LA WATCHDOG-On Tuesday, May 19, I will vote for David Ryu to succeed the ubiquitous Tom LaBonge in Council District 4 because he is independent of the City Hall’s political establishment that has run roughshod over our neighborhoods and made a mess of our City’s finances.
David Ryu, a Director of one LA’s largest nonprofit healthcare providers and a staffer to former Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, and Carolyn Ramsay, the former chief of staff to the termed out Tom LaBonge, are the two survivors of the March primary where 14 candidates vied to represent us. Ramsay led the pack, receiving slightly more than 15% of the vote while Ryu trailed her by only 85 votes.
Ramsay’s 3,719 votes represented a mere 2.4% of the District’s 155,000 registered voters since only 16% of the electorate bothered to cast ballots.
While these two uncharismatic and overly cautious candidates have many positions in common, there are differences that may have an impact on the City’s budget and our neighborhoods.
Neither candidate has a very good understanding of the City’s precarious finances, the most important issue facing our City, where more than $25 billion of unfunded pension liabilities and deferred maintenance on our streets, sidewalks, and the rest of our deteriorating infrastructure have the potential to devour the future of our City.
Ramsay does not appear to have a good working knowledge of the budget process or the City’s finances. But that is understandable since the budget was never a priority for Tom LaBonge who, in return for a few pet projects, voted as he was told by the Council leadership.
While Ryu is not familiar with the intimate details of the City’s budget, he has a strong understanding of the budget process and the allocation of scarce resources because of his detailed work for Supervisor Burke on the County’s far more complex budget.
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Ryu is not as beholden to the City’s self-serving unions as Ramsay who has close ties to their leaders as a result of her work with LaBonge, a strong supporter of the union leadership. On the other hand, the County Supervisors balanced the budget, often over the objections of the County’s unions, a situation which may result in union opposition to Ryu.
So far, Ramsay has received the endorsement of and the financial support from the firefighters union which is opposed to money saving reforms such as reduced staffing on emergency medical calls that do not require a fully manned fire truck. The firefighters union is also seeking to preserve its exclusive right to respond to medical calls in the City by limiting the ability of Hatzolah, a well-trained volunteer organization serving the mid-Wilshire area that answers to a higher authority, to use sirens and flashing lights when responding to emergency calls.
There also appears to be a difference between the candidates as it relates to real estate developers as Ryu, unlike Ramsay, appears more willing to just so NO to real estate developers, especially in Hollywood where increased traffic will have a negative impact on the quality of life of the adjacent residential neighborhoods.
Ramsay also has the endorsement of Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell and Mayor Eric Garcetti, both of whom favored the Millennium and other oversized, traffic generating developments in Hollywood. Like LaBonge, Ramsay will probably support her two mentors, Garcetti and O’Farrell, the development happy Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, and the campaign funding real estate developers.
Ramsay has also developed credibility issues. She is happy to take credit for LaBonge’s successes such as the purchase of Cahuenga Peak, but bears no responsibility for any of his many shortcomings. These would include the butt ugly, traffic generating developments such as Wilshire La Brea Apartments and Il Vilaggio Toscano (Sherman Oaks), the invasion of Beachwood Canyon by disrespectful tourists and traffic choking tour bus operators wanting to get a close up view of the Hollywood sign, the failure to repair the concrete intersections and streets in Hancock Park, the Greek Theatre management contracts, and the lack of transparency involving LaBonge’s discretionary funds.
Ramsay is also endorsed by Herb Wesson and at least eight other members of our fiscally irresponsible City Council. Wesson has also put the arm on many City Hall supplicants to help fund Ramsay’s campaign, all of whom, including Wesson, will want a healthy return on their investment.
All this is not to say that Ryu is the perfect candidate. Hardly! He has been prone to platitudes and does not have Ramsay’s knowledge of the Council District 4 or her political connections in City Hall.
But with Ryu we have the opportunity to send a message to the Herb Wesson City Council that we are not content with business as usual. Rather, we demand that the City respect our residential neighborhoods. We demand transparency, whether it involves discretionary funds, the budget, or our Department of Water and Power. We demand that the City reform its finances, its work force policies, and its pensions. And we demand that the City develop a comprehensive plan to repair and maintain our streets and sidewalks.
Vote for David Ryu and send that message to Herb and his cronies.
(Jack Humphreville writes LA Watchdog for CityWatch. He is the President of the DWP Advocacy Committee, The Ratepayer Advocate for the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, and a Neighborhood Council Budget Advocate. Humphreville is the publisher of the Recycler Classifieds -- www.recycler.com. He can be reached at: [email protected])
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 39
Pub: May 12, 2015
