City Manager John Nachbar and Community Development Director Sol Blumenfeld were billed as the headline attractions at the Chamber of Commerce’s Good Morning, Culver City, breakfast this morning at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel.
But Mayor Mehaul O’Leary served up the most tastiest calorie-free takeaway line.
As both punishment and a solution to this week’s hamhanded destruction of the state’s hundreds of Redevelopment Agencies by the Legislature and their boss Gov. Brown, Mayor O’Leary urged:
“Recall the governor,” which drew the most favorable response from the crowded room.
Runnerup line was authored by Mr. Blumenfeld,
A splendid orator, Mr. Blumenfeld, in the prime of his career, entered the hotel with a weighted down heart. His entire department was consigned to coffins this week by Sacramento.
“I feel as if I am speaking at my own funeral,” he said.
In between those quips, Mr. Nachbar presented the business leaders with probably the most cogent and transparent analysis they yet have heard in the thundering wake of the death of Culver City’s Redevelopment Agency, which reshaped and revived giant sections of the community.
With four of the six City Council candidates for the April 10 election in his audience, the City Manager accented two pain points, the fiscal impact of the death of the Agency and the imminent shrinking of the City Hall workforce.
He needed to, and was, sensitive about how he intends to reduce staffing, given the vulnerable presence of Mr. Blumenfeld.
After noting that more than 50 members of the 600-plus employee pool last month were offered enticements to retire early before resorting to more extreme measures, Mr. Nachbar clothed his language in protective external gear.
“First,” he said, “we need to see how the (golden handshake) plan shakes out. Before we get to layoffs, we are trying to go about this swiftly and humanely to reduce the employee population.”
While surrounding communities have moved even faster and identified layoff victims – Long Beach, 48, Los Angeles, 192 – Mr. Nachbar has declined to perform a body count because the number cannot be known until later in spring.
Regarding the fiscal devastation that the destruction of the Redevelopment Agency has wreaked at City Hall:
• He said $7.5 million annually flowed into City Hall as a result of Redevelopment Agency activities.
• Post-Agency, he said the net loss to the city will be $4.5 million to $5 million a year.
• An original structural deficit of $9 million had been sawed in half, but now is back at $9 million with the dissolution of the Agency.
• Even if all staffers offered early retirement incentives – the addition of two years to their retirement package – the savings only would total $3 million. That is helpful , he said, but distant from a complete answer. Still, it would be economically shrewd for the city, Mr. Nachbar said. If all courted employees accepted early retirement by the May 14 deadline, their departures would only cost the city $165,000.
