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CityWatch Los Angeles
Politics. Perspective. Participation.
LA WATCHDOG--Mayor Eric Garcetti and the City Council are at odds over how to spend almost $90 million of the $150 million that was reallocated from the Police Department to be reinvested in disadvantaged communities.
LA WATCHDOG--The City of Los Angeles is facing a “budget gap” of more than $1 billion for the next fiscal year that commences on July 1, 2021.
LA WATCHDOG--Do the members of the Los Angeles City Council deserve to be paid $214,000 a year?
LA WATCHDOG--On Thursday, Harbor Gateway real estate developer Samuel Leung pleaded guilty to laundering over $600,000 in campaign contributions to Mayor Eric Garcetti, five members of the Los Angeles City Council, and County Supervisor Janice Hahn.
LA WATCHDOG--In 2014, the LA 2020 Commission recommended the establishment of a commission to address the “ballooning” costs related to the City’s two underfunded pension plans, the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (“LACERS”) and the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions (“LAFPP”).
LA WATCHDOG--The US Attorney announced the indictment of former Deputy Mayor Ray Chan along with two other real estate developers in connection with the criminal enterprise involving Jose Huizar and the pay-to-play corruption scandal that is enveloping a City Hall that refuses to reform its policies and procedures involving zoning in the City of Los Angeles.
LA WATCHDOG--Will he or won’t he go to Washington to be a member of the Biden Cabinet has been the topic of considerable speculation and comment.
LA WATCHDOG--Despite the fact that Los Angeles is facing a $700 million “budget gap” this year, our cash starved City has managed to blow an estimated $250 million in its effort to overcome union objections to the planned furloughs for 15,000 civilian employees.
LA WATCHDOG--You can imagine the fun the late night talk show hosts will have if the characters in Los Angeles have to live and work in the dark because of blackouts caused by the lack of renewable power.
LA WATCHDOG--The City of Los Angeles is still looking for a financial bailout from Washington, DC, despite the apparent failure of the Democrats to flip the Senate.
LA WATCHDOG--“You don’t raise taxes during a recession…. The last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of the recession because that would just suck up and take more demand out of the economy and put businesses in a further hole.” Barack Obama, 2011
LA WATCHDOG--Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Nury Martinez led Los Angeles City Council were counting on the voters of California and many other states to bail the City of Los Angeles out of its budget crisis.
LA WATCHDOG--The outcome of the race for Los Angeles County District Attorney between incumbent Jackie Lacey (photo above) and former San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon will have a significant impact on public safety in the County of Los Angeles.
LA WATCHDOG--The First Financial Status Report prepared by the City Administrative Officer (“CAO”) estimated that the City’s revenue gap for this fiscal year would be in the range of $400 million to $600 million, up from the previous estimate of $200 million to $400 million.
LA WATCHDOG--Would you vote to increase our sales tax by 2½% to 12%?
LA WATCHDOG--An elected official’s experience may work in his or her favor as is the case for the incumbent David Ryu in Council District Four.
LA WATCHDOG—(Political Perspective: Center Right) My primary focus is on the twelve statewide ballot measures as well as the two measures for the County (Measure J) and the Los Angeles Unified School District (Measure RR).
LA WATCHDOG--The City of Los Angeles cannot stay out of the news unless it is engaged in a cover up.
LA WATCHDOG--If approved by the voters, Proposition 16 would repeal Proposition 209, a constitutional amendment that was approved by 55% of the voters in 1996. Proposition 209 stated:
LA WATCHDOG-On Friday, September 18, Mayor Eric Garcetti released his Budget Policy and Goals for Fiscal Year 2021-22 to the General Managers of All City Departments (except Water and Power, Harbor, Airports, and the two pension plans).
LA WATCHDOG--In his recent Update on the Status of City Finances, the City Administrative Officer estimated that “2020-21 revenue could fall short of budget by $200 million to $400 million.”
LA WATCHDOG--Authorizes $5.5 billion state bonds for: stem cell and other medical research, including training; research facility construction; administrative costs.
LA WATCHDOG--On Wednesday, the City Council approved a Declaration of Fiscal Emergency without any discussion.
LA WATCHDOG--On Tuesday, Federal prosecutors dropped the dime on Morrie Goldman, a long time City Hall lobbyist, charging him with one count of “conspiring to commit bribery and honest services mail fraud.”
LA WATCHDOG--The courts have ruled “use of the public treasury to mount an election campaign which attempts to influence the resolution of issues which our Constitution leaves to the ‘free election’ of the people … presents a serious threat to the integrity of the electoral process.”
LA WATCHDOG--When the FBI raided the home and offices of Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar on November 7, 2018, the “shocked” City Council sprang into action to address long needed campaign finance reform.
LA WATCHDOG-As part of their call for Radical Transparency into the budget and financial affairs of the City of Los Angeles, the Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates called open and transparent labor negotiations and that any new labor agreement not result in deficits.
LA WATCHDOG--Just what we need. Another controversial measure on the already crowded November ballot that has twelve statewide propositions, many of which are very high profile, and one measure from the County to cut the Sheriff’s budget.
LA WATCHDOG--On Thursday, a federal grand jury threw the book on Councilman Jose Huizar, returning a 34-count indictment on “charges that he lead a criminal enterprise where he used his powerful position at City Hall to enrich himself and his close associates, and unlawfully gave favorable treatment to developers who financed and facilitated bribes and other illicit financial benefits.”
LA WATCHDOG--Matthew Garza, a 23 year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department who served on Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Security Detail for over six years, has filed a complaint in Superior Court against the City of Los Angeles in which he alleges sexual harassment and a hostile work environment.
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