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Page: Ten Questions, Ten Ways To Cut Spending
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?
 answered question683
 
skipped question
3
 Response
Percent		Response
Count
YES.
16.1%110
HELL, YES! A staff of 93?! Are you kidding me?! What a rip-off!
78.8%538
NO. Two of my cousins and I are on the staff, and the pay is great.
1.0%7
UNSURE. Since Villaraigosa only works 11% of the time, we may need these folks.
4.1%28

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?
 answered question681
 
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5
 Response
Percent		Response
Count
YES.
16.2%110
HELL YES! If he loves travelling so much, let him get a job as a flight attendant!
76.8%523
NO. The more time he spends out of town, the less damage he can do here.
4.6%31
UNSURE. Can I get a job as a Mayoral Aide, and go on trips to England and China?
2.5%17

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?
 answered question679
 
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7
 Response
Percent		Response
Count
YES.
17.7%120
HELL, YES! They gave $1.5 million to Hector "Big Weasel" Marroquin, for his "anti-gang" program, and the feds caught him supplying machine guns to gangs!
77.5%526
NO. Two of my cousins and I have an "anti-gang" program. It sure beats working.
1.9%13
UNSURE. I can't believe this is for real. Is this for real? Can L.A. be that crazy?
2.9%20

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?
 answered question676
 
skipped question
10
 Response
Percent		Response
Count
YES.
18.3%124
HELL YES! The more I read about Villaraigosa's spending, the more I think I'm going to need sphincter-control lessons.
75.9%513
NO. Two of my cousins . . . .
1.5%10
UNSURE. I have no idea what a "sphincter" is. Is it that Egyptian thing?
4.3%29

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?
 answered question675
 
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11
 Response
Percent		Response
Count
YES.
19.6%132
HELL, YES! Are we the Ming Dynasty?!
76.7%518
NO. Calligraphy is beautiful. So what if we could pay for nine extra police officers with that money?
2.8%19
UNSURE. Making decisions isn't my forte.
0.9%6

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?
 answered question676
 
skipped question
10
 Response
Percent		Response
Count
YES.
18.5%125
HELL, YES! My 401K dropped by 42.3%. Why should my taxes pay for someone else's 42.3% profit?!
76.8%519
NO.
2.1%14
UNSURE.
2.7%18

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?
 answered question671
 
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15
 Response
Percent		Response
Count
YES.
20.9%140
HELL, YES. Didn't we fight a revolution or something about that.
77.0%517
NO. I sell Bentleys for a living, and business has been slow.
1.0%7
UNSURE. Where is Dubai?
1.0%7

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?
 answered question675
 
skipped question
11
 Response
Percent		Response
Count
YES.
15.7%106
HELL, YES.
81.9%553
NO.
1.3%9
UNSURE.
1.0%7

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?"
 answered question675
 
skipped question
11
 Response
Percent		Response
Count
YES.
13.9%94
HELL, YES! One dollar per year? I can't even get an hour of parking for a dollar.
78.1%527
NO. I just enjoy saying "no." My friends call me a naysayer, or "Dr. No."
2.2%15
UNSURE. How did the City wind up with "surplus" properties in the first place?
5.8%39

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?
 answered question676
 
skipped question
10
 Response
Percent		Response
Count
YES.
17.3%117
HELL, YES! Cut crossing guards while hiring a PR spokesman? That is sick.
78.1%528
NO. Kids should learn to look both ways and run fast anyway.
1.8%12
UNSURE. Would we have to listen to speeches that politicians wrote themselves?
2.8%19