Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (KTLA-TV) |
LOS ANGELES -- In his fifth 'State of the City' address Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa delivered some tough budget news, announcing plans to lay off more than 700 city workers and cut nearly 3,500 jobs to help alleviate the city's $500 million dollar deficit.
Villaraigosa also warned of cuts in city services, including road repairs, tree trimming, park programs and library hours.
The cuts will be the deepest in the city work force since the 1970s. They won't impact any of the city's 10,000 Los Angeles Police Department employees.
The mayor's budget proposal will now go to city council for approval.
Below is the full text of his speech:
President Garcetti; Members of the City Council; City Controller Greuel; City Attorney Trutanich; Members of the School Board; Chief Beck; Chief Peaks; Presiding Judge McCoy; Judges Edmon & Espinoza; General Managers and Commissioners of our City departments; Consuls General; Fellow Angelenos:
Pardon me if I break with the established ritual this afternoon.
Instead of giving the traditional State of the City, complete with all things we've accomplished and all the things we intend to do, instead, I want to try and confine myself to a single topic: our city budget and what we must do to solve our deficit and hone our mission of the Angels.
I think everybody realizes the urgency of our present financial condition. My friends, this is a tough time for everyone right now in Los Angeles. We are experiencing an historic economic collapse.
Before our eyes, the Dow dropped like a stone.
Wealth accumulated over years of hard work and sacrifice, was wiped out. Home equity evaporated, and in the space of three short years, over 23,000 of our families lost their homes.
Over the last two years, new construction slowed by 25%; and with it, the new jobs and revenue that support our city. 65,000 jobs gone; and with them, the security and piece of mind provided by a steady paycheck.
This is our new economic reality.
A recession that is tearing at the fabric of our communities. A recession that is tearing a gaping hole in our city budget and forcing us to take measures unimaginable a few short years ago.
Mandating that City employees take up to 26 days without pay; modifying the deployment plan of our firefighters; eliminating departments and consolidating others; initiating lay-offs of more than 800 employees.
This is the new economic reality that is pitting the cruel irony of the growing needs of Angelenos against the declining capacity of their own government to answer their needs.
This is the reality that we face. And the reality that we will meet head on.
Villaraigosa also warned of cuts in city services, including road repairs, tree trimming, park programs and library hours.
The cuts will be the deepest in the city work force since the 1970s. They won't impact any of the city's 10,000 Los Angeles Police Department employees.
The mayor's budget proposal will now go to city council for approval.
Below is the full text of his speech:
President Garcetti; Members of the City Council; City Controller Greuel; City Attorney Trutanich; Members of the School Board; Chief Beck; Chief Peaks; Presiding Judge McCoy; Judges Edmon & Espinoza; General Managers and Commissioners of our City departments; Consuls General; Fellow Angelenos:
Pardon me if I break with the established ritual this afternoon.
Instead of giving the traditional State of the City, complete with all things we've accomplished and all the things we intend to do, instead, I want to try and confine myself to a single topic: our city budget and what we must do to solve our deficit and hone our mission of the Angels.
I think everybody realizes the urgency of our present financial condition. My friends, this is a tough time for everyone right now in Los Angeles. We are experiencing an historic economic collapse.
Before our eyes, the Dow dropped like a stone.
Wealth accumulated over years of hard work and sacrifice, was wiped out. Home equity evaporated, and in the space of three short years, over 23,000 of our families lost their homes.
Over the last two years, new construction slowed by 25%; and with it, the new jobs and revenue that support our city. 65,000 jobs gone; and with them, the security and piece of mind provided by a steady paycheck.
This is our new economic reality.
A recession that is tearing at the fabric of our communities. A recession that is tearing a gaping hole in our city budget and forcing us to take measures unimaginable a few short years ago.
Mandating that City employees take up to 26 days without pay; modifying the deployment plan of our firefighters; eliminating departments and consolidating others; initiating lay-offs of more than 800 employees.
This is the new economic reality that is pitting the cruel irony of the growing needs of Angelenos against the declining capacity of their own government to answer their needs.
This is the reality that we face. And the reality that we will meet head on.
