A Three-Step Path to a Stable LA Budget and Infrastructure

MEETING THE TWAIN-“Common sense is very uncommon.” – Mark Twain 

It shouldn't be so hard in LA to balance our budget and build a better future.  Watch what you spend, raise more revenue, and be transparent in what you spend.  Unfortunately, the ability to control spending, the ability to raise more revenue, and the ability to be transparent is decades  overdue for a Downtown used to obeying an empowered minority at the expense of the overwhelming majority of the City. 

“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.” – Mark Twain 

It's a bit frustrating, but Mayor Garcetti is no bombastic, big-speaker type of guy.  He's generally an affable and quiet guy who lets his actions speak louder than words (Twain quoted that, too).  He is part of the City leadership who got us into this mess, and for us to get out of his mess he will have to speak kindly to his friends and his opponents to make more sacrifice, and to restore confidence in both him and the rest of Downtown. 

Whether it's creating a Metro Rail/LAX connection, being politically smart in figuring out a way to pass a Measure R-2 to to fund a 21st-Century transportation infrastructure for the City and County, or taking on the DWP, LAPD and other employee unions, there will be no loud public displays of combat from our Mayor. 

Which doesn't mean it's useless to lean on the Mayor to create more transparency and availability--we can and should weigh in and remind both the Mayor and the City Council that the government serves the citizenry, and not the other way around--but it does require credit to go where it belongs.  

For example, Planning's attempts to overdensify this City beyond what its infrastructure can accommodate makes no sense (no matter which well-connected developer benefits), but THIS Mayor seems more intent on creating a narrative of focused and good leadership than our last one.  If Garcetti wants to survive politically, he will have to listen to folks like CD11 Councilmember Mike Bonin and not label critics of bad development as mere "NIMBY's". 

Yet the cronies of the Villaraigosa-Wendy Greuel-Jack Weiss era have been in large part replaced (perhaps also a few who ideally should have stayed on board, but I understand how our still-new Mayor wants an understood-but-absolute loyalty from his team).  This Mayor wants results...with disputes handled quietly behind the scenes. 

Results will therefore come in bits and spurts, but just as the Mayor promised there WOULD be more disasters after the Sunset Blvd. megafountain created a UCLA river, he wants to be proactive and not reactive.  Having Villaraigosa's initial popularity but not his ultimate track record appears to be what Mayor Garcetti wants, and his credibility still remains high enough to give him a chance. 

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” — Mark Twain

Hi, Galperin, this is Alpern!  As my CityWatch colleagues Jack Humphreville and Denyse Selesnick have pointed out, your timely and accurate "heads up!" was welcome and needed news for City residents who are wondering when they'll have to shell out more money for infrastructure. 

In short, folks like Ron Galperin and Kevin James are two reformers who won't need much convincing to take on a City bureaucracy and civil service that is either poorly-led, poorly-managed, and/or poorly-equipped with modern technology to do things right.  We are NOT handling our money well, and our ability to spend and budget appropriately isn't where it should be. 

Do I think there will be a time when we will have to cough up more taxes and/or fees and/or bond measures?  Yes, and I intend to be one of those advocating for it when the time comes--I may be politically and economically conservative, but good spending IS possible with smart and tough oversight.  But that time is NOT now. 

For example, we still have a disgraceful IBEW leadership under Brian D'Arcy, and a DWP that is so very overpaid and underperforming compared to other City employees that it's very hard to justify ratepayer or taxpayer sacrifice any time soon.   

City Controller Galperin is showing inspiration and courage by taking on D'Arcy, and giving the rest of Downtown leadership the political cover to do what's right (and I reeeeeeally hope that also includes City Council President Wesson, who must evolve to be part of the solution to our City's woes). 

Just because big lobbyists and thuggish unions pushed around Downtown for decades, doesn't mean it always has to remain this way...especially if it means continuing operations and processes that are inefficient.  Perhaps the one thing that the Controller would do well to audit now is the City's civil service system; we must determine whether there are too many civil service positions awarded based not on passing tests and showing merit, but instead on political cronyism. 

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” – Mark Twain 

As the proud son of a retired civil engineer who helped run the L.A. City Department of Sanitation and Refuse, I grew up knowing and respecting the dedicated civil service which was once run as a meritocracy.  When he retired, the pension system was fully funded, and the shenanigans that occurred from approximately 2000-2009 was unheard of...but is now a long-term burden which will be paid for decades to come. 

So with the understanding that I deeply respect and appreciate what our police, firefighters, librarians, trash collectors, park supervisors and other City employees do, I'll say what a lot of us are thinking while City employees start asking for NEW raises that are "overdue": 

You already GOT your raises, years in advance, during the last round of contracts that virtually crippled the City and nearly brought it to the brink of bankruptcy (and things aren't getting too much better).   

So long as new employees get treated fairly, and no one gets away with murder like we've seen with some of the more recent retirees, we can hopefully avoid bankruptcy and actually dedicate our budget to (again) paying for our crumbling infrastructure. 

Those who are still obsessed with getting their piece of the public pie should spare a thought for those taxpayers who have no clue as to when they will retire, will retire on Social Security and little more, and whose wages are flat.   

Perhaps those feeling cheated by not getting more from the public spending side should also think about residents with crumbling alleys and roads and sidewalks, and should recognize that--from the DWP to the DPW to the BSS and so on--more of our budget must be spent on what the taxpayers funding the budget truly need and deserve. 

So whether it's quoting Mark Twain or anyone else, it's not too hard to figure out how to fix our budget and infrastructure: 

1) Staying calm despite the need for massive need for change, because it CAN occur despite our desire to change things now. 

2) Taking on the big fights (as with an IBEW that's completely out of control) with courage and conviction. 

3) Not letting one group, or any of us, get in the way of what's best for the greater majority of our fellow City residents. 

And whether or not it's common for common sense to prevail, this three-step plan is really just common sense. 

So wouldn't its implementation be merely...common decency?

 

(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee.  He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected] .   He also does regular commentary on the Mark Isler Radio Show on AM 870, and co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us.  The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.

-cw