Sherman Oaks Chamber Fires Tough Questions at Councilman

Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce members had some tough questions for Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks on Thursday, but the atmosphere largely consisted of pleasant banter at the luncheon gathering.

 The former Los Angeles police chief and chairman of the city’s finance committee adopted a relaxed tone, cracking jokes—some at his own expense—as he recounted the City Council’s efforts to hammer out a $6.9-billion budget that passed in a unanimous vote Wednesday night.

Parks began by apologizing for being late. The councilman said he did not realize that the luncheon was being held at Cafe Bizou until after he drove to the chamber offices and found them locked.

 “At that point, I decided that I needed to draw upon my days in law enforcement and use my investigative skills,” Parks said, drawing laughter. “So, I called my staff and had them access the chamber’s website to see where the luncheon was being held—and then drove the eight blocks to get here.”

Parks, like council President Eric Garcetti, who spoke at the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association meeting Wednesday night, appeared relaxed and cheerful, and perhaps a little relieved to have largely completed this year’s budget process.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will have five days to sign the budget or veto either line items or the entire budget.

For the third year in a row, the City Council had tough choices to make as economic growth remained fairly stagnant, but the acrimonious battles of previous years were largely absent.

 “When there are no options, it tends to eliminate a lot of the obstacles to getting things done,” Parks said in an interview before his speech. He added that over the past few years, city officials have had to eliminate 4,500 positions, most of which were vacant but which resulted in lengthy discussions with city union leaders.

“I think we are still in a dire situation. I think we made progress, but when there is a solution designed by consensus, you don’t get everything you want,” Parks said. “We restored tree trimming, library hours and alley paving.”

Some sacrifices included closing the $336-million revenue shortfall by eliminating police overtime pay and shutting down some fire engine teams. But Parks explained that the same kind of computer analysis that was used to cut down on inefficiencies at LAPD will be used at fire stations.

He said, for instance, that only 15 percent of what firefighters do is respond to fires. The other 85 percent of the time they are responding to paramedic calls, so their resources should be tailored based on that fact.

After relating what he considered the council victories in the budget process—one being that the council eliminated a plan by the mayor to accrue $42 million worth of debt to achieve a balanced budget—he admonished the business owners to appear before the council to testify in favor of legislation that favors the business community.

“It is great that you send the chamber’s executive director to speak for you, but behind him are 50 people in red shirts lined up to speak in opposition,” Parks said.

During the question-and-answer period, chamber members primarily asked for clarification on parts of the budget, but one member asked why the City Council has not done more to give small business owners tax relief.

“Why are business taxes based on gross income, rather than on net income?” he asked. That method isn’t fair, he declared, because two businesses could have the same gross income, but one could just be breaking even.

Parks softly but firmly responded that the tax codes don’t say anything about being fair. He then added that business taxes are either the fourth- or fifth-largest revenue generator for the city, so the council can only do so much for businesses and maintain the services the city provides to residents and businesses.

 In an interview after Parks' speech, Tracy Hall, co-owner of a recently opened jewelry store on Ventura Boulevard, said he was one business owner who understood that the city had to collect taxes in order to provide services such as police protection and fire services.

“If you can’t afford to pay the business tax, which is less than half percent, you have bigger problems to worry about,” Hall said.