Eric's Blog

Believe it or not, here we are in 2009 and of all organized crime activities, human trafficking is actually the 3rd largest international crime after arms and drug sales. According to the CIA, 50,000 people are trafficked into the US every year and sadly, California is the top destination for US traffickers.

More depressing statistics: it’s estimated that there are 17,000 slaves in the US, 27,000 in the world today, which is more than ever before. Immigration agents estimate that 10,000 are held in Los Angeles alone in underground brothels, which doesn’t even count the countless numbers of people held in domestic slavery.

To combat this scourge, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force On Human Trafficking was formed in 2005. The first of its kind in the country, the task force grew out of the pioneering work of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST,) which is the leading anti-trafficking organization in the country. The task force works with local groups and law enforcement to increase the identification of victims, provide training to first responders and the community at large, and obtain maximum penalties for offenders. It also offers safe haven for victims of trafficking and slavery at CAST’s Shelter program, also the first of its kind in the country.

In 2007, the task force launched its “Know Trafficking” public awareness campaign to educate people so they can look for the signs of human trafficking in their communities. You can find out more at www.HumanTrafficking.com and to report a crime, please use the local human trafficking hotline: 800-655-4096 (nationwide 888-373-7888.) Human trafficking and modern day slavery are crimes that are hidden in the shadows and only through the vigilance of the public will we shine a much needed light on this travesty of justice that thousands in our midst are living with every day.

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.

This week, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power finished distributing 2 compact fluorescent lightbulbs to all 1.2 million LA City households. While the CFL distribution program cost the DWP $3 million, they estimate that the city-wide use of CFLs over time will ultimately save the utility $61.3 million in fuel costs.

That’s precisely the sort of pro-active policy that government can take to save both money AND energy and make Los Angeles greener one household…and one lightbulb…at a time.

What’s the next energy-saving program that Los Angeles should invest in?

Thanks to the stimulus package, Los Angeles is due to receive $37 million in Energy Efficiency Block Grants, money that we intend to spend on projects that reduce our carbon footprint and put people to work retro-fitting buildings, installing renewable energy sources, painting rooves white, etc.

Do  you know of projects or organizations that are doing this work but simply need more funding? Do you have any thoughts on which projects we should be investing in? What are they doing at your workplace to make your office greener? Here are some initiatives that we’re considering funding with the block grant funds,  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

• Development of an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy and Technical Consultant Services to assist in the development of a strategy to reduce Los Angeles’s carbon footprint.

• Residential and Commercial Building Energy Audits.

• Financial Incentive Programs and Mechanisms for energy efficiency improvements such as energy savings performance contracting, on-bill financing, and revolving loan funds.

• Grants to nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies for the purpose of performing Energy Efficiency Retrofits.

• Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programs for Buildings and Facilities.

• Development and Implementation of Transportation Programs to conserve energy.

• Building Codes and Inspections to promote building energy efficiency.

• Energy Distribution Technologies that significantly increase energy efficiency, including distributed resources, combined heat and power, and district heating and cooling systems.

• Material Conservation Programs including source reduction, recycling, and recycled content procurement programs that lead to increases in energy efficiency.

• Reduction and Capture of Methane and Greenhouse Gases generated by landfills or similar waste-related sources.

• Energy efficient Traffic Signals and Street Lighting.

• Renewable Energy Technologies on Government Buildings.

President Obama has made mortgage modification a pillar of his housing plan and very recently, he assured us that now was the time to refinance our homes. As a result, more and more people are seeking these mortgage workouts, which will go a long way toward reducing the number of foreclosures and thus keep people in their homes, which is crucial to stemming the devastating effects of the housing crisis.

Unfortunately, as innocent people seek legitimate ways to renegotiate the terms of their mortgages, there are scam artists waiting to take advantage of them.

Scams targeting struggling homeowners seeking to stave off foreclosure have skyrocketed, federal officials said Monday, disclosing that they are investigating more than 2,100 companies and have filed legal actions against an Irvine firm and three others.

“The unscrupulous actions of individuals and companies to exploit the misfortune of others is despicable, it’s immoral, and it’s also illegal,” said Atty. Gen. Eric Holder, who announced the campaign with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and other federal officials.

The way this scam works is simple: people posing as modification counselors will show up, ask for a fee, promise to change the mortgage, and then do nothing. The amounts are not huge, usually ranging from $500-$5,000, but it’s enough to devastate homeowners already in dire financial straights.

The fact is, modifying mortgages costs absolutely nothing. The reason these scam artists have been able to thrive is that there is no agency currently tasked with regulating the modification agencies prior to the filing of a Notice of Default, which is the best time for a homeowner to seek remedy. Yesterday I introduced an ordinance that would do just that.

This ordinance requires that:

1) Mortgage consultants provide a contract. The contract must specifically state in bold-14 point font that the homeowner does not need to pay anyone for these services and can access free resources at makinghomeaffordable.gov or by calling 888.995.HOPE.
2) Prohibits the charging of an upfront fee
3) Provides for private damages (which incentives attorneys to go after and sue these scammers).

I’m proud to say that the ordinance has passed through the Housing, Community and Economic Development Committee and the entire City Council will be considering it over the coming weeks. Homeowners have been hit hard enough by the housing crisis without having to deal with scam artists who would do them even more harm. As the federal government figures out how best to regulate loan modification agencies, we at the local government level have a responsibility to do what we can to protect homeowners.

Last week, I announced the formation of the Los Angeles City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Economic Recovery and Reinvestment. The goal of the committee is to develop strategies to help Los Angeles win the maximum amount of federal stimulus dollars for which we’re eligible and to create a plan for allocating the funding to most efficiently and effectively meet the needs of the city’s businesses and residents.

You may recall that in February, President Obama put local governments on notice, calling on us to “spend that money wisely, free from politics, free from personal agenda.” That’s precisely the spirit in which I convened the first meeting of the committee on Tuesday. At that meeting, we established a set of 9 guiding priorities by which we intend not only to fulfill the president’s vision for efficient allocation of the stimulus funds, but also to make Los Angeles the most accountable, transparent, and effective city in moving economic recovery programs forward. We’d like to see these priorities serve as a model for local governments all over the country, particularly in our nation’s cities where “urban acupuncture”, or the careful targeted allocation of funds to projects that have the most combined benefit, can be used to best effect.

Those priorities are as follows:

1. projects that are truly shovel-ready
2. projects that produce or protect jobs
3. projects that lessen the human impact of the economic downturn
4. projects that have the highest level of transparency and public involvement
5. projects that have the highest level of accountability, including internal city audits
6. projects that involve partnerships to better spend federal dollars
7. projects that have multiple benefits (green affordable housing could clean air, build affordable housing AND put people to work)
8. projects that promote adopted public policy goals of the city (clean port air, plant trees, promote transit-oriented development, etc.)
9. projects that promote strategic industries for long-term growth, such as green jobs in environmental technology

This committee will make sure we leave no stone unturned when it comes to identifying and winning federal stimulus dollars and will be working closely with the Mayor’s Office and City Departments to coordinate our efforts to bring badly needed federal money to Los Angeles. In fact, because we have already taken the lead on many of the policy areas where dollars are targeted (energy efficiency, green jobs, port and airport projects, etc.), I believe Los Angeles may be able to access as much as $1 billion.

As I work to make Los Angeles a model for quick, effective and accountable implementation of stimulus dollars, I’d welcome your input. What projects would you like to see us target? Where can we get the most bang for the buck and how else can cities lead the way toward economic recovery?