Tag: high cost of local government

Water Quality

The issue of dirty water is not new. Texas may be feeling the impact of the Big Freeze but other cities have faced similar issues. Flint Michigan comes to mind as a good example of mismanagement.

I live in Los Angeles. When the city was hit with an earthquake in 1994 we were told to boil our water during the following week. Instead we started buying bottled water. We bought the 2 ½ gallon Arrowhead containers at Costco. We have continued buying bottled water since that time. We consume 5 to 7 gallons a week. I keep six to eight containers in the garage and an additional five gallons in a storage shed.

The city Department of Water and Power (DWP) sends out an annual water quality report. Of course it reports that that the water is safe to drink. I just don’t trust the report. When we re-piped our house in the year 2000 the old pipes were filthy and clogged. Am I to believe that the city’s pipes are cleaner than the 60 year old pipe that lead to my house?

In July 2014 the massive Sunset Boulevard water main break brought geysers of water, a sinkhole, flooding on the UCLA campus — the risks that come with expansive water line systems installed decades ago. The main line trunk that burst and turned UCLA into a swimming pool was 93 years old.

The failure also led to a familiar “Band-Aid approach” that experts say is common when pipes in an aging system fail.

Water main breaks continue in the city every month. That those breaks are a continuing problem says that we have a serious problem that the city DWP has yet to confront. One of the latest was near my home on Topanga Canyon Boulevard. After posting this item another break on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks reported on February 24. These breaks tell me that the pipes are deteriorating everywhere. Anything breaking off inside those pipes that ends up at my house? Oh no they say. Everything is OK.

Contaminated pipes are everywhere. Lead pipes are everywhere.  This map shows where it is most prevalent.

Once again money is the issue.


Spend Today – Let Tomorrow be Someone Else’s Problem

I am exhausted by government mismanagement.  It’s not about Obamacare.  It’s about foolish spending at the state and local levels.

Here in California the EDD (Employment Development Department),  that is the department that pays unemployment insurance, they decided to implement a new computerized check paying system.  California paid Deloitte Consulting $62 million to develop EDD’s new computer system.  An estimated 148,000 people have experienced delays of up to four weeks in receiving their payments due to computer glitches.

The Los Angeles DWP implemented a new billing system in October of this year.  Thousands of people received bills that were double their normal charges.  Some received bills one half their normal charges.  When those receiving incorrect overcharges refused to pay they were threatened with shutoff notices.

A retired DWP construction worker volunteered his retirement benefit to me, $6,000 per month.  Stunned, I said nothing.  The DWP has a powerful union.

Meanwhile Chicago officials, as they often do, turned to borrowing to relieve the financial pressure. This time they used taxable bonds with high interest rates, making the ultimate price tag even bigger.  A $12 million bill related to disabled parking will be paid off in 2039 for at least $30 million.  The Chicago Tribune found that the mayor’s boasting of tough choices amounts to selling taxable bonds to cover day-to-day expenses.  Long after he is gone the bill for retirement benefits will come due.  With a declining population (in the 1950s it was 3.5 million people, today the population is 2.5 million) this city may be the next Detroit.