ValleyVote Update for 7-13-01 |
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The Next meeting of the Valley VOTE Executive Board will be Monday 7-16-01, The Executive Session of the meeting will be from 6:45pm to 7:25prn The meeting will be held at Galpin Motors, 15555 Roscoe Blvd in the 2nd floor conference room in the Explorer Showroom Building
Here are more stories about LA's failure to function.
By Orith Goldberg Staff Writer
Problems with the city's new computer purchasing have gotten so bad that LAPD officers have to buy their own investigative materials, workers are sitting idle, and officials say they're worried they lack enough supplies to deal with emergencies. The problems have mounted sharply since the Daily News reported May 10 that glitches in the new system were causing vendors to go unpaid, miscalculating sales taxes and failing to properly track supplies.
On Friday, LAPD and other city officials characterized the problems as much more severe than previously acknowledged and they cited such examples as police going without crime scene tape, Polaroid film, evidence bottles and citation books, and transportation workers lacking traffic light lamps and red paint. "The system's been a nightmare," said Bill Moran, commanding officer of the LAPD's Fiscal Support Bureau. "Officers are running out of central supplies out there, vendors are upset, it's a mess."
Officials said officers were careful about leaving any supplies lying around because they would be snatched up by others and that traffic officers were having to flag down California Highway Patrol officers to get crash investigation forms.
"We're begging, borrowing and stealing from other areas to make sure we don't drop the ball," said Deputy Chief Ron Bergmann, the police commander in the San Fernando Valley. "There's a lot of things I have to worry about -- whether each station has toilet paper should not be one."
The problems plague other departments as well. A new $22 million state-of-the-art computer system called PRIMA, for Procurement Receiving Inventory Management and Accounts Payable, is supposed to consolidate and track buying, inventory and billing. But so far, it's been miserable, Bergmann said.
Besides supply shortages, some departments have been forced to cut work assignments and delay projects, creating backlogs and leaving some workers idle. In some cases, suppliers have cut the city off because of a lack of payment, several city employees and a city report say.
City employees say they've had inadequate training on the new system, which has also created "false shortages" and vendor problems, according to a report delivered to the Ad Hoc Committee on the City Budget.
According to the report:
City officials share a "concern" about having enough supplies for a city or police emergency.
The city's Department of Transportation is running short of inventory and doesn't have the equipment to deal with a serious emergency.
DOT supervisors have had to go outside the system to acquire traffic signal lamps or the city would have run out. And one week, the department ran out of red paint, signal lamps, rivets and posts, causing a backlog and delaying work.
The Personnel Department reports that invoices aren't being processed in a timely manner and vendors are demanding to know when they'll get paid.
Other departments state they have lost discounts for not paying on time and are burdened by the cumbersome system.
For police, the problems are just adding to the already low morale problems plagued by the Rampart corruption scandal and a dwindling number of officers. "Just give me the basic tools of my job," said a Valley-based LAPD officer who did not wish to be identified. "It just adds to the tension and frustration level, and it's resulted in hoarding."
Officers have tried to "redeploy" forms and supplies from other divisions than their own, several employees said. Judy Miller, the officer-in-charge of the LAPD's supply section, said police "were chasing down the Highway Patrol" to get necessary forms.
The lack of necessary supplies, including film, will have a serious effect on investigations, said Bob Baker, vice president of the Police Protective League. "It's not a situation you want to find your officers in," Baker said. "How in the world can you have your officers go into the field and do an effective job if they don't have the basic tools to do their jobs?"
The system was supposed to reduce costs and increase efficiency by eliminating redundancy but has appeared to increase confusion about what stocks are available and could result in the loss of discounts from vendors for unpaid invoices, according to city employees.
Officials said the city's General Services Department is working hard to solve the supply problem, but it's been slow. Before the switch, each city department maintained their own inventories, sometimes on different systems, and placed ordering for inventory on their own, said Robert Jensen, assistant general manager of the General Services Department.
He said while there are some shortages, the city is "catching up" and doing a full inventory. "Every day we're getting better," he said. "We're learning more about how to support our customers, and we have every confidence we'll be successful."
Jensen said the LAPD was placed on General Services' network to speed their ordering.
"They've certainly done what they could to help us," Moran said. "They're trying their best to get us supplies, but it's been pretty sketchy, whether it's auto supplies or something else, there have been continuing problems."
A General Services employee, who asked not to be named, said city employees are spending a lot of time trying to figure out the system. "It's insane, it's cumbersome, it's awkward," he said. "It's ready to collapse under the weight of the bureaucracy." [An the same bureaucrats claim that a big city is "more efficient than a small city in there statements opposing secession.]
CITY government seems to have a PRIMA problem -- it's Plagued by Recurring Incompetence in Management and Administration.
In a noble attempt to bring some efficiency to city operations, officials implemented a high-tech, $22 million procurement, inventory and billing system in January. PRIMA -- which really stands for Procurement Receiving Inventory Manageable and Accounts payable -- was supposed to bring some order to City Hall.
But PRIMA has been quickly overwhelmed by the never-ending human errors of a public bureaucracy. Not only did it arrive with a few bugs of its own, but the system is no better than the people who use it -- and that's bad news for city government. So a little more than four months into the PRIMA era, the city bureaucracy finds itself in greater disarray than ever.
Vendors complain that they're not getting paid on time. Sales tax is routinely miscalculated. The Police Department lacks an adequate supply of urine-sample bottles and citation books.
City officials have been quick to point fingers and blame machines for their PRIMA woes. But the biggest problem seems to be that the bureaucrats are having a hard time learning the new system, and they're bungling the paperwork. No amount of artificial intelligence could make up for the lack of the real thing at City Hall.
By Beth Barrett Staff Writer
Los Angeles' new $22 million state-of-the-art procurement, inventory and billing system has failed so badly that dozens of vendors haven't been paid, sales tax has been miscalculated and crucial supplies have run out, city officials said Wednesday.
The supply management system was activated in January to make City Hall more efficient by consolidating warehouse space and adopting other streamlining practices. Instead, it has caused headaches throughout city government and officials are doing a lot of finger-pointing, especially at human error in operating the new system.
The City Controller's Office has decided to hire an outside auditor to independently gauge the extent of the problems with the system called PRIMA (Procurement Receiving Inventory Management and Accounts Payable).
"The magnitude of it we haven't got our arms around, and that worries us," said Chief Deputy Controller Timothy Lynch.
City officials said dozens of suppliers have not been paid so the city has lost out on substantial discounts for timely bill payment. The loss has yet to be calculated. Some departments, particularly the Los Angeles Police Department, have struggled too to get the supplies and materials they need to operate on a day-to-day basis because the system has not always identified low inventories.
Wray Hollemon, Los Angeles Police Department's Fiscal Operations Division commanding officer, said the LAPD ran out of citation books and urine sample bottles as the result of problems associated with the system.
"At one time we thought we ran out of flares but then they found them," said Hollemon, saying the computerized inventory system showed there were none, when in reality they were stacked on a warehouse shelf. Larger purchases like guns and cars haven't been affected, he added.
Department of General Services Assistant General Manager Robert Jensen, overseeing the project, said the system "is in the infancy stage," but that it is fundamentally sound with some 8,000 checks and 30,000 purchase orders already processed through it.
Jensen said many of the problems have to do with departments' inexperience with the new system, anchored by an $8 million PeopleSoft computer system. He estimated up to 90 percent of the LAPD's problems are the department's own fault.
A spokesman for PeopleSoft, a Pleasanton-based company, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
"The system had some problems originally, but almost all of those have been resolved," Jensen said. "But users are still struggling with the system." Jensen said the most persistent problem now -- the delay in paying vendors -- has to do with new, centralized procedures where invoices aren't processed unless they are complete, including purchase order numbers.
In the past, departments handled the invoices, and because they were more familiar with the orders, they could fill in any missing information, he said. Jennifer Roth, a deputy to Mayor Richard Riordan who backed PRIMA, said the system is "reasonably sound."
Departments and vendors, she said, are adjusting to a system that requires more accountability from them.
"Previously, when there were fewer controls and not centralized, employees would enter into an agreement with a vendor, then a contract would be developed," Roth said.
But even city managers who believe the system will work over the long term question the bumpiness of the start-up.
Craig Bloomquist, director of the Public Works Bureau of Accounting, said he's concerned the current tardiness of vendor payment doesn't "snowball." Despite the elaborate computer technology, Bloomquist said, venders aren't paid until a paper invoice to back up the electronic receipt is received.
"If the vendor doesn't send the paperwork in, nothing is paid," he said. Jensen, the project head, said most vendors have understood the delays as a start-up condition, with only one putting the city on "credit hold," making future sales contingent on payment.
Jensen said other glitches with the system are more mysterious, particularly the periodic miscalculation of sales tax paid on purchases, which tends to happen in bunches. PeopleSoft technicians claim it is not a software problem, Jensen said. "We have to find the event that triggers it," he added.
Lynch, the chief deputy controller, said identification of the sales tax error is important to make sure the city doesn't get into trouble with the state.
Councilwoman Laura Chick, elected the city's new controller last month, said system managers and departments have to move past blaming one another. "So far, I've heard accusations and defenses," said Chick, whose Government Efficiency Committee will take up the matter Monday.
"I need a clear and objective framing of the problem to help the parties move to a solution."
Our incredible City Council has done it again. Sending a message on behalf of all Angelenos, telling the feds we disapprove of John Ashcroft's selection, is more than laughable, it's criminal. Get it right: As elected officials, you are sworn to represent those who elected you. Without so much as an informal survey, the downtown gang has spoken for all of us again.
There's room for opinion and diversity as long as it serves your agenda, right, Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas? You've all gone too far. There's only one thing left to do: We must vote out every single incumbent on the City Council and just start over.
Ed Milstein Canoga Park
Absolutely unbelievable. It is one thing to say, "I will not be a part of an organization that does not hold my values." It is completely different, however, to say, "A private organization that doesn't hold my values should be booted from my city." That is bigotry and intolerance.
The action taken by the L.A. City Council borders on religious persecution. The Boy Scouts of America simply holds the same values as those who first stamped "In God We Trust" on our money, and penned the words, "one nation under God" in our pledge of allegiance. And for that we punish them? Angelenos seriously need to wake up and take note of what the likes of Jackie Goldberg are doing to their city, and take action before it's too late.
Kim Gentry Santa Clarita
Nearly two years ago, the City Council took a tiny step to reform the city's byzantine tax code and improve the business climate.
Now, just as we suspected, the evidence suggests that the council's package was mostly a failure. Business leaders are begging for relief and mercy just as the economy slows down and the council is quietly paying money back to businesses it illegally double-taxed.
Perhaps it's time for the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the council's "pattern and practice" of double-taxing some large companies while letting thousands of businesses not pay any tax at all.
Is this any way to run a city? We think not.
In February 1999, the council approved cutting tax brackets from 64 to eight while also rejecting Mayor Richard Riordan's plan to raise some taxes to reduce the loss of revenue. The vote came after a chaotic session in which many members agreed they didn't know what they were doing. [What's new]
That proved to be right. Now, the public learns that tax reform and tax relief are a joke in Los Angeles after a Daily News story reported that the council -- as surreptiously as possible -- agreed to pay $16.5 million to dozens of corporations that claimed they were double-taxed. And the city faces similar claims from 100 additional firms.
The 67 firms sued claiming the payroll tax in the much-ballyhooed reform package of the business tax code amounted to double taxation. The council ultimately agreed, meeting in closed sessions and approving the settlement without public discussion.
This comes after the Business Tax Advisory Council issued a report in November that the city's tax system is fraught with problems. Its Blueprint for Business Tax Reform outlines the current flaws in the Los Angeles business tax system, including business tax rules that are unjustifiably complex and expensive unfair double tax provisions, with many tax professionals ignoring those provisions tax rates that are too high relative to neighboring cities and the appeals system for assessments and refund claims is archaic and impenetrable, with millions of dollars falling through the cracks.
In other words, everything that leaders pointed out was wrong with the system nearly eight years ago when Riordan took office. And since nothing much was accomplished with the 1999 "reforms," it's an issue worth debating by the six mayoral candidates in the upcoming city election.
Los Angeles has done a lot to create an anti-business climate for L.A. and precious little making the tax system intelligible if not very attractive to employers. That's because the City Council holds business in contempt and has little if any regard for the economic health of the city as a whole.
It's time to change all of that.
By Alexa Haussler Staff Writer
Los Angeles will pay $16.5 million to dozens of corporations that claimed they were double-taxed, and the city still faces similar claims from 100 other firms, the Daily News has learned.
Coming more than seven years after Mayor Richard Riordan was elected on a platform of making Los Angeles more business-friendly, the settlements -- along with a new plan to remake the city's complicated business tax system -- may be too late to repair delicate relationships with corporations and reinvent Los Angeles as a business mecca, business leaders say.
"We feel very strongly the double taxation issues are keeping businesses from coming into Los Angeles," said Mel Kohn, chairman of a city business tax advisory committee. "When you have companies . . . trying to decide whether to locate in L.A. or in El Segundo, and they can save a lot of money by being three blocks away, they are going to consider it."
The mayor and the City Council in October quietly approved paying back $16.5 million to 67 major corporations -- including Eastman Kodak, Bloomingdale's and the Vons Cos. The settlement had been discussed in closed session of the City Council and then approved without discussion during a council meeting and went unnoticed or commented on for two months.
The firms had sued the city, claiming a payroll tax in the business tax code amounted to double taxation. The council also agreed to halt the payroll tax for tax years 2000 and 2001, which officials say will cost the city roughly $6 million.
Meanwhile, claims by 100 other corporations -- asking for $10 million -- are pending against the city, said Assistant City Attorney Ronald Tuller, who said the settlement made sense for the city. "It was the settlement in this instance that was in the best interest of the city as opposed to continue on with the litigation," Tuller said.
Charles Ajalat, a Los Angeles attorney who represented the 67 firms, said the city needed to face the problem. "The city expects the large corporations to be good corporate citizens, and they have been," Ajalat said. "And likewise I think it's really quite important when a government has a constitutional problem, that they address it."
But the city's business tax system has larger problems, say those who have examined it. The Business Tax Advisory Council issued a report on Nov. 27 calling for more funding for the city to target tax scofflaws, use more technology in the tax system and hire an ombudsman to help taxpayers.
"I think what the city has to do is do something quickly," said Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit economic development association. "What they've got to do is look at their longer-term economic health. They have to say what are we going to do to be competitive."
City Councilman Mike Feuer, chairman of the city's Ad Hoc Committee on Tax Reform, said a bill has been revived in the state Legislature that would help the city identify business scofflaws that are operating in the city without paying business taxes. [LA City wanted access to personal tax returns. The state refused]
Officials have estimated that identifying tax dodgers could pump tens of millions of dollars yearly into the city's treasury, which is stretched by the business tax settlements and liability settlements from the Rampart police corruption case. "There's a lot of activity happening at every level, from studies to City Council analyses to state legislation," Feuer said.
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