EDITORIAL DWP'S PICKPOCKETS ONCE AGAIN,THE PUBLIC GETS THE BILL FOR CITY HALL'S FAILURES.GIVE credit where credit is due: The governing board Noun 1. governing board - a board that manages the affairs of an institution board - a committee having supervisory powers; "the board has seven members" of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal utility in the United States, serving 3.9 million residents in 2006. It was founded in 1902 to deliver water and electricity supplies to residents and businesses in Los Angeles. spent day after day for nearly a week cutting every little thing possible from the utility's $3.9 billion budget. Yet, the board still approved a water rate hike. The DWP's real money problem stems from one big thing, not the little things that can be trimmed here and there. And the problem is going to grow -- because it is due to a massive pay hike that the mayor and City Council approved last summer for the already overpaid o·ver·pay v. o·ver·paid , o·ver·pay·ing, o·ver·pays v.tr. 1. To pay (a party) too much. 2. To pay an amount in excess of (a sum due). v.intr. To pay too much. DWP DWP Department of Work and Pensions (UK) DWP Drinking Water Program DWP Dynamic Weapon Pricing (gamin, Counter-Strike: Source) DWP Department of Water & Power DWP Drinking Water Protection workers. So, the public gets its pocket picked once again by the City Hall fat cats. This is a disgrace and goes to the heart of what's broken in 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. . Gutless politicians who owe their elections to the clout of public employees just roll over and give away the public treasury, as they did in awarding across-the-board pay raises of up to 6 percent a year for the next five years. And the officials then have the nerve to expect the public to be grateful that the rate hikes aren't even higher. In the case of the DWP, many employees make 30 percent to 40 percent more for doing the same work as city employees in other departments, who themselves are given better pay and benefits than they would get for comparable jobs in the private sector. Even when the public rouses itself from its slumber, the politicians say there's nothing they can do but pay the ransom. That's because water and power services are vital. All but a handful of the employees are unionized and ready to strike on any pretext. Critics call that blackmail. The beneficiaries call it one great deal: huge salaries, fantastic pensions with full benefits, jobs for life and the right to create a toxic work environment because of favoritism, nepotism nep·o·tism n. Favoritism shown or patronage granted to relatives, as in business. [French népotisme, from Italian nepotismo, from nepote, nephew, from Latin and gross mismanagement mis·man·age tr.v. mis·man·aged, mis·man·ag·ing, mis·man·ag·es To manage badly or carelessly. mis·man  age·ment n. .
Angelenos better get used to it. Thanks to leaders more afraid of losing the support of public employees than of losing the vote, this isn't the first of the annual water and power rate hikes the community faces. And it's not going to be the last. Nothing is going to change unless neighborhood councils and other community groups get fed up enough to come together and fight back. City Hall's corruption is held together by nothing more than petty greed -- and the public's apathy. |
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