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BUDGET ADVOCATES - Every budget season, Angelenos hear the same familiar warnings: another budget deficit, another hiring freeze, another round of service cuts, and another promise that better days are just around the corner. Yet every year, taxpayers pay more while watching the quality of city services decline.
That is not bad luck.
It is the predictable result of years of political decisions that prioritized short-term headlines over long-term fiscal responsibility.
Los Angeles is one of the world's great cities. It is home to global industries, world-class universities, one of the nation's busiest ports, a thriving entertainment economy, and millions of hardworking taxpayers. A city with these advantages should not struggle to repair its streets, maintain its infrastructure, respond effectively to emergencies, or deliver the basic services residents deserve.
The problem is not that Los Angeles lacks resources.
The problem is that City Hall has too often lacked the discipline to manage those resources wisely.
If Los Angeles is serious about restoring public confidence and putting its finances on solid footing, the solution begins with four principles that should never have been abandoned: honesty, transparency, accountability, and fiscal discipline.
Honesty Before Politics
Every successful turnaround begins with an honest assessment of reality. Taxpayers deserve more than optimistic press releases and carefully crafted political messaging. They deserve a clear accounting of the city's financial condition, its long-term obligations, and the performance of every major program funded with public dollars.
City Hall should open the books, complete independent audits, publish the findings, identify what is working, acknowledge what is not, and redirect resources where they will produce measurable results. Government cannot ask the public for trust while withholding the information necessary to earn it.
Transparency Creates Confidence
Transparency is not a public relations strategy it is the foundation of accountable government. Every significant contract, major infrastructure project, and long-term financial commitment should withstand public scrutiny. Residents should never have to wonder how their money is being spent or whether promised results were ever achieved.
Public confidence grows when government welcomes oversight instead of resisting it.
Spend Within Our Means
Every family understands a basic financial principle: spending more than you earn is unsustainable. Government should operate by the same standard.
Too often, Los Angeles expands spending while simultaneously warning of budget shortfalls, hiring freezes, deferred maintenance, and service reductions. That cycle is neither responsible nor sustainable.
Before creating new programs, City Hall should demonstrate that existing programs are producing measurable results. Before asking taxpayers for additional money, government should prove it has managed today's resources responsibly.
Fiscal discipline is not about spending less at all costs. It is about spending smarter, setting priorities, eliminating waste, and ensuring every taxpayer dollar produces measurable value for the public.
Accountability Must Have Consequences
Success is celebrated loudly at City Hall, but failure too often goes unanswered.
When expensive initiatives fail to achieve their stated goals, taxpayers deserve answers. When infrastructure deteriorates despite years of public investment, residents deserve explanations. When financial projections repeatedly miss the mark, someone should be held accountable.
Leadership is measured not by speeches, ribbon cuttings, or press conferences, but by results.
Without accountability, poor decisions become institutional habits.
The Reality Residents Experience
Most Angelenos do not judge City Hall by budget presentations. They judge it by what they experience every day.
They drive over potholes that damage their vehicles. They walk on broken sidewalks. They report graffiti that remains for months. They watch aging water and sewer infrastructure require emergency repairs. They notice streetlights that stay dark. They wait longer for emergency services because police and fire resources continue to face staffing pressures. They also question whether the enormous public investment in addressing homelessness has produced results that match the scale of the spending.
These are not isolated frustrations.
They are daily reminders that government should first excel at its most fundamental responsibilities before expanding its ambitions.
Collect the Revenue Already Owed
Fiscal responsibility is not simply about controlling expenditures. It also requires collecting revenue that is already legally owed.
Improving tax collection, enforcing existing laws consistently, and strengthening financial management should become priorities before asking residents and businesses to shoulder additional financial burdens.
Competent government begins with competent financial management.
The Olympics Demand Excellence
In 2028, Los Angeles will welcome the world.
The Olympic Games represent an extraordinary opportunity to showcase our city, but they also require extraordinary responsibility. Residents deserve transparency regarding projected costs, financial risks, contingency planning, and long-term obligations associated with hosting the Games.
Public confidence cannot be built behind closed doors. It must be earned through openness, accountability, and sound financial stewardship.
A Choice That Cannot Be Delayed
Los Angeles does not have to choose between fiscal responsibility and compassionate government. It must have both.
A financially stable city is better equipped to invest in housing, public safety, infrastructure, parks, libraries, economic development, and services for those who need them most. Fiscal discipline is not an obstacle to progress it is what makes lasting progress possible.
The path forward is straightforward.
Tell the truth. Open the books. Demand accountability. Collect the revenue already owed. Set clear priorities. Spend wisely. Measure results.
Every dollar entrusted to government belongs first to the taxpayers who earned it.
Los Angeles has every advantage necessary to succeed. What it needs now is leadership willing to match the ambitions of its people with the discipline that responsible government requires.
Los Angeles isn't broke by accident. It is being bankrupted by bad decisions.
The city does not need bigger budgets nearly as much as it needs better leadership.
The time for excuses has passed. The time for responsible leadership is now.
(Mihran Kalaydjian is a seasoned public affairs and government relations professional with more than twenty years of experience in legislative affairs, public policy, community relations, and strategic communications. A respected civic leader and education advocate, he has spearheaded numerous academic and community initiatives, shaping dialogue and driving reform in local and regional political forums. His career reflects a steadfast commitment to transparency, accountability, and public service across Los Angeles and beyond.)
(Jay Handal is a veteran community advocate and longtime CityWatch contributor who plays a central role in holding Los Angeles City Hall accountable. He serves as treasurer of the West LA–Sawtelle Neighborhood Council. With decades of grassroots organizing and civic leadership, Jay is a relentless voice for transparency, fiscal reform, and empowering neighborhoods to challenge waste, mismanagement, and backroom decision-making at City Hall.)
