Kings of L.A.

Kings of L.A.

Kings of L.A.

A mostly political weblog.
March 3 2009 1:34 AM

Kings of L.A.

L.A.'s fifteen City Council members make

$178,000 per year
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, way more than in New York ($112K) or Chicago ($110K). They have 320 staffers between them, they get free cars, plus taxpayer-financed $100,000 slush funds to dispense as they choose to local organizations.

They
don't have to feed parking meters!

 Plus they have approximately

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zero

fear of not being reelected. ... Despite that, or maybe because of it, they do a lousy job, argues

L.A. Weekly

in an

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that takes some cheap shots and some not-cheap ones:



The members admit that they never discussed what a digital billboard was, or its intrusive impact, before quickly approving them citywide; ...[M]any now admit they had no idea what made up the $1 billion to $3.6 billion solar plan, Measure B, but stuck it on [this] week's ballot anyway. ... They squabbled over selling valuable city land throughout the run-up in land values, and now that they're desperate for funds, council members plan to hold an embarrassing fire sale of the public's land. 

Needless to say, the city's  giant budget deficit is driven in large part by "increases in employee pay and benefits". [ LAT via LAO ] ... More generally, in part due to L.A.'s weak-mayor/strong council system, residents have little sense that the development (or overdevelopment) of L.A. is under any kind of intelligible control.  It seems as if everything's a favor handed out by individual councilpersons--an impression reinforced by the Weekly . ... P.S.: If you are part of kf' s coveted Beverly Hills demographic , my mother says to vote for Mirisch. I note only that she is an excellent judge of character.. ... 10:57 P.M.

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