• Los Angeles has a $7.1 billion General City budget (this does not include the Airports, Harbor and Department of Water & Power budgets)
• Los Angeles is a full-service City government composed of elected and appointed offices, including commissions, departments, and agencies.
• Los Angeles City government has a workforce of about 37,000 employees that provide a variety of services ranging from crime control to tree trimming.
The above information was copied from a Los Angeles city web site that tries to inform the citizens about how the city government functions. Los Angeles Mayor Villaragosa says that the city will have shortfall of $24 million in its current budget. If the administration would just cut back its department budgets to those that existed just three years ago they would save more than $100 million. This will most likely mean that some jobs will have to be eliminated. That reduction is not nearly enough to reduce city services in any significant way.
The problem is that the mayor doesn’t want to impact his Teflon surface with any damaging decisions before next year’s election. The truth is Villaragosa has not successfully fulfilled any of his many promises.
Schools are ineffective, crime is a serious problem (especially gang activity), public transportation is poor in most parts of the city, traffic is impossible, the cost of living has driven out the middle class, business has been driven out of the city due to high taxes, and the list goes on and on.
Antonio Villaragosa’s smiling face is better than his predecessor’s continuously glum appearance. Jim Hahn never cracked a smile.
Coast Contact 