Zuma blogs City exec salaries

Zuma Times Presents: Current Salaries &Increase Recommendations for Non-Represented City Employees

Thanks to the person who handed an 82 page file to Zuma Times' Publisher and Editor-In-Chief, Zuma Dogg containing the salaries of what appears to be every employee in the City.

Date: June 2, 2008

To: The City Council

From: Raymond P. Ciranna, Acting City Administrative Officer

Subject: SALARY INCREASE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NON-REPRESENTED CITY EMPLOYEES AND OTHER TECHNICAL ADJUSTMENTS TO THE LOS ANGELES ADMINISTRATIVE CODE.

Should make for some fun blogging. It's 82 pages. For example:

Overpaid City Employee: Incumbent's Current Overpaid Salary

DWP GM (Nahai): $310,000
Police Chief (Bratton): $300,442
Fire Chief: $260,000
CAO: $220,472
GM Airports Dept: $305,015
City Councilosers: $180,000 plus
Director, Sanitation: $180,508
Director of Planning: $202,578
City Librarian: $200,573

And everyone in the ITA department would never forgive me if I didn't mention the ITA GM is pullin' down a whoppin'$225,003!!!

THANKS TO THE PERSON WHO HANDED THIS 82 PAGE FILE TO ZD AS HE ENTERED CITY HALL TODAY!!!

It's a lot of info and I'm sure someone wanted me to have it to blast it. So that's a little taste. It's actually pretty complex and will be having some of my ZAPPERS (Zuma's Activist Program) looking it over and pulling out the highlights beyond the ones above.

SIDENOTE: DWP GM David Nahai was at City Hall today as ZD was looking at this new file and I saw his salary range was $229,722-$344,624, but is only making $310,000. So Zuma Dogg said to Mr. Nahai, "Mr. Nahai, can you buy me lunch today, I see you're making $344,000?!?!? Mr. Nahai said, "No I'm not." And pointed out to ZD that it was the top of the range that he was not getting. Then I noticed it was only $310,000, so I withdrew my request for him to buy me lunch, cause I thought he made $344,000, not just $310,00. THEN, I offered to re-negotiate his contract for him with the mayor. He laughed and replied, "Be careful, someone may be trying to use you." I replied back to Mr. Nahai, "I know, I know!!! They want to get this information out to the public, so they go to the powerful mover and shaker in the city!" Then they gave Mr. Nahai a presentation for DWP during dog and pony show Friday. And Zuma Dogg was able to follow it up during public comment by blasting his salary and mentioning the "renegotiation" offer.

POOR DAVID...It's been a rough week. Alarcon went "Zuma Dogg" on him, Zuma Dogg went "Zuma Dogg" on him...(water waste at his home) and he even sat through an interview with Matt Dowd on the Dowdcam. Maybe well see that soon. MORE TO COME...

UPDATE/READER FEEDBACK (from zumadogg@gmail.com): Zuma, You left off Madame ITA Randi Levin. $225,000. Talk about waste. We hear she's on her way out anyway. As the IT world turns.

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6/28 update: Yes, Rumblings had a quick conversation with Zuma Dogg this morning and we wanted to make sure he didn't leave Randgelina out of the mix. Thanks Zuma, we can't wait for you to blog more on this subject.

All Hands III - Randgelina-gram

Team,

The next ITA All Hands Meeting is quickly approaching. This year's event will be held on Thursday, July 10 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Petree Hall. Light refreshments will be served beginning at 8:15 am and the meeting will begin promptly at 9:00 am and will conclude by 12:00. Refreshments include coffee, tea, water, assorted bagels and muffins.



The theme for this meeting is Team Spirit. The organizing committee thought it would be fun to have staff wear your favorite team or college jersey/t-shirt. This is optional for those that want to participate.



I have attached the draft agenda for the meeting. The organizing committee has listened to your feedback from the past meetings and have tightened the agenda in order to streamline the meeting. Also, to expedite the sign-in process, we will have open seating with sign-in sheets and blank name badges at each table.


We will again have the “Ask Randi” segment as an opportunity to address items of interest to you and time has been allotted for this. Please send your questions to ita.askrandi@lacity.org.

I want to strongly encourage employees to take public transportation to the Convention Center. To get to the Convention Center, you can take the Dash Route A in front of City Hall (on First Street between Main and Spring Streets) and exit the bus on 5th and Flower. You must then transfer to Dash Route F. The Dash Route F will pick you up at this same location so there’s no need to move. Please be sure to obtain your Dash tickets in advance. You may obtain tickets from Roberta Castro or Yvette McFrazier.



If you have any questions about this e-mail or the event, please contact Mark Wolf or Elida Cruz at 978-3311.



I look forward to seeing you there!

DRAFT

July 10, 2008
9:00 am
Los Angeles Convention Center
Petree Hall

ITA All Hands Meeting Agenda

1. Welcome – Randi Levin

2. GM Update – Randi Levin

• FY 2008-09 Accomplishments (getting ahead of ourselves?)*




• FY 2008-09 Budget & Key Initiatives

3. Break

4. Personnel – Managed Hiring & Temporary Layoff
Mark Wolf/Ruben Vasquez

5. Special Guest

6. Employee Recognition

7. Question & Answer Period

* was finally corrected in July 1st edition

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Anonymous said ... Just remember folks.... eat all the muffins and drink all the coffee you want, but don't drink the kool aid. July 2, 2008 9:53 PM

Anonymous said ... who is attending? kiss asses (cant miss the chance to brown nose) lazy asses (attend everything just to get out of work) managers (have no choice). July 3, 2008 12:59 AM

Randi to resign

Word from the 14th floor is that Randi Levin, the latest in a long long line of short-term ITA General Managers, will soon be tendering her resignation.
_________________

From: Randi Levin

Subject: Update

Date: 6/19/2008 11:40 AM

Team,

There was a recent posting that said I was resigning soon. This is absolutely untrue and I wanted you to know that as soon as possible. This is as credible as when the press reported Angelina Jolie had her twins two weeks ago. She's still pregnant! Dont believe everything that you read.

Sincerely,

Randi

________________________________________

Rumblings stands by our multiple sources of this information. Everything that these sources have provided over the last 6 months has come to fruition. Only time will tell in this case as well.

DWP beefs up

DWP work force to soar.

Rate hikes would be used to hire nearly 1,000 employees

Daily News article 6/18/2008 10:09:45 PM PDT

Flush with cash from recent taxpayer rate hikes, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is pouring money into expanding its work force by 10 percent — to the highest level in a decade.

The DWP expects to spend about $112 million in salaries and benefits for nearly 1,000 new employees next year to jump-start a five-year, $1 billion power-reliability program and continue a $1.5 billion revamp of the city's water infrastructure.

The hirings would bring the DWP's total work force to about 9,500 as revenue from the water and power rate hikes is expected to total about $100 million in fiscal year 2008-09. The board will consider the budget containing the new staffing today.

But while DWP officials defend the boosts in staffing as crucial and overdue amid growing water and power demand, critics are questioning whether the utility is expanding too quickly and whether some of the staffers are being hired for noninfrastructure projects.

"I think (the DWP) is gearing up too fast," said Board of Water and Power Commission President Nick Patsaouras. "We need the dollars for infrastructure, but that doesn't give us a blank check in every part of the department to spend."

Among 505 new jobs, 181 would be in power, 177 in water and 147 in joint administrative services that include everything from customer service and security to real estate and information technology.

An additional 489 employees would be hired to fill existing vacant positions, according to DWP budget documents.

In addition, the DWP's downtown John Ferraro Building headquarters - where about 3,000 DWP workers are located - is set to undergo an $18.6 million upgrade and reconfiguration to accommodate an extra 300 people to be hired throughout the year.

An additional $6.6 million would be spent to "green" DWP buildings, including replacing inefficient lighting and water facilities in the headquarters building and outlying warehouses. The utility also expects to buy about $1.6 million in ergonomic furniture under its replacement program.

Full story

Hahn and Perry snub 3-1-1

LINK to complete LA Times article

L.A.'s mayor orders report on illegally dumped trash

Excerpt: "We're not arresting anybody," said Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who represents Watts, where alleys are frequently illegal dumping sites.

"We need some sting operations."Hahn and Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose district has the heaviest amount of illegally dumped trash, said they believed that more enforcement operations need to be targeted in their areas.

"I'd be completely and absolutely supportive of . . . more aggressive enforcement," Perry said. Gary Harris, who oversees enforcement for the Public Works Department, said that his investigators try to spread limited resources evenly in all council districts where illegal dumping occurs.

But Harris said Monday that the city has applied for a $500,000 state grant to set up a special enforcement zone in South L.A. The funds would pay for prosecutors, additional cleanup and overtime for his investigators to stake out problem alleys, Harris said.

He said that budget cutbacks, in part, have resulted in a 40% reduction in surveillance operations in the last two years. Perry said Monday that her office was planning to fund cleanup operations from a separate $500,000 grant from the city's Community Redevelopment Agency. Perry said residents have to be more vigilant in reporting illegal dumping. "They have to be aggressive and assertive to get the system working for them," Perry said.

Both she and Hahn said they urge constituents to call their offices directly, rather than rely on the city's non-emergency number.

Perry's council office can be reached at (213) 473-7009. Hahn's council office number is (213) 473-7015.

"We need to let people know that dumping will not be tolerated in our neighborhoods," Hahn said.

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Isn't the purpose of "One Call to City Hall" to create less confusion in reporting constituent issues like "illegal dumping"? Maybe the 3-1-1 staff and the Public Works Department should work together to figure what is causing the bottleneck. In lean times money isn't always there to solve such problems.

KMA367

Rumbling thanks our friends in LAPD for these links:

An Unofficial History of the Los Angeles Police Department's Communications Division. LINK

A great historical and informative site.

Los Angeles Police Department Metropolitan Communications Dispatch Center - A photo essay. LINK Some great pictures!