Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr It's always interesting to see public officials speak on the same subject and then put their words back to back. Last week LA Weekly published an article by David Ferrell taking aim at Villaraigosa's garbage tax. At issue, the garbage tax that sold to the public was on the premise that it was purely going to building the LAPD's force. That ended up not......

By the end of 2008, there will have been three elections, the last one being the Presidential. But after that, things won't be calming down as major city races head into full swing mode. Councilwoman Wendy Greuel will run for City Controller and City Controller Laura Chick will probably run for City Council. But of note is who will run against Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for the biggest job of all? Rumors and talk of who......

Photo by AZAdam via Flickr Only 102 of the 958 city buildings expected to get CFLs have installed the energy-efficient lightbulbs and City Controller Laura Chick is saying that the program is not going fast enough. So far, the city has replaced enough to save $1.5 million on the annual $27-million power bill. However, replacing the bulbs came at the price of $5 million, but costs are expected to be recovered over time with......

In the latest of bulldog audits by City Controller Laura Chick, she finds that the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services is "struggling to move forward." With an nearly a million dogs estimated in the city, the department only has 123,000 dogs licensed. "The largest source of revenue for the department is dog-license fees and, yet, the department tells us that it is not their top priority," quoted the Daily News. Among a myriad of......

Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick is bringing up one of LAist's favorite topics: Los Angeles. The once City Councilwoman (and probably future City Councilwoman when she runs and probably wins) wanted Los Angeles to be tourist friendly and not just for tourists, but for residents. "When I first got elected, I asked why we weren't doing more to market Los Angeles," Chick was quoted saying in the Daily News. "I recently went to Chicago......

In light of ongoing news about the city's budget crisis (a predicted $295 million dollar deficit), information about the number of people employed by the city who earn more than $100,000 is not sitting well with some. As reported in the Daily News, the newspaper conducted research and compiled a "review of salary data [that] shows more than 21,000 city workers take home $70,000 or more a year and more than 6,000 take home more......

City Controller Laura Chick announced yesterday the results of an audit ordered on the construction of the 10-story police headquarters downtown, revealing that the costs on the project "have soared $150 million over projections" bringing the receipt to over $453 million, according to the Daily News. Chick explained that the "city's Bureau of Engineering has failed to provide adequate oversight and management" and when the city's engineers "lost control of the project" the LAPD had......

Photo by discarted via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Problem: Los Angeles has a shortage of officers for its population and physical size. Budgets are tight, hiring freezes keep the department from hiring new civilian workers, forcing sworn officers to desk work rather than being out on the streets. Bottom line: the city is short 3,000 police officers to where Chief William Bratton would like it to be. "I have watched three mayors try......

"You don't actually think they spend $20000.00 on a hammer, $30000.00 on a toilet seat do you?" ~ Independence Day Well, it's the difference between what the new LAPD headquarters currently under construction should cost and is costing. And City Controller Laura Chick, who is responsible for auditing city spending to find misuse, abuse and savings, is making headlines by putting departments city who oversee contracts and contractors themself on notice, starting with the......

Too many train crashes! Today saw the second Gold Line crash this month, this one being the worse of the two. The Blue Line was involved in a crash earlier this week as well as a Metrolink train yesterday. Tennie Pierce, the city firefighter who claims co-workers fed him dog food-laced spaghetti settled with city council today for $1.43 million dollars. Will it be a cozy night indoors as it rains outside? Yep. Pretty......

A NASA investigation revealed that some astronauts got hammered before flying. The scandal-plagued Tour de France is slowly grinding to a finish. How to extricate yourself from a tricky police encounter. A fuel spill caused by an accident involving a big-rig truck shut down most of the 60 freeway in Pomona this morning. Fancy yourself a good football player? A few more spots on the Trojan roster have just opened up. 10 more L.A.......

work for Rock Finally, a piece of the Pellicano story that's vaguely interesting: Chris Rock hired the dirty detective when a Hungarian model slapped Rock with a paternity claim. Later DNA tests would show that the kid was not his son (or daughter, we're just feeling Michael Jackson this morning). Rock's attorney says they didn't hire Pellicano to do anything illegal: "Let me put it like this: When you hire somebody to fix your......

OK, can we just agree right now that Eric Garcetti is the coolest LA City Council President, like, ever? That's him on the red carpet — the one crouching down, taking the photo of other guests. The occasion was last night's screening of The New LA on the Paramount lot. So much LA political high-wattage was there that I couldn't get them all down: three or four city council reps, Mayor Villaraigosa, controller Laura......

This post is like Lewis Black on The Daily Show. Sometimes there are stories that slip through the cracks, big and small, around LA and we don't get to them during the week. Stories We Missed is here to catch them and bring them to you. Better late than never, right? - Ambitious-Outsiders, our favorite website for keeping track of local indie shows, is going on hiatus, maybe for good. - Tonga Hut, our......

We're as stunned as Laura Chick at the news that the LA DWP -- the tidy acronym for "Department of Water and Power" -- was buying bottled water for its offices, even as it spent a half-million dollars to promote how safe and delicious its tap water is to drink. We love it when the LA Times does local news like this. Just how much water does $31,160 buy over two years? Records show......

KPCC reports that former city councilman Marvin Braude has died. Braude was first elected to his post repping the 11th district in 1965, then won the next 7 elections, serving for 32 years. He worked to preserve the Santa Monica Mountains, siding with environmentalists over developers. We once heard (but can't prove right now -- bad google!) that he was such an avid bicyclist that he regularly rode his bike to work at the......

Two major events dominate the week in LA politics–Bob Hertzberg’s introduction of the first TV ads in the mayoral campaign, and Laura Chick’s secret meetings with the mayoral challengers. (Sorry, fellow hacks–the Hahn signs at the sanitation yards aren’t that important.) Attack of the 50-foot Mayoral Candidate Bob Hertzberg released his first campaign ad to a variety of reviews. Boi from Troy says “Message gets an "A" but the imagery gets a kinda-spooky "C",”......

Local political junkies are slowly turning their attention from last week’s election to the upcoming City Hall races. The Mayor’s race is attracting the most attention due to the high-profile challengers to Mayor Jim Hahn, though both of Hahn’s fellow City-wide elected officials—City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and City Controller Laura Chick—are up for re-election. The seven eight odd-numbered Council districts will also hold elections, with six seven incumbents seeking re-election and Councilmember Cindy Miscikowski......

City Controller Laura Chick has retracted her endorsement of Mayor Hahn. She says she has "lost confidence in his ability to lead the city." This answers the question posed by Kevin Roderick in April: "[W]hen will Chick officially renege on her endorsement of Hahn -- now or later?" Chick led recent efforts to investigate accusations of "pay-to-play" government in the Hahn administration. She was a member of the City Council before she became Controller. BoiFromTroy,......