LA WEEKLY - Richard Riordan says his favorite quote is from a famous rabbi named Hillel the Elder, who died in the year 10 AD.
"If not now, when?" recites Riordan, "and if not me, whom?"
It's a somewhat mangled and self-centered version of the quote, the second part of which is, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?" But the wealthy former mayor, who was the top single donor to both Democrats and Republicans in California when he decided to run for mayor after the Rodney King riots happened on Mayor Tom Bradley's watch, has long seen himself as uniquely positioned to lead the city.
"God has put me on Earth to save the city of LA," he says, with his usual tongue-in-cheek. "And I hope She knows what She's doing."
Like an aging prizefighter with a lot of kick left, the 82-year-old Riordan is emerging from a quieter period in which the dedicated Catholic wrote his memoirs and helped rescue the Inner City Education Foundation. Now he's introducing a ballot measure he promises can save Los Angeles from an existential threat — the city employee pension bubble.
"We're at the tipping point right now," Riordan says. "If the city does not change its pension system quickly — and I mean this year — we will be doomed to bankruptcy within three years. And probably sooner."
In 2001, the city paid about $220 million for workers' retirement benefits. Today, that has exploded by $1 billion, to $1.2 billion, he says. If it continues to grow at that rate, he argues, Los Angeles could pay out $2 billion to $3 billion by 2017, sucking away half the city budget. Since the other half goes to police and fire — hard-to-cut departments — LA could be left with little or nothing for parks, libraries, street maintenance, trash removal and other essentials.
In his worst-case scenario, Riordan says the city's existing pension deals will push the city into a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (The rest of Hillel Aron’s perspective … including how the former Mayor is going to accomplish his pension ploy.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 84
Pub: Oct 19, 2012