EDITORIAL : WHEN COST IS NO OBJECT; IF TAXPAYERS FOOT THE BILL, CITY HALL SHOOTS THE WORKS.NOTHING is too good for Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. City Hall. Nothing but the best satisfies these pampered pam·per tr.v. pam·pered, pam·per·ing, pam·pers 1. To treat with excessive indulgence: pampered their child. 2. insiders, especially since they're not paying for it. The public always ends up paying. The taxpayers are the ones stuck with the tab. On Wednesday, the Public Safety Committee of the City Council recommended that the city award Motorola a $51 million contract to install a new Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . radio system, even though the firm is over budget and 21 months behind schedule on a separate LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel.2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. contract. And even though a competent competitor offered to install a radio system for $20 million less. The LAPD evidently needs a new radio system since its emergency communications have been plagued by critical breakdowns. But the public might wonder why the city isn't going with the lower price. Forget it. The rival bid never had a chance. And that's not because the preferred bid involves superior technology as its supporters claim. The way business works at City Hall is not the way business works in the rest of the world. That's because the money involved is taxpayers' money, which in City Hall parlance is ``play dough.'' The system too often forces bidders - even responsible ones - to form a business alliance with politicians' friends just to be in the running for a contract. In this case, Motorola teamed up with two subcontractors who have extraordinarily close ties to Councilman Richard Alatorre Richard Alatorre is a politician, and a member of the Democratic Party. Alatorre has served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council. He was the first Latino to serve on the council in 23 years. , who wields substantial influence among City Council members and within the milquetoast milque·toast n. One who has a meek, timid, unassertive nature. [After Caspar Milquetoast, a comic-strip character created by Harold Tucker Webster (1885-1952). bureaucracy, and who is the mayor's closest ally down at City Hall. Alatorre has been in a number of situations involving close relationships that have deservedly brought him under scrutiny for possible wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do . If this way of doing business leads to cost overruns and lengthy delays, is there somebody down at City Hall to sound the alarm, to demand accountability, to insist that the contractor that failed to fulfill its contract make good on its commitment? Hardly. Nobody at City Hall seems to care, that's for sure. That's because they know that a docile public will pay in the end. The taxpayers always pay. |
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