|
The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles and asked of all candidates for this office.
See below for questions on
Most Important Issue,
Personnel Costs,
Carbon Emissions
Click on a name for candidate information. See also more information about this contest.
 |
1. What do you think is the single most important issue facing the City of Los Angeles today? As Council Member, what would you do to deal with it?
|
Answer from Richard Valdez:
The "Special Interest" entities pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into our elections, which creates a conflict of interest atmosphere for our representative and a lack of confidence in them. I will represent with community based governance, I will not be controlled by political strings, and I will strive to be fair and objective. I will be the "people's voice" at City Hall.
Answer from J. Roy Garcia:
The single most important issue facing the city is the deficit.we need to examine our spending and prioritize so that we are not wasting our tax dollars. As a councilman I will work with our city controller to continue to identify and curb wasteful spending. We have been told by our elected officials that the deficit was over two hundred million dollars and that we needed to raise taxes in order to save vital city services. When proposition A didn't pass all of a sudden the deficit was not so big and the projected deficit was now less than one hundred million dollars. We need to first know what the real deficit is in order to balance our budgets. The residents of the City of los Angeles live within their budget and demand that the city live within its budget.
Answer from Walter Alexander Escobar:
The single most important issue facing LA is that no one is willing to fight for what is right. Everyone wants to keep the status quo because they are afraid of the people in control. Special interests can buy candidates for the right price. I will stand and fight against special interests and expose them wherever they may be. I have no one manipulating me or controlling me. A city councilmember serves at the pleasure of his constituency. I do not have to please a politician or a corporation. I will be beholden only to the people of District 6. The system has been destroyed by special interests and LA is getting itself into a deeper hole because no one stands up against them. The City of Los Angeles is near bankruptcy. With all these special interests in control, they will drive the city faster into bankruptcy and it will affect blue collar workers.
Answer from Derek Waleko:
Financial stress from budgetary issues plagues our city. LA needs a new revenue source without raising taxes on hard working Angelenos and needs jobs for those struggling to provide. I've created jobs for LA through my international business background and will continue to leverage my expertise to do just that. Our economy relies too heavily on real estate, retail, and other consumption models. Los Angeles's unemployment rate is over 11% and we have 216 million problems with the budget.
New leadership is needed to add a new element into economic growth for Los Angeles, leadership who not only understands district 6 and how the city works, but understands how Los Angeles as a world class city fits into the international spectrum for lasting strong job growth and a healthy vibrant budget. I have a jobs plan that does just that and it focuses on exporting American made goods and services globally. In addition I will be front and center on creating a new Economic Development Department and Citywide Economic Development Non-Profit. You can learn more at my website, http://www.DerekWaleko.com
|
2. 85% of the City's General Fund Budget is for personnel costs. If forced to cut costs to balance the budget, would you favor reducing the number of employees or asking existing employees to accept lower wages and/or reduced benefits?
|
Answer from Derek Waleko:
The city has already cut 5,300 jobs since 2007, that's over 14% of the city's workforce, which cuts into basic services and lowers the quality of life. Tree trimming, pot hole repair, graffiti and garbage clean up, infrastructure (street, sidewalk, etc) improvements, and animal services all suffer. I believe it's as much the dignity of the city worker that is at stake. Promises have already been given to current employees and they should be honored. They have not been served well by both their leadership or city hall. They have been put on furloughs, they've had pay raises that were originally agreed to, then were stalled.
Even though I will have to make these tough decisions this reflects the integrity of the city family and the fact that we have employees who have not been treated with the amount of respect and dignity anyone, public or private, deserves is wrong. At the same time, we have a large share of the city's workforce that don't pay towards their healthcare that has been subsidized for them and their families by the tax payer when most in the private sector have to pay 10 - 30% of the premium, which most people think is fair. Having just a 10% cost share, which would be equivalent to ninety dollars a month, would save the city $40 - 50 million a year.
I will be front and center to negotiate these issues to arrive at a well balanced approach, but balancing the budget has to start with revenue generation without taxation. Balancing the budget starts with competency and understanding the larger picture. Balancing the budget starts with treating Los Angeles like the world class city we are and adding an export driven economy that utilizes our rich assets, such as the harbor and LAWA. This is a must so our city family doesn't have to be faced with decreased benefits or losing jobs.
Answer from Walter Alexander Escobar:
We need to cut the budget by cutting from the top down. Not from the bottom up like many politicians do. I intend to follow my words and cut my office budget. I intend to donate 61% of my salary back to District 6 so the money can be used for education programs, fixing the roads, or lighting the streets. We need to negotiate with the unions to come up with a temporary feasible plan; until Los Angeles gets its fiscal house in order. One example is Councilmember Bernard Parks. He currently has a pension and receiving a salary. That is wrong. These are the type of people we need to go after with pension reform, not blue collar workers. At the same time, implement new ideas to start gaining more revenue and pay the obligations that were promised to all employees. We need to cut the waste in all departments. I was talking to a voter who works for the civilian side of the LAPD. He wanted to buy a tool for $100 but was denied. He had to go through the system and spend $350. That's $250 extra for one single tool. This type of waste is eating the budget. Let's go department by department to see where the money is going and cut it. We need to become a small business friendly city. We need to focus on the growth of small local businesses and we must help them by giving them breaks in order for them to expand operations within the city. I have talked to many small businesses and they are worried that next year, they will not be able to have a business because of taxes. Unions need to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Bankruptcy is the elephant in the room. Unions need to understand, if the city goes into bankruptcy, the city will not pay pensions. In this case, blue collar workers are the ones suffering because no one wants to be part of the solution. It is happening across the country. I will work day and night in order to prevent Los Angeles from becoming the biggest city to go bankrupt. If this city goes into bankruptcy, blue collar workers will not be able to get what they deserve and this city will go up in flames.
Answer from Richard Valdez:
My goal would be not to reduce the number of employees due to the fact that it would lead to less adequate services provided to our community. I would be more incline to asking certain employees to pay more towards their Health benefits, to be more in line with the average percentage of what other city workers pay.
Answer from J. Roy Garcia:
If forced to cut costs I would advocate to identify areas where services are being duplicated. We will need to make tough decisions keeping in mind that we are dealing with people's lives and the future of our city. In good times we entered into contracts that now are putting the solvency of the city at risk. we need to sit down with the city employee representatives and together seek fair and balanced solutions to our growing problem. This may mean that we reduce personnel through early retirement and or renegotiating existing contracts to limit raises till such a time that the city can afford it.
|
3. Do you support the DWP taking steps to reduce carbon emissions even if that will result in increased bills for ratepayers?
|
Answer from J. Roy Garcia:
While I support the reduction of carbon emissions we cannot continue to give the DWP a blank check. We need to be able to control all costs and seek ways to reduce emissions that will have the least monetary impact on the residents of Los Angeles. A thorough review or audit of the DWP is necessary in order to identify areas where costs can be contained and where savings can be realized.
Answer from Walter Alexander Escobar:
The idea of going green is good. The idea of going green, which will result in an increase in bills for taxpayers, is not good. There are times to move forward the green agenda but not right now. The city is struggling and the people are suffering. Everything is getting tacked on to the taxpayer and that is wrong. In order for City Hall to move the green agenda, the first goal must be to create a stronger economy. This allows the city to tackle on any issue. We need to work with DWP in order to prevent passing the cost to the taxpayer. The first option must never be to let the taxpayers pay for it.
Answer from Derek Waleko:
I support the ratepayers first and foremost and respect our environment. I fought hard as President of the Van Nuys Neighborhood Council to support the Sierra Club and I stood with them again at DWP when Al Gore came to praise the work Los Angeles has done to ensure we as a city act responsibly to our planet by phasing off coal and implementing new greener technologies. I spoke with Al Gore that day expressing this was the right and responsible path for Los Angeles, but measures would have to be taken to ensure low-cost high-efficient renewable technologies are used and that any LNG plants would have to use cost-saving equipment as to not carry costs over to the ratepayer.
Answer from Richard Valdez:
I do support DWP taking steps to reduce carbon emission, but not at the expense of taxing our community with additional utility bill increases. Mamy of the member of the community in district 6 are already paying over $1000 a year for these programs. There are steps DWP can take that will not incur additional taxes to our community, such as facilitation solar energy by implementing faster approvals on interconnection agreements and automatic approvals on Net-Metering agreements. There are also other ways we can fund carbon emission reduction programs, such as by imposing a fee on imports of products that come from countries that are not taking reasonable steps to reduce carbon emissions.
Responses to questions asked of each candidate
are reproduced as submitted to the League.
The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.
| 
League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
