Well deserved ...

From: Randi Levin
Tuesday - April 29, 2008 5:33 PM
To: ita.itaall@lacity.org; Itpc@lacity.org
CC: Choi, Sally

Subject: Announcement - Gene Gamachi

Dear IT team members:I am pleased to announce the official appointment of Gene Gamachi as ITA’s Assistant General Manager of the Enterprise Systems and Security Services.

Gene was personally interviewed today by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who gave his approval and complete support to Gene.

As you may know, Gene’s appointment has been a lengthy and arduous process. Throughout it all, Gene has maintained his professionalism and commitment. Gene's commitment to excellence, his work ethic, his ability communicate technical issues in non-technical ways and his leadership makes Gene the right person for this position. I have met very few infrastructure leaders in my career that have the right combination of these skills to be an effective leader, and Gene is one of them.

I look forward to continue to work with Gene as he spearheads many critical initiatives modernizing our data centers and network operations.

Please join me in congratulating Gene Gamachi and stop by to wish Gene well in his official appointment.

Randi Levin
General Manager and Chief Technology Officer
(213) 978-3311
randi.levin@lacity.org
_______________________________
Positive, quality communication from on high. Not sure that it signals a change in that process, but clearly the kind of message the department needs to hear. Want a department consensus? Count the number of congratulatory e-mails that Gene gets.

Let them eat cake!

Because your Mini Mayor (credit Steve Lopez of the LA Times for that one) was slammed by the CLA's office for his budget relief ideas (employee furloughs, used car sales), all departments, including ITA are scrambling to cut and slash current and future FY expenditures.

Oddly though, as you all try to scrimp and save, ITA GM Randi Levin is having new designer carpeting and furniture installed upon her throne. Next time you are on the 14th floor at City Hall East don't forget to ask it they are giving tours of her new "baby blue room". One has to wonder about the disconnect that exists at that level. Didn't that entire floor just get new floor coverings last year? Apparently the new ITA motto is: "Do as I say, not as I do".

Word has also filtered in that about 480 of the 843 ITA employees filled out the voluntary "Work Furlough" survey. Of those 480 less than 20% agreed to give up any time. That's about 96 out of 840+ (11.5%). As the CLA stated a far cry than what the Mayor's proposal needed to make an impact on any "structural deficit".

Finally, utter shock and sadness this week amongst Rumblers, as it appears ITA Executive Officer Ken Simmons has survived another inquest into his management dalliances at ITA. Rumblings reads here that one of your former co-workers was denied her discrimination appeal on February 14th (see Item #7):

http://www.lacity.org/per/minutes/perminutes33150912_02142008.pdf

It appears that Simmons on-going outrageous behavior is not only being tolerated but re-enforced by the City Personnel/Civil Service Commission. Never fear, Rumblings is looking into the cost of outfitting all ITA staffers with mace and pepper spray.

Hey wait!, isn't yelling at employees considered a form of workplace violence? Did Simmons miss last years training classes for ITA managers on that very subject? Perhaps Anger Management classes are also in order, or maybe he needs blue carpet too; most would agree it's a very soothing color.

One also has to wonder about a General Manager that condones such behavior from her subordinates. Oh yeah, she didn't hear anything over the ocean breeze soundtrack playing in her newly updated digs.

Keep on Rumbling ITA!

More rumblings

We are sure all of ITA has received this missive from the illustrious ITA Time Keeper,

"Fellow Colleagues:

At last count, 339 employees responded to the Work Furlough Survey. ITA would like ALL full-time employees to participate in this survey. If you do not intend to take any work furlough days, please indicate so in the survey. Ruben B. Vasquez Jr. Personnel Director"

Rumblings wants to say "Thanks" to the 60% of our fellow ITA Rumblers that resisted the opportunity to bail out City management. We hope that the 2pm deadline today came and went with not many more chiming in. Rumblings is certain that pressure will be placed upon ITA managers to get everyone who has not, to respond. Hold fast to your convictions. Even if your response is HELL NO, NO FURLOUGH! to the survey, why respond via some website that has no built in prevention for fraud and erroneous data being submitted or posted.

The question also begs; Why should you bail out the Mayor, City Council and City management when they have created this mess themselves and now want to lay it on your backs? Are they taking 5 days off? Are they giving up their "company" cars? Not likely.

We have read in recent days about the largess at DWP. Do you really believethat ITA is that much different? No, it is not, thanks to Ken Simmons. The menace that once patrolled the hallways of Redondo Beach and LA City's Housing Department washed up on ITA shores a couple years back.

What was his mis-management of funds for a library project in Redondo and very expensive law suits stemming from abuse of employees at Housing (still pending?), is now an out of control 311 project, sucking funds from all other ITA coffers, and a mass exodus of ITA brain power to avoid this mans on-going abuse and lack of management skills (let alone IT expertise).

The best and the brightest are leaving ITA in numbers. Morale is at an all time low and the GM is clueless about that fact, even asking her exec "team " if its really that bad. Yes madame IT the cancer is within and it's stems from your right hand mans management by "fear and intimidation" tactics.

Unfortunately for Villaraigosa and Levin, the solution will be a lot more expensive than 100K and a "thanks for your wonderful service, Ken" that he got in Redondo Beach. The City Council may be paying off a lot more big law suits like they already are because of his mis-deeds at Housing.

Other City IT managers must be licking their chops at the possibilities within the ITA talent pool. Congrats Randi, because you have backed the man that wants your job, you have succeeded in strengthening other departments IT capabilities and weakened your own. Smart cookie.

Rumblings wants to thank our friends at ITA and elsewhere in the City "team". Please continue to forward this message to all of your City friends and partners.

Fun at the old water cooler

Team, (sorry couldn't resist),

So Madame ITA is gloating after Proposition S (S as in "Sham") passed on Tuesday. The gullible City voters, either in love with their very lovable Mayor Villar or scared by the misleading ads with Police Chief Bratton decrying chaos in the city, didn't do their homework. Reminds one of the Twilight Zone "To Serve Man" episode in which the clueless earthlings think the alien invaders are there to help them.

It's a cookbook, people !!!

Here's Randi's missive: "Team, I am happy to announce that Prop S, the Telephone Users Tax, has passed. This is a great thing for the city as well as for the community. The city maintains this revenue stream and the community gets a reduced tax from 10 to 9 %. Unfortunately we still have significant revenue shortfalls in the city and will still be managing costs very aggressively citywide. All your help and suggestions are welcome. I appreciate all your support.
Sincerely, Randi"

So the voters bought into a reduction in their phone bill (10% to 9%), right? Reality is the 10% tax was ruled illegal in 2005 and reduced to ZERO! What the fine constituents were sold was an increase from 0% to 9%. Nice.

Way to go Madame GM, not exactly electioneering, since the vote was already cast, but her email certainly smacks of ugly politics after the fact. I guess she thinks ITA staffers are just as clueless as the city voters. Good thing most of ITA lives elsewhere or maybe she'd be right.

In the next water cooler rumbling the "timing" of the proposed "voluntary" work furlough program memo will be a subject. Then again now that Prop S (as in Sheep) has passed, maybe this was just another scare tactic? But Rumblings must wonder (out loud), do they get to keep their vehicles now?

Rumblings did receive an interesting email snippet from a "friend":

"Hi there, Sorry I missed you. I ran into [name deleted] today and we were talking about ITA. Apparently, in the last Exec Mtg Randi asked everyone there if they knew about Rumblings @ ITA. No one said a peep. Then she asked about morale and I guess only Mark had the nerve to tell her it was down. She's been there 10 months and can't figure what morale is like?? She's so clueless."

Yes, staff is frustrated. Yes, morale is at an all time low. Yes, it's sad she hasn't a clue. It's also sad that other managers in that room didn't say anything, because they know. Some are the cause department morose. Thank you to Mark for his honesty. Maybe he will be tasked with charting staff morale in a presentation at the next "All Hands" soiree.

Speaking of presentations, maybe Randi can play her Power Point presentation as well, that will help morale. For those ITA staffers that have seen it, the contempt is palpable.

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dc26827d_0dkn3nmf3

To the friends of Rumblings, both new and old, it's nice to have a following. It's also nice that Rumblings is everywhere. As Jerry Dunphy used to say, "from the desert to the sea to all over Southern California". Numerous e-mails have flowed in, whether from ITA or from other departments, they have washed upon the shore here.

Thought you might all enjoy

The Mayor's memo might have not been spread everywhere, but he's already blogged this in the Times and Daily News. Should be an interesting next 5 months.

Are you ready to take five days off without pay to save the City from a failed Phone Tax vote? In the PowerPoint presentation, ITA's fearless leader Randi Levin points out the dismal shape of ITA upon her arrival.




So we should blame John Hwang, Jesse Juarros, Joe Mozingo, Liza Lowery, Thera Bradshaw and Ken Simmons for this mess? Never fear Randi is here to clean it up, one lunch time or all-hands meeting at a time. The morale level must be improved!!!

But wait, no one is showing up to her lunchtime meetings and even Randi was a no-show recently. Maybe she was out on cubicle patrol with Simmons. Not sure when the next all-hands affair is, but with the state of economy at ITA, the Ask Randi e-mail box might turn into a collection plate to fund and such future ventures. Of course, we can always rifle the pockets of ITA managers again, that was so successful. Have any interesting things to share in your world? Just email.

Something you should know

Word is employees in the city's computer enclave, the Information Technology Agency, are circulating a petition that spells out a vote of "no confidence" by nearly 500 or 3/5ths of the departments staff in their executive leadership.

That leadership, or lack thereof, includes General Manager and Chief Technology Officer Randi Levin, the much ballyhooed media techie, hand picked by Mayor Villaraigosa from the ranks at NBC-Universal less than one year ago. Seems confidence in Levins decision making is fading quickly. Even the honorable Mayor himself nixed her travel plans to a European technology conference. Another one of her decisions, to delay a multi-million dollar re-vamp of the City's financial systems, has the vendor, already awarded the contract, fuming and threatening legal action.

Included in that no vote, is Ken Simmons, Assistant General Manager and Executive Officer at ITA, whose track record of improprieties at the City's Housing Department and numerous financial boondoggles as the Assistant City Manager in Redondo Beach, precedes him and is well documented throughout the Internet. One wonders what dirt Mr. Simmons has on City powers that be, that would force them to allow him to continue prowling the Agency's hallways?

Numerous rumors of favoritism, preferential decision making on projects and outright vindictiveness have ITA's employee morale at an all time low. This negativity is not just from the rank and file, but also from middle management types. The same middle managers that were strong armed into footing the bill for a recent ITA employee meeting/holiday lunch, held at the convention center. Seems Ms. Levin's requests for party funding were summarily rejected by the CAO's office. Staffers coordinating the event, had to scramble for funding. Eventually the party portion was scrapped. One wonders if managers got refunds?

What a novel idea, to fleece your leaderships pockets so close to the holiday season. While this vote of no confidence may not be as successful as the one imparted on the recent LADOT chief, staffers hope to send a message that they themselves have strong resolutions for 2008.