Pew Reports Los Angeles City Council is Biggest Spender On its Entourages and Salaries Among Big U.S. Cities: $1,400 Versus $178,789

“Take care of the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves.” Remember that saying?

We are going to need two things moving forward to bring our public finances, state, city, and federal, into equilibrium. To put it bluntly, spending cuts and new taxes.

SPENDING CUTSEveryone will have to make a sacrifice. The rank and file is going to have to pay a little more for their healthcare and their pensions. They’re going to have to freeze their salaries for the foreseeable future. But this has to be a shared sacrifice. These cuts have to apply to politicians and city administrators as well. The only way an elected leader is going to have any hope at all of cutting through the rhetoric and negotiating concessions is if he or she has credibility. Walking the walk.

NEW TAXESThe only way that we are going to convince voters to pay new taxes is to first convince the voters that our government is efficient and without waste, and that not a single cent is being misused.

That is why I have committed to halving my salary, refusing a city car, halving the massive (20 person) council office staffs, eliminating the slush fund, and cutting everything, and I mean everything, that is non-essential.

I first committed to this last fall because I thought it was the right thing to do. Morally, I could not handle the idea of collecting an almost 1/4M compensation package when just blocks from city hall, thousands of people sleep on the street. How could I explain that to my children?

After going door to door and talking to voters, I realize this is now also a confidence building matter.

I have learned through my volunteer work in public education that when you build trust between teachers, parents, and administrators, just about everything else falls into place. We need to rebuild trust in our government. Political leaders can do their part by walking the walk and by cutting their largesse. It doesn’t matter if it is a $2 cup of coffee paid for by the taxpayer or the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of pet projects paid for by the CRA piggy bank; it’s all money that were our voters given a chance to weigh in, they likely would say, “Please don’t do that.”

As long as voters believe that our government is wasting their money, they will refuse to pay additional taxes to pay for the things we all hold dear, and as long as public sector workers believe that our elected leaders are living like kings, they will refuse to concede.

So who is going to blink first? I just did.

Tomas O’Grady, City council candidate, district 4. http://tomasogradyforcd4.com/w...

Whether or not you agree with her premise that LA's City Council is overpaid, Jill Stewart's crappy reporting is evident again in this piece. It just seemed weird to me that she could compare the vastly different salaries of LA's City Council with San Antonio's without any explanation (other than hoping her readers are dumb enough to just assume that it's just because LA is messed up). So I looked at the Pew report - something I'm pretty sure she didn't do. As it turns out, San Antonio has a part-time City Council. LA has a full-time one. And, according to the study, even with the vastly different salaries, both LA and San Antonio spend about the same on their city councils as a percentage of the City's budget. On top of that, San Antonio is spending MORE on its council than it did three years ago. Los Angeles is spending less. Jill Stewart is entitled to her opinions as a columnist, but she should quit insulting her readers by trying to pass off her shoddy reporting as news.

The deterioration of family values R4

Since World War 2 when women were encouraged to join the work force en mass, to replace the men who went to war and keep the economy and the war effort going. There has been a deterioration of family values and a breakdown of the family unit, a trend where a mother was not at home to take care of her children, monitor their behavior, help with the homework and discipline when and where necessary. The advancement in technology has harmed family values. The Media and Television has totally destroyed any comprehension of values in our society. The lack of discipline and total disregard for authority and respect is clear to anyone who has watched the past 50 years and seen our society’s values deteriorate. One example alone is that 50 years ago a teacher was happy to go to school to teach, a teacher was respected and looked up-to, a teacher could discipline. Today teachers fear for their lives they are petrified by their students, discipline is restricted both to teachers and parents alike. This scenario caries on to other social interactions of society today, and the situation is getting worse and worse every year. You will notice that many families who come from other countries have a very strong family values, tradition, good education, respect and the children excel in their studies. That is because they have not had the chance to be influenced by our overly liberal society. The education of our children begins at home and continues in school – the parents and the school must take a proactive approach to teach our children values and respect. In today’s society a teacher is not permitted to discipline a student, the teachers will be sued, not to mention that teachers fears for their safety. Parents in today’s society are also restricted as to how to discipline their children; in many cases parents are getting sued. In many cases children would never dream of treating their parents with such disrespect 50 years ago. Today some parents are afraid of their own children. Abuse has been and will be with society to eternity that does not give society the right to prohibit discipline; a few acts of abuse should not cause society to prohibit proper discipline. When an individual or individuals utilize a vehicle to commit a crime cause the death of others, does society prohibit vehicles altogether, no, a vehicle is very important for our everyday life. Well, the discipline of our children by parents and teachers is extremely important for our society and the preservation of humanity. It seems that our society is so busy chasing the dollar, fame and glory, that anything goes all values goes out the window. We should be an example of honesty, integrity and respect to our children.

Are Americans patriotic and proud enough to defend, protect and bring family values back to America? Is America ready to fight for honesty integrity and justice in our society, eliminate corruption and fraud, waste and self serving programs?

Re-invigorate our economy and decrease our dependence on foreign economies and resources.

YJ Draiman, Northridge, CA. PS Tell me and I will forgetShow me and I may rememberInvolve me and I will understand.– Chinese Proverb.We all want health, happiness, prosperity and life

Thank you LA Weekly for exposing the highest paid City Council, which was picked up by other media. You did a great article on the 11% Mayor, but the time has now come to expose his 200+ staff. Nobody in City Hall has the fioggiest idea what they do.

Looks like out 19% Mayor is equaled by a 300% City Council. Los Angeles continues to disappoint.