Wendy Greuel has demonstrated many times her commitment to fiscal efficacy in the City of Los Angeles The Comptroller General has attacked the lassitude of collection from parking violators, street hustlers, and other no-goodniks who have failed to pay requisite fines and fees owed to the city.
The massive deficits impinging on the city of Angels has goaded civic-minded (and politically ambitious) types like Greuel to expose the waste, fraud, corruption, and outright laziness and ineptitude which has allowed so many scofflaws to get off without paying, scot free.
In order to fetch in the half billion dollars worth of debt, the City Council authorized the establishment of a Commission, with inspector general, to rack up and rake up the missing money. Of course, no one has been appointed to the position, yet. An empty commission has turned Los Angeles into an easy mark, a city where protesters can take up space in public places, push out legitimate vendors, then force taxpayers to pay for the clean up. In Los Angeles, the police chief feels no compunction about letting impounded drivers recover their cars if they provide auto insurance, regardless of their citizenship of their driving status. In Los Angeles, the City Council still haggles over pensions, cut services, limited access for patrons to local libraries, yet ignores an easy cash cow to cover over immense debts.
Los Angeles deserves better than easy answers to ongoing financial mismanagement. Promises to uphold principles hold very little promise when loss and theft go unpunished. When voters respect the diligent efforts of Wendy Greuel and her kind in the city, perhaps the City Council will become engaged enough to take on the waste and tackle the cons who have yet to pay up.
No comments:
Post a Comment