More Raises approved Friday for DWP, but Council unanimously sees this as a "good deal."

"Pay increase for DWP managers gets OK -
EXPENSE: Retroactive boost is expected to cost agency $5.5 million.
By Rick Orlov, Staff Writer, L.A. Daily News, Updated: 03/05/2010 10:34:17 PM PST
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_14523162

This is an example of the direction the city is going, one big downward random spiral that ends with a big thud upon impact with the ground at the bottom of it's travel. You have city employee layoffs announced in the thousands- and the next several years are as bleak on the deficit side of things, but you have the DWP being your biggest regular bill next to housing and transportation, normally, if you happen to live in the city.

But Jack Humphreville, an activist and a member of the DWP Oversight Committee, questioned the decision.

"The council is approving a lump sum payment to the highest-paid city workers at the same time the DWP is shortchanging the cash-starved city with its transfer," Humphreville said, referring to a $147 million revenue transfer approved this week.

"At the same time, the IBEW is forcing the DWP to forgo competitive bidding on solar projects that will end up costing ratepayers even more."

The DWP is pretty much in the hands of the IBEW who have made this agency their own. If you heard the 8 a.m. special panel discussion in City Hall last week about the budget, hosted by CM Jose Huizar, you heard a lot of ideas on how we can get better representation, in the varied theories and observations that the panelists presented.

If you heard the ending, the last panelist, Ron Kaye, stated observations and drew some conclusions that were more along realistic lines than purely theoretical. Kaye's view, although very accurate, was somthing of a welcome surprise with it's bluntness, noting that the IBEW's leverage is the ability to shut down the city if it doesn't get it's way.

How did things get that way? Probably in the same way that we have see the arrival of the current budget disaster- the Council Members and Mayor applied the "Why Not?" test to all requests and proposals presented from the union, the IBEW local, and really, as with most things, they did not think of the long term or even many short term consequences and risks that were created by their decisions. The union, for their end of things in discussions and negottiations, kept leading the way for all kinds of things to come to the union's side, but the Council and Mayor followed that lead until we reached the end of the road now and it's turned out to be a cliff with a big drop.

It didn't happen overnight and other administrations may be sharing the blame, but when you get closer to the fire, you should have to noticee the heat. But before that unavoidable sensation, there were some warning signgs and maybe even see some smoke and flames before then, visible from some distance. Those signs were not heeded, and avoidance and remedial actions never really happened as the downhill slide to come was just made steeper while all the money being handled in the real estate market was too good to be true- and we saw that ended with a the falling dominoes effect reaching far and wide.

So now, the City "leaders" have no ability to deal on an equal footing with the unions and especially the IBEW. The results? Now we get these insane deals that happen as we have heard Council members discuss layoffs of police, brown out reductions in ambulance service in fire stations and some 4,000 layoffs that CM Alarcon was vehement in his correction of CAO Santana's term, and insisted that this should be calle "reductions in 4,000 positions." Call it what you want, there's still a big problem with the money to spread around and it's getting worse by the day. But at least the DWP is going to stay strong and comfy as they plan how to get out the next round of rate hikes for a list of things that will bring in more cash. And there's more information on that to come.

Music Flashback from June 4, 1962, shades of Nightingale Jr. High

Reading the L.A. Radio.com http://www.laradio.com/ website information for today includes the "Flashback": to June 4, 1962, quite a long time ago. It is probably an unimagineable length of time for youngers persons. The music brings back a notion of the times, and although not especially vivid, it's still a distinct time in my memory, and it was Nightingale Jr. High that comes to mind in that time.

Nightingale introduced me and many others to my homeroom teacher, Mr. Johnnie Eagilen, who would be my homeroom teacher for all three years there. Mr. Eagilen was a science teacher, a Black man, and maybe, no, make that "definitely," the most strict teacher of all the the homerooms that I could have had. And, of course, Nightingale did not have co-ed homerooms, so he was really tough with only guys in his room. "Hit that floor, fella!" was the routine command heard as a response to any of our misdeeds that he observed. 50 pushups here, 100 pushups there, I don't know what the scale was for the assorted offenses, but the most common reasons were, (a.) coming in late, and (b.) talking when you were not supposed to. How did he assure compliance? Simple, if the guy counting out your pushups cheated for you, HE had to do the pushups. Sometimes we had a lot of guys on the floor, but that was not often, and as time went on, I think we all managed to do a better job of avoiding that same frequency of exercise.

Well, homeroom did not do much to cultivate a goofing off behavior for any of us there, so it must have happened in other classes, I suppose. Years later I met a former teacher of mine in the District Intern program who was my English teacher and she remembered Mr. Eagilen. I suppose students have more memories of the teachers than the other way around, but that particular English teacher was another of the ones making life tough in Jr. High, so that's probably why I could not recognize her when I met her again over 40 years later. Well, Mr. Eagilen was o.k. in retrospect, I never did have him for a real class. He had my sisters in his Science class 10 years after I was out of there and probably out of college, too, by then, saying some nice words to them about me. I would not have expected that he thought much of me from my time there, though. I could have used some breaks back then, not later. Well, so much for good old Nightingale. I remember several more teachers from then, most of whom I liked, and maybe someday I will go through a few recollections about Mr. Lee, the band teacher.

So here's that music that started that trip into the past,
"Top Five Flashback, June 4, 1962:"
I Can’t Stop Loving You by Ray Charles, one of the great love ballads from the famous and blind music icon; Stranger On The Shore by Acker Bilk, a still unknown artist to me who recorded such a melancholy clarinet instrumental that imprinted it's wispy melody in my mind; Lovers Who Wander by Dion, the one from "Dion and the Belmonts," still demonstrating the d00-wop style of pop music that was gradually changing; Soldier Boy by the Shirelles, a really early representative girl group of so many to come, with a song that could not have been much more prophetic for many relationships as the Vietnam War had not yet become the vortex it ultimately would be, pulling in so many Americans into the controversy and consequences of war; and (The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance by Gene Pitney, a song that was a person-story, something like the song, "Big John," and one that did not match up exactly well, I thought, with the movie of the same name. Pitney died two years ago last April at age 65, found dead in a hotel room while on tour of the U.K., a successful one. An autopsy confirmed cause of death as heart disease. His voice was unmistakeably identifiable and I liked his singing and the songs.

All too much flashback for one postings. You won't see much reflection about late 90's or 2000's songs since much is not memorable, and the music played is often indistinguishable from any other music of the pop genre and incorporating profanity as part of the lyrics just does not make for any love ballads. Even songs that were once new are "oldies" now, so that's still my favorite type.