People say Zuma Dogg is crazy, but now even I think I am. I woke up this morning, parked in a parking spot at Venice Beach that was literally spitting distance from the sand. (Literally, a hop, skip OR a jump from the sand.) But I woke up on a day boasting record heat, to drive downtown, to wait two or three hours to blast City Council on th things going on over the budget.David Zanhiser reported in yesterday's L.A. Times that City Council magically found $100 million dollars that was in the mayor's back pocket...so now the spending is back ON. And Wendy Greuel has already proudly proclaimed that library hours are back on Sunday and a whole bunch of other spending is back on.
EXCUSE ME...Didn't you just use all of this as an excuse to triple the trash collection fees, come up with new fees and taxes. Prop S was used to scare and threaten that police, fire and other city services would be cut without the phone and internet tax approval. How about rolling all of that back first.
And remember, this is a one time fix (the surplus property from the 1st and Alameda sale) -- and the money they plan on getting from the DWP settlement (which is all but settled). SO YES, they will have this money...but no time for a big expensive Special Event over the matter.
ZUMA DOGG WILL FURTHER DISCUSS THIS DURING PUBLIC COMMENT AND AGENDA ITEM 1 (Mayor's Budget) starting sometime after the hours of paid presentation dog and pony shows. (And then don't have time to finish City business and end up losing the quorum with items on the desk, and people who took the time to show up pissed off.
AND FINALLY, in this budget crisis where the mayor has told the public police and fire services will have to be cut without the fees and taxes mentioned above...this is no time for Neighborhood Council to be spending money on things like new library books and cheerleader uniforms. I know these are important things, but that is not what the NC money is for. It's not a charitable trust fund for your "warm and fuzzy" causes. AND SOMETHING IS UP WITH THE LIBRARY....THERE IS WAY TO MUCH PRESSURE TO FUNNEL MONEY THAT WAY.
How about this...next time you have to call 9-1-1 for police service...just have the cheerleaders read the criminals a story about the negative impacts of crime. And if your house is on fire...bring on the cheerleaders read instructions on how to put out the fire themselves!
Thanks to Michael "Mayor Sam" Higby and David Zanhiser of L.A. Times for help with the story. (Wouldn't have caught it yesterda if David Z. didn't cover it and thanks to Higby for the NC spending info and overall discussion.)
Posts
