Ron Kay has another item of information and opinion on the City Commissions as another area that has not worked to the public's benefit as was the design when the City Charter (the controlling document for city operations much like the Constitution is to the federal government) was amended in 1999.
Check this at http://www.ronkayela.com/ the blog that will tell you more about what really goes on that our politicians will ever admit. The current abuses are noted and discussed and in case you don't pay much attention to city government and lack of responsibility to the residents, it happens to be the DWP, quickly becoming a rogue agency for the most part and doing such things as giving a contract to H.David Nahai, former head of the DWP, so that he gets the same salary rate (a bit over $310,000.00 per year) until the end of the year. Why?
That's part of the problem. The DWP Commission can approve a contract that comes in under $250,000.00 WITHOUT any control by the City Council. That happened when Nahai resigned and was enlisted as "consultant" where he gets paid to be available by phone during business hours by telephone or fax. He doesn't have to show up and he doesn't have to really do work, just give answers to questions. Why isn't it hourly for the actual work done? Good question and they have not come up with a good answer. Behind the scenes arrangements that we know little about may acccount for the cozy and expensiver deals.
Read the Ron Kaye blog for today,
"The Failure of Reform, Part I: The LA Commission System," By Ron Kaye on December 3, 2009 http://www.ronkayela.com/ and get a broader picture of why things don't work out well for the public and the politicians continue to let it happen as it suits them just fine. And, you may not know this, the mayor appoints these commissioners with the council approving the selections with little actual resistance. (Some token 'hard" questioning happens once in a while but it's all for show. Should a single CM not go for the selections, the future relations with the mayor will be very much changed. And we can't have that, can we?
And THE MAYOR went to a book fair in Guadalajara to get "honored" there, spending over $2 million in federal money (as if that makes it o.k.) and taking a lot of city people with him. Is this any way to act in a budget crisis? Might they be useful staying in L.A. to actually work on problems instead of these thinly disguised junkets?
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