he Los Angeles City Council is expected today to enter the next phase of reorganizing how city government works as it copes with a more than $200 million shortfall over the next four months and deal with a $400 million deficit next year. Daiily News.

A 41-point program proposed by City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana that deals with everything from eliminating some politically popular programs to shedding the city of managing some of its assets over the next three years will receive its first hearing before the council.

"This is the start of a conversation," Santana said. "We haven't thought of every issue. Our goal is to put it out there and get direction from the council in areas they want to explore for the future.

With the Los Angeles City Council set to deliberate on a three-year budget plan on Tujesday, Ci Administrative Officer Miguel Ssantana is advising of concerns by one rating agency over the city's plans.
Santana, in a memo to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, said the Fitch Ratings service is concerned over the city's deteriorating financial situation and the lack of any resolve by the council the take action.
"Fitch is concerned that we have no political consensus between the mayor and the City
Council," Santana wrote."They are also concerned about the vulnerability of the three year plan given (the council's) response to the CAO's financial status report."
Santana said the conversation ended with Fitch advisors saying the situation "presented a tremendous opportunity" for elected officials to step up to the plate.

Officials are scrambling to avoid a repeat of the weekend's hillside mudslides that damaged 43 homes in La Cañada Flintridge and La Crescenta and left many scratching their heads over the apparent lack of emergency preparations.Tony Castro in the Daily News.

Workers hurried Sunday to empty debris basins once filled with mud in anticipation of mid-week rains feared to further endanger homes on hillsides denuded by last summer's wildfires.

Although today's forecast predicted mostly sunny skies and a high near 60 degrees, a 20 percent chance of rain was expected to increase to a 40 percent chance of rain by Tuesday night and a 30 percent chance of rain Wednesday morning.

More than any disaster the city has faced, the financial meltdown of the past year is serving to force Los Angeles to redefine itself and the services it provides. Daily News.

"I keep telling my friends that this year is awful and that next year and the next few years will be difficult," Councilman Greig Smith said. "And, I predict in five years people will not recognize the city of Los Angeles."

Faced with a $212 million - and growing - shortfall for the final four months of this fiscal year and another $400 million next year, the city has been reeling from one crisis to the next trying to find ways to balance its budget

Tipoffs: Los Angeles City Council decides to "temporarily": abandon monthly meetings in Van Nuys.

Saying the city was headed in the wrong direction, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took a series of unprecedented financial steps Thursday, including ordering 1,000 layoffs and pushing to reopen salary talks with city unions.Daily News.

The mayor's orders came a day after the City Council spent more than eight hours debating ways to close the city's budget gap of $212 million this fiscal year and more than $400 million next year, but ultimately postponed action for at least 30 days.

"Instead of making progress, we are headed in the wrong direction," Villaraigosa said in a late afternoon City Hall news conference. "That ends today. I am taking action to balance this fiscal year's budget and restoring the city's credit rating and restoring the long term health of the ci

Charter schools nationwide could be violating the civil rights of students because they are increasingly separating them by race, class and language, according to a report released Thursday by the Civil Rights project at UCLA. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The study finds that black and Latino students enrolled at charters - schools that are publicly funded but independently run - are more likely to be isolated with classmates of their same race.

"We are seeing a lot of charters as segregated as schools in the old South that were the target of the civil-rights movement," said Gary Orfield, co-founder of the Civil Rights project.

A federal transportation officials opened an investigation into brake problems in the 2010 Prius and Toyota ordered a recall of the hybrid model, Los Angeles County officials moved Thursday to determine if any of the vehicles are in the county's fleet. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

In recent years, the county has purchased about 300 Priuses as part of a larger effort to make the 12,000-vehicle county fleet more fuel efficient and to combat climate change, Sandoval said. The county has about 400 hybrid vehicles currently.

"We were scrambling to identify what we had," said Joe Sandoval, general manager of purchasing and services for the county's Internal Services Department. "We wanted to get them switched out. We have one 2010 Prius in inventory and it belongs to one of the supervisors' board deputies. So what we did was swap it out with a motor pool vehicle."

As the City Council delayed a decision on making layoffs and eliminating city departments to balance the deficit, some council members began talking Wednesday about proposing new taxes to help ease the city's budget woes. Daily News.

Councilman Bill Rosendahl suggested placing a parcel tax for an undetermined amount on the November ballot to generate more revenue, in part to help pay for the city's ballooning pension costs. Councilwoman Janice Hahn said she wanted to consider submitting a variety of potential tax increases to voters.

"We need two or three proposals, relating to the pension and new revenue, and need to have a conversation with voters," Rosendahl said. "We need to let the people weigh in and see if they want us to continue bailing out the pension system at the expense of services."

Throwing its support behind a decades-long effort to phase out the noisiest models of corporate jets at Van Nuys Airport, a city panel recommended adopting a law to ban Stage 2 aircraft. Daily News.

The City Council's Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee recommended the city phase out the noisier planes over the next six years.

"This is something that should have been done 10 years ago," said Gerald Silver of Homeowners of Encino, who has made the noise issue one of his top priorities. "This is a step in the right direction and will have minimal economic impact on the airport."

In a voting process that appeared riddled with flaws, parents, teachers and community members cast ballots Tuesday to help Los Angeles Unified School District pick operators for 36 schools under a new reform program. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

But the district's guidelines for voting were so loose that it appeared many voters, especially teachers, were allowed to cast more than one ballot. And at San Fernando Middle School, even the local mailman was drafted by some teachers into voting when he showed up to deliver the school's letters.

The vote was advisory only, meant to help LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines and the school board understand public opinion as they choose bidders to run 36 new and underperforming schools under the School Choice reform plan. Results were not released Tuesday, as more voting is scheduled for Saturday.

The number of Los Angeles County residents seeking help from food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters skyrocketed 46 percent in the last four years as the country plunged into recession, according to a report issued Tuesday. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The Los Angeles Regional Foodbank report found that the number of residents seeking food assistance grew from 674,100 in 2005 to a record 983,400 last year. The number of children receiving food assistance more than doubled from 185,000 to 393,000 in that time.

"This means one in 10 people in Los Angeles County are seeking food assistance," Foodbank President Michael Flood said. "The number of children has increased markedly, which is very concerning to us."

Flabbergasted by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's soaring litigation costs, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas on Tuesday called for an audit to determine the extent of the agency's legal expenses. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Ridley-Thomas said Metro has spent more than $30 million in legal fees fighting a lawsuit filed by the Tutor-Saliba Corp. in 1995 regarding the Red Line subway that runs from Union Station to North Hollywood.

Ridley-Thomas is also concerned about another $10 million in legal fees spent on another construction-related lawsuit "which may have been spent without approval of the MTA Board of Directors."

Municipal workers who could lose their jobs under a new layoff plan confronted City Council members Tuesday, begging them to find other ways to cover a $200 million shortfall in Los Angeles' budget. Daily News.

The council is scheduled today to consider a plan to lay off up to 1,500 employees and eliminate some agencies to close the growing city deficit.

"I am not here to make you feel bad," said Erica Nicholson, a 23-year employee of the General Services Department. "But my heart is hurting. I'm proud of what we do ... and I ask you, please, please please, no layoffs."

Councilman Paul Krekorian announced Tuesday he is supporting Glendale School Board Member Nayiri Nahabedian for election to the Assembly seat he gave up.
Krekorian said he believed Nahabedian had the experience needed to replace him in the 43rd Assembly District.
"Under very difficult economic circumstances, Nayiri has worked hard to ensure that Glendale schools remain fiscally solvent and that their students are prepared to meet the challenges of tomorrow," Krekorian said.
"Nayiri is the only candidate in this race with the experience to confront the problems facing California, and the independence to make the hard decisions that will be required. In these extraordinarily challenging times, she is exactly the kind of leader we need to send to Sacramento to fight for us."