Greuel Addresses Joint Meeting of North Valley Rotary Clubs
Posted by Robin Kellogg
on Feb 03, 2011
In a response to District Governor Drew Frohlich’s request for more fellowship amongst individual Rotary clubs, the Granada Hills, Mid SFV, North SFV and Northridge/Chatsworth Rotary clubs held a joint meeting, Thursday, Feb. 3 at the Porter Valley Country Club. Presidents of the four clubs were in attendance as was Richard Miller, Assistant Governor for the area.
In a response to District Governor Drew Frohlich’s request for more
fellowship amongst individual Rotary clubs, the Granada Hills, Mid SFV,
North SFV and Northridge/Chatsworth Rotary clubs held a joint meeting,
Thursday, Feb. 3 at the Porter Valley Country Club. Presidents of the
four clubs were in attendance as was Richard Miller, Assistant Governor
for the area. The meeting, facilitated by Granada Hills Rotary Club President Janet
Hartley, focused on the benefits of Rotary. DG Frohlich and District
5260 Membership Chair Eli Gauna addressed the crowd about introducing
Rotary to their friends, family and acquaintances. Frohlich spoke of a
more than 50% growth rate in our District’s membership this year and
Gauna reminded us of the sacrifices veterans have made to this country.
Even Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel, the guest speaker at the event, promoted the benefits of Rotary. She shared that a plaque with the Four-Way Test hangs in her office at City Hall and that she uses it daily. Greuel, who has been on top of fiscal transparency and responsibility during her term in office, asked the crowd of 80 to imagine what the City of Los Angeles would be like if our politicians followed Rotary’s Four-Way Test.
Imagine if, before every decision made elected officials in Los Angeles asked themselves:
· Is it the truth?
“We need transparency in government,” said Greuel. She added that after the Bell scandal, Los Angeles was the first city to make its employees’ salaries public.
· Is it fair to all concerned?
Greuel believes this means voting for what benefits all Angelenos and not just those in a specific voting district.
· Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Greuel noted that our politicians need to build better relationships with the citizens of Los Angeles.
· Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
“This,” said Gruel, “should be the motto for all our elected officials and the City of Los Angeles. “I want to continue investing in the community. As controller I can look at the big picture items and see how we can do things better.”
As controller, Greuel has responsibility for Accounts Receivable and Payable, Financial Reporting and Auditing. Just three days after taking office, she received a bill for $50,000 to cover the expense of lunch boxes for first responders at the Michael Jackson funeral service that was to take place at the Staples Center. Greuel did that math. It came to $14 a box lunch. Why was it so much? It turns out that the restaurant that supplied the
lunches was located in Wrightwood, CA, so the city was paying for transportation costs on top of the cost of the box lunches. When Greuel asked why we the city wasn’t using a local vendor like Subway where the cost would be $6.75 a box lunch, she was told there were no eateries in LA that could fill that kind of order. This waste of taxpayer money has since been dubbed “Lunchgate”.
Greuel also stated the City was only collecting on money owed it 53% of the time. That’s a tremendous loss when you realize that the city is owed a whopping $250 million. Realistically, it will not recover all these funds. However, Greuel has taken a new approach to colleting funds. She has created a delinquent business tax site where the names, addresses and amounts of the money owed to the city by businesses are posted (http://www.lacity.org/finance/delinquent.htm). Since then she has collected $5.3 million. She has also instituted a program that allows the city to hold any payments from city contractors if they owe the City of Los Angeles money.
Greuel went on to stress the importance of looking at each aspect of the budget, noting that we can no longer apply short-term solutions to longer-term problems. She stated that the focus must be on Core Services, Public Safety, Jobs and Education.
Her points of concern in this arena include:
· The City pension system, which she said is unsustainable. By 2015, 40% of the General Fund Budget will go toward the Pension fund.
· Quality public education. “We need to get back to a time when we felt a sense of community and our kids could attend public school. When I talk to people, the number one concern is education. And if you don’t have a good school system, it impacts employment opportunities, public safety, and ideas and creativity.”
· Business environment. “We have to create an environment in LA where small businesses don’t feel overburdened by a city that doesn’t understand what they do.
In conclusion, Greuel reminded us to heed our motto of “Service Above Self” and to hold our elected officials
Even Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel, the guest speaker at the event, promoted the benefits of Rotary. She shared that a plaque with the Four-Way Test hangs in her office at City Hall and that she uses it daily. Greuel, who has been on top of fiscal transparency and responsibility during her term in office, asked the crowd of 80 to imagine what the City of Los Angeles would be like if our politicians followed Rotary’s Four-Way Test.
Imagine if, before every decision made elected officials in Los Angeles asked themselves:
· Is it the truth?
“We need transparency in government,” said Greuel. She added that after the Bell scandal, Los Angeles was the first city to make its employees’ salaries public.
· Is it fair to all concerned?
Greuel believes this means voting for what benefits all Angelenos and not just those in a specific voting district.
· Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Greuel noted that our politicians need to build better relationships with the citizens of Los Angeles.
· Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
“This,” said Gruel, “should be the motto for all our elected officials and the City of Los Angeles. “I want to continue investing in the community. As controller I can look at the big picture items and see how we can do things better.”
As controller, Greuel has responsibility for Accounts Receivable and Payable, Financial Reporting and Auditing. Just three days after taking office, she received a bill for $50,000 to cover the expense of lunch boxes for first responders at the Michael Jackson funeral service that was to take place at the Staples Center. Greuel did that math. It came to $14 a box lunch. Why was it so much? It turns out that the restaurant that supplied the
lunches was located in Wrightwood, CA, so the city was paying for transportation costs on top of the cost of the box lunches. When Greuel asked why we the city wasn’t using a local vendor like Subway where the cost would be $6.75 a box lunch, she was told there were no eateries in LA that could fill that kind of order. This waste of taxpayer money has since been dubbed “Lunchgate”.
Greuel also stated the City was only collecting on money owed it 53% of the time. That’s a tremendous loss when you realize that the city is owed a whopping $250 million. Realistically, it will not recover all these funds. However, Greuel has taken a new approach to colleting funds. She has created a delinquent business tax site where the names, addresses and amounts of the money owed to the city by businesses are posted (http://www.lacity.org/finance/delinquent.htm). Since then she has collected $5.3 million. She has also instituted a program that allows the city to hold any payments from city contractors if they owe the City of Los Angeles money.
Greuel went on to stress the importance of looking at each aspect of the budget, noting that we can no longer apply short-term solutions to longer-term problems. She stated that the focus must be on Core Services, Public Safety, Jobs and Education.
Her points of concern in this arena include:
· The City pension system, which she said is unsustainable. By 2015, 40% of the General Fund Budget will go toward the Pension fund.
· Quality public education. “We need to get back to a time when we felt a sense of community and our kids could attend public school. When I talk to people, the number one concern is education. And if you don’t have a good school system, it impacts employment opportunities, public safety, and ideas and creativity.”
· Business environment. “We have to create an environment in LA where small businesses don’t feel overburdened by a city that doesn’t understand what they do.
In conclusion, Greuel reminded us to heed our motto of “Service Above Self” and to hold our elected officials