The Snowstorm that Buried Los Angeles

Not quite the accumulation you’d find at Tahoe or Mammoth, but it must have felt as if a blizzard rolled in.  I’m sure the city had the snowplows out in record time. It was just over sixty-one years ago on January 11, 1949. The view below is at what is now Valley Village Park.  Note [...]

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Fairness Is a Two-Way Street

I attended the BudgetLA.org Forum today at Hollywood City Hall.  Alex Rubalcava was the guest speaker.  Mr. Rubalcava is President of Rubalcava Capital Management.  He spoke about the pension crisis and the prospects of municipal bankruptcy. Alex’s concerns go back a few years as evidenced by a 2006 article in the Daily News.  He sparred with city [...]

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City Appears to be Committed to Privatizing Parking

Today’s LA Times contained very disturbing news – it appears the city is ready to pull the trigger on privatizing parking.  The Mayor’s desperation to save his political reputation is driving our financial planning. No matter how CAO Miguel Santana runs the numbers, the privatization of parking facilities and meters to close the current or near-term [...]

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THE MAGNOLIA PROJECT AND YOU

Earlier today we  were asked why the issues with the 11933 Magnolia project were important to people throughout Los Angeles?  There is a great deal to consider. There are assorted arguments in all directions. The most concise and comprehensive overview we found comes from a letter we are reprinting with permission. It was sent by [...]

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Intimidation or Due Diligence by the IRS?

While we are all concerned about what is going on with state and local finances, let’s not forget we are in tax season. I am disturbed about the recent wave of IRS letters to tax practitioners.  If you read between the lines, it appears the Feds may want tax professionals to do less advocacy for [...]

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My Interview with Trutanich – Part 3: The Performance Audit Feud

Whether the City Controller should have the right to conduct performance audits of other elected officials has resulted in a bitter fight between the Controller and the City Attorney.  Wendy and Carmen jumped into the ring right after Rocky and Laura climbed out.  It’s a perfect script for a WWF tag team event.  I’m just [...]

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My Interview with Trutanich – Part 2 of 3: The Hidden Deficit

Before meeting with Carmen, I made a point of reviewing the Estimated Claims and Judgments Payable Footnote of the city’s last complete set of financial statements posted on the Controller’s website.  The statements were for the Fiscal Year Ended 6/30/08, so the information is stale. At that point in time, the potential liability was $518 [...]

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My Interview with Trutanich (Part 1 of 3)- Pensions

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to discuss a few subjects with City Attorney Trutanich.  Curt Livesay, Chief Legal Advisor, was also present. Each of the three subjects deserves its own post.  Hope to have the other two finished later tonight or tomorrow morning. It was also good to see Jane Usher.  We chatted briefly before [...]

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The CAO Delivers the Mayor’s Message

If anyone ever had doubts as to CAO Miguel Santana being the Mayor’s mouthpiece, they were erased at tonight’s Los Angeles City Council Budget and Finance Committee’s meeting at Van Nuys City Hall. Mr. Santana merely parroted everything in the Mayor’s recent proclamation:  the city will prostrate itself to the unions.  The Mayor has no stomach to play hardball with the unions over [...]

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The Broken City Syndrome

We have all heard of the broken window syndrome.   If you allow a seemingly inconsequential neighborhood problem to fester, it will start a chain reaction of other problems which lead to widespread blight.  The broken window pane leads to graffiti, which leads to more vandalism and petty crime, which encourages gang activity….. Los Angeles is operating under the broken city [...]

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