First of all, I heard Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraiogsa's proposed (fake) budget has been exposed for what it was, a big fraud, and has slided off the table. What this means, no one knows, except, no offense, like I said, they are going to have to go back and start over.
The obvious thought, is that Villaragiosa wants to look good by firing people and reducing waste if he wants to run for governor. So my take is, he put this fake, unrealistic budget out there; unions are going to give enough of it "thumbs down" -- then the mayor will say, "Gee, it's not my fault, I gave them a realistic budget."
Except it is TOTALLY unrealistic. Stuff like $80 million in parking revenue that they PLAN on HOPEFULLY selling off, and there is NO WAY they are going to get that much.
And the whole thing is one big speculative, padded, pie-in-the-sky, hail mary pass from the 99 yard line in the Santa Ana winds. AND NOW, it looks like the rain is about to pour.
E.A.A (Engineers and Architects) voted yesterday and the ballots are being counted and I think the result will be announced tomorrow (Wed.). Look for ONE, BIG, GIGANTIC, ACROSS THE BOARD, "HELL NO" from them on EVERYTHING. Why? Unlike the smaller unions like SEIU, the E.A.A. is not required to renegotiate with the mayor, because they do not have those, "GIVE BACK" clauses Zuma Dogg was warning union members about when some public comment speakers were getting all excited about their raises. I TOLD THEM, BEWARE THE GIVE BACK CLAUSE WHICH SAYS IF THE CITY'S REVENUE FALLS ONE PERCENT (1%) BELOW "PROJECTED REVENUE" -- YOU GOTTA SIT DOWN AND GIVE BACK, Y'ALL!!!
And in these economic times, you bet your ASS it is more than 1% below "fake" projections. So this is what I was trying to warn Miriam and Donna about, when they got so mad at me for saying that they were going to have to give them back, when I said it last year.
E.A.A., (who, to clarify, WILL NOT BE GIVING ANYTHING BACK, BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT REQUIRED TO) have about 7,800 members. AND THEY ALSO CANNOT BE CUT!!!
So cuts will come from the other 20,000 unions that made a deal with the devil (Mayor Antonio) and now they either give, back, or face the threat of cuts.
AND YES, Zuma Dogg is calling it the "threat" of a cut, casue I'm starting to think the whole, "give back or else" is just a bluff, to have them give back.
Cause NO ONE HAS MENTIONED that there is supposed to be this $7 BILLION in Obamarama FEDERAL STIMULATION money, that is not even mentioned in the budget!!!
$7 Billion is the size of the entire city budget (or bigger), anyway? So could Magic Obama (Earvin ain't using it anymore) come to the rescue with this money to "KEEP L.A. WORKING!!!???"
We'll have to wait and see. But some smart people ZD knows, AIN'T BUYING THE WHOLE THING!
AND FINALLY, the votes are being counted in the SEIU/other unions who voted yesterday and look for them to give back the Cost Of Live Allowance (COLA); and give back one hour a week, which is like a 2.5% cut (reduction) in pay. Didn't hear anything about the biggie, which is paying more into the pension fund, which is now needed since Villaragiosa's pension commissioners blew $7 billion in shady Wall Street investments, and now is on the hook for this amount. This will send the city into bankruptcy by 2013, but this could come down this year.
IT'S OVER FOR LOS ANGELES. IT'S WORSE THAN YOU THINK! MUERELO MADDUX (DOWNTOWN REAL ESTATE MOGUL) WENT BANKRUPT!!! WAIT UNTIL COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CAVES IN, STORES CLOSE, JOBS AND BUSINESS LOST.
THE CITY WILL BE TAKING IN MUCH LESS REVENUE THAN EVEN THEIR FAKE PROJECTIONS!!!
[Sidebar: CRA will be swooping in to buy up as much foreclosed M. Maddux property as possible, according to a CRA/LA executive I spoke with, recently.]
And for the record, the problem with 10% across the board in all departments, as it was explained to me is this: 10% cut across the board in all departments is not a well thought out, or a prudent decision. SOME OF THESE DEPARTMENTS ARE BIG MONEY MAKING REVENUE GENERATORS FOR THE CITY THAT ARE OUTPERFORMING THE CITY!! WHY RUIN THEIR DEPARTMENT???
Cut the REAL waste where it exists, but across the board cuts is just a lazy, move from someone who hasn't really thought this out, has not plan, is stalling/buying time with this "fake" budget that is ALREADY OFF THE TABLE, and now they got Jack Squatness in their hands.
11 VIDEOS: VILLARAGIOSA'S TOWN HAL BUDGET MEETING IN TARZANA, CA:
Mainly, I'm cranky today, because I REALLY HAVE had enough of all the increasing hot air being blown to increase efficiency, reduce waste, more accountability/transparency and job creation -- WITHOUT ANY OF YOU WINDBAGS COMMITTING TO LEARNING DEMING'S 14 POINTS OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT. And the other issue, is this week Richard Riordan -- AND NOW U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA has addressed the downside of having government money (LIKE L.A. CITY PENSION MONEY) invested on Wall Street. MORE BELOW VIA TWEETS. Hopefully, this will shame some of you into at least secretly studying Deming's 14 points. Can't wait till one of you BLOW ME AWAY...cause many of you are MUCH BIGGER GENIUSES in the areas where this stuff comes in handy! PLEASE! SOMEONE TAKE MY CROWN. And remember, regarding the pension money...it is overly invested in overly-risky, non-investment grade "alternative investments" on Wall Street. (Which is basically a wink and a handshake from some of these people who plead guilty over all of this. AND, I remind you the CAO's office reminds ZD, "As goes Wall Street, goes the city's treasury." (ARE YOU WILLING TO RISK IT.) AND FINALLY, YES, the reason libraries are closed, and people are furloughed/laid off/not working and all the additional side effects of this budget crisis IS BEING DEALT WITH TODAY, NOT over structural pension problems down the line that haven't gotten here yet, BUT BECAUSE OF TWO WORDS, "investments" and "alternative" (not necessarily in that order). STAY SHALLOW, NUTTY & DIVERTED! ZD
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