CommentsNEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS-I, for one, was pleased to see the progressive programs enshrined in the Mayor’s Justice Budget. In general, there is little that he has proposed that anyone could object to.
Except, perhaps, the Guaranteed Basic Income project and most of those complaints ran along the line of “Why them, not me.”
However, there may be a number of omissions and oversights.
An opportunity
Much as many people would love to go back to the way things were prior to the pandemic, the truth is that we have to move forward and create a new normal.
One that the Budget and Finance Committee, the whole City Council, and the Mayor has the opportunity to create.
Now is time to focus on the budget, to fully fund core services, increase efficiency by downsizing bureaucracy, remove redundancies and provide sustainable services to meet the needs of Angelenos today, and for next year and the ones thereafter.
The City’s budget lays out how Los Angeles will provide services and infrastructure for the coming fiscal year. And, in selecting priorities for our tax dollars, this budget becomes a declaration of your – of our – values.
The budget should reflect community needs and priorities and in focusing on the justice issues of equity and homelessness, the Mayor has made a brave first step.
We’ve just lived through a year where the City’s income, which relies in part on hotel and sales taxes that dried up with tourism down 90%, could not keep up with the City’s expenses, most of which are fixed hard costs.
And this budget also reflects that after a year skirting perilously close to a billion dollars of red ink, Los Angeles has received its own vaccine, of federal funds.
This is one-time revenue, split into two tranches, the first that will bring the City’s finances back from the edge for this year, rebuild the reserve fund, and provide a buffer to ensure the City can get through next year and those thereafter.
However. . .
Yes, many of us have now been vaccinated, more will be soon, but COVID is out of control in India and South America, new variants will definitely be coming to LA this summer. But perhaps not tourists. Perhaps not the rebound in income we would all like to see.
The revenue projections on which this budget is based may be a tad optimistic and there appears to be no Plan B.
Every neighborhood in the City wants services restored and, while the Mayor says there is a 9% increase in most departments how does that translate to services? Do the departments still even have the skills and resources needed to address what is in this budget?
Cuts last year due to the Separation Incentive Program and hiring freeze as well as normal retirements were not evenly spread across departments or even within departments.
The Emergency Management Department was eviscerated, sections of the other departments – Finance, City Attorney, CAO, Planning, City Clerk, General Services – decimated. And as has been reiterated already today, these affect other departments.
Neighborhoods across the City are calling for street sweeping, sidewalk repair, tree trimming, for solutions to dumping, to homelessness.
People need jobs and training, and affordable housing, now.
Our infrastructure – not the bits and pieces noted in the budget but the entire system of streets and sewer systems, and IT, Citywide broadband-for-all is so essential.
So, again, if the income on which this budget is based does not materialize, what gets cut?
If the City borrows money, who ends up paying? Every Angeleno does. That debt and interest gets passed on to the next generation, so our children and their children end up paying for decisions made in the next few weeks.
Priorities
I really want to see the Mayor’s aspirations realized – investment in pandemic recovery, programs promoting equity and economic justice and for improving racial and social justice, reimagining public safety, and significantly, significantly reducing the scourge of homelessness.
But responsible budgeting means focusing on essential services first, and then providing the bells and whistles. We need to make sure we are able to pay for what we need and keep the money in the reserves for the next emergency. Which will come. Ladies and gentlemen, we need better prioritization.
The City’s budget doesn’t cover education, transportation, public health, or social services, those covered by LAUSD, Metro and the County, State and Federal governments. The City’s main concern is services, infrastructure, and public safety. However, the latter is funded.
I’ve included suggestions from other Budget Advocates but want to read one so you can hear her concerns in her own words.
“I think the City needs to take a broader view of public safety. Public safety involves not only the police and fire. It also means we fix unsafe intersections. It means we fix unsafe sidewalks. It's not good enough to say no. There need to be plans that are public so we can have some expectation of when our neighborhood will be fixed, even if it's 10 years from now, and can watch the progress.
“This means our city government needs to make sure there is housing for everyone. Provide housing to those who don't have it and can't afford it. Protect those who have housing from losing it.
“This means stop generating greenhouse gases, so our children have a chance at continued life on this planet.
“It also means police and fire. It means protecting all of us to serve all of us.”
Responsibility
It means holding individuals personally responsible, so we all see that bad actions have consequences, not sweeping what we don’t wait to address under the carpet.
Liability costs the City too much money: money spent on litigation and settlements cannot pave our streets or plant new trees.
StreetsLA’s focus on safety first has shown the cost for repair is perhaps 10% of one liability claim. That’s effective use of City money. Liability payouts are not.
LADOT had a program that was stopped to “save” money but if reinstated, requires they modernize their software.
To riff on an old adage: for want of an upgrade that program was lost, for want of a program that repair was lost, for want of that repair a life was lost, for want of that life, a City was lost.
Accountability
Stopping overly aggressive actions by a few cops will send a clear message -- no more. And it tells all Angelenos that their city cares for each of them.
Accountability is essential – not only in budgeting but in personal actions.
What is your plan to fully fund core services and infrastructure?
Where is the plan to curtail unnecessary expenditures?
I am hearing environmental and park programs have been cut including some intended to mitigate climate change. Why?
This all feeds into quality of life, planning for the long term, and our values as a City.
I’m going to end with something I said to the Budget and Finance Committee three years ago.
The City needs to spend money now to save money later – and your dilemma has always been to be fiscally responsible, to reconcile revenue with the demands of multiple departments and interest groups.
Infrastructure investment will generate good jobs for Angelenos, and the trickledown effect should drive the economy more effectively than some ways the city has used in the past such as tax concessions and code waivers.
A budget should be the guideline for, as the Mayor puts it, the art of the possible, a map for the changes needed for Los Angeles to thrive in the 21st century.
We need a leaner, meaner government structure, and we need income flows that do not unfairly penalize the poorer members of our society.
The time is short, ladies and gentlemen, but I think this budget needs a deeper dive.
(Drawn from the Budget Advocates presentation to the Budget and Finance Committee on May 3, 2021.)
(Liz Amsden is a member of the Budget Advocates, an elected, all volunteer, independent advisory body charged with making constructive recommendations to the Mayor and the City Council regarding the Budget, and to City Departments on ways to improve their operations, and with obtaining input, updating, and educating all Angelenos on the City’s fiscal management.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
