SUCCESSFUL!: We cut about 4,600 positions, laid off more people than we have at any time in recent history." - Villaraigosa @ Budget Forum.
HE BLEW IT, YOUR SHOULDER: Villaraigosa at budget forum, repeating over and over: The city is broke. Everyone has to shoulder the burden."
Villaraigosa gets an earful during town hall meeting in Reseda - Daily News
RESEDA - Worries about a possible sewer tax. Concerns about budget cuts at a Porter Ranch fire house. Frustration at a lack of adequate mass transit.
The concerns aired at a Daily News-sponsored town hall with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in Reseda on Monday night reflected the worries of residents living in a cash-strapped city. | Click here to see more photos.
And to the 200 people who attended, Villaraigosa offered little solace, repeating over and over: The city is broke.
"There's a finite pool of money here," Villaraigosa told the crowd. "Everyone has to shoulder the burden."
Rose Weller, from Sherman Oaks, voiced worry about a proposed sewer tax. "Seniors should be exempt from such tax," she said.
"I hear what you are saying," the mayor replied. "People are suffering."
While sympathetic, Villaraigosa didn't sugarcoat his answers. (Because there is no way he can, or he would. He's out of bullshit!!!)
With a massive, gridlock-inducing closure of the 405 Freeway scheduled for a few days this summer, Faramarz Nabavi of Encino asked when transportation officials would come up with better mass transit alternatives to the 405.
The mayor was blunt in his response. "I am going to let you know even worse news. The state still hasn't issued the bonds which will let us complete the 405."
While the mayor referred to the state's budget problems, it was the city budget that was underlying most of the questions and responses. Last week the City Council approved a $6.9 billion budget that cuts (SUCCESSFUL!) a range of city services. Among them was a Los Angeles Fire Department redeployment plan that reduces firefighting resources but adds to the agency's medical response capabilities.
Some in the audience were focused on the effect of that fire redeployment plan, although Villaraigosa rejected the characterization by audience member Scott Gould, a Porter Ranch resident who termed the fire cuts "draconian."
That's not the case, Villaraigosa said, "when you look at what the (fire departments) in cities around the country have done."(Don't shift focus, Chumptonio. That doesn't mean THOSE departments haven't been decimated, as well. And L.A. is very unique in it's wide geographic layout and complicated landscape, compared to other cities of our population. GIVE ME A BREAK, ASSHOLE...YOU BLEW IT IN A HISTORIC WAY, CLOWNTONINO, YOU LITTLE OUT OF SHIT, ELEVATOR-SHOE WEARING, PUTZ!)
Villaraigosa, whose term ends in 2013 (WANNA BET!), is exiting a far different city than the one he inherited. (SUCCESSFUL!) The current unemployment rate in Los Angeles is 13 percent, according to state data. When the mayor entered office in July 2005, the unemployment rate was 6.3 percent.
"This was the third year in a row of mega-deficits," he said. "That's what we had to cut. We've cut about 4,600 positions, laid off more people than we have at any time in recent history."
But Villaraigosa did offer some hope for the city's finances. "This will be the last year of budget cut deficits of this magnitude," he said. "The next two years, I expect it to go down." (Hey Mayor, you have a history of having your head up your little ass when you make your projections and expectations. YOU HAVE A HISTORIC RECORD OF BEING WRONG, ASSHOLE! NOW SHUT THE FUCK UP AND SIT DOWN! (OH, you already are!)
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