The Daily News of Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — About the last group any politician wants to go to war with is firefighters.
Idolized on TV and film and adored by the public, firefighters and the Los Angeles Fire Department always have maintained an attitude that they can deliver no matter the budget they are given.
With one big exception: The staff assistants assigned to commanders.
Former Mayor Richard Riordan once belittled them as high-paid chauffeurs when he tried — and failed — to eliminate the jobs.
Now, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is taking on the same battle, one expected to end up in the City Council, where there are strong divisions over the issue.
The LAFD brass, led by Fire Chief Millage Peaks, in a rare open break with the mayor, are planning to appeal to the City Council to overrule the mayor and allow them to keep the staff assistants.
Peaks and the LAFD Chief Officers Association argue the staff assistants are vital to their ability to fight fires, helping coordinate the response and, perhaps most importantly, keeping track of the firefighters at the scene of a fire.
Villaraigosa and some council members, however, say the city cannot afford the staff assistants at a time when it is reducing fire coverage around the city every day and as the fire season nears.
City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has made no secret of his problems with the budget his department receives and how it has hindered his ability to manage the agency.
But, even more upsetting to him, he says, has been the inability to hold some morale-boosting events for his staff.
Last year, for instance, he had to dip into his officeholders account to pay for a staff picnic at the Police Academy.
Trutanich is trying to get City Council approval to create a foundation — similar to those for the LAPD, LAFD, libraries and others — to let him raise money to support his department.
“For some reason, it’s been held up in council,” Trutanich said. “I can’t get it approved.”
Councilman Bernard Parks, chair of the council’s Budget and Finance Committee that is reviewing the idea, said a report from the Chief Legislative Analyst’s office recommends against it.
“It’s in violation of city policies and is something a nonprofit should do,” Parks said. “Besides that, a lot of council members have problems with the City Attorney raising money from people he might be prosecuting.”
Asked when a definitive action will be taken, Parks demurred, “Let’s just say it’s aging nicely.”
The Los Angeles City Council got the attention of pet owners last week when it raised some fees for licensing of cats, dogs, rabbits and horses.
Another fee scheduled to go up soon is the cost of getting your car from one of the Official Police Garages after it has been impounded.
The fee is scheduled to go up from $100 to $115 soon, with all the money — an estimated $18.6 million a year — going to the city.
Eric Rose, who represents the garages, said it is one of those extra fees that doesn’t get much attention and puts the OPGs in an awkward position.
“The money goes directly to the city every time a car is impounded and released,” Rose said. “The fees are supposed to be for reimbursement of costs, not a profit to the city. The city is making more of a profit than the operators.”
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