From Daily News Opinion
Crimes of utility
It was bad enough that the Los Angeles City Council turned its back on the people of the city and voted in years of higher DWP bills without changing any of the behavior that created the need for rate hikes.
But when city officials dredged up the death of a firefighter in Westchester in late March to justify the fleecing of Angelenos, it actually compounded this crime.
What DWP General Manager H. David Nahai and some council members perhaps don't realize is that by saying the Department of Water and Power needs these higher water and power rates to fix the electrical problems that led to the exploding manhole covers - injuring two Los Angeles firefighters, one fatally - it actually makes city officials bigger criminals than just misspending the public's money.
If Los Angeles' aging infrastructure is killing people, who's to blame? Here's a hint: It's not the manhole's fault.
From LA Daily Blog posted before the DWP meeting at Council: "Desperate times (for Nahai) require desperate measures, so don't be surprised if you hear him blame the recent tragic death of an L.A. fire figher on aging infrastructure -- even though the Mayor of Los Angeles already declared publicly it was a "freak accident."So the Mayor, Nahai, CM Bill Rosendahl and Los Angeles City Council need to get their story straight. Was it a "freak accident" as the mayor has stated, or was it because of aging infrastructure that you should have replaced, which may have been "freaky", but not an accident.
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