"Villaraigosa warns of bankruptcy if L.A. City Council blocks electricity rate hike," March 23, 2010 11:24 am, by
David Zahniser at Los Angeles City Hall.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/03/villaraigosa-warns-of-bankruptcy-if-la-council-blocks-power-rate-hike.html The City Council members must have heard lots of complaints from a lot of residents to break away from their usual course as being the Villaraigosa-rubber stamp on this deal. But this is still just a delay to be sure of the impact and numbers involved. The Council may still rollover for the mayor before this decision is final. Many have come to see that blind allegiance to Mayor Villaraigosa- referred to appropriately by a friend as "Mayor Failuraigosa"- doesn't pay in terms of political mileage. Pairing up with the Mayor is really resembling loading up your backpack with a lot of bricks instead of the food that used to be carried. It's not helping your case and it's holding you back when you'd be better off dumping it. Maybe a better analogy would be to consider the extra weight to be some food that was good at one time, but now has gone bad over time and is a danger to your health. You have to get rid of it.
I heard Ed Reyes going at it with one of the presenters from DWP, maybe it was Miguel Santana, the Chief Administrative Officer ("CAO"). I wasn't watching the online show but had to get some things done and could only hear the commotion. Reyes said, to paraphrase it,
"Your report says that by 'not approving the raises in DWP, rates will be the fastest way to...' and you used that word." All of these guys dance around this
"word" as if it's a racial slur or insult. It's not like it's calling anyone "Whore," you know. Actually, THEY are the whores, come to think of it. They are bought off by campaign contributions and will do whatever it takes for getting votes or money for their campaigns. I remind you that staying in office is their Job #1.
The big word they try no to say is "bankruptcy" and they will see that word again soon enough in papers once that's filed, no matter what they do since they just waited a year or so BEYOND the time where it might have made some difference. The funny thing about Reyes' comments on "the Word" is that he said to the speaker, 'You should not be using that word. It is very irresponsible to say that this is what is going to happen." And on and on like that. The funny thing is that it turns out that, from the reports I heard and read, this was what was contained in the Mayor's report so it was Tony not the CAO or other official saying this. Reyes is not the kind of guy to go against the mayor.
The Mayor and Reyes both have "densification" as the theme of their bad-news development ideas. That's probably expected to build up a bigger tax base, except that no one with money can afford to move here. The poorer people just double up on accommodations to manage, not really making things too nice. The middle class that is needed as the sustainng base is continuing to exit Los Angeles as things get worse while the city works to nickel-and-dime them to death. As for businesses, they continue to either fold or leave due to business unfriendliness in a tight financial time that was earlier tolerable when things were good.
The council members are, mostly, not good at their job, although a few, Dennis Zine among them, have some good streaks of public service among the rest of history of making the bad decisions. The rest are working just so badly for any benefit of the city. I could name some and some of the examples to show you, but this is already too long, and you can probably figure a lot out for yourself.
In a briefing paper sent to council members Monday night, Villaraigosa’s office said the DWP would renege on a promise to transfer $73 million to the city’s general fund budget if its rate proposal is rejected.
Such a move would cause the general fund, which pays for public safety, libraries and other basic services, to “run out of cash” before the end of the fiscal year on June 30,
Villaraigosa’s briefing paper said.
The DWP transferred over $147 million to the City's "general fund" a week or so ago, and the rest of the $220 million is already figured into the budget numbers. So you can see how the city council can get desperate when things don't work out. They already are on a mission to screw you out of every dime they can manage. So all this "revenue generation" mission is making them crazy. You already heard CM Janice Hahn making public her idea of putting a gift shop in City Hall and selling keychains.
CM Richard Alarcon was even asking the DWP tech person a few weeks ago during a water quality discussion about selling the water. I think Alarcon meant selling it as a bottled product since they already sell it to us piped in. I don't think he was being sarcastic but in any event it made little sense alone without also doing some projection of costs versus the income and all the rest of a marketing analysis. But the CMs are really coming up with things that are off the wall now so you can't rely on them to "do the right thing,' as if you really ever should.
CM Rosendahl was questioning one speaker about the need for rate raises and then became concerned when it got down to a possibility that the rest of the money for the general fund might not materialize. You could tell his level of resistance to approving the requested hike was fading fast when that outcome came up in the discussons. I just about expected Rosendahl to do another of his position flips when it involves money and then begin urging the other CMs to approve the hikes just to get that DWP money. Like I mentioned before, whores.
Last week, DWP Interim General Manager S. David Freeman warned that the utility would think twice about sending the rest of the money to the city’s budget accounts if the rate hikes are rejected. At the same time, Freeman said that if the hikes were approved, his agency would come up with an extra $20 million in budget contributions by reducing its travel costs and other expenditures.
These guys are slimy. Freeman is not credible and whatever he is told to say, he will. I used to have a little faith in things were done by the public utility companies until the "energy crisis" passed and we were shown the manipulations performed to rip off people on the expensive rates and on causing losses in the utility companies that many depended on to be stable
Now, as I have learned more over the years about things being done in local politics and having known a few of the prominent politicians and their histories, I watch them even more closely. They play a sort of high stakes shell game on the public, and they do not dissappoint when you expect it. All you have to do is pay attention to the details and much of what happens is no surprise. As one person told me a long time ago on a topic (not even related to politics) as the moral to his pretty vivid story about two prison cellmates, "So, all is NOT as it appears to be." And you have that little truism demonstrated so regularly at city hall, county government, and in Sacramento.
The City Council needs to be reminded often of what the MANY PEOPLE in the public think. They try to put on a good show to make you believe your concerns are important, but it's just that, a show to make you think they care about you. So complaining is what they need to hear.
The rate hikes, if you noticed, are mentioned as an "average" for the rate increases that will be expected (something small). They don't want to scare you. But the amount you will probably see is not guaranteed to be that "average" amount. It could be different as a result of higher usage levels, or, even by more miscalculations by the DWP predicting what the cost will be (something different and bigger by a lot). Remember, in the end, to borrow from Lily Tomlin's "Saturday Night Live" switchboard operator's announcement to a caller's complaint, "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the DWP. "
Use the
City Council contact List earlier posted on this blog to reach any or all CMs to keep them from giving in, which is the plan for many already.
In a late session of first the DWP Commission by a special meeting that was set for 4:30 pm according to the agenda, the DWP decided on pushing through a higher amount than the rate hike that the Council just approved. That DWP recommendation was rejected tonight in a late evening meeting to decide on the request if it was to take effect on April 1st. (Photo, right: Council President Eric Garcetti departing meeting last Saturday at Glassell Park- one of the remaining Council supporters of Mayor Villaraigosa )
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