| Bye Bye Nahai -- A Symptom of DWP's Power Outage |
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| Written by Scott McNeely |
| Wednesday, 09 September 2009 08:54 |
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For the second time in six months, DWP's demand for a blank check for billions of dollars from ratepayers was rejected. Back in March, voters repudiated the phony Measure B solar plan that wasn't a plan. On Wednesday, the reprocessed Measure B came back in the form of giving the DWP authority to impose virtually unlimited rate hikes in the name of renewable energy. The City Council rejected the proposal unanimously (Times, Daily News accounts) Lack of transparency, failure to communicate with the public that pays the bills, insufficient details about how the money will be spent and unfairness in the rate structure are among the reasons the DWP has twice failed to get what it wants. It seems General Manager David Nahai just can't learn from his mistakes. Given the fact he's lost the confidence of everyone from his top managers to the Council, it seems likely the mayor will pull the plug on Nahai sooner rather than later. Even Brian D'Arcy, the real power behind the DWP throne as head of its IBEW union, holds Nahai in such low esteem he stopped talking to him months ago and defames him around town as a man whose word cannot be trusted. That surely is the kiss of death -- undoubtedly with the traditional golden handshake. Nahai, for all his glib obfuscations and contempt for the public, is just a symptom of the problem of the DWP. For most of a century, the DWP has been an empire unto itself, accountable to no one. With rare exceptions, the commissioners who are supposed to oversee the DWP on behalf of the public have been little more than yes-men. That's part of the reason the movement to create an independent Ratepayer Advocate office for DWP is gaining momentum. It isn't just Nahai who's lost public confidence. The DWP itself has lost the public trust. How can we trust an agency that gives its employees salary hikes of 5.9 percent in good times and is set to raise salaries 4 percent more Oct. 1 in these times of furloughs, layoffs and givebacks? How can we trust an agency that has the contempt for the public to start Neighborhood Council activists who are its partners to park in the DWP lot and call a cost reduction, an angency that lets contractors cheat them out of millions, that operates under the philosophy that what is good for the DWP is good for LA? The record tells a different story: Least amount of clean energy of any city in the state with nearly half its electricity coming from coal plants, deteriorating infrastructure, salary structures out of whack with its competitors and other city agencies, a union with inordinate power over its policies and on and on. These problems developed over decades and won't be fixed easily. It isn't just yet another change of leadership that's needed as much as a change in culture that brings about openness, full partnership with the public, accountability and fairness in rates. The Council ordered the DWP to rework its proposals to lift the cap on rate hikes without Council approval and the restructure of rates that Jan Perry said savaged the Valley and other hot spots. In Nahai's mind that means nothing more than a few cosmetic massages to the rate hike plans and few dog-and-pony shows for Neighborhood Councils. It's not a public relations problem that's the heart of the matter, though the DWP does have a wretched image despite the fortune spent on manipulating the press and public. There's no question LA needs to end its reliance on coal power and go green. But it has to be done at a pace that ratepayers can afford and with technologies that provide the most power at the lowest cost. That isn't what is under discussion. The DWP -- mainly for the political advantage of the mayor -- is prepared to spend whatever it takes, whatever it costs the public to increase its portfolio of wind and solar energy, that increases its transfer of ratepayer money to the city general fund even as it charges the public more for using less. The Council, sensing in the vagaries of its collective thought processes that the political winds are changing, put the DWP in its place for the moment. But unless community groups from all over the city unite in common cause to demand real reform of the DWP and a direct voice in its oversight, the Council will sign off on the next massive rate hike scheme as soon as it thinks it can get away with it without risking the wrath of their constituents. It's a power game and the power over the DWP is there for the taking. Posted: 2009-09-03 04:55:50 |