Well, in case you haven't noticed, the Mayor is not having too good a time lately. First he scolded the City Council with a warning about the need to approve the request for the DWP rate hikes or that would be creating a very direct path to bankruptcy. That was in a report to the Council and it did not sit well with Ed Reyes for one, so the messenger got a bit of a dressing down on that topic.
Then the Mayor said that bankruptcy was not what he meant and it was ony a report for the Council- but it was freely distributed to the press, too. And by the way, did Tony mean that the Council gets one version and the public receives something different? Not a good outcome no matter how he tried to spin it.
Then the Council shut down that DWP rate hike (the first of a schedule of 4 increases) and proposed some lower increases until they got a better explanation of what exactly is the need attached to the charge. Then DWP's commissioners got to it during a late afternoon session, decided to bump their request back up and pass over what City Council had approved.
Next, on that same evening well after the sun had set, the Council saw the reply and shut the DWP down flat. Even Council Member Herb Wesson, usually trying to appear as the more wise and calm, collected member of the Council was angry, saying, "We are pissed," in remarking to the Council how the DWP had acted and what was to come.
So City Council held firm, rejected the counter-proposal and NO rate hike for DWP customers can happen until the next quarter, July. It was clearly a showdown that the Mayor gambled on and lost. So even the Council-approved, reduced-level rate hike vanished as a result of the DWP trying to make the big grab and losing.
All of this was from the direction of the Mayor- he appoints each of the DWP commission members and you can be certain that the Mayor's office was calling the shots during the breaks- much like major league baseball managers relay their instructions after being ejected from games. Everybody at DWP management is a puppet of someone, either the union or the mayor or both when there is agreement. The only ones coming up short are the DWP customers- us.
Then Tony ordered a 2-day closing for non-public safety work done in the City. That sounded like there was a super emergency that just came up that called for such drastic and sudden action. But there was a problem. Tony has no authority to make that order. At least to make the order that would be "enforceable." The City Charter often gets ignored in these moments of excitement. The Charter is to the City what the Constitution is to the U.S. government.
And don't forget that the unions had some contract provisions that were set up which were made to insulate them from losing days and losing pay. But then, Tony is not a man to let such details get in his way.
The closings were announced in the next day's Council meeting to be unenforceable. Not looking very good for the Mayor's choice of decisions.
So then somehow over $20 million dollars was found in some account or some re-calculation and the closings that were planned turned out not to be needed. Good one.
I forgot that Tony also made a sort of tactical error when the Council denied the DWP's requested rate hikes. The DWP (in another shady but regularly used deal) was supposed to transfer "surplus funds" to the city for the "general funds" that pay bills and payroll. Tony and the DWP said that the transfer was not able to happen now that the rate hikes were denied.
Sounds right? It's not. Tony's hikes were really for Tony's plan to make himself look good as a mayor in getting L.A. to go "green" in a big way and do it ahead of other cities. That cost money but who cares? Tony doesn't pay for it, we do. So the rate hikes and the transfer of a balance of $73 million dollars were not supposed to depend on each other to come through for all to happen.
But Tony said it did and his DWP man, Mr. Freeman, the real salesman or "hired gun" on DWP deals, as the case may be, said, "Can't do the money transfere because the rate hike did not go through." Of course somebody was lying and really, not just one person but entire sides, with Tony one of the usual suspects.
So it's all about retribution and picking up one's marbles to end the game and go home. Speakinf of marbles, have you noticed that the Mayor is making more and more conflicting announcements. Either he's got instant amnesia and figures everyone else is shaking the old Etch-a-Sketch, too, so we all start over with the plans he keeps changing on the fly, or he's losing a grip on reality for some chemical or organic related reason.
I don't know which, but there's something going on with the "ahhs, uuhhs and eehs punctuating his spoken communtications that are not written down. Reading is not to bad for him, but there's a lot of stalling in flight as he speaks off the cuff. Maybe that's why he never takes questions or he'd really be nailed to the wall very quicky, and I draw no parallels to any Jesus-like images or sacrifices Tony's made. Clearly, all that Tony has sacrificed during his time in office has been the well-being of the city and its people.
WHO WOULD REPLACE TONY FOR MAYOR? PROBABLY ANOTHER VERSION OF BAD NEWS.
City Council members are planning in their own minds some career climbs that include running for mayor when Tony is out of office in 3 years. Recalling him now would just give us more bad choices to push into a premature Mayoral race. We need time to build up some honest and helpful candidates. That goes for council members, too. Any current council member - and even Wendy Greuel, Controller- would like to try a shot at being the mayor and they don't cut it at all.
We need new CMs in the March 2011 election for the even numbered districts to replace these career ones now. In two more years after that, the odd numbered districts come u for election and a major change can happen.
Tony, as others have remarked, might welcome being recalled just to be done with the city problems that he never was dedicated to solving despite hiring enough aides and deputy mayors to run a few small countries. Sorry, we all will be suffering. A recall and special election campaign will waste money that's not there and give us inferior choices- maybe even worse ones.
That's L.A. and all you need to do is some lightweight Google searches to see that chaos is the order of the day. Meanwhile, the city council is busy trying to give away a fire engine to a worthy organization of local firefighers for a training function, but fire engines, at least as described in council meetings of the past few weeks, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to be fully equipped. Selling this for ONE DOLLAR is pure waste upon the tax payers- we can't afford this now. eBay is a place council members have remarked about when one city put up something of an expensive vehicle to get money in. LOS ANGELES is ALSO in such need and here's a perfect opportunity to get cash.
That was from yesterday's Budget and Finance Committee hearing and I don't know the outcome and have little expectation for them to do "what right" and that means "what makes sense" since that's a foreign concept in City Council chambers, practiced ever so infrequently so as to make news when the do so.
Well, enough meandering through topics. It's all pretty gloomy- and I wish I had a little time to write about Wendy Greuel, City Controller, and her interview on a news network. Just too wacky to believe, but they still talk as if we are trusting children. Not anymore we aren't.
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