L.A. City Council Sells Control Of Lucrative Parking Lots For Quick Budget Fix

In exchange the city expects to raise a sorely needed $53 million in cash plus a future cut of of income from the 10 city-owned lots, including ones at Pershing Square downtown, Hollywood and Highland Center and the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.

Of course, as it stands, the city essentially gets all of the profits from the lots. But these are desperate times. In spring the city faced more than $500 million in red ink and had to take extraordinary measures to balance the budget.

Unfortunately the $53 million won't go too far. It'll put a one-fiscal-year Band-Aid on an epic, structural problem with L.A.'s budgets, which are increasingly stressed by out-of-control pensions. But losing control of these lots for 50 years -- that's hard time.