From LA Times "Streetsblog":City Spends Half a Million to Explore Meter Privatizationby Damien Newton on April 29, 2009
[Zuma Dogg comments in brackets.]
Thank goodness for KNBC or maybe the City Council's decision to spend half a million dollars to study parking privatization may have passed without any news outlet covering the story. Did I miss something, is parking and parking rates not a major issue in Los Angeles anymore?
[Thank you Damien "Jamrock" Newton! Turn on the AM talk radio stations and you would think you are driving on the D.C. beltway in the (202). I need to get satellite radio so I can hear about actual important Los Angeles issues.]
Regardless, the Los Angeles City Council voted yesterday to further explore selling the rights to collect revenue from the city's parking meters for an undisclosed amount of time for an undisclosed amount of money. The city hopes to use the proceeds to fill an $80 million hole in next year's budget. The rest of the proceeds would go into reserve accounts.
[A one time short-sighted "fix" for THIS YEAR'S BUDGET ONLY! You sell off the rights to the parking meter and parking structure revenues (the goose that lays the golden eggs) for a one time budget plug (Antionio's finger in one of many holes in the damn) then, next year...NADA! And the year after that, and the year after that for FIFTY (50) years!
But here's a REAL problem: Villaraigosa already accounted for this $80 million in the budget, EVEN THOUGH it's just a bunch of talk at this point, has NOT been approved, and may not (WILL NOT) end up generating $80 million. So $80 million of the budget is this "smoke and mirror" job. And I am finding out, more and more, this is how the mayor prepares the budget. A bunch of unrealistic "projections." THE CITY'S BUDGET CRISIS IS MUCH WORSE THAN IT EVEN LOOKS ON PAPER BECAUSE OF ANTONIO'S "DAVID COPPERFIELD" ROUTINE.]
The lone dissenting Councilman was the Valley's Greg Smith, who questioned whether or not the timing was right to sell the rights to the city's meters given the national fiscal crisis and what the city was going to do with out the $45-$50 million the city nets every year from 41,000 parking meters and parking lots at Hollywood & Highland complex, Pershing Square, the Cinerama Dome and lots on Robertson Boulevard and Broxton and Cherokee avenues.
Councilman Greig Smith cast the lone dissenting vote. He argued that the city was being shortsighted in selling its assets for an influx of cash when the parking lots and meters provide a constant revenue stream.
"We're selling property at the bottom of the market. What a stupid idea," Smith said. "If we were stockbrokers, we'd be in jail with Bernie Madoff for this kind of scheme. This is foolhardy economics."
Zuma Dogg would also like to ponder aloud: If someone else has the rights to the meters, look for the rates to skyrocket since THEY will be setting the rates, not the city. (So look for stuff like, "$50 to park in the space all day and stuff like that.)
HOWEVER, the city WILL BE responsible for the maintenance and repair of the meters and structures. Sounds like another GREAT deal the city is being forced to make to cover it's "crack addict like" habitual spending that they now forced to cover anyway, anyhow. DON'T HAVE CHILDREN...THEY WILL NOT BE ABLE TO AFFORD TO LIVE. THEY ARE ALREADY SADDLED WITH VILLARAIGOSA'S DESPERATE SPENDING HABIT. But he HAD to do what he had to do to get re-elected. So at least it was worth it! ;
Zuma Dogg has already declared this parking revenue sell-off scheme is the SINGLE BIGGEST BONEHEAD MOVE I HAVE WITNESSED IN MY THREE YEARS SCANNING AGENDAS AT LOS ANGELES CITY HALL.
LOS ANGELES MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA MUST BE STOPPED!!! I SEE NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WAY THE MAYOR IS OPERATING THE CITY AND A CRACK ADDICT. Seriously...think about it! You have to keep selling off your possesions (one time fix) to cover your habit (wreckless spending).
I AM NOT KIDDING PEOPLE...THE MAYOR HAS TO BE STOPPED!!!
THE SITUATION IS MUCH WORSE THAN THE BUDGET IS SHOWING ON PAPER!!!
BANKRUPTCY WILL BE THE ONLY SOLUTION...BUT THE CITY WILL BECOME A VERY PRECARIOUS PLACE FIRST! (You'll call 9-1-1 and you'll make an appointment.)HOW THIS MAN WAS ALLOWED TO DO AND GET AWAY WITH WHAT HE HAS DONE TO THIS CITY, REGION AND STATE JUST MIGHT BE A CRIME. (See George Torres/Numero Uno FEDERAL conviction and ties to City Hall; and see SEC investigation into Villaraigosa-appointed PENSION FUND commissioners on heels of (city bankrupting) $7 BILLION Wall Street pension fund LOSS; on top of another commissioner RESIGNING this week; AND, the mayor having the shameless balls to submit a completely FALSE budget, then blame EVERYONE ELSE IN THE CITY when they do not accept this SHAM.
IT WILL TAKE HANDCUFFS TO STOP THIS MADNESS!!!
HOW EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU READING THIS DOES NOT SHOW UP TO CITY HALL TO PROTEST MEANS YOU WILL BE GETTING EXACTLY WHAT YOU DESERVE. (And watching ZUMA DOGG everyday on TV DOES NOT COUNT!) I wake up outside, pick myself up off the cement at 5am, take whatever money I have (ALWAYS less than $20 AT THE MOST) and burn it all off by going to the meeting to put pressure on City Hall...BUT YOU JUST SIT THERE AND DON'T DO SHIT. YOU SIT THERE AND TALK ON THE RADIO FOR FIVE HOURS A DAY AND TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING EXCEPT ANYTHING THAT MATTERS HERE IN LOS ANGELES. (THEN, you complain when the other side wins and complain about it after the fact.)
Zuma Dogg Twitter updates in between LA Daily Blog posts.
Troubled financier Danny Pang decided to vent his frustration on my camera today as he walked outside a federal court in Santa Ana, California after he was released on $1 million bail and placed on home confinement with electronic monitoring device. FBI agents arrested him Tuesday accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday of defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars and arrested by FBI agents Tuesday on suspicion of violating currency reporting laws.
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