The L.A. Budget Crisis and Its Repercussions

Facing an estimated 530 million dollar budget deficit for fiscal year 2009-10, Los Angeles is in the grips of its worse budget crisis ever. For Los Angeleans and visitors to the city, this will have repercussions for anyone who is interested in taking advantage of the city's services and events.

Perhaps it is put most succinctly by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in his budget statement for the current fiscal year. In it, his message is one of "shared responsibility and shared sacrifice". With this in mind, the city is asking for voluntary early retirement for thousands of city workers, including law enforcement, fire fighters, and public works employees. This could have a direct impact on the services residents and visitors to Los Angeles have come to rely on.

For example, one of the budget cutting offers being discussed currently is privatizing the Los Angeles zoo and the Convention Center. If those public assets are sold outright, the new owners will charge admissions based on a for profit basis as opposed to the city charging based on the zoo and Convention Center's community service nature.

The city's public parking facilities and enforcement, including parking meters, could be privatized as well, leading to higher parking costs for workers who are required to use them. Additionally, the city has drastically reduced the budget for traffic control for special events, including concerts, museum events, and even sports events.

While you may not notice much of a decrease in traffic officers on the streets during an event, you will likely notice it in the increased ticket costs for these events, as the owners of the various venues try to recoup the extra expense they are incurring. Service could also be reduced as the city has limited the amount of hours traffic officers have available to work these special events.

Add to the list of the city's budget woes the late-November credit down grade by Fitch Ratings, which will make borrowing money more expensive for Los Angeles. Combine all of these factors and one can see that, for those of us who live and work in Los Angeles, and for visitors who come to this great city for all of the attractions and special events it hosts, and you can easily understand that we will almost certainly notice a difference in the services we are provided.

Source: Los Angeles Sentinel

www.lasentinel.net

Source: Los Angles Times

http://articles.latimes.com

Source: Los Angeles Mayor's Office

http://budget.lacity.org/