How Not to Run A City- Los Angeles

"It's What's For Dinner"



Under the stewardship of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the city of Los Angeles has sunk deeper into the muck and cemented its position as a national laughingstock. This week, the LA City Council reached a financial settlement with ex-firefighter, Tennie Pierce on his claim of racial mistreatment by his colleagues. The settlement is a textbook case of financial mismanagement of the tax-payers money.

In 2004, Pierce, while on duty at the Westchester Fire Station, had his spaghetti dinner topped with dog food by his fellow fire fighters. Pierce, a 51 year old African-American, did not find the prank humourous and proceeded to file a multi- million dollar lawsuit against the city based on racial grounds.

Subsequent investigation revealed that the fire station, like most others in LA, had a culture of pranksterism within its ranks. In fact, photos emerged of other firehouse pranks in which Pierce was a participant. One showed Pierce shaving the genital area of a fellow firefighter. It was also revealed that Pierce, who stands 6' 5", had given himself the nickname, "The Big Dog", and that he commonly called out: "Feed the Big Dog!" during firehouse volleyball games. The Fire Department and the city defended themselves by claiming that it was a harmless prank, one of many conducted by all the personnel including Pierce. Pierce and his supporters said that the prank had to do with his race, and that he was unable to continue his career with the LAFD due to his feelings of humiliation. Pierce's attoney brought in a sociology professor, David Wellman from the University of California at Santa Cruz who helped prepare the case. After studying the charges and looking through old LAFD files, Wellman concluded that the dog food was a symbol of the times when blacks were considered less than human, and that the spaghetti all'Alpo was part of a pattern of racism within the department. (Well, what did you expect a sociology professor from UC Santa Cruz to conclude?)

A few months ago, the LA City Council, a collection of mostly empty suits, came to an agreement to pay off Pierce 2.7 million dollars. An immediate negative reaction ensued from the public, kept up to breast of the case by radio DJs, John and Ken of KFI who heeped ridicule on Pierce, his attorney and the City Council. In the aftermath, Mayor Villaraigosa vetoed the settlement, one of the few fiscally responsible things he has done in office, and the city prepared to defend itself in court hiring a private law firm to assist in their case.

Well, this week, the City Council decided not to take their chances in court. Apparently, that law firm advised them that they would probably lose with a "downtown" jury. So now, the Council has approved a $1.43 million dollar settlement with back pay and retirement for Pierce. Opponents of the payout maintain that this was nothing more than a racial shakedown and the city should have stood and fought the case.

So what did the city gain from backing away from a 2.7 million deal and settling on the 1.43 million dollar deal? To hear the city fathers describe it, they have saved LA almost 1.5 million in payout by cutting the figure. But not so fast. What about that law firm that the city hired? They are also collecting 1.4 million in taxpayer funds for their "services". So much for a wide stewardship of the public's money.

Meanwhile, Mayor Villaraigosa, the laughingstock of LA, who has visions of being governor and maybe president someday (if the rest of the country doesn't hear about his antics as mayor), goes merrily on his way trying to get the public's attention off of his paramour, Telemundo reporter, Mirthala Salinas and his messy divorce. The latest ruse is his "million trees" planning project, with the actual number of trees planted hundreds of thousands below that number and thousands missing.

In addition, Villaraigosa is now proposing an "emergency referendum" by which the city would reduce its telephone utility tax from 10% to 9% for city residents. Sounds generous, right? Only until you consider that the tax is the object of three lawsuits as being illegal and likely to be thrown out-unless of course, the voters approve a tax of 9%. Now you see it, now you don't. Bill Clinton would be proud. The tax revenue at stake to the city is $270 million dollars, much needed in order to continue providing services to LA's ever growing illegal alien community.

What's in your wallet?