Bend Over, Los Angeles Taxpayers! City Council Is In Session
Unbelievably, City Councilmen Ed Reyes and Bill Rosendahl brought and seconded an emergency motion -- one requiring "immediate action"! What was so damn urgent? Walter Moore (who I happily voted for for Mayor over the worthless, junketing Tony Teeth) has the answer:
The urgent matter was as follows: Giving $25,000 of your money to a "non-profit" called "The Wall Memorias Project," for "various expenses incurred for this year's celebration of El Grito."What, you may ask, is "El Grito?"
It is not Spanish for "grits," but that was an excellent guess. Instead, it is the battle cry of the war of Mexican Independence.
Excuse me, but how the hell is giving money to a "non-profit" to celebrate "El Grito" an emergency?
I wish I were making this crap up. And, as usual, there's more. There's always more, as in another motion, to spend $62,500 of your money to fund the following celebratory events: the "Blessing of the Animals," the "Day of the Dead," and my own personal favorite, the "Virgen de Guadalupe."
Luckily, there are L.A. residents who are working day and night to make ends meet -- working so hard that they sometimes don't feel so well one morning and oversleep, and get a parking ticket. The same L.A. City Council that so urgently handed over our tax dollars just jacked up the cost of a parking ticket to pay for their charitable whims. From LAist:
•Failure to Deposit a Coin into the Meter/Overtime Use of the Meter: $55
•Street Cleaning: $65
•Parking in a No Stopping Zone: $85
•Parking in an Anti-Gridlock Zone: $155
•White or Yellow Loading Zone Violations: $50
•Over 18" from the Curb: $50
•Parking in a Front Yard (yeah, you can't do that, stay on the driveway): $55 ($80 and $130 for 2nd and 3rd violations within one year).
California is an uber-liberal s**thole, spending itself and the rest of the country off a cliff. What else is new?
Tom at September 14, 2010 4:14 AM
Ummmmmm....
Isn't a celebration honoring the Virgin de Guadalupe religious? Speaking as a retired Catholic, I'm pretty sure it is. And LA County is giving money to an organization to help promote/celebrate this day?
Explain to me how this isn't a violation of the First Amendment.
UW Girl at September 14, 2010 8:43 AM
This is standard feel good politics for a voting block. The city of Beaverton (suburb of Portland) here is spending $5k of its money for a mexican independence day party.
http://www.oregonlive.com/beaverton/index.ssf/2010/09/beaverton-sponsored_celebration_for_mexicos_independence_blasted_by_fox_news.html
Sio at September 14, 2010 9:17 AM
We the people have completely lost any semblance of control over the people we hire to run our municipalities. At this point, we are all slaves to the system.
Marina at September 14, 2010 10:32 AM
Actually, UW Girl, all three of those celebrations are Catholic traditions and as such, the Church should pay for them.
sheepmommy at September 14, 2010 10:37 AM
I think this relates to the arguments against Keith's point in the "63 & Tired" post yesterday.
Nobody is saying we don't want to pay taxes - we understand they're necessary. But the problem is when they are closing fire stations, slashing library hours, and cutting back the police force in order to push through bullshit like this.
If my city/county/state is in such dire straits as they keep proclaiming, than I'm quite willing to forgo the fun stuff to pay for the necessities. Let the local non-profits or community groups organize the Fourth of July parade. Let's cut back some of the touchy-feely stuff that we don't need right now (and while I'm a big supporter of the arts, in times of need, let the community groups pick up the slack). There was a guy who wrote a rather good letter to my local paper the other day saying that we have two committees that essentially do the same job - why not get rid of one? Or at least consolidate the two?
It's thinking of other solutions that our politicians to actively try to avoid.
cornerdemon at September 14, 2010 11:45 AM
I thought so. So am I allowed to point out the absolute absurdity of a man with the surname of Rosendahl taking public tax funds to spend on a Latino Roman Catholic celebration? And again...isn't this a violation of the First Amendment. It seems pretty clear to me by spending money on this, LA County Government is endorsing the Catholic faith.
UW Girl at September 14, 2010 1:18 PM
How about the govt stop wasting money on celebrations. Any celebrations.
KrisL at September 14, 2010 6:00 PM
KrisL,
Hear!! Hear!!
I don't even go to 4th of July -- I don't find them that interesting. Especially with all the nanny state rules at most local festivals, fairs and other things of that nature.
Ohmigod!! Some adults want to drink in public. We can't have the little urchins see that. And we can be sued if assholes get drunk and drive. And the whole crowd of males are child molesters.
Screw off -- I'll stay home and read a book about the Declaration of Independence.
Jim P. at September 14, 2010 8:29 PM
Back when I used to comb through LA City documents, I found some oddities also. I think they still give $10k (or maybe more) every year to the "Gay Men's Chorus."
Then (and this was 20 years ago) $150 an hour to outside experts (former LAPD guys) to perform "ballistics tests" on bullets, as the LAPD didn't have enough people to handle the load.
There was also $450k for a "electronic shooting range" for Housing Authority police.
That was all fun, but the serious stuff was fire and police officers being able to retire after just 25 years of service, at full pension. They will live another 30 to 50 years after that, on the taxpayers' dime. Many retire while in their 40s. Pension costs will bankrupt the city soon.
Taxpayers will be paying more money to retired cops to do nothing than they pay to working (well working three days a week) cops.
Or, a sheriff can claim "disability" if he cannot pull the trigger of his gun. He can get full disability pension. They test that by having the sheriff try to pull the trigger. If he can't, he gets his pension.
I encourage city residents to really drill down in to the budget. The waste does not comform to any ideological stereotypes--it is widepread and heavy and usually legal and aboveboard.
BOTU at September 15, 2010 10:12 AM
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