PERSPECTIVE-It’s bad enough we have suffered yet another system implementation disaster costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
It is insulting when those responsible for the failure downplay the impact.
It is equally insulting when another party uses it in an attempt to deflect attention from its own costly acts.
The DWP tried to soften the bad news of the failed implementation of its billing system. It wasn’t so bad after all, if you buy into the statement issued by Joseph Ramallo, the utility’s spokesman. Of the $681 million owed by ratepayers, only $245 million in arrears was due to the new system.
It’s like being told you were hit by a bus instead of a train.
Somehow, there is little remorse and no accountability for the snafu.
Sure, the City Attorney is going to sue Price Waterhouse Coopers – that’s good.
But let us not forget that DWP’s executive management had to sign off on the project. Normally that entails a thorough review of the test results, especially when the stakes are high.
If this is what we can expect from Marcie Edwards, it is time to post the GM job, yet again. Maybe she could run for the LAUSD Board. She will feel at home with the current members. If she had the slightest sense of accountability, she would have handled the public announcement of a fiasco of this magnitude instead of pawning it off on a spokesman.
The DWP used Tamar Galatzan’s excuse for the LAUSD’s failed system rollouts: “We were lied to!”
Management that assumes its is going to get the straight scoop most of the time shouldn’t be in management. There is such a thing as healthy skepticism and conducting an independent, thorough review.
And only D’Arcy would attempt to take advantage of the carnage and use it to deflect criticism of the chaos he has created over the years. By spending millions on city officials, he all but guaranteed excessive compensation for his IBEW Local 18 members over the years. His stonewalling of Ron Galperin’s limited audit of the controversial non profit trusts is further proof of his obstinance and disregard of transparency.
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While Edwards is downplaying and D’Arcy is deflecting, the mayor is diddling.
For someone who won an election on the promise of reform of the DWP, Garcetti is not delivering. If anything, he appears to be caving under pressure.
Before he completely loses the political capital he won in the last election, he needs to take a firm, public stand and bear the pushback he will receive from the the union, management and their friends in the council chambers. In return, he will win the hearts and minds of the ratepayers.
If enough people pushback, there will be less tolerance for the status quo that is bleeding us.
(Paul Hatfield is a CPA and former NC Valley Village board member and treasurer. He blogs at Village to Village and contributes to CityWatch. He can be reached at: [email protected])
–cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 22
Pub: Mar 13, 2015
