{"id":261011,"date":"2010-02-01T10:53:35","date_gmt":"2010-02-01T15:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a839bc46970b"},"modified":"2010-02-01T01:47:57","modified_gmt":"2010-02-01T06:47:57","slug":"will-angelenos-soon-be-trimming-city-trees-budget-cuts-could-bring-big-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/261011","title":{"rendered":"Will Angelenos soon be trimming city trees? Budget cuts could bring big changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles City Council could vote this week on whether to proceed with the elimination<\/a> of 1,000 positions to address this year\u2019s $208-million deficit and the city\u2019s dwindling reserve fund. <\/p>\n

But the city’s\u00a0top budget analyst, Miguel Santana,\u00a0is also urging council members to focus\u00a0on even more bracing financial\u00a0challenges in the years\u00a0ahead. By the 2013 fiscal year, the city could\u00a0face a $952-million shortfall.<\/p>\n

Santana accompanied his midyear financial status report last week with a \u201cthree-year plan to fiscal sustainability\u201d to address the city\u2019s structural deficit. The proposed changes would restructure a number of city departments and could significantly pare back the services handled by the city, which is already scrambling to patch holes left by the early-retirement program offered last fall to 2,400 workers.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Santana urged city officials to immediately begin seeking private operators for the convention center, municipal golf courses, city parking garages and the zoo. Other proposals, which would require the council\u2019s approval, could shift responsibilities from city workers to private firms.<\/p>\n

For example, a proposed pilot program in the parks department would contract out 20% of its landscaping duties. The General Services Department, which may lose 15% of its mechanics this year to early retirement, may have to\u00a0outsource maintenance work on the city\u2019s fleet of vehicles. <\/p>\n

And L.A. residents could soon see some unpleasant changes. Santana\u2019s three-year plan notes the city will need to rethink its street sweeping routes, which cover 13,000 curb miles, after 15% of its sweeper operators retire.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Even tree trimming may no longer be a service that Angelenos can count on. Because of prior budget cuts, very few of the city\u2019s palm trees will be trimmed this year, according to the report. In the future, the city\u2019s top budget analyst is asking City Council members to consider reducing the costs of street tree trimming \u201cto the bare minimum\u201d and returning \u201cresponsibility for street tree maintenance to the abutting property owner,\u201d as was the case before a change to city law in 1931. <\/p>\n

Members of the City Council\u2019s Budget and Finance Committee will discuss the proposals at their Monday afternoon meeting. <\/p>\n

— Maeve Reston at Los Angeles City Hall <\/p>\n

More breaking news in L.A. Now:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Man claiming to be brother of former Mexican president arrested in financial scams<\/a><\/p>\n

State Supreme Court: Sex offenders may challenge ‘Jessica’s Law’ residency rules<\/a> <\/p>\n

Federal agents find 14 suspected illegal immigrants in Reseda ‘drop house’ <\/a><\/p>\n

Son of alleged serial killer is suspected in Melrose Avenue stun-gun attack<\/a><\/p>\n

Orange County fishermen angle for unusual catch: Giant squid<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles City Council could vote this week on whether to proceed with the elimination of 1,000 positions to address this year\u2019s $208-million deficit and the city\u2019s dwindling reserve fund. But the city’s\u00a0top budget analyst, Miguel Santana,\u00a0is also urging council members to focus\u00a0on even more bracing financial\u00a0challenges in the years\u00a0ahead. By the 2013 fiscal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4917,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-261011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4917"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261011\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}