As a result of an increasingly nasty dispute with the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation has collected a sufficient number of signatures to qualify its “City of Los Angeles Public Health Protection Act” (the “Initiative”) for the ballot in June of 2014. If passed by a majority of […]

The City’s finances will receive an additional boost of $30 million because of a higher than expected increase in the assessed value of the City’s real estate. According to the County Assessor, property values surged 4.25% (versus a projected 1.7%) as a result of a higher than anticipated home sales and rising prices, resulting in […]

Even the most casual observer knows the City is cooking the books. We are all familiar with the angst associated with the annual budget.  But this year is a cake walk as General Fund revenues are projected to increase by $325 million, accompanied by unanticipated pension savings of over $50 million. But the Mayor’s budget […]

Less than a week after 55% of the voters flushed City Council President Herb Wesson’s proposed permanent half cent increase in our sales tax to 9½%, a well-placed City Hall operative quipped, “Proposition A is just the beginning of the discussion on increasing taxes.”  True to form, on April 3, only four weeks after the […]

It did not take long for the credibility of the “Los Angeles 2020 Commission” to be seriously questioned as the 12 members (and one alternate) are all part of or dependent upon the City Hall establishment that is responsible for the City’s impending insolvency. According to downtown attorney Mickey Kantor, a former Secretary of Commerce […]

After almost eight years of the City being on a financial roller coaster, City Council President Herb Wesson has recruited Mickey Kantor, a former Secretary of Commerce in the Clinton Administration, and Austin Beutner, a financially astute former deputy mayor, to head a high level commission to review and analyze the City’s shaky finances and […]

Tuesday, 55% of the voters rejected Proposition A, the Herb Wesson and Paul Krekorian inspired permanent half cent increase in our sales tax to a job killer 9½%, one of the highest rates in the nation. This stunning victory was even more amazing given that the special interests controlling the Yes on A cabal spent […]

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times urged a NO vote on Proposition A, the PERMANENT half cent increase in our already regressive sales to a staggering 9 ½%, one of the highest rates in the country. While The Times conceded that there might be some “short term pain” if Proposition A is defeated, the Editorial […]

The Mayor and the City Council have not engaged in any serious budget, pension, or staffing reforms over the last seven years other than blowing a lot of hot air in our faces. Yet, once again, the City Council and the Mayor are attempting to close the four year budget gap of over $1.1 billion […]

Now that the Riordan Plan for pension reform is off the table, how do the “can kickers” that occupy City Hall propose to balance the budget, fix our streets, and fully fund our pension plans that are $19 billion underwater? Under the Riordan Plan, the City would have saved about $400 to $500 million a […]