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STAKEHOLDER VIEW - Instead of throwing their hands up in angry protests over the budget choices of Mayor Karen Bass, the Los Angeles City Council members have chosen instead to sit on them. Thus, absent fervent leadership and vision, the city’s broken money problems will remain impaired.
Last month when a proposed $13.96 billion budget for the next fiscal year was released, that lurking devil hidden in the details was ever-present. Simply put, powerful elements were spared, and the powerless ones were slashed.
The proposal indicated that several commissions are to be eliminated or consolidated, amounting to no significant savings. But remaining unaffected will be the only paid commissioners in city or county service belonging to the burly Department of Public Works. Their annual cost of $5 million will continue to be covered by taxpayers.
Concurrently, while four departments without powerful special interests to protect them (aging, economic and workforce development, and youth development) will consolidate under the Community Investment for Families Department, the wasteful public works department, an outdated colossus, will be overlooked. It should be the first department to be broken up and divided into specialized areas of expertise.
The proposed budget sought opportunities in the wrong sectors. Hoping to close the $1-billion budget gap, 1,600 city employees face termination. Eliminated are two staff positions at Hollyhock House by Frank Lloyd Wright, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Widely recognized as an architectural landmark, it is perched atop Barnsdall Art Park in East Hollywood and overseen by the city’s department of cultural affairs. Devoid of the two full-time staff who conducted tours and handled the maintenance, this early example of California Modernist architecture must be shuttered.
On another dismal note, it is a universal covenant that lack of housing is the main cause of homelessness, yet the mayor’s budget calls for an 80 percent drop in financing for affordable housing. This will result in only 160 affordable housing units in the next fiscal year, a decline from 770 homes in the current period.
The city’s deteriorating fiscal position will also spread suffering to both people and animals. Councilmember Bob Blumenfield sought delay on a decision to relocate two Asian elephants, Billy and Tina, from the Los Angeles Zoo to the Tulsa Elephant Experience and Preserve in Oklahoma. Currently the elephants are in separate enclosures, confined in 6.5 acres. Animal rights advocates have said holding elephants in a relatively small enclosure causes serious health issue.
The raging ten-year controversy took on new intensity after a lawsuit was filed last week which seeks an injunction from the L.A. County Superior Court, arguing that the elephants should instead be sent to an animal sanctuary. A declaration by singer Cher, who has been advocating on behalf of the elephants for years, was included. “Billy and Tina have served their time in confinement,” Cher said in the declaration. “They deserve the chance to live out their lives in peace and dignity.”
At a budget committee hearing a week ago, Blumenfield urged zoo director and chief executive Denise Verret to provide a report that includes the costs and benefits of the transfer to the Tulsa Zoo, and sought a promise that the elephants will not be moved until the city council could review the report and vote on it. He has been focused more on grandstanding rather than paying attention to the city`s economic chaos. Although he chaired the budget committee for many years, when asked by the media his reaction to the devastating $1billion city budget deficit, he replied. "I'm shocked"!
Verret’s response was quick. “What I can promise you is that I am always going to make decisions that are for the best interest of the animals at the zoo, including the elephants.”
Of course, we want the elephants to be well and to roam freely. But the budget hearings should not be modulated to serve individual interests, whatever the objective.
A budget is a plan with a purpose. This year’s budget must objectively reflect the unprecedented challenges the city faces. The city council must review and approve a final budget version by June 1. The question is: Will the city council approve a plan with a real purpose? Or will we once more paraphrase the movie Casablanca and mutter: "They played it again Sam"
(Nick Patsaouras is an electrical engineer and founder of a Los Angeles-based engineering firm with a portfolio spanning commercial, residential, medical, and entertainment projects. A longtime civic advocate, he ran for Mayor of Los Angeles in 1993, promoting his vision of using transportation as a catalyst to rebuild the city post-riots. He has served on key public boards, including the LA Department of Water and Power, Metro, and the Board of Zoning Appeals.)
