities, administration officials concede that the cash infusion is a good problem to have.

“It sure beats the heck out of the alternative,” Palmer said.

shane.goldmacher@latimes.com

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had promised city employees who made a series of concessions -- including a 4% reduction in pay and the postponement of three previously negotiated raises -- that they would be rewarded with an end to furloughs that the city has used to avoid employee layoffs. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles Times, by David Zahniser, April 27, 2011, 3:00 p.m.

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa released the Los Angeles city budget Wednesday.

April 25, 2011 | Frank Stoltze | KPCC

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had promised city employees who made a series of concessions -- including a 4% reduction in pay and the postponement of three previously negotiated raises -- that they would be rewarded with an end to furloughs that the city has used to avoid employee layoffs. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

The four labor groups that rejected a proposal to ease the city’s budget crunch should reconsider.

LA Times Editorial, April 29, 2011

To help balance the city’s budget, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made what appeared to be an irresistible offer to thousands of public employees: If they agreed to pay more of the cost of their retirement benefits and to delay a promised pay hike, the city would stop the furloughs that were shrinking their paychecks. Groups representing more than two-thirds of the workers covered by the proposed contract amendment accepted it, but four did not. Those rejections suggest that the naysayers weren’t given the right incentive to support the deal.

Eighteen bargaining units (none of them representing police officers, firefighters or utility employees) were asked to amend their contracts to lower the city’s costs. Some of the savings in the deal were merely temporary — it would postpone three previously negotiated pay increases until July 2013 and January 2014. But the proposal would also require workers to contribute 4% more of their wages to the city’s retirement fund, which would cover the current cost of retiree health benefits. That change would lower the city’s pension costs in a significant and lasting way.

In exchange, the city promised to impose no furloughs for three years, to minimize layoffs and to make the retiree health benefits “vested,” preventing the city from unilaterally reducing or canceling them for current workers. That’s an enormous concession, and considering how rapidly healthcare costs are increasing, a potentially costly one for city government. But it’s abstract, while the sacrifices the deal would impose are tangible.

The bargaining units representing clerical workers, deputy city attorneys, plant engineers and security personnel rejected the deal. In response, Villaraigosa announced Wednesday that, as threatened, many of these workers will be forced to spend more than two months on unpaid leave between now and the end of June 2012. That amounts to a pay cut of about 14%.

That’s “many,” not “all.” The units include a significant but as yet unspecified number of members who work for departments not financed by the city’s general fund. Those workers weren’t at risk of being furloughed because there’s no shortfall in the user fees and other special funds that pay for their departments’ operations.

It’s easy to speculate that those workers, who had little to lose from rejecting the deal, were the ones voting no. It’s also likely, though, that some of those who faced furloughs didn’t see a net gain either. Nor did they trust city officials to honor the commitments they were making.

All the same, it was shortsighted of city workers to oppose the deal. Rapid increases in labor costs, such as employee health benefits and workers’ compensation, are projected to cause large budget shortfalls for the next several years. So far, Villaraigosa has been balancing the budget by trimming costs but not cutting city services in any meaningful way. At some point, the city won’t be able to continue doing the same things for less money. Absent some unexpected savings or surge in revenue, it will have to scale back its reach, eliminating lower-priority services and terminating the positions associated with them. The more the city’s personnel costs grow, the faster it will reach that point.

Labor leaders should ask the dissenting units to vote again on the proposal in light of the long-term threats to their employment. Villaraigosa’s budget for the coming year would eliminate close to 700 vacant positions, and that’s just the low-hanging fruit. The next budget may lop off branches.

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Four out of 18 labor groups at Los Angeles City Hall have rejected Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa‘s proposal for reducing the city’s budget shortfall by scaling back the cost of the workforce, setting the stage for a possible new round of furloughs for workers in those units.

City officials said bargaining units representing more than 6,300 full-time workers — airport security officers, 911 operators, traffic officers, deputy city attorneys, clerical workers and others — voted against the agreement negotiated last month by the mayor and leaders of the Coalition of L.A. City Unions. That number represents nearly a third of the coalition’s 19,000 members.

Villaraigosa and City Council President Eric Garcetti are set to hold a news conference on the topic at noon Wednesday. The mayor warned last week that any labor unit that failed to approve the deal would be hit with more than seven weeks of furloughs in the budget year that starts July 1.

Employees in the 14 units that voted for the pact included librarians, recreation workers, part-time crossing guards and administrative assistants. “We came together in the best interest of both workers and Los Angeles residents,” said Tim Butcher, a heavy-duty truck operator with the Bureau of Street Services.

Supporters of the deal said it would guarantee an important healthcare benefit for city workers, while opponents said the mayor could not be trusted to keep his promises to avoid layoffs and furloughs.

Union leaders also have the option of seeking a second vote from the units that failed to ratify the deal.

Villaraigosa and coalition leaders had repeatedly billed the pact as a way to end furloughs. That argument was undermined somewhat by the fact that the vast majority of workers -– including sanitation workers, librarians, landscapers, street light maintenance crews, zookeepers and every employee at the harbor and airports – have already been spared from taking unpaid days off.

Among those who voted against the deal was the union representing 461 lawyers at City Atty. Carmen Trutanich’s office. That group voted 248 to 143 to oppose the pact, said Oscar Winslow, president of the Los Angeles City Attorneys’ Assn. “There was a lot of push on the other side to vote for it, but in the end, people looked at it and said this is a bad deal for us,” he said.

The pact included the postponement of three pay increases totaling 7.25% by one to three years. The units that voted for the pact also agreed to take a 1.5% pay cut this year in exchange for four days off the week of Christmas.

Proceeds of the 4% reduction in pay will go toward rising retiree healthcare costs. In return, the city will guarantee medical coverage for retired workers and their spouses, including all future premium increases, according to union officials.

The deal did not cover sworn employees, such as police officers and firefighters, or workers at the Department of Water and Power, all of whom are also exempt from furloughs.

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

MAYOR Antonio Villaraigosa’s budgets of recent years were often filled with gimmicks, short-term solutions and wishful thinking.

Fill the budget hole? No problem. Los Angeles can sell off some land to generate cash. Or layoff 767 employees. Or lease off parking garages. Or privatize the zoo. None of which panned out.

This year’s budget doesn’t include those kinds of Band-aids. Instead, the mayor’s budget offers a selection of fairly sensible cuts and one-time savings, with a some efficiencies thrown in for good measure.

However, there is still some uncertainty. The final $94 million piece hinges on whether city employees agree to pay more for their retirement and health care benefits. If they do agree to pay more for their perks and the deals are structured to reduce the long-term, staggering pension expense facing taxpayers, then this will be a radical reform budget worth celebrating.

But that’s not a given. If the city employees say no to compromise, Villaraigosa’s budget plan imposes 26 to 36 furlough days on the civilian workforce. That means another year of closed offices and reduced services for taxpayers – with no reduction to the crushing burden of overly generous employee compensation.

The City Council begins parsing the mayor’s budget this coming week. Before they do their dirty work, we wanted to evaluate Villaraigosa’s proposed budget in light of the Daily News’ Call to Action – our series of editorials that outlined seven issues we think the mayor should focus on during his final years in office. Not all seven issues are pertinent to the city budget, but four are.

Public safety: The mayor’s budget continues hiring police to attrition to maintain the police force at 9,963 officers. Villaraigosa is right to press for police hiring, which was one of the first promises he made in office. He raised the trash fee to pay for a larger police force and he owes it to Angelenos to continue this investment in public safety.

Yet, it doesn’t appear the mayor has subjected the LAPD to the same cost-cutting scrutiny given all departments. The LAPD budget will be cut by $100 million this year, with $80 million derived from suspending cash overtime for police officers. This is a one-time savings and does little to address the growing expense of the police department. Surely, there are more operational efficiencies within an organization as giant as the LAPD.

Just look at the Los Angeles Fire Department, which could save $54 million this year with a redeployment plan that permanently closes fire companies and increases medical response based on 911 call trends. This is a long-term structural change that will save L.A. nearly $200 million over three years.

Restructuring government: Villaraigosa proposes some modest changes to L.A.’s bureaucracy. He would have a non-profit operate the Northeast Animal Care Center in Mission Hills, rather than close the shelter. He proposed consolidating the Office of the Treasurer with the Office of Finance. He wants to use public-private partnerships to run five city cultural facilities to save money.

He proposed to cut his staff budget by 11 percent through furloughs or other cost savings, but he doesn’t plan to cut his large political staff.

Villaraigosa didn’t take on City Hall with this proposal. Certainly he shouldn’t budget based on grand ideas to outsource departments or sell city assets, but he should pursue bold ideas to rethink how the city of L.A. operates.

Pensions and employee compensation: So far, Villaraigosa’s budget can bank on a few reforms to save money this coming year. Police officers hired in the coming year will have to contribute more to their pension and retirement benefits.

But the bigger reforms are still up in the air. Some 22,000 civilian employees finish voting this week on a deal that would end furloughs this year if they increase contributions to their retirement benefits from 7 percent to 11 percent of salary. The mayor and city leaders are pushing other employee unions for similar concessions – but there’s not telling yet whether they’ll be successful.

Villaraigosa and the City Council must be prepared to furlough, lay off or do whatever it takes to scale back overly generous employee compensation packages and attain permanent cost savings that protect public services.

Planning and land use: Villaraigosa’s budget continues funding for community plan updates, which are essential for Los Angeles to grow and develop wisely. However – like so much of the budget – that effort will be significantly slowed if employee unions do not agree to concessions and the Planning Department employees are furloughed 26 to 36 days through the year.

With so much still in play, it’s hard to say yea or nay to this budget proposal. In fact, the coming weeks will be the true test of the mayor’s budget mettle as he strikes deals – or fails to – with city employees and handles the City Council as it vets every aspect of the budget proposal.

A Los Angeles Daily News editorial. To read more editorials from the Daily News, go to www.dailynews.com/opinions.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa speaks at the launch of the unaffiliated political organization known as No Labels December 13, 2010 at Columbia University in New York City.

April 21, 2011 | Frank Stoltze | KPCC

: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa attends the 22nd annual GLAAD Media Awards at the Westin Bonaventure on April 10. Credit: David Livingston / AFP/Getty Images

LA Times, by David Zahniser, April 20, 2011

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled his $6.9-billion budget Wednesday during a brutal recession, yet in many ways the 2011-2012 spending plan continues or even expands key city services.

The proposal unveiled at the Central Library calls for elimination of a $457-million shortfall while expanding staffing at the Fire Department, increasing pothole repairs by 20% and adding more library hours, all while hiring enough police officers to maintain the current size of the Police Department.

“We’re beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, not just at our libraries but for the rest of the city as well,” Villaraigosa said.

He said the increases were possible, in many cases, through staff redeployment and budget-cutting elsewhere.

Still, they were accompanied by a demand for civilian city workers to make financial concessions by contributing more of their salaries toward their healthcare when they retire.

In exchange for those concessions, the city would drop its plan to impose between 26 and 36 furloughs for non-public-safety employees, Villaraigosa said.

That bargain has not convinced street services worker Dan Mariscal, who said it is unfair for Villaraigosa to propose any expansion in funding while demanding givebacks from the workforce.

Mariscal, a union steward, said he no longer trusts the mayor on such matters as furloughs and layoffs.

“We gave concessions. We were promised the same thing in 2009, when they said we would have shared sacrifice and they didn’t follow through on what they promised,” said Mariscal, who has been calling on his co-workers to reject a proposed deal between Villaraigosa and the Coalition of L.A. City Unions.

A ratification vote on the coalition deal is underway.

Villaraigosa’s budget includes a small cut to the city’s system of neighborhood councils and a reduction in the amount of money for arts grants at the city’s Cultural Affairs Department.

It also calls for an animal shelter in San Fernando Valley to be turned over to a private operator.

But it avoids some of the more drastic cuts suggested earlier this year by the city’s top budget advisor, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana.

In a 400-page report, Santana advised the the mayor and the City Council to consider various reductions, such as the elimination of the Board of Public Works, a five-member panel of Villaraigosa appointees whose members earn more than $100,000 annually.

Santana also pushed for an end to the Department on Disability and reductions of up to 25% for certain programs, including graffiti removal and senior centers.

Villaraigosa’s spending plan heads to the City Council, which will begin holding hearings next month on the document.

– David Zahniser at Los Angeles City Hall

Deputy Mayor Larry Frank at the 2010 BudgetLA Town Hall

CityWatch by Stephen Box
Vol 9 Issue 30
Pub: Apr 15, 2011

Saturday’s  Budget LA Town Hall features Matt Szabo, Larry Frank, Ron Galperin and BongHwan Kim in a “State of the Budget” presentation that addresses LA’s current budget crisis, the ongoing labor negotiations, and the impending cuts to city departments and services.

Matt Szabo, Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, is responsible for the overall City of LA’s budget framework and labor negotiations from the Mayor’s office. Larry Frank, Deputy Mayor of Neighborhood and Community Services, is responsible for several city departments including the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, the Community Development Department, and the Bureau of Contract Administration.

Ron Galperin, Chair of the City of L.A.’s Revenue Efficiency Commission will present the CORE Blueprint for Reform of City Collections, recommendations for reforming how the City generates revenue and funds operations. BongHwan “BH” Kim, General Manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment which is responsible for nurturing neighborhood-based leadership and civic participation, will address “Neighborhood Councils – civic engagement and the budget process.”

Julie Butcher and Paul Hatfield will take on “Labor, Pensions & Healthcare” in a robust presentation that features their contrasting perspectives on the City of LA’s budget crisis.

Ms. Butcher is the Regional Director for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) where she leads SEIU 721′s Cities Division. Mr. Hatfield is a CPA with an MBA who serves as a financial consultant to clients that include financial institutions and the major studios.

The Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates will present highlights from the “Saving Jobs – Saving Services” white paper that represents their journey over the last six months as they worked with the Mayor’s office and met with department heads in search of a balanced budget.

BudgetLA is “a grassroots campaign fighting to develop a sustainable budget for the City of Los Angeles” and is open to the public. Its mission is to support civic engagement by offering information and ideas that inform along with tools for action that empower.

The Mayor is scheduled to deliver his proposed 2011-2012 budget to the City Council on April 20th, a deadline that is set by City Charter. The City Council’s Budget & Finance Committee will then begin budget hearings on April 27th, a process that takes weeks.

Through it all, the community has two choices; to stand by as spectators as the Mayor and City Council establish a budget that establishes the City of LA’s priorities or to participate as active partners in shaping the future and direction of the City of LA by steering the budget process.

The journey is well underway and it continues tomorrow, Saturday, April 16, at 10 am.

Budget LA “State of the Budget” Town Hall!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
10:00 am to 1:00 pm
First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood **
“The Cellar”
1760 N. Gower Street
Hollywood, CA 90028

** “BudgetLA has no affiliation with or endorsement by the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood”

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at:  Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net. )

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at his State of the City address in the Jefferson High School auditorium in South L.A.

Frank Stoltze | KPCC

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Wednesday said he intends to push for dramatic changes in the contract between the Los Angeles Unified School District and its powerful teachers union this year. Villaraigosa delivered his message in his annual State of the City address.

Villaraigosa said the stars are aligned to make fundamental changes in the management of the sprawling Los Angeles Unified School District – the nation’s second largest.

“New superintendent, newly elected school board, newly elected union leadership,” Villaraigosa said. “We have an opportunity to move forward in good faith, focusing on areas where we share common ground.”

The mayor delivered his address at Jefferson High School in South L.A. It’s a place that once struggled with racial tensions and low test scores. Villaraigosa said both have improved because the district’s given administrators and teachers more freedom to make decisions through its Public Schools Choice program.

The mayor said it’s time to provide that same freedom across the district by changing its contract with United Teachers Los Angeles. It’s up for renegotiation in June.

“We need to reform a broken tenure system and do away with a last-hired/first-fired seniority system,” Villaraigosa said. “Its demoralizing to teachers and doesn’t serve our students.”

The mayor, a former teachers union activist who is now one of its sharpest critics, also said he wants student test scores included in teacher evaluations.

Outgoing teachers union president A.J. Duffy has opposed that, and said it’s wrong to blame the teachers union contract for the district’s troubles.

The mayor doesn’t have direct control over the district, but his allies make up a majority of the school board. Board President Monica Garcia, whom Villaraigosa raised money to elect, said the changes he proposes won’t be easy.

“We will have some conflicts,” Garcia said. “But we know that teacher membership has been coming forward saying ‘give me the authority to exercise my professional judgment in the classroom.’”

The mayor’s focus on education returned him to a theme on which voters first elected him six years ago. But his State of the City address couldn’t ignore the biggest issue that faces L.A. city government – its more than $350 million budget deficit.

“Our budget will propose a series of deep, permanent and strategic reductions in city spending,” the mayor warned.

Villaraigosa offered few details, but did offer some good news – he wants to provide money to reopen libraries on Mondays and add park space.

He promised another budget item too. “Yes, Angelenos, I’ve heard you loud and clear, it will fill 300,000 potholes – a 20 percent increase over last year.”

The comment garnered loud applause from the political leaders, city managers, community activists and business leaders in the crowd.

City Councilman Paul Krekorian said he liked the idea of filling more potholes. “But I’m going to be fascinated and interested to see how he can do that… without having devastating cuts in other areas, or increased revenues,” Krekorian said.

The mayor’s proposed budget is due next week. Aides have said he hopes labor unions representing police officers and firefighters will increase their health care contributions to ease the deficit.

Outside Jefferson High School’s auditorium, a small group of activists who work on homeless and youth issues denounced what they called the mayor’s misplaced budget priorities.

Becky Dennison of the Los Angeles Community Action Network said he should make deeper cuts in the police department, which uses half the city’s general fund.

“Even with just a 1 percent cut to LAPD’s budget, we can put hundreds of intervention programs into place for youth,” Dennison said.

The mayor, his police chief and most of the L.A. City Council have said cutting the LAPD more would jeopardize one of the biggest crime drops in L.A. history.

Let’s call this a commentary:

In his annual State of the City address, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stood before a crowded room of elected officials and supporters and called for education reform. In his prepared remarks, the mayor said:

“Now, I know some of these ideas are new, and some are not.  And over the years, we’ve had many well-intentioned efforts at reforming the educational system.  But any student of the LA Unified can tell you… That we can’t address our problems in the classroom… We won’t make real headway… Unless we change the lack of accountability at the top. I believe we need new leadership at every level. I believe we need to wake up and shake up the bureaucracy at the LAUSD.”

Though education reform was the theme of Villaraigosa’s sixth annual address, that quote is not from last night. It is from his 2006 State of the City. Five years later, the mayor is again pushing to be the education mayor, going so far as to speak directly to teachers and use the same line last night that he used in ’06: “It’s hard to risk what you’ve got when you’ve never had what you deserve.”

Since that first annual address, Villaraigosa has created the Partnership for L.A. Schools, which oversees 21 underperforming schools. He has also gotten supporters elected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education and had a close adviser serve as superintendent.

All that said, LAUSD still does not fall under the umbrella of the city of Los Angeles. The mayor acknowledged as much last night. “While it is true that I don’t have formal authority over our schools, I do have a bully pulpit and I will continue to use it,” he said.

So, what about the problems that do fall under the mayor’s umbrella? Faced with either a $350 million deficit, according to the city administrative officer, or a $500 million deficit, according to the mayor, in fiscal year 2011-12, Villaraigosa said his proposed budget would fund core services, including:

• Expanding library hours and restoring Monday service
• Opening new park facilities
• Maintaining and resurfacing 735 miles of city streets
• Filling 300,000 potholes

How will these things be funded? The library will see a boost thanks to Measure L, which voters passed in March and which increases the system’s annual budget per the city charter. However, the mayor did not give any details on where the money would come from to pay for those other services.

Villaraigosa spent part of the address highlighting the city’s recent accomplishments. He touted an ordinance that would give a preference to local companies seeking city business. “We are giving more work to local firms with our Local Preference Ordinance, and keeping our tax dollars circulating and multiplying here in LA,” he said.

And that will probably be true, when the Local Preference Ordinance is eventually passed by the Los Angeles City Council.

The mayor also touted the Department of Water and Power’s achievement of reaching 20 percent renewable energy by 2010. There was no mention of a recent controller audit that suggested reaching that goal was due to luck.

What is the state of the city? The mayor is poised to spend the last two years of his term focused on improving Los Angeles’ public schools. Meanwhile, those who understand finances believe Los Angeles is on the brink of bankruptcy. There is a deputy mayor who criticizes the Los Angeles City Council for not doing more about next year’s budget problems, when it is the mayor’s office that releases the budget.

So far, there’s a city controller and one council member running for mayor, with a big time developer, the aforementioned deputy mayor, a county supervisor and others possibly waiting in the wings.

The state of the city is that there’s a lot of work to do and no clear path on how to get it done.

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times