February 2012 Town Hall

Councilman Mike Stevens
February 4, 2012
Community Meeting

Before we get started

• Here is the conceptual design of a new Tuskegee/Buffalo Soldier museum and Community Center planned for La Cienaga and La Tijera abandoned gas station site(here is the conceptual drawing)

Today I'm going to discuss

• My last 6 months as a Councilman
• Outsourcing our City's parking enforcement dept.
• Status of our City's sound insulation efforts
• The upcoming hearing regarding proposed water rate increases of 40% 2012 and 12% 2013

Last 6 months on the job

• Totally different than what I expected
• The only thing respected by my colleagues is political strength
• I'm trying to make a difference and do what you've elected me to do which is to represent you

I've introduced 14 council initiatives, perhaps a record?

• 12-06-2011 Urban Gardens RDA Owned Lots. Pulled due to lack of support
• 12-06-2011 Urban Gardens Privately Owned Lots. Pulled due to lack of support
• 11-15-2011 Lax-Crenshaw Light Rail. Request that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority be instructed to add Design Option 3, the Centinela/Florence undercrossing, as a bid option during the procurement process. Amended to specify communication and passed
• 11-01-2011 Consultant Pay Limits. Staff directed to review, research, and establish parameters including compensation used to guide future hires of consultants performing City services. Died for lack of a 2nd
• 09-13-2011 Water Conservation. Staff directed to review, research, and establish additional water conservation methods using the Sierra Club scorecard as a guideline. Pulled due to lack of support
• 09-13-2011 Foreclosure Assistance. City staff to research means to assist residents in foreclosure and report back in 45 days. Initiative passed
• 08-14-2011 Sound Insulation Feasibility Study. Proposal to have City Staff do a Feasibility study for outsourcing the RSI Department. Submitted to City Council and Mayor in closed session and rejected due to no support
• 08-09-2011 Lax-Crenshaw Light Rail. Placing Florence Centinela rail crossing below grade. Amended and passed with minor language modifications
• 08-09-2011 Lax-Crenshaw Light Rail. Supporting Manchester Aviation Station. No support
• 08-09-2011 Lax-Crenshaw Light Rail. Supporting pedestrian bridge funding at Eucalyptus and Florence crossing and noise mitigation funding for nearby church. Pulled due to no support
• 08-08-2011 Comprehensive Sound Insulation Reform. Proposal to bring in outside project management and supplement City RSI staff with contract labor all from the leading Sound Insulation Consulting Company. Submitted to City staff and rejected due to "too large of a contract for one company"
• 08-02-2011 Lax-Crenshaw Light Rail. Supporting Florence Centinela rail crossing below grade, Manchester Aviation station, and asking for additional 30 days noticing for the Final Environmental Statement/Report. Pulled since a letter from myself to State & Federal Officials succeeded in getting another 30 days.
• 08-02-2011 Lax-Crenshaw Light Rail. Funding Design Option 3 Florence Centinela rail crossing below grade with $13.25 million in Redevelopment funds. Amended to request Tiger Grant funding and passed
• 07-22-2011 Comprehensive Sound Insulation Reform. Proposal to outsource RSI Department. Submitted to City staff and rejected due to concerns about employee litigation

Biggest victory to date-getting the trash contract out to RFP.

• The negotiations
• Councilman Franklin's desire to be first on the Council to speak for going to RFP
• This means you potentially saving money on your trash bill

Problems with the Trash Hauling RFP

• $5 million upfront payment going to the City's general fund coupled with rate increases to the residents looks to me like a possibly illegal prop 13 avoidance scheme to raise taxes that could be challenged in court by community groups. Local Special Taxes require 2/3's majority vote by the people.
• The RFP doesn’t specify the City of Inglewood putting in a bid to haul it’s own trash
• Here are some numbers for you to think when doing a Materials Energy Recovery Facility(MERF)(here are aluminum market volatility charts) (here is a video showing a MERF)
• I don’t believe we should outsource revenue generating operations of the City especially Parking Enforcement and Trash Hauling unless a partnership can be developed that is just as profitable as being independent(here are the trash dump rates)(here is a trash hauling analysis spreadsheet)

Parking Enforcement Outsourcing

• I'm not in favor of outsourcing our Parking Enforcement Dept. for several reasons
• It will probably only save $400k annually over the the first few years-(here is Asst. City Manager Mike Falko explaining cost savings)
• These cost savings could be generated internally with better management 

Parking Enforcement Outsourcing

• Results of last Tuesday’s Council vote
• I'd like to introduce some representatives from the Parking Enforcement Employees Union

Madison Square Gardens purchase of the Forum

• City Council approved the deal last Monday
• Could mean initially $600k per year in additional tax revenues once renovation complete
• Deal provides for Inglewood Redevelopment Agency money to be used

Hollywood Park Tomorrow

• Project scheduled for 2013 but on hold until economy recovers
• My prediction is the deep upcoming European recession combined with China's slowing will affect us by June 2012 at the latest. Perhaps by 2014 at the earliest the economy will be in recovery

Low Income Housing Projects

• Chandler – 145 rental units on Regent visible from Florence by the 405
• Abode – 62 rental units at the old Gas Co. building off Nutwood by Inglewood High
• Crenshaw Triangle – 9 units of affordable condos

My constituents don't support more low income housing

• Lowers single family home values
• Increases crime rate
• No benefit to the current residents

2011/2012 Budget very optimistic

• I did not vote for the current budget(here is Councilman Stevens take on the budget video)(here is City Manager Artie Fields budget is close to balanced video)
• Structural deficit of $3 million dollars on paper, reality probably closer to $10 million dollars unless we get new revenue sources or cut costs during the current 2011/2012 fiscal year
• This is why City management is looking for ways to raise money

Special rules applied to your District 1 Councilman

• I was not allowed to speak to city staff unless cleared by the City Manager
• A recent Wave newspaper article about an incident with Wave reporter Olu Alemaru & I speaking w/ Grants Dept. Manager Pamela Thigpen RE my Foreclosure Initiative. Ms. Thigpen stated this had to be cleared by City Manager Artie Fields in front of Wave reporter(here is the Wave article)
• Previous City Manager Weinberg, Mayor Butts, and current City Manager Fields all lied to the reporter and were quoted in the Wave newspaper saying the policy did not exist after the Wave reporter had physically seen it happen
• This policy is no longer in place

Redevelopment closing down

• As I’m sure you’ve all seen in the news Governor Brown shuttered redevelopment in California in an attempt to get more of our property tax money back into schools and emergency services
• The City of Inglewood decided to become the successor of our Redevelopment Agency (RDA) risking higher deficits while many other City's including LA disavowed their RDA’s entirely handing them to the State to manage the dissolution
• California legislature is considering entirely new approaches to underwriting local economic development and housing projects…

Overall it's been a VERY busy 6 months

Residential Sound Insulation Update

• For those of you that have not seen my 1st Town Hall video see www.councilmanmikestevens.com
• Wyle Labs Inglewood Manager Deanna Wozniack reassigned
• City of Inglewood threatened suit over "disparaging" remarks
• I've requested a copy of the threatening letter to Wyle Labs but the City claims it does not exist
• Wyle Labs employees are not allowed to talk to me
• The City's RSI dept almost failed an FAA/LAWA management review(audit) in the last quarter of 2010
• Behind on FAA/LAWA grant reporting going back to 2007 and possibly further, potentially slowing funding
• HOME funds could have been used for residential sound insulation. Chandler project used $4 million and Abode project $2.8 million (here is video of Manager Pamela Thigpen explaining HOME funds)

LAX noise complaint hotline changes area code

• Noise Complaint Line phone number will change from 310 to 424 to accommodate a new phone system at LAX. The new number to report noise complaints will be 424-64-NOISE (424-646-6473).
• Residents will still have the option of reporting noise complaints via the LAX web site at www.lawa.org. There visitors will also be able to view aircraft flight track data, as well as submit noise complaints.  Information provided by the system includes the type of aircraft, altitude, and originating or destination airport.
• Airport staff will conduct follow-up investigations of the complaints when written responses are requested.  Staff provides complainants with information on the specific aircraft operation that may have caused the disturbance and whether the pilot deviated from any noise-abatement procedures.  Monthly reports of all complaints are posted on the airport’s website and distributed to the LAX Area Advisory Committee, the
• Monthly reports of all complaints are posted on the airport’s website and distributed to the LAX Area Advisory Committee, the LAX/Community Noise Roundtable.                                                                                                          

The good news

• The RSI dept. will surpass 500 homes sound insulated in a 12 month period, a record---had been averaging closer to 200 per year
• We now have up to $5,000 available per household from Home Funds for qualifying low income households to bring your home up to code so it can qualify for Sound Insulation(here are the income limits)
• Thanks to our efforts the RSI department is now in process of prioritizing the 800 homes between the 1992 and 2015 contour that will not qualify for sound insulation after 2015

Our marching orders
Mine

• Reprioritize single family homes in front of apartment buildings since the homeowners fought for the sound insulation initially and suffered more financially with reduced home values
• Make sure the homes outside of the 2015 contour but inside the 1992 contour are sound insulated before 2015
• Let Congresswoman Maxine Waters know this is a funding priority

Our marching orders
Yours

• Attend Council Meetings when RSI items are on the agenda
• Send letters and call Congresswoman Maxine Waters office letting her know FAA funding of our RSI program is a priority

The Future

• Preferential Runway Treatment and the resulting actual flight paths have moved North of the existing northern contours and South of the existing southern contours
• Future fight for contour change after everyone in current contours are sound insulated

Proposed Water Rate Increase

1. Is this actually just another hidden tax increase?
2. Hearing coming up Feb. 7th  - make sure to attend

• Typical bill $60, 40% increase 2012 to $84, & 12% increase 2013 to $94.80. A water bill of $60 increasing to $94.80 is a 58% increase
• The City’s Water Consultant CDM Inc. in their analysis ignored the fact that we sold 2,000 acre feet of water rights at $70 per acre foot for $140,000 in June 2011(here is the water rights sales agenda item), and we were buying water in August 2011 at prices of $964 per acre foot(here is an agenda item showing the water purchase rates) a $1.8 million dollar loss to the residents of Inglewood.
• We left $3 million dollars value of water in the ground last water year we have the rights to(see bottom of page 1 and top of page 2) and I do not think this is factored into the rate increase calculations by CDM.
• How was this allowed to happen?
• Why hasn’t the City built more well capacity?
• We were adding wells in 2006(here is excerpt from report showing well additions)
• 2003-$2.1 million Capital Improvement Budget(CIP) for water related projects, $900k for 2 wells
• 2004-$2.4 million for water related projects, $500k for 1 well
• 2005-$2.25 million for water related projects, $700k for 1 well
• 2006-$2.75 million for water related projects, zero for wells
• 2007-$4.5 million for water related projects, $150k for wells, and $3.4 million for Morningside reservoir and security fence
• 2008-$1.2 million for water related projects, $500k for well design
• 2009-$4.7 million for water related projects, $1.2 million for designing 2 wells
• 2010-$3.9 million for water related projects, $1.5 million for designing 2 wells
• 2011-Under current City Leadership-$6.2 million for water related projects, $2.1 million for design and construction of 2 wells(here is the mayor invitation to the hearing video)
• Even though we’ve budgeted $7.5 million dollars over the last 9 years for water wells we don’t seem to have City management that can get the wells built and kept operational
• With more well capacity we could have saved several million dollars per year in water purchases instead of paying WBMWD an additional $3 million dollars a year
• Wells pump the water out of the ground and reservoirs store the water
• The biggest reason to increase the rates seems to be for the $21.5 million in improvements to Morningside reservoir?(here are year 2000 improvements pg1, pg2, pg3)
• We need to defer some of these water system upgrades for a few more years until the economy picks up
• The money required to build the wells can be utilized from the $8 million dollar water reserve account and the $2.1 million dollar current 2011/2012 budget line item for design and construction of 2 wells
• How to stop this water rate increase-get your neighbors involved-YOU HAVE TO FILL OUT THE BALLOT TO VOTE TO STOP THIS(here is the hearing agenda item)(here is a ballot form)
• Hearing coming up Feb. 7th  - make sure to attend

Repaving our streets

• La Brea and Century repaving and mayoral election timing
• Non-CDBG areas getting only $500k per year of repaving while CDBG areas getting $2 million plus. (here is the current Capital Improvement Projects Budget(CIP))
• Comparison of CDBG street(photo 1, photo 2) and Non-CDBG(n photo 1, n photo 2)
• None of my predecessors figured this out and came up with a solution
• I’m working with Public Works attempting fund swaps between CDBG and non-CDBG areas to increase non-CDBG area repaving(here is the CDBG area map)

Thank you all for coming! I expect to see most of you Tuesday night for the 58% water rates increase hearing!