There's a regular part of the City Council meetings whereby they vote on Motions made by individual members of the Council to give your money away- they just waive fees for events, that is, the city will not charge an event holder for the expenses that the City incurs for that event in the specified dollar amount. In other words, they get things for free and the city soaks up the costs. It costs money to pay for extra time for police and traffic officers and services that are needed for such events.
In better financial times this was not such a significant matter, but now when the city is in a budget crisis, with over $400 million as a deficit, the policy needs to be given another look. The council has gone on a crusade since before summer to find ways to get more money from the residents and businesses of the city.
Look at your $1-per-hour parking meters and check your $36 a month trash fee that comes up as $72 on your DWP bill every 2 months, up from $11 last year. THAT is a result of more expenses that the city DOES NOT have enough money to pay for. That increase was supposed to be gradually phased in over 3 years in step increases, but TONY would not wait.
The trash fee explosion was pushed by Mayor Villaraigosa in order to increase the size of the LAPD to 10,000 officers. And of course, TONY will take the credit for that "achievemenet." That money, by the way, was NOT spent for that task, but for other LAPD expenses, so STILL the need for more money to make those hires just continues.
But that is just a small sample of so many things that are costing us more to be in L.A. How we got here is a simple story. The Council kept spending more money than they had coming into the city account. The City Council gives funding to many programs, over and over, making the city's bills higher and higer. Some programs may be worth having but many are not. And programs usually cost more and more each year, along with projects and services that were underestimated and now need MORE money to accomplish their stated objectives.
There are expenses made that are just wasteful, but the bottom line is that SPECIAL EVENT FEE WAIVERS really now need to be done very carefully, if they are to be done at all.
For every $1,000.00 that is "spent" or waived by the Special Event Waiver, MORE than $1,000.00 has to be collected to balance the expense- "more than" the amount is needed to take in the expense of the overhead of having city employees and processes doing more work just to get that amount of money back into the city treasury from the various supply sources, ultimately from the residents and businesses.
BELOW is a copy of today’s Council "Agenda Item 28", listing the requests and naming the council member making the motion for special event waivers. All of the items were approved UNANIMOUSLY, as is usually the case on vote patterns of the council members.
There seemed to be a loose guideline or policy that used to be followed generally for granting the waivers. A showing that the event was open to all persons in the community, and that it was not a for-profit event holder conducting the event.
Please check number 09-0030 below sponsored by CMs Jan Perry of CD-9 and Ed Reyes of CD-1 that gives the waiver of $124,163.00 for holding the Grammy Awards on February 8, 2009. As far as I know, the recording industry and artists are making some big money for somebody, and this event is NOT going to be letting you or me in to check it out simply because we are residents of the city. (You can be sure a LOT of the people who will be showing up there don't live all in Los Angeles themselves, either.)
The question of HAVING special event fee waivers is one matter.
It is an entirely different matter to consider WHO GETS THE WAIVERS.
Question: Should the Grammy Awards be paying all their expenses for the show? Do you think there is some money coming in to the promoters for the t.v. rights and the commercials? If it MAKES money, the city should not be a partner without some return on the expense. AND even if it did not make money, the city does not have to cover the costs.
People who FAVOR granting the waivers ask us to consider the amount of money that the event brings to the city. I do believe that this may be some value but the event will be happening here ANYWAY, so why give away services, especially in this time of city financial crisis?
Even for those who say it is a drop in the bucket compared to all expenses, shouldn't we start requiring some belt-tightening all around since the city will be coming to US for those dollars when they are needed? And shouldn't city council members be some sort of role model for something GOOD for constituents?
A lot in this area has to do with "attitude" and "symbolism" created by the actions of the city council or anyone else who acts in public office. Even if the sum for the Grammy event is small compared to lots of other city bills, the thought counts a lot. We would, at least, I would, like to think that the politicians CARE about being careful with the money they pull from us.
I don't believe they would spend their own money so freely if they had to find ways to replace some of it due to overspending style they have developed. It would be nice if a percentage of payment of costs came from their pay checks and then we'd see how important all these things were to them.
Below is a sample of routinely made expenses. Are you happy with this? And, do THEY, the councilpersons even CARE what you think? Maybe you could hear from Ed Reyes since he represents Lincoln Heights and he could explain this from their point of view.
Councilperson Reyes could also give you a list of all the expenses to residents that have GONE UP from changes the Council has made in the past year, including $5 added to all tickets, the trash fees mentioned, the phone tax deception that was made permanent, and now, the Measure B on Solar Energy that will send DWP bills skyward if it passes, and all put on the ballot with minimal public input.
For your information:
"[AGENDA] ITEM NO. (28)
08-0202-S1
et al. MOTIONS relative to “Special Events” to be held in the various Council Districts.
Recommendations for Council action:
DECLARE the following community events as “Special Events”; APPROVE any temporary street closures as requested; and, INSTRUCT the involved City departments to perform such services as detailed the Council motions attached to the various listed Council files, including the waiver of fees, costs and requirements and other related issues, as specified:
08-0202-S1
CD 11
a. MOTION (ROSENDAHL - CARDENAS) relative to declaring the 2009 Northern Trust Open on February 16-22, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $23,174).
09-0030
CD 9
b. MOTION (PERRY - REYES) relative to declaring the 51st Annual Grammy Awards on February 8, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $124,163).
07-2647-S2
CD 9
c. MOTION (PERRY - PARKS) relative to declaring the Trinity Street Block Party on January 10, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $1,670).
09-0027
CD 9
d. MOTION (PERRY - PARKS) relative to declaring the Light of the Angels Strike Days on January 2, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $350).
09-0028
CD 9
e. MOTION (PERRY - REYES) relative to declaring the Second Annual Walk For Wishes on June 6, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $2,800).
07-0560-S1
CD 3
f. MOTION (ZINE - PERRY) relative to declaring the Fourth of July Fireworks Show and Concert on July 4, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $12,424).
08-1196-S1
CD 3
g. MOTION (ZINE - ROSENDAHL) relative to declaring the 34th Season of Concerts in the Park on Sundays from May 31, 2009 through August 30, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $4,600).
07-1010-S1
CD 3
h. MOTION (ZINE - ROSENDAHL) relative to declaring the 21st Annual Canoga Park Memorial Parade on May 25, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $16,125).
09-0038
CD 9
i. MOTION (ZINE - PERRY) relative to declaring the Dia De Los Muertos Festival Event on November 1, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $8,404). "
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