My Huffington Post piece on the battle between our Mayor - Eric Garcetti - and the most powerful political force in Los Angeles - the main union of the DWP - just went up.  Read how the union took control of the DWP - and local politics - and why it is critical for the people of Los Angeles to support his battle to regain control of LA's water and power.

Four Ways the DWP Union Controls L.A. and Why We Need to Support Mayor Eric Garcetti

Posted: 08/21/2013 4:55 pm

Just when it appeared the Los Angeles City Council was about to rubber stamp the new DWP contract, Mayor Eric Garcetti has gone directly to the public for support.

And we need to support him on this if we are ever going to regain control of our city. So please read this message from the Mayor and sign the petition and get everyone you know who lives in the City of L.A. to sign it.

Now as for why I am taking such a particular interest in this issue, when the neighborhood council movement was still in its infancy, I attended the first city-wide meeting of NC representatives on a specific issue -- the DWP contract -- called by Jim Alger of a NC (neighborhood Council) in Northridge.

We quickly agreed this was an important issue for the NC's and formed a committee to negotiate a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the DWP to give us access to information we needed to make informed recommendations to the City about the policies of the DWP.

Eventually, I was on the panel that handled the last round of successful negotiations with just appointed DWP Manager, Ron Deaton, whom I had worked with on other projects and even before then, I had been appointed -- along with Jim Alger -- by Mayor Hahn on the recommendation of Doane Liu (now a Deputy Mayor for Garcetti) -- to serve as NC representatives on a committee overseeing the green policies of the DWP. And it was there that I first met Brian D'Arcy (the head of the DWP's main union,the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18) and realized that he was actually the person who ran the DWP -- and, to a certain extent, the City of Los Angeles.

During our first meeting, the DWP executive who ran the program brought up a specific project and was beginning to discuss it when D'Arcy -- without even bothering to look at him -- dismissed the project by saying -- "That's Not Gonna Happen." And once he said that -- that idea was dead. It took only one more meeting to make it clear that any idea which benefited the City -- or the rate payers -- or anything other than the union -- was an immediate non-starter. So any proposal needed to include what were essentially pay-offs to the union.

The rest of the story is at the Huffington Post.