Eli Broad got a mention in a one-page item in the L.A. Weekly's edition a week ago- that I just got around to reading yesterday. Not a surprising outcome if you follow the local administration's courting of private interests to make themselves look good- something that is the trademark of Mayor Villaraigosa.
"$1 Rent for Billionaire Broad- So much for Villaraigosa's new era of transparency and shared sacrifice," By Tibby Rothman, Thursday, Apr 29 2010.
http://www.laweekly.com/2010-04-29/news/1-rent-for-billionaire-broad/
It's sure another shady deal when you see- or really, as the complaint is here, you don't "see" the dealings. There's this deal happening but no one heard of it until it happened. I mentioned the Eric Garcetti move to skip putting the DWP rate hike action on the agenda- yeah, those things get in the way, and you just can't be creative or spontaneous with those kinds of step put into the process. Besides, that just gives troublemakers a chance to complain and slow down the process, maybe even bring it to a stop.
You can't blame Eric, after all, as he's for anything to get "green" and it's often the green in your wallet that's the target. The DWP really has to stop complaining and saying, "We supply power for rates that are below other utility companies."
In a few more of the planned rate hike steps, they can scratch that complaint and maybe move to the top of that category instead of that "too cheap" level that is somehow intolerable. Well, don't shed too many tears for these folks. You might feel for the guys caught in the Channel 2 investigative report, though. They are the example of people just too cozy in their jobs to really follow the rules like most employees. In a real world condition, they would be fired without much fanfare, but here, they will probably have the union (the IBEW, the real force in the DWP) work out a deal. After all, they do make around $90,000 a year base with some overtime when they aren't taking a brewsky break and cruising in the DWP trucks.
But back to the DWP management and their money worries. Are they too pinched for money? Maybe if they didn't fluff up the benefits and roll over during contract negotiations to benefit the CONSUMER for a change, it could be more reasonable. But for now, it's a condition that's not so poor that it doesn't keep them from passing along a "surplus" every year of a sum as was for this year of $220,000,000.00 (Two Hundred and Twenty MILLION dollars)- and let's not forget that they have that Billion dollars stashed in reserve that no one mentions.
But the whole city operation is bad, and this Eli Broad deal is part of what rich involved people manage to extract from the system. They didn't get rich by being nice guys all the time, and this is one of the ways, by getting breaks here and there to save some money so you can use that money elsewere.
Read the comments that aren't much but still representative of different views.
"One-Buck Eli" Comments By L.A. Weekly readers Thursday, May 6 2010
http://www.laweekly.com/2010-05-06/news/one-buck-eli/
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