ValleyVote Update for 7-24-01 |
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ValleyVote Volunteer Corps Meeting |
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Thursday July 26th, 2001 @ 6:00pm located at Galpin Ford, 15555 Roscoe Bl. And the 405 freeway 2nd floor Conference Room on Orian. There is free parking in the Galpin lot on Orian, just north of Roscoe.
WE NEED YOUR HELP ----- Please attend and bring a friend! Now is the time to pull together and get the facts to all the people in the City of LA. We are looking for Block Captains and "key" people to help during this historical time.
Our mission is
INFORMATION TO THE PEOPLE . . . . . . . THROUGH THE PEOPLE
Get the Facts from Valley VOTE, the people that are making it happen!!
Jeff Brain, President of Valley VOTE, will be attending our meeting to update all of us regarding the status of the feasibility of our own city, the process and what to expect in the near future.
LA Councilman Dennis Zine is expected to attend and he will give his point of view on Valley Cityhood.
We are looking for Volunteers to help distribute information to the people all over Los Angeles. We want to keep everyone informed with the facts we receive from the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) . . . . . . They are conducting the study. Please make every effort to attend this important meeting. I look forward to seeing you there! Feel free to call us at 818-501-5862 to let us know you will be attending.
Thank you!
Sincerely, Laura Di Gilio
By MICHAEL FINNEGAN, Times Staff Writer
How many deputy mayors work for Los Angeles? Could
it be four? Maybe six? Nine? Did someone say 12?
Ask around at City Hall, and the answer is all of
the above. Or, depending on whom you ask, none of the above.
"What do we have, four?" Mayor Richard
Riordan wondered. "Plus the chief of staff? Well, no, let's see. You have
Ann D'Amato, Jennifer Roth, Bill Violante, Rocky Delgadillo. That's right. We
have five."
Sounds a little like four, but who's counting?
A quest to count Riordan's deputy mayors before he
leaves office on Saturday would seem the simplest of tasks.
It's not. The number of deputy mayors eludes not
just Riordan, but many of the deputy mayors themselves.
Pay a visit to Riordan's inner sanctum at City
Hall, and you'll meet deputy mayors who don't believe they really are deputy
mayors. Down the hall, you'll find Riordan aides who call themselves deputy
mayors, but who really are not.
Ben Austin, the undisputed deputy mayor for
communications, is one of the few who dares to pinpoint an actual number--and
Riordan's estimate of five would be off by one.
"There just simply are six deputy
mayors," Austin said.
Down the list he went, ticking off the four names
cited by Riordan, plus himself and the chief of staff, Kelly Martin. (Martin
kept her title of deputy mayor when Riordan promoted her to chief of staff, a
bit of trivia known only to City Hall's most die-hard insiders.)
But off in another corner of City Hall, Louisa
Lund, spokeswoman for the city controller's office, scrolled down Riordan's
payroll and counted the deputy mayors collecting paychecks from the municipal
treasury.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine, 10, 11, 12," she said. "Twelve. Is that what you
count?"
Indeed, the payroll shows 12. Toss in Riordan's
chief of staff and that makes 13. But who might those seven other deputy mayors
be?
"I'm a deputy mayor," said No. 7, Jeffrey Walden. ("I was promoted to deputy mayor in about February. I'm very honored.") "I'm a deputy mayor," said No. 8, Linda Bernhardt. ("It's a very politically sensitive issue for some people in the office.") "I am a deputy mayor," said No. 9, Gaye Williams. ("I come to work and do my job and, beyond that, I don't really pay attention to what job titles people have.") But Nos. 10, 11, 12 and 13--Jaime de la Vega, Bernadette Kirkwood, Theresa Patzakis and Steven Rubin--denied any claim to the title. ("I am not a deputy mayor," Kirkwood insisted.)
Who, then, might solve the mystery?
From the mayor on down, fingers pointed to Martin,
the chief of staff.
"I'm the only one who focuses on this,"
Martin admitted.
By her count, there are six--the same ones listed
by Deputy Mayor Austin. (Mayor-elect James K. Hahn has named seven, but
"may appoint a couple more," a spokeswoman said.)
Yes, Martin conceded, the payroll lists 12 deputy
mayors, plus herself. All but six, however, are simply "classified that way
for payroll purposes. They don't have the title or the responsibilities."
The top range of salaries approved for employees
of the mayor's office is for a category called "deputy mayor," but not
everyone paid at that level holds the job title, Martin explained. (The 12
"deputy mayors" are paid $97,000 to $128,000 a year. Martin makes
$150,000.)
When Martin signed off on raises for Riordan's top
aides this year, several of them received letters saying they had become deputy
mayors--even though they hadn't--and several construed that as a promotion.
"There was some confusion here," Austin
said.
To clear it up, a crowd of deputy mayors and
would-be deputy mayors gathered around a speaker phone and agreed there were six
real ones. Walden announced with a trace of regret in his voice: "My
official title is assistant deputy mayor."
How many assistant deputy mayors might there be?
Don't even ask. [LA claims that all will still be
needed even if the Valley becomes a separate city reducing LA's population by
36% and area by 50%. This and similar reasons are presented in LA's objections
to the LAFCO report]
State Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg and Mayor Richard Riordan are inexplicably giddy about the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's decision to sell the state electricity at cost. Maybe it's because Hertzberg has spent too much time in Sacramento, or because Riordan (the would-be governor) longs to do the same. But whatever the reason, both sound more like Gov. Gray Davis than representatives of the people of Los Angeles.
The two politicians can't gush enough about DWP ratepayers' subsidizing cheap electricity for the rest of the state. They've even resorted to parroting the party line of Steve Maviglio, flack for Davis, who calls the massive wealth transfer a "win-win." "Everybody wins here," Hertzberg effuses. "The state brings more power on line at a fair price and we avoid rolling blackouts this summer."
Well, it's easy to see how Sacramento wins here -- plentiful power at prices way below market rates. But how, exactly, does Los Angeles benefit by forgoing millions of dollars in revenues that could be used to retire the DWP's $1.2 billion debt? Or does "everybody" not include L.A.'s 3.69 million residents?
And what's "fair" about the state still not having found a way to repay the tens of millions of dollars L.A. ratepayers provided on credit while taking nothing but abuse and threats from Davis? The mayor claims that the deal "goes along with our idea of being a good neighbor and helping the state out of a crisis." [This is while LA still claims that the Valley, if it becomes a separate city, cannot have power at the same rates as the remaining city - NOT even at retail much less the much lower cost as it will be given to the state].]
It certainly helps the state, but what does it do for L.A.? What did the state do for the Valley and L.A. after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake? Angelenos didn't elect Riordan to be a good neighbor, but rather a good mayor. And good mayors put the interests of their city first -- above their desire to secure good poll numbers throughout the state.
L.A. has been selling electricity to keep the lights on in San Francisco skyscrapers for the most part at a modest 15 percent above costs -- still far less than market prices -- and yet Davis in his desperation has the DWP on his hit list for overcharging.
It's not a "win-win" situation when one side pays all the costs and the other reaps all the benefits. A more equitable deal would let the DWP sell Sacramento power for a modest profit. That's what it used to do, and the arrangement helped to keep the lights on across the state and relieve DWP ratepayers of the utility's debt.
But then Davis directed his blame-everyone crusade at L.A. and charged the DWP with price-gouging. The DWP quickly folded, and the city's two most prominent officials raised the white flag. The DWP's contract with the state is no victory, it's a surrender. This isn't win-win, it's spin-spin.
While the $75 million subsidy for the additional development at Staples Center is riling many, it still does not match the proposed $100 million annually in additional taxes for an affordable housing "trust fund."
Affordable housing can be provided without taking more from the taxpayers.
That money would go a long way toward filling potholes and resolving other
public needs. Are you willing to entice our city officials with another $100
million fund?
Victor N. Viereck
North Hollywood
It is disappointing to see the L.A. City Council "declaring war" on secession, when it should be supporting it. What is needed is a calm, objective argument to persuade the council that both L.A. and the Valley will be better off separately. The seeds of that reasoning lie in Hal Bernson's recognition of the strength of Valley sentiment, and the powerful influence of Valley voters in any election.
If the council, through its delaying, manipulating and thwarting efforts, gets enough of us Valley voters angry enough, this could be very dangerous to the city as a whole, regardless of whether secession succeeds, or even reaches the ballot. A solid Valley bloc with an angry-dog-in-the-manger attitude could certainly block or seriously impede just about every aspect of city government.
Steve Tesla West Hills
In reference to the expansion of the Staples area downtown: These billionaires never give up. They make a glowing case for scrounging taxpayers' money for their pet schemes. They say dollars are going to pour into the city coffers. Well, if that's the case, they would be putting their money, 100 percent, into the project. No -- they are very well aware of the risks.
They talk about trendy posh night clubs, shopping etc. The problem is the people with that kind of money live in the provinces and are not about to get their cars onto the choked freeways. There was mention of housing for the poorly paid workers in high-rise blocks; that's a slum in the making.
By the way, how much money is pouring in from Staples to the city? Wake up, Valley residents -- it's your tax money. [ Media coverage shows the convention center which Staples Center is a part of, as needing over 40 Million a year from the taxpayers in addition to the revenue it collects to pay its expenses and bond's.]
H.S. Farmer Sherman Oaks
Kudos to the Los Angles City Council for having the good sense to heed our advice and do as little as possible in the final month of the term.
It's been a quiet June, as it should be. Ever since the June 5 election, City Hall has been little more than a holding pen for lame ducks. The mayor, the city attorney, the controller and five council members are in the final days of their tenure. Too often, lame ducks try to use their final days in office to ram through an agenda that the public would never tolerate.
But in their wisdom or their laziness -- we'd be just as grateful for either -- the council's members have decided to leave the serious questions of governance up to their successors. The council has canceled many of its committee meetings, and member Mike Hernandez (a lame duck himself) has announced that he wants all big votes put off until the new council convenes in July.
The council's only major action has been to approve the city's official reaction to Valley secession. While the report was completely unconstructive and insulting to the Valley's 1.3 million residents, it had to be submitted by the end of the month, so action was warranted.
Otherwise, the council has opted to do nothing -- which is just fine. And it's not easy -- doing nothing is harder than it sounds.
For example, by postponing a vote to approve a public subsidy for Staples Center expansion, the council had to reject the lobbying of billionaires Rupert Murdoch and Philip Anschutz. The developers had been pushing for a quick decision so as to take advantage of public euphoria over the Lakers' championship.
To stand up for accountable government, the council had to do something it's seldom done before: brush off the special interests.
The Airport Commission showed similar restraint on Wednesday by agreeing not to vote on a proposed land lease at Van Nuys Airport until the new council and mayor have been seated. That meant saying no to Univision owner Jerry Perenchio and financier Michael Milken, who hoped to secure the lease while their pal, Mayor Richard Riordan, was still in office.
If only the lame ducks had shown such discipline in office as they've demonstrated on their way out! But we won't complain. By backing off, the outgoing politicians have helped to create accountability in City Hall. Their deference has been a gift to the people of Los Angeles.
In return, the public has rewarded them with a paid (about $11,000) month long vacation. We hope they've enjoyed it.
Imagine that you're the manager of a troubled branch office of a failing major corporation. Your supervisors regularly give you bad marks on your reviews. In fact, they're even conspiring to sell your department out to another company.
How do you think the corporation's CEO would treat you? If he were multimillionaire Richard Riordan spending other people's money, he'd give you a whopping pay raise.
The mayor, City Council President John Ferraro, and members Mark Ridley-Thomas, Mike Feuer and Ruth Galanter have approved a massive pay hike for all city department heads -- two 5 percent merit pay raises retroactive for up to 18 months.And that's on top of an annual 3 percent cost-of-living raise -- for the highest-paid government officials in the country.
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Bernard C. Parks stands to make almost $30,000 a year more, plus $20,000 in back pay. Even without the pay raise, Parks makes double the salary of his New York counterpart. For what? Crime is up, morale is down, the LAPD is mired in scandal and federal overseers will soon take it over by way of a consent decree.
In a city with crumbling sidewalks, inept planning and woeful services, it's hard to argue that any officials deserve to see their record-high salaries get any higher.
Riordan likes to claim that this is how business is done in the private sector, that high salaries attract the best talent. But his plan doesn't attract new, skilled leaders; it rewards the old failed ones. This isn't about sound business or good government, it's about the fat cats licking each other's fur.
The public, of course, gets no say in the matter. Riordan and his accomplices on the City Council decided on the matter behind closed doors, trying to keep their payoffs secret from their constituents.
Feuer even has the nerve to insist the issue of whopping pay increases for failed bureaucrats is a private personnel matter and none of the public's business. So much for any hope of open, honest government if he becomes the city's lawyer.
The old boys take care of their own, and anyone who steps out of line gets whacked. Appropriately enough, the full City Council has until Feb. 14 -- Valentine's Day -- to reject the plan. Will it play along with the city's latest sweetheart deal, or will it finally blow a kiss to the public it all too often scorns?
Don't hold your breath. The fat cats at City Hall only know one trick: scratching each others' backs.
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