Daily News Editor speaks to Valley VOTE; says citizens must be organized, persistent
David DeVoss writes about the recent Valley VOTE meeting where L.A. Daily News Editor Ron Kaye was one of the guests speakers:
LA has the best government money can buy. OK, it's an old joke. But laconic Los Angeles Daily News editor Ron Kaye almost turns this unfortunate truth into a tale in which redemption is possible if honest people will stand up and get organized.
As the leader of the city's perennial No. 2 daily, Kaye's Tantalus-like pursuit of the Los Angeles Times affords him the freedom to speak truth to power. And speak he did earlier this week on the tenth anniversary of the founding of Valley VOTE.
There is a “system” to city government, Kaye concedes, but citizens must be organized, well financed and persistent to make it work for them. “The system doesn't work for the people,” Kaye sighs. “The Police Protective League matters more than any of you because it has money.”
Adds Kaye: “Everywhere you look in the city people are powerless. The surprising thing is that most of them don't care.”
According to Kaye, the path money takes in LA is as predictable as the transoceanic currents. Middle class residents in the Valley pay taxes to City Hall, which uses the money to lavishly feather its nest and give subsidies to wealthy developers, who, in turn, return a portion of the funds to politicians in the form of political contributions.
“They have free cars and office holder accounts that can be spent on anything. Even the staff people have cars and Blackberries. You're paying for all this stuff.”
City council members insist Measure S, the 9 percent communications tax proposal on the Feb. 5 ballot, is needed to fund essential services, but Kaye says the city treasury has plenty of money.
“Every year, LA's general fund revenues grow at an average rate of 5.7 percent. The problem is that since 2000 Los Angeles' employee costs have risen 7.5 percent a year, a 53 percent increase.”
Why is it, Kaye wonders, that City Hall has no money to repair sidewalks, yet has the funds to give a 23% pay hike to unionized municipal workers who already are the highest paid in the nation?
One shudders to imagine the depths to which local politicians could sink without Daily News oversight. But the newspaper's continued operation is not guaranteed. Over the past decade the Daily News staff has declines from 260 to 110.
“We are a great community resource but our vitality and life are at stake” Kaye says. “We need your support.”