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Boycott the Mayor’s Budget Survey |
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GUESTWORDS
By Paul Hatfield
 If ever there was a self-serving exercise designed to manipulate the input of the citizens of Los Angeles, it is the Mayor’s Budget Survey.
The process is called “spinning.” It is an overused term; so let’s make up a more worthy description of the Mayor’s ploy. Maybe we can give it a more technical ring – Filtering Adjustment by Regressive Technique, or by the acronym - FART.
This description is meaningful. It translates to taking raw data and fashioning it into an overly simplified conclusion. One thing is certain: the result will stink.
Government by survey is not advisable. Worse yet, it is a charade designed to fool the public into thinking that their feedback is meaningful. It is simply a means of channeling feedback along carefully marked paths to support a preordained conclusion.
Do not get me wrong – feedback is vital – but we should be the ones that control it.
In lieu of participating in the Mayor’s Budget Survey, Neighborhood Councils, Residents Associations, civic groups or individuals should each submit their own street level view of what is needed to fix this city and perhaps even rescue it from its steady demise. That will be my recommendation to Neighborhood Council Valley Village and the Valley Village Homeowners Association.
I recommend you review the preliminary financial report for Fiscal Year 2009 [LINK] to get a sense of the actual sources and uses of funds. It’s only twenty-one pages.
Also review the 2009-2010 Budget, [LINK] but take the Mayor’s view with a grain of salt.
(Paul Hatfield is a CPA and serves as Treasurer for the Neighborhood Council Valley Village. Read more Paul Hatfield at Villagetovillageblog.com . He can be reached at
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CityWatch
Vol 8 Issue1
Pub: Jan 5, 2010
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