Walter Moore's L.A. Budget Survey
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1. Last year, Mayor Villaraigosa had a staff of 70 deputy mayors, mayoral aides and other assistants. This year, he has a staff of 93 -- up 32.8%. Should we require him to go back to 70, thereby saving taxpayers over $1 million per year?

2. Villaraigosa has an annual travel budget of $200,000. His predecessor's travel budget was $20,000, just one-tenth as much. Shall we reduce Villaraigosa's travel budget to the old level, thus saving taxpayers $180,000 per year -- which is more than the starting salary for three police officers?

3. Villaraigosa is about to give away $24 million of your tax money PER YEAR to unregulated, un-monitored "anti-gang" programs, based entirely on the recommendations of 50 people whose identity he refuses to disclose to the public. That's enough money to pay the starting salary for 428 police officers. Would you rather spend the money on police instead of so-called "anti-gang" programs?

4. Villaraigosa's administration spent $18,000 on sphincter-control classes for civil servants. Would you be willing to sacrifice vital training like this to save taxpayers' money?

5. City Hall spends about $550,000 per year of your money on calligraphy. That's right: the art of producing decorative handwriting or lettering with a pen or brush. Would you be willing to require City Hall to stop spending all that money and instead use, say, a $79 color printer to make those novelty certificates Villaraigosa hands out at his photo-ops?

6. Villaraigosa's "Community Redevelopment Agency" (CRA) promised a $41 million subsidy --paid for with your tax money -- to a developer for one of its projects. The developer then told its investors that, thanks to the subsidy, they would make a 42.3% profit. The CRA's annual budget is $762 million. Could you live with yourself if we shut down the CRA and stopped giving subsidies to developers?

7. The L.A. Weekly reported in April 2008 that the royal family of Dubai owns 45% of a company receiving "$95 million in subsidies from Los Angeles taxpayers." Would you be willing to stop subsidizing royalty?

8. Villaraigosa had the City's Department of Cultural Affairs obtain a $300,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and then spent it to build a book pavilion in MEXICO. Do you want City Hall to spend our money here in L.A. instead of in Mexico?

9. City Hall has rented out over 100 properties to "non-profits" at below-market rates. For example, Villaraigosa rented a "surplus" fire station to a group called "Aztecs Rising" for $1 per year for 10 years. These properties are valuable. Villaraigosa himself estimates that one "surplus" fire station in Westchester is worth $2 million. Do you believe we should sell "surplus" property at market rates rather than renting it at below-market rates to unregulated "non-profits?"

10. On November 26, 2008, five days AFTER announcing the City might lay off crossing guards, Villaraigosa started advertising to hire a public relations specialist, with a salary of up to $94,440 per year. Would you be willing to stop spending tax dollars on PR people altogether, and make our city officials speak for themselves?