CITY HALL
Fiscal conservatives seized upon the dread of tax day Wednesday to protest what they characterized as the overreaching bailout of corporations and the propensity of lawmakers to balance budget gaps on the backs of taxpayers.
More than 300 protesters amassed on the steps of Glendale City Hall as part of a nationwide Boston Tea Party-styled campaign to vent over the billions in federal aid spent to prop up corporate giants like AIG and General Motors.
Across California, frustrations also extended to the slate of upcoming state ballot propositions hashed out as a linchpin in a deal to close a $42-billion budget gap.
On May 19, California voters will decide the fate of Propositions 1A through 1F, which were hammered out between state lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as part of an effort to break a three-month budget stalemate.
Taken together, the measures would increase the size of the state’s rainy-day fund, extend recently enacted temporary tax hikes by two years, backfill current cuts to education spending, borrow $5 billion against the lottery and reduce voter-approved funds for early child education and mental health services, all while trying to keep future spending in check.
Hundreds of residents from throughout the region clogged the steps of City Hall with signs that ranged from the benign — “Where’s my bailout?” — to the unrestrained — “Proud to be a Tea Party terrorist.”
Residents face tight water-rationing regulations this summer after the Southland’s major water wholesaler announced Tuesday that it would reduce deliveries for the first time since 1991.
The board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, citing the effects of years of drought and tightening regulatory conditions, voted to cut water shipments by 10% effective July 1, sending local agencies in Glendale, Burbank and La Crescenta into the final stages of planning for imposing strict restrictions on their customers this summer.
Under the wholesale structure approved alongside Metropolitan’s delivery cuts Tuesday, member agencies who use more than their designated allotments would have to pay higher penalty rates on top of the nearly 20% across-the-board rate hike that takes effect Sept. 1.
For consumers, the trickle-down effect will mean tiered rate structures to induce conservation combined with mandatory watering restrictions, such as lawn irrigation schedules.
PUBLIC SAFETY
