{"id":300561,"date":"2010-02-09T17:25:36","date_gmt":"2010-02-09T22:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef01287782621d970c"},"modified":"2010-02-09T17:55:21","modified_gmt":"2010-02-09T22:55:21","slug":"villaraigosa-tells-l-a-council-that-layoffs-are-only-way-to-avoid-financial-tailspin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/300561","title":{"rendered":"Villaraigosa tells L.A. council that layoffs are only way to avoid ‘financial tailspin’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mayor\"<\/img>
<\/br> Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday made a rare address to the City Council to urge quick action on proposals to lay off workers and cut departments, warning any delay could force the city into a \u201cfinancial tailspin.\u201d
<\/br>
<\/br>The mayor, greeted by boos from the audience of mostly city workers, said layoffs\u00a0this year and next are unavoidable. He dismissed arguments from some council members that the city\u2019s $212-million deficit \u2014 and a $485-million shortfall forecast for 2010-11 \u2014 could be addressed without sending out pink slips.
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\u201cThere just aren\u2019t unlimited options here,\u201d Villaraigosa told the council. \u201cI have profound respect for the difficulty of the decisions you have to make, but I want to say this. We can\u2019t continue to say no to everything. We can\u2019t say no to layoffs, no to furloughs, no to department eliminations. …\u00a0The fact is we can\u2019t sustain this business model.\u201d<\/p>\n

Villaraigosa acknowledged that if the city became insolvent — unable to pay its bills — he could be held personally liable.<\/p>\n

The mayor fielded polite questions from council members for close to two hours, just days after publicly expressing frustration about the council\u2019s inability, during budget hearings last week, to take quick action to shave the city\u2019s shortfall, including his call to eliminate 1,000 city jobs.
<\/br>
<\/br>Earlier in the hearing, Council President Eric Garcetti defended its actions, saying it \u201cdidn\u2019t slow down one day on the layoffs.\u201d Last week, the council unanimously approved a motion instructing \u201cthat no layoffs of city personnel take place in the next 30 days,\u201d although members directed the city personnel agency to identify 1,000 positions that could be eliminated.
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\nBut\u00a0Villaraigosa and Garcetti tried to downplay any conflict between them, both taking shots at media reports for prompting criticism and creating a perception of disunity.
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<\/br>During his address to the council, Villaraigosa also pushed for the city to tap into hundreds of millions of dollars that could be raised by privatizing the city\u2019s parking garages and meters, as well as the Los Angeles Zoo and convention center.
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<\/br>\u201cTime is not our friend,\u201d the mayor said. \u201cEvery day we wait to make the tough choices will only make the choices ahead even tougher.\u201d
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<\/br>The mayor’s and the city council\u2019s fitful efforts to tame the budget deficit are being watched closely by the finance industry,\u00a0which the city depends on for short-term loans that maintain its cash flow. Representatives from two credit rating agencies expressed concern Monday about Los Angeles\u2019 precarious financial position, noting the council\u2019s indecision on budget cuts last week.
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<\/br>City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana\u00a0said a representative from Fitch Ratings told his office that, based on media coverage, L.A. elected officials \u201ccan\u2019t seem to step up and make decisions. So if it can\u2019t be done now, then when?\u201d
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<\/br>Last November, Fitch downgraded the city\u2019s credit rating on $2.94 billion in debt \u2014 a move that drove up interest rates and made it more expensive for the city to borrow money. Moody\u2019s Investors Service, another bond rating agency, on Monday also \u201cexpressed concerns\u201d about the city\u2019s inability to balance the budget, Santana said.
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<\/br>On Thursday, Villaraigosa said he would order department heads to start the layoff process immediately, excluding police officers, and to start notifying workers likely to be targeted once other employees are shifted to vacant positions not paid from the city\u2019s general fund.
<\/br>
<\/br>In a letter sent earlier this week to the city\u2019s public employee unions, Santana named the 1,000 positions he believes could be eliminated. That list identified 48 tree surgeons and four senior gardeners in the Bureau of Street Services, who are responsible for trimming the city\u2019s street trees. It also included 89 workers in child-care centers operated by the Department of Recreation and Parks.
<\/br><\/p>\n

\u201cThis council has made it clear that layoffs can only be considered as a final option,\u201d Santana said while appearing before the group Tuesday morning. \u201cWe are at a point where we have no other options.\u00a0… There\u2019s no pot of gold out there that we haven\u2019t tapped into.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Photo: Mayor Antonio Villariagosa speaks to the City Council Tuesday on proposals to lay off workers and cut departments. Credit: Anne Cusack\u00a0 \/ Los Angeles Times<\/em><\/p>\n

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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday made a rare address to the City Council to urge quick action on proposals to lay off workers and cut departments, warning any delay could force the city into a \u201cfinancial tailspin.\u201dThe mayor, greeted by boos from the audience of mostly city workers, said layoffs\u00a0this year and next are unavoidable. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4678,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-300561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300561","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\/4678"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}