EDITOR’S NOTE: I was invited to appear on CNN on Thursday Sometime between 8:30 A.M. and 9:30 A.M. to respond to the mayor’s statements.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa went on a media blitz Wednesday to defend his plan to shut down nonessential city agencies two days a week starting Monday despite being told he didn’t have the authority to carry out his edict.
In apparent damage control from his announcement Tuesday, the mayor got on CNN to tell a national audience what he’s up to..
“We don’t
expect that we would be closing City Hall, if you will, two days a week
beyond July,” the mayor said during a morning interview on CNN, according to the LA Times..
Villaraigosa, in the final stages of drafting his budget plan for next years, said more severe cuts in services would occur after July 1 with plans to lay off 4,000 workers permanently. He pleaded with unions most of which have contract protections against furloughs and layoffs until July 1, to take 15 percent pay cuts although police, fire, and DWP workers would be exempt from all cuts, furloughs or layoffs.
“There’s no scenario where we don’t have to
trim our services and the cost of our payroll,” Villaraigosa told CNN’s
chief business correspondent Ali Velshi.