Mayor Contradicts Council … Orders 1,000 Layoffs
BUDGET CRISIS-UPDATE & ANALYSIS
By Ken Draper

Active Image
Mayor Villaraigosa did on Thursday what a 30-hour budget crisis marathon could … or would … not: laid off 1,000 city employees. Here’s his statement.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took immediate action today to balance the Los Angeles city budget and commit the City to long-term fiscal health and sustainability.

Using the authority invested in the Office of the Mayor by the City Charter, Villaraigosa directed the Personnel Department to eliminate 1,000 general fund positions and begin calculating layoffs, displacement seniority, and/or transfers of employees to fill these targeted positions.

Read more...
 
A Win-Win Solution for LA’s Neighborhood Councils
TOMORROW’S DONE
By Jack Humphreville
 
TActive Imagealk about inefficient: the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment has an all in 2009-10 Budget of about $7.6 million, all to administer and oversee the $4 million of Neighborhood Council Funding as well as the Neighborhood Councils themselves.  And based on the Controller’s recent report, DONE is not doing a very good of it, despite a staff of 38 people.
Read more...
 
Getting LA’s Priorities Straight (Video)
SOUNDS OF SILENCE
By Stephen Box

Active ImageCatherine MacKinnon visited LA's City Council twice this week, both times working her way through the standing-room-only crowd to take a seat in the second row and to participate in the review of the CAO's budget recommendations. Once seated, she didn't look at the Councilmembers much and she didn't hear a single word they said.

She can't. She's deaf.
Read more...
 
Neighborhood Councils-The Best Bang for the City’s Buck
PERSPECTIVE
By Michele Siquieros and Al Abrams

ThActive Imagee City Council did not form the citywide Neighborhood Council (NC) System -- or the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment – the voters did.
Read more...
 
The Mayor: A CUT Above U$
LA WATCHDOG
By Jack Humphreville
 
WhActive Imageile the heads of thousands of City employees are on the chopping block because of the City’s projected budget deficit of almost $500 million next year, our peripatetic, globetrotting Mayor is enjoying wine soaked steak dinners at CUT, [LINK] the Wolfgang Puck, Richard Meier designed restaurant at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel, located at the foot of fashionable Rodeo Drive.
Read more...
 
Deliberation with a Purpose
EMPOWERMENT REPORT
By Greg Nelson

Active ImageWithin the report from the City Administrative Officer that recommends major cutting or total elimination of the neighborhood council funding program, there are some fairly unusual comments, such as “these curtailments are all politically unpopular and gaining Council support will be difficult.”
Read more...
 
$15 Million Bike Path to Nowhere
UNCOMMON CENTS
By Alex Thompson

Active ImageAs the city, state and federal government burn money that doesn't exist, City Councilmembers Bill Rosendahl & Paul Koretz are pushing LA to support an extension of the beach bike path at $15 million per mile. 
Read more...
 
As the City Implodes Does the Secession Dream Revive?
CONSIDER THIS …
By Doug Epperhart

Active ImageLast spring, when the midnight raid of Greig Smith sought to cut neighborhood council funding to the bone, more than a hundred community activists stormed city hall and stopped it. Not only did this army of citizen volunteers get the $45,000 per council annual allocation, it kept the previous years’ “rollover” money.

That was then. This is now.
Read more...
 
How Guv Candidates Sell Amid Doom and Gloom
BLOG SOUP
By Jerry Roberts and Phil Trounstine    (Posted first at Calbuzz.com)

Active ImageCalifornia’s candidates for governor face the gnarliest combination of public anger and economic distress in decades, making the 2010 race a text book case study in political communications: How does a wannabe governor effectively tell extremely pessimistic voters he or she understands the depths of their misery, without succumbing to despair, and while offering hope for the future that doesn’t over-reach or seem totally naïve?

Read more...
 
The Theater of Planning … Not in LA of Course
BEHIND THE CURTAIN
By Ken Alpern

Active Image(The scene takes place in the office of a respected councilman, Councilman Goode, who is elected without developer funds and who has a loyal and experienced team of urban planners and attorneys to assist him with his local outreach and planning, as well as his lawmaking and budgetary efforts at City Hall.  He is being visited by Developer Deville, who is pitching Goode on his latest, greatest project that, despite several variances, will be loved by all)
Read more...
 
Underperforming School Attracts Titanic Explosion of Interest
MY TURN
By Diana L. Chapman (Posted first at theunderdogforkids.blogspot.com)

Active ImageBesotted with good humor to an overflowing auditorium, San Pedro High School officials promoted their finalized reform package Thursday to turn the overcrowded campus into a more personalized institution using a block schedule and seven learning communities.
Read more...
 
New Life for NC-DWP Agreement
NC/DWP OVERSIGHT
By Tony Wilkinson

Active ImageThe Memorandum of Understanding between neighborhood councils and the Department of Water and Power is a unique conduit of information.  It's the only one in the city -- and, given the city's budget crisis, it may remain so for a long time. 

Approved by the City Council, the MOU sets out expectations for advance notice, education and access for councils who join in the agreement.  Likewise, it sets out expectations that member councils will provide DWP with notice and access to their own deliberations.
Read more...
 
Vets Prevail in First Amendment Skirmish
ACLU STEPS IN
By Katharine Russ   (Posted first at northvalleyreporter.com)

Active ImageSeveral citations issued by VA police officers against U.S. Army veteran Robert Rosebrock, Director, The Veterans Revolution and Co-Director, We the Veterans Chairman, Veterans Affairs Committee, were dismissed just days after the U.S. Attorney’s office was apprised that the ACLU of Southern California was representing Rosebrock in defense of his right to free speech.
Read more...
 
Creating Jobs Depends on our Willingness to Compete
BUSINESS WATCH
By Gary Toebben

Active ImageThere is good news to report about keeping film and television production jobs in Los Angeles and California. Tax incentives approved by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year are working.

Read more...
 
Funding Changes: Petty Cash from Cards Ends
NC WATCH
By BongHwan Kim

Active ImageThe Office of the Controller released the "Audit of Neighborhood Councils' Expenditures," dated January 12, 2010. In response to the Audit and improve the oversight of safeguarding use of public funds, the following changes to the Neighborhood Council (NC) Funding Program will occur.

Read more...
 
City Hall Backstabbing
GUEST COMMENTARY
By Bill Boyarsky    (Posted first at LAObserved.com)

MaActive Imageyor Antonio Villaraigosa’s affordable housing plan--a centerpiece of his administration—has been dealt near fatal blows by a court decision, the recession—and by his own planning director.
Read more...
 
Dream a Little Dream
VOICE IN THE CHEAP SEATS
By Charles Tarlow

Los Angeles … City of the Angels … could be nicknamed more accurately: Los Angeles, City of the Downtrodden. 
Active Image
Those of us who have lived here for more than a few decades understand that the process of marginalizing “John Q Public“ has been going on for years.  What we didn't know … or refused to see … is that our failure to elect responsible leaders would inevitably lead to fiscal collapse and the demise of our Quality of Life. 

Read more...
 
What’s Your Passion?
THE PRIDE OF PEDRO
By John Mavar

Active ImageFebruary has always been a time to shine a spotlight on our favorite Valentines. We pay special attention to the ones we care for. But for my fellow neighborhood council leaders and community volunteers, we treat our town as our Valentine every day of the year.

Read more...
 
Under the Cloak of Fiscal Crisis, Our Watchdogs will be Eliminated
VOICES
By Jane Usher

Los Angeles residents need to know that the concept of "shared sacrifice" has been fully abandoned in the Mayor's latest budget "solution," which was released this past Friday at 5 PM for City Council debate on Monday.
Read more...
 
NCs Get Reprieve: Immediate Funding Cuts Pulled from CAO Report
CITYWATCH
By Ken Draper

Nine and a half hours into a marathon session the City’s financial chief told the Budget and Finance panel that he was pulling “Recommendation ‘J’” … and Neighborhood Councils were finally allowed to exhale. At least ...
Read more...
 
Putting Our Money Where Our Mouth Is: Helps Get Federal Bucks
MOVING LA
By Ken Alpern

The good news:  California just got roughly $2 billion out of $8 billion in high speed rail funds from the Obama Administration towards the construction of the California High Speed Rail Project that will help transform it into a 21st century super ...
Read more...
 
Don’t Lose Sight of Our DWP in the Budget Crisis
LA WATCHDOG
By Jack Humphreville 
 
While most of the oxygen in the room is being sucked out by the political and financial crises surrounding the projected budget deficit of about $3.5 billion over the next 4½ years, there are two important issues that will d...
Read more...
The Chickens Come Home To Roost (Video)
PENSIONS & THE ROAD TO BANKRUPTCY
By Michael Cohen
 
Pensions expert Alexander Rublacava told an Emergency BudgetLA meeting on Saturday that without pension reform Los Angeles is headed for bankruptcy.  [LINK]...
Read more...
 
Where are My Bus Shelters?
TAKEN FOR A RIDE … BUS THAT IS
By Matthew Hetz

To catch a bus to ride is pretty basic after the preliminary work finding which bus route(s) are needed for the trip. In the sprawl of Los Angeles, usually more than one bus is needed to complete a trip. 
Read more...
 
NCs Must be Maintained: It’s the Law
BUDGETLA-UPDATED
By Ken Draper

Representatives from nearly half of LA’s Neighborhood Councils gathered Saturday to discuss the City’s proposed funding cuts and to mount an effort to protect the resources they believe are required to fulfill their Charter-mandated re...
Read more...
 
Pass. The. Damn. Bill!
GUEST COMMENTARY
By Bob Gelfand

Pass the damn bill. So say a growing collection of Internet pundits and political activists regarding the Senate's version of healthcare reform.
Read more...
 

CityWatch TV

  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV
  • CityWatch TV

SuperPlanner

Monday, February 08, 2010
No events
Currently no polls available to vote
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement