City Services

Los Angeles officials are considering a plan to turn the library card into a form of identification that the city's large illegal immigrant population could use to open bank accounts and access an array of city services. The City Council unanimously voted recently to consider the proposal, which would have Los Angeles join the growing number of cities across the nation that offer various forms of identification to undocumented workers and others who cannot get driver's licenses because of their immigration status.

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn announced a package of proposals Tuesday aimed at bringing city services closer to residents. The 10-point plan, which could take years to fully implement, is intended to shorten the distance between City Hall and seven major areas of the city, the mayor said. His proposals would ease access to a broad array of such basic services as building permits, sidewalk and street repairs, trash pickup and graffiti cleanup.

We are hurting out here in the Valley. It's as stark and simple as that. Our neighborhoods are declining, our community is unsafe and restless, and City Hall ignores our concerns and security. The result, as we who live here know too well, is that the 7th District and northeast San Fernando Valley need an infusion of new leadership in order to help provide more jobs, public safety and city services. Fortunately, we can do something together to stop this slide.

Here's a suggestion for solving the problem of funding more police in Los Angeles: Call our bluff. I'm talking about those of us who opposed Proposition 1, which was rejected by voters last month, and last November's Proposition N, both of which would have increased property taxes to add 1,000 new LAPD officers. During both campaigns, opponents offered a number of ideas on how to raise revenue for police without resorting to a tax increase.

Long known as one of America's most liberal cities, Berkeley is feeling the winds of change, with voters signaling a shift in concerns from filling progressive political agendas to filling potholes and other basic city needs. On Tuesday, the issue of whether a progressive or a moderate should run City Hall went to the voters in a mayoral runoff that some described as a referendum on Berkeley's tradition of left-leaning politics.

In a desperate cost-cutting move, the Oceanside City Council on Friday eliminated 95 jobs and made public safety reductions to avoid an expected $5.8-million budget deficit. The council's 5-0 vote authorized acting City Manager Jim Turner to slash spending, but agreed to consider saving the Police Department's helicopter program, even if it means limiting operations.

Mayor James K. Hahn, continuing his campaign to improve city services, launched a new 311 telephone system Thursday, aimed at reducing the number of nonemergency calls to 911 and improving access to city government offices. Trouble is, the new phone number is not accessible from some business telephone systems, a quirk that city officials said they are working on.

In Benghazi, the center of the eastern rebellion that broke free from 41 years of despotic rule a week ago, everyone is in charge ? and no one is in charge. But everyone seems to have claimed a piece of the revolution. Men toting shotguns and hunting rifles operate checkpoints. Teenagers in sneakers direct traffic. Young men dance in the back of pickup trucks towing antiaircraft guns, and the makeshift government center in the downtown courthouse has the strung-out, manic feel of a college all-nighter.

Facing the threat of losing more than $1 million in state funds in 1992-93, the Beverly Hills City Council is set on Tuesday to do some contingency planning. During study sessions last week, City Manager Mark Scott presented the council with a proposed budget of $75 million. Last year's general fund budget was about $76 million.

Alarmed over the spiraling cost of retirement benefits, Los Angeles' top budget officials have begun laying the groundwork for a June 8 city ballot measure that would dramatically scale back the pension benefits given to newly hired city employees. The plan sets the stage for a showdown between the city's elected officials and the labor unions that, in many cases, helped put them in office. Union leaders have already begun denouncing the proposal, saying the City Council cannot make the changes without returning to the negotiating table.