Council Blow by Blow for 6-22-09

Ok folks. It's big water bill night. How long do ya think it'll take for the council to reach into my wallet for the little bit o'o money that's left? I'm guessin' three hours before they approve the increase exactly the way it was always planned.

Goodbye Whole Foods hello Smart and Final. Actually I already shop at S&F on Fair Oaks. Goodbye Cheerios, hello generic Os of Oats. Sorry kids, we're on a budget still.

PRE-FIGHT WARM-UP: Closed session they talked about lots of stuff but won't tell us anything. How much $$$ gets spent in there, anyway?

Everybody's there but not Gordo and not Robinson. Hey, terrific. We're doin' a big bump in water bills and two of these folks are MIA.

A dude in a Pasadena shirt starts to introduce a girl soccer player but then Madison intros some Boy Scouts who do the flag ceremony. One's an Eagle Scout. They post the colors. Nice they did that. Scouts get a bad rap from some lefties, but it's a good deal for kids. Mine are Cubs and Brownies. Then the soccer girl does the pledge. Don Shepherd from a L.A. soccer club talks about Chelsea playing Milan in the Rose Bowl.

PUBLIC COMMENT: Wack job Nancy Nelson's back. If she talks long enough she almost seems normal. I space out so I'm not sure what she's muttering about.

CONSENT CALENDAR: The spend some money without talking about it at all. They're spending about $800K and doing something with $205,000,000 and $123,000,000 that I can't figure out and making changes to some employee contracts. Not sure if that means employees get raises or not. Nobody says anything so how can I know?

PARKING ENFORCEMENT CONTRACT: They got letters from the Chamber of Commerce and another guy complaining about the contract. Tony Soprano looking Intercon guys say they love Pasadena and work hand in hand with the city and pay their employees good money. Dude says they got 100 Pasadena people working for them. Guy says they only got six complaints. Council loves the Sopranos, and we're still havin' the same guys givin' us tickets. If we wanna change something let's stop giving tickets and pull out the friggin' meters! Bogaard's proud of the company and wants the contract to go forward. Beck says the company responds to complaints. McAustin says they oughta wait but nobody else's going theres. She says they need to be customer service oriented or business will go to other places around here. Holden asks a couple of questions but then oes along with it. Madison likes these guys they are in his district and the boss lives in his district. Wonder what's up wit dat. McAustin makes a pitch but she's the only one to vote no. How 'bout takin' out them meters people?

CONTRACT WITH CORVEL FOR WORKER COMP: They're gonna renew a contract to do worker comp claims. Ok. Woman who does the report is cool in a Michelle Obama sorta way. Says they're gonna save $191K by doin' this. I'm good wit dat.

AUDITOR CONTRACT: They're hiring auditors to go over the city books. I'm pickin' up they do this every year and these guys have done it before. Holden asks the controller about efficiency reviews like what Laura Chick did in L.A. He asks if the guy looked at the water rate proposal. He gets told the guy can only do somethings and not others like second guess the water department czarina.

RE-FI FOR LAKE AND WASHINGTON: They're gonna do a refinance of the shopping center at Lake and Washington.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECT: We're building units on North Hudson.

APPOINTING PALS TO COMMISSIONS: More donaters get put on commissions.

TREE CALL UP: Haderlein wants somebody to be able to cut down a tree that's trashing a fence. Tornek isn't real convinced so he's voting no. The other fish swim with the school.

ORDINANCES: Zoning code's changed for hearings and property sales and other stuff. And councilmembers aren't going to get a raise this year.

TRASH FRANCHISE: Some more folks get to pay to be able to pick up trash in Pasadena. Ok I guess. We make some money, they get some business. Bogus wants to know if they have to use alternative fuel trucks. Not yet, but sometime. Haderlein says we need to let them know if we're gonna do these kind of regulations.

ZONING CHANGES: They want to change some of the rules about adding on to houses. Lots of talk about whether something should be 20 feet or 10 feet or 16 feet. McAustin's not wanting to make changes here but others want 16 feet and that's what happens. If I add a second story on my house I'll find out what this is all about, I guess. They talk about if basements can be lived in or not, too. When you watch on TV Holden looks at McAustin like she's an idiot. Pretty funny. But not so funny as when Madison is missing and phones in and they show his empty seat when he talks.

MAIN EVENT WATER INCREASE: The water czarina Phyllis Currie says they are going to take it a little slower, but still raise water rates in July. Water costs more. We all have to save water. The department's broke. How'd that happen? McAustin lets the department people give the report. It's still gonna cost 15% more in July and again next year and the year after. Holden asks about senior and low income people. He says the law won't let them cut their rates but he's asking what they're gonna do and says they oughta use general fund money for that. Then he asks what happens when we're not in a drought anymore and gets told that ain't gonna happen anytime soon. PUBLIC COMMENT: Paul Little from the Chamber says take more time so nobody gets laid off and nobody goes out of business. He says if was only about passing along cost increase nobody would complain. He says people who save water shouldn't have to pay penalties and his bill is gonna be higher this year even though he used less water. Bogaard says he's happy with what staff has said. David Powell says we gotta worry that conserving water means there won't be enough in the ground to pump out. Wayne Lusvardi reads a proclamation but I'm not real sure what he's doing that for. Roz McHugh says don't screw over the fixed income people and make sure there's a safety net for people. Nancy Nelson laughs at what goes on with the council. She wants to impeach them and says shame on you. Marydee Romney says they raised water a year ago and now they're doing it again. Michael Hurly says its happening everywhere. He talks about price signals and not laying people off.

McAustin's leading the raise everybody's water rate charge. She says they answered all the questions and the committee's good with raising rates. Councilmembers get in line to talk about how happy they are with the new ideas and how doing any more would mean they gotta lay off people. Man, what do we gotta do to remind these people who voted for 'em. McAustin, Tornek, Madison, Haderlein and Holden all love the water people. Bogaard's already on board. Madison asks about what the city's doin' to cut its water down. He gets a bullshit answer from Beck, but we all see the sprinklers on all the time in the parks and on the streets. He wants to know how they're telling people how to conserve water on their bill. Currie says we're all gonna get a mailing. What's that gonna cost me? How 'bout deducting that cost from my bill? There's a good way to help. Sure it is. So they talk about that kinda stuff and ignore what it's gonna do to the people who gotta pay bills. Man these people get off the important part really fast. Tornek's already paying back the union money he musta got to get elected. He's not representin' the voters on this one. Bogaard wants to know what they're gonna do about the new buildings that need water. Holden says it's never a good time to raise rates, duh! He asks about fixed income people and ants to have the rates reviewed every year. It's gonna go to McAustin's committee so we're gonna see even bigger raises whenever they look at it. Who elected these people anyway? Oh yeah, us fools. They all vote for it, but Madison says he's doing it reluctantly. Yeah, that's gonna make me not so pissed off when I get my big bill in August or September.

Folks, watch your wallets. About all that's left is our electric bills. I'm taking the under on that one and guessing they're gonna do that before Christmas.

Now I'm gonna go flush some dollars down the toilet and bang my head against the wall until I knock myself out. How is it all we get are millionaires on the CIty Council? Man, none of them really gotta work for a living and it shows.

D.