Pleas to avoid llayoffs

Moved by teary testimony from city workers fearing job losses, the City Council Wednesday asked staff to look into cutting the value of all city contracts by 10 percent and consider whether city workers could do some of that work. Daily News.

"It's time for us to lay off private contractors and keep our city workers," Councilwoman Janice Hahn said on another day of emotional testimony about the prospect of laying off 4,000 workers over the next 18 months.

The job cuts and other cost-saving measures are being proposed to shrink a budget gap that is anticipated to swell to $484 million by next year. Delays in dealing with the budget crisis cost the city's credit rating this week when a Wall Street rating agency downgraded Los Angeles, which will now have to pay more interest when it sells new bonds.