Eric's Blog

As you know, the economic crisis has hit local governments all around the country extremely hard and Los Angeles is no exception. The city is currently facing an unprecedented $530M budget deficit this year, which will rise to over $1 billion in 2010. The City Council and the Mayor are working tirelessly to tackle this deficit in the coming weeks.

The key to solving this fiscal crisis is sharing the sacrifice broadly without compromising our common values. For instance, while the funding for some city programs will need to be cut, we must not sacrifice the gains in public safety we’ve made in recent years and we must not balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable among us. We are in for some difficult choices ahead. Do we pare back libraries and emergency services or anti-poverty programs when we need them most? There are no good answers, but all of America is being asked to make sacrifices. The more we can share that, the better everyone will weather this storm.

At the same time we must face the hard reality that the vast majority of the budget is devoted to salaries, which means that payroll must come down. But we must do it in a way that treats our employees decently and humanely. This means negotiating with unions to reduce workers’ hours and to encourage early retirements. Layoffs must be the absolute last resort.

This also means cutting city office budgets sharply. The Council has already agreed to cut its budget, including salaries, by 10% for next year and in fact has cut its own budget by more than $6 million over the past two fiscal years. I will cut my own salary by the same amount that City employees do. Additionally, we need to accept that, just as with the private sector, wage increases for city employees this year are simply not sustainable.

As we make these hard choices, it’s imperative that we maintain our fiscal strength and retain the highest bond rating in the nation. In addition, it’s extremely important to me that we boost our reserve fund to 4 ¼ % of budget, up from under 4 % to act as a yearly rainy day fund and to aggressively work to get additional federal stimulus funds to offset losses (most stimulus funds are for new programs rather than existing ones).

The Mayor submitted his budget proposal to the Council on April 20th and we now have until the end of May to review it and make changes. The Council has begun deliberations on the budget and over the coming weeks will carefully review all the proposals included. You can follow these deliberations online at lacity.org or on Channel 35. I will continue to update you on the difficult process we face; it’s important to me that the process be as transparent and accessible as possible since the solution to this crisis is going to require sacrifice from all of us.

Tomorrow night the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority will be conducting the next stage of their 2009 count of the L.A. homeless population here in Hollywood. Getting an accurate count of the number of people living on the streets or in shelters in our city is a crucial step toward getting the funding we need to ultimately end homelessness in Los Angeles. Essentially, what LAHSA is doing is taking a census of those among us who are living in the shadows. For them to count, they need to be counted and that’s where you can help.

LAHSA is looking for volunteers to interview homeless people both sheltered and unshltered in Hollywood tomorrow night. There will be an extensive 2 hour training at 8pm and then at 10pm volunteers will canvass the area in groups of 3 or 4 at a time to interview as many homeless people as we can to obtain crucial demographic data. LAHSA has more details of what the count will entail:

Homeless Demographic Surveys collect demographic data (age, gender, etc.) and descriptive data (length of time being homeless, services used, etc.) about homeless individuals in our region.

The General Population Telephone Survey seeks to enumerate the “hidden homeless”; that is, those who currently would not be counted via the Unsheltered Street Count or the Shelter & Institution Count because they are camping on private property, living in unconverted garages and garden sheds, and other such areas.

The Unsheltered Street Count utilizes volunteers to enumerate unsheltered homeless persons on a given night (e.g. living on the street, in encampments, in cars) in census tracts throughout the Greater Los Angeles area.

The Shelter & Institution Count estimates the number of homeless individuals and families housed overnight in shelters (emergency and transitional shelters, motels/hotels that accept homeless vouchers) and institutions (residential alcohol & drug treatment centers, jails, detention centers, hospital emergency rooms).

Getting an accurate count of our homeless population is a necessary step toward ending homelessness and coming out and helping LAHSA is a safe and rewarding way to give back to the community.

To sign up for the Hollywood count please contact Sarah MacPherson at the Hollywood Business Improvement District at sarah@hollywoodbid.org.

We had a great turnout at the Fountain/Western Ave. Community Garden work day on Saturday. It was a beautiful morning and more than 100 folks showed up to show their commitment to the community by pitching in to build the new community garden that our office spear-headed with the help of L.A. Works and Home Depot. This garden will not only beautify a previously vacant lot, but it will also serve as an urban oasis for members of the community to meet and work together, get some fresh air and provide a source of fresh fruits and vegetables for the community.

As Bob Johnson, founder and chair of L.A. Works, said on Saturday, our new president has called us to service and it was particularly heartening for me to see so many young people heed that call at such a local level.

For more opportunities to help your community, check out LAWorks.com.

Here’s a short video we put together at the event:

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of meeting with a small group of constituents from Elysian Valley for a house party. Elysian Valley is a small community of about 8,000 tucked between Atwater Village and Silver Lake.

The questions from the group varied from public safety (speed bumps to slow down traffic, an expanded bus route that would pick up kids walking home at night, more police on the streets…) to whether the neighborhood council can pay for a full time staffer and if there’s any way to incentivize markets to move into the neighborhood so that residents don’t have to drive or take public transportation every time they want to buy food.

We spoke about local land development and I told them of an early lesson I learned as councilman: the value of listening to the community when it comes to development and allowing new developments to spring up from communities, not be imposed on them by the bureaucracy. I learned this during the development of a park on Marsh St. in Elysian Valley a couple years ago when the loudest voices I heard from the community were in favor of installing a skate park, which was not part of the original plan. We listened and now instead of being just another pretty space that never gets used, it’s a vibrant hub of activity for young people and one of the skate park’s most vocal champions at the time is now directing it.

As for improvements to Elysian Valley moving forward, I told the group that we’re working with the city-owned properties in Elysian Valley to see what we can do about turning some of the city industrial properties, the sanitation testing yards, etc. into green spaces in the future. Also, we’ve been looking into how we can make Elysian Valley a real model for co-existing with nature. One example: the water restoration we’ve done in the L.A. River has actually brought safe edible fish back to the river. This was met with disbelief from those attending, but it’s true!

Thanks to everyone who attended the house party. One of the most important things any elected official can do is listen to the people he represents, which is why I hold events like this whether I’m running for re-election or not.  Please let me know in the comments if you’d like me to hold an event in your neighborhood and we’ll try to set one up.

On Wednesday, I was proud to join with dozens of Filipino WWII veterans at the Filipino American World War II Veterans Memorial Park to celebrate the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Contained within the stimulus package is a provision that grants a tax-free lump sum of $15,000 to Filipino veterans of World War II who are based in the United States. The recognition is way too little and much too late for so many of our veterans but it does represent some overdue justice for those who fought right beside American soldiers in the Philipines for our nation’s freedom.

The US government had originally promised Filipinos they would qualify for full US veterans’ benefits if they served but after Congress passed the Rescission Act of 1946, Filipinos who served in the US Army were stripped of their status as US veterans. While the amount they’re receiving as a result of the newly passed stimulus package is well below that which they should have been granted, it’s a long awaited and well deserved recognition of their service to our country.

More than 120,000 Filipino soldiers served under the command of General Douglas MacArthur as enlisted soldiers in the U.S. Armed Services during World War II and the 13th Council District has the highest concentration of Filipino Veterans in Los Angeles. As Councilman, I was determined to celebrate that, which is why in 2006 I was proud to deliver on my promise to erect the nation’s first Filipino Veterans war memorial in Lake Street Park, right in the heart of L.A.’s Historic Filipinotown. Erecting that monument was a cause very close to my heart as my grandfather was in the US Army and fought in the Philipines during WWII; it was as a result of this service that he earned his citizenship when he returned.

I am glad to see our federal government finally recognizing the service of our Filipino veterans.

Since I came into office in 2001, it’s been important to me to empower the public by showing them how city government works. On Wednesday, my office held the latest of our Government 101 workshops where over 50 people showed up to sit in on a city council meeting and learn such things as:

• what the city is responsible for, as distinct from county government
• the responsibilities of different elected officers
• the legislative process and how residents can impact it

It’s only through understanding the innerworkings of government that we can begin to directly influence it. As our new president is fond of saying, real change can only happen from the bottom up and as a community organizer myself, I consider it my goal to create a more informed electorate and one that has the tools to make that change they desire.

Thanks to everyone who attended, it was a great turnout.

I always enjoy the opportunity to interact in person with constituents, but there’s something particularly inspiring about attending a neighborhood council meeting. I’ve had the pleasure to attend several during the past few weeks here in the 13th district and I’m always so impressed with the commitment neighborhood council members have to the neighborhood and local planning issues that affect your communities. This is democracy at the most grassroots level and is one of the most rewarding aspects of my job.

Last week, I attended the Hollywood Studio District Neighborhood Council meeting. The biggest concern among those in attendance was the creeping foreclosure crisis here in Los Angeles. I let people know about all that we’ve done to help stem the crisis, including ensuring that owners of foreclosed rent-controlled properties do not illegally evict their tenants. Protecting tenants and homeowners in my district has been and continues to be one of my top priorities.

Other questions that came up that evening had to do with workforce development and our ability to fully utilize our LACC campus that sits in the middle of my district. I was happy to discuss some of the local projects my office has been working on including the Fountain Ave. Community Garden, bringing lighting to the Lemon Grove Rec Center and the installation of an improved traffic median at Ardmore Ave north of Melrose Ave.

Also last week, I attended the Atwater Village Neighborhood Council. I updated everyone on the public safety efforts in the area, a particular area of concern with the rash of robberies they’ve had lately. In addition, we discussed how the formation of the Joint Powers Authority, which will help keep the L.A. River safe and clean, is progressing. AVNC is continuing to represent their community well, with a town hall meeting and parking study in the works.

This past Tuesday, I attended the Rampart Village Neighborhood Council meeting. Public safety was at the top of my list, and I discussed the measures my office has been working on in the area. I also gave an overview of budgetary issues facing the City and reassured members that while hard choices will have to be made in approving the ‘09-’10 budget, I’m committed to preserving core services. Attendees were interested in learning more about housing resources, including where to get help with potential foreclosures, which I was happy to provide.

Also on the 17th was the Glassell Park Neighborhood Council meeting. I updated everyone on local public safety measures, particularly in the Drew/Estara area, including the recent demolition of the Drew drug house. We talked about the difficult City budget situation, as well as how the overall economy is impacting Los Angeles and its residents.  One resource we have for residents who need to find jobs is our Worksource Center in the District.  We will be working with our CD13 Neighborhood Councils to help publicize this kind of resource in the weeks and months ahead.

Thanks to all of the neighborhood councils in the 13th for inviting me to speak and, even more important,  listen to your concerns. These meetings are vitally important for me to connect with what’s happening on the ground in the district and I appreciate the opportunity. If you’re not a member of your local neighborhood council, please consider joining. It’s a great way to have an impact on your community and to make your voice heard.

Not many people know this, but more than 120,000 Filipino soldiers served under the command of General Douglas MacArthur as enlisted soldiers in the U.S. Armed Services during World War II. The 13th Council District has the highest concentration of Filipino Veterans in Los Angeles, and as Councilman, I was determined to celebrate that. So, in 2006, I was proud to deliver on my promise to erect the nation’s first Filipino Veterans war memorial in Lake Street Park, right in the heart of L.A.’s Historic Filipinotown. Erecting that monument was a cause very close to my heart as my grandfather was in the US Army and fought in the Phillipines during WWII; it was as a result of this service that he earned his citizenship when he returned.

This is the monument that Joel Jacinto, executive director of Search to Involve Pilipino Americans, is standing next to in the Community Voices video below.