In a rare showdown, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa blasted City Council members who want to scale back on the LAPD expansion and specifically called out Westchester-area Councilman Bill Rosendahl for switching positions to oppose his budget.
Flanked by police officers, firefighters and business leaders at a news conference, the mayor criticized Rosendahl, who had previously promised to support an expansion of the Los Angeles Police Department. On Wednesday, however, Rosendahl was one of three budget committee members to vote against the mayor's proposed $7 billion budget, which includes money to continue hiring officers.
"It is galling to me that the council would break faith with the public," Villaraigosa said. "Before we (cut the police hiring plan), I will gut every special fund they have. I will show a video - they all love to stand up with cops and firefighters - I will share a video where they stand up and say they appreciate their work and saying they want more cops."
During a March 3 speech at the Police Academy, Rosendahl spoke of the city's commitment to have a force of 10,000 sworn officers. "We have more officers now than at any time in the history of the city," Rosendahl said during his speech, a videotape of which was aired during the mayor's news conference. "But we will not stop the hiring process. We will not."
Also, earlier this year Rosendahl complained that 26 officers in his district were transferred to other stations, saying it was an example why the city needed to hire more officers. On Wednesday night, during an impassioned debate, Rosendahl suddenly broke from that past position and voted to oppose the expansion based on recommendations from the Chief Legislative Analyst's Office.
The Budget and Finance Committee voted 3-2 to jettison Villaraigosa's plans to hire 560 police officers and 126 firefighters. The mayor is targeting Rosendahl because he is seen as a potential swing vote when the budget comes for a final council vote Monday. The other two budget committee members who voted against the mayor's plan, Bernard Parks and Greig Smith, are expected to hold firm in their positions.
The chief legislative analyst said the city is facing a $326 million deficit, and shutting down the police and fire hiring plans would save $65 million. Continuing with the plans would require all civilian workers to take 26 unpaid furlough days next fiscal year and the city would have to lay off anywhere from 800 to 3,000 more workers. Police Chief Bill Bratton also weighed in, criticizing Rosendahl, Parks and Smith.
Bratton said the three were misleading the public and would set the LAPD back in its hiring efforts. "Within a couple of months, I'll be pulling out of each of (Rosendahl's) police stations about 25 or 30 officers," Bratton said. "So people on the Westside, I'm sure, are going to be very happy to hear about the councilman's vote to reduce their already short-staffed stations." On Thursday, Rosendahl said he did not believe he had any option but to oppose the police hiring.
"When we were told there would be 1,200 new layoffs and the furlough hours would go up I was not comfortable with approving this," Rosendahl said. "I said, show me the money to pay for this. If the mayor can do that, I'll change my vote, but we have to be fiscally responsible." Rosendahl said he was not comfortable with some of the mayor's revenue projections or in the savings he expects to achieve with union concessions.
"I would stand with the mayor and chief in a minute to expand the department if we had the money," Rosendahl said. Villaraigosa said he believes the full City Council will overturn the committee's recommendation when it considers the $7.01 billion spending plan Monday. But if it doesn't, he said he was prepared to veto any reduction in the Police or Fire department hiring - even as the city faces potential layoffs and furloughs in other departments.
"The last thing we should do is jeopardize public safety," Villaraigosa said. "We have made a promise to the people. We said if we increased trash fees, we would hire more cops. I am not going to break that promise."
And he repeated what he has said over the past month, that he believes the severe layoffs being contemplated can be avoided if workers are willing to give some concessions. In his original budget plan, the mayor asked workers to forego a cost-of-living raise, increase their pension payments by 2 percent and take a one-hour-per-week furlough. Doing so, he said, could save 2,800 jobs.
The budget committee, however, said it has seen no progress in winning those concessions and didn't believe it could include those savings - of some $200 million - in the budget that takes effect July 1.
Also, the committee rejected a mayoral proposal to sell or lease parking lots and meters, saying there was no guarantee the money would be available this year. Councilwoman Jan Perry said she would break with the mayor over the issue and support the budget committee position. "No one on the City Council, including myself, wants to see layoffs," Perry said. "I cannot support an expansion of the LAPD at a time when we must institute a citywide hiring freeze, potentially mandate work furloughs and initiate layoffs."
