Is Antonio Bringing an Axe to his Inauguration?
Talk about saying the right thing at the right time! Los Angeles Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa plans to order budget cuts after he takes office to counter a “disturbing trend” of ballooning expenditures that could put the city in dire financial straits.
Whoa! Is this really the guy we couldn’t differentiate from his opponent in the recent mayoral race? Is this the guy so hungry for donations that his palm reached all the way to Florida? Is this the guy whose primary appeal to us was that we were able to acquire his 2009 domains? I know that is too early to tell (he hasn’t even been sworn in yet), but if there is a way to win over Independent Sources, it is with the following:
“What I will announce after July 1 is a disturbing trend of growth in our budget that I don’t believe we can sustain over time.” (Said in an interview with The Times)
He deflected questions about new taxes or fees, saying that for now he would try to “prune back waste and inefficiencies.”
”I believe that one of our priorities is going to be to reduce this deficit.”
Showing that common sense can be contagious, even Councilman Bernard Parks made a statement we endorse:
“He (Villaraigosa) realizes we can’t replicate what we did over the last few years, providing $300 million in salary increases and $400 million in pension increases.”
Amen.
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June 23rd, 2005 at 2:38 pm
Shouldn’t there also be some contrition on the part of Villaraigosa and Parks? These guys were part of the City Council that approved the ballooning expenditures. The waste and inefficiencies? They happened on their watch. The salary and pension increases? They voted for them. Should we honor them for thinking aloud about cleaning up the mess that they themselves made, or should we just say “hurry the fuck up!”