Star Studded Event at Mayor’s Mansion Spotlights LA City Services

LA City workers held a mock red carpet event and an awards ceremony Thursday, March 4, honoring the best in City services, spotlighting the impact that thousands of layoffs and drastic service cuts will have on the entertainment industry.

“Who will want to film multi-million dollar productions in a city without services?” said LA City gardener Lance Delaney, who also monitors video shoots at Exposition Park. “The loss of revenue from the entertainment industry would devastate our economy even more.”

More than 75 workers from the Coalition of LA City Unions gathered outside the Mayor’s mansion as he hosted Hollywood celebrities at a pre-Oscars party. But it was engineers, librarians, chemists, animal service employees and street and tree workers who stole the spotlight.

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The mock red carpet received extensive media coverage from outlets including ABC Channel 7, NBC Channel 4, The Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly and Perez Hilton’s Hollywood blog.

“We’re having fun tonight, but there is serious work that needs to get done to protect the services we are so proud provide,” said awards emcee Chad Doi, who also is a Structural Engineering Associate in the Building and Safety Department.

 Workers took turns walking down the red carpet, accepting service awards and giving acceptance speeches.

“Without me, Cabrillo Beach would not be as beautiful as it is,” said Blanca Flores, a gardener caretaker, as she accepted the Best Kept Beach Award.

City workers and professionals are pressing the Council to show leadership in solving the budget crisis instead of slashing services.

Real Solutions Include:

• Collecting millions in uncollected debt owed to the City

• Implementing 10% fee cuts to privatized contracts

• Cutting costly outsourced service contracts that city workers can do for much less.