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M O N D AY, M AY 29- J U N E 04, 2023
V I S I T A R C A D I AW E E K LY. C O M
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V O L U M E 27,
Los Angeles Mayor Bass signs $13 billion city budget By City News Service
Mayor Karen Bass — joined by, from left, Councilman Curren Price, Council President Paul Krekorian and Councilman Bob Blumenfield — completes signing into effect the city’s 2023-24 budget. | Photo courtesy of MayorOfLA/Twitter
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ayor Karen Bass on Friday signed the city’s revised $13 billion budget for fiscal year 2023-24, which she said charts a new course for the city — one that is “stronger, happier, healthier and safer.” The budget will take effect July 1. “Just last month, I stood in this room and said that the budget was being presented as a reflection of our values
and invest in the most critical needs,” Bass said. “I also said that I was confident that the relationship that we had built with a City Council that we would have a collaborative process. “That’s what we have here today — that we come together united to sign the budget.” There is a difference between spending and investing, she added, and this budget
makes investments to bring people inside, improve public safety and other areas that will “net a return in terms of lives saved, in terms of the quality of life and better neighborhoods, and that will save the city in the long run.” She thanked City Council President Paul Krekorian and Councilman Bob Blumenfield, chair of the council’s Budget, Finance and Innovation Committee, and the rest of
the council for “locking arms” with her and approve a budget that “will bring the urgency to the crisis we face.” Krekorian said the budget invests in “basic infrastructure and quality of life.” The budget will fund the basic services that people in Los Angeles need, such as improving the environment and lays the foundation for economic recovery post COVID, he added. Councilman Curren Price reiterated the budget represents “our shared valued, shared commitment and sheer determination to get the job done.” The mayor signed the revised $13 billion budget following the City Council’s vote earlier this week to approve its amended version of her originally proposed spending plan earlier this week. After weeks of deliberations, hours of public comment and final revisions, the council voted 13-1 on May 18 to approve its amended version of the mayor’s budget. The final version includes an
unprecedented $1.3 billion to address housing and homelessness and about $3.2 billion for the Los Angeles Police Department. Krekorian said in a statement that the council “built on the broad outline of the mayor’s proposed budget” with amendments to ensure “transparency and accountability” in the city’s spending. The 2023-24 budget tops $13 billion for the first time, a $1.31 billion, or 11% increase, form the prior fiscal year and includes $566 million in a reserve fund. Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez was the lone “no” vote. She said while there are some “important investments” in the budget, it “fell far short” of meeting the needs of Angelenos. “We talked over and over about how we can uplift and fund these desperately needed programs and services because we wanted to create something that reflected the needs of a very diverse city,” Hernandez told her colleagues the day of the vote. “I have to say that I’m
disappointed with the outcome of this process. When we have a budget that has 25% of our money going to policing, we’re not creating a budget that is reflective of our values and the demands that we get every day from our constituents.” Bass said she has not been able to talk with Hernandez about the budget, as the councilwoman was visiting Vienna alongside Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson to learn about different housing models. Other council members supported the budget and applauded the investments outlined within. Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez in a statement said it was the “most progressive budget in the history of Los Angeles.” He noted direct funding for the LAPD decreased by about $22 million compared to last year, and the budget will invest $16 million in funding for alternative crisis response programs, compared with just $8 million last year. See City budget Page 02
DA’s Office clears man who spent 33 years in prison for shooting By City News Service
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man who spent 33 years in prison for a Baldwin Park shooting was proclaimed innocent Thursday by Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, who said the man was wrongfully convicted of attempted murder. Daniel Saldana was convicted in 1990 for an Oct. 27, 1989, shooting that targeted six high school students who were driving after a football game. According to prosecutors, the suspects mistook the group for gang members and opened fire, injuring two of them.
Saldana, who was 22 at the time, was charged along with two other people with six counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle. He was convicted and sentenced to 45 years to life in prison. According to Gascón, another defendant in the case disclosed during a 2017 parole hearing that Saldana was not involved in the shooting, and was not even present at the time. That information was finally relayed to the District Attorney’s Office in February of this year, prompting an
investigation that ultimately determined Saldana to be innocent. “I just knew that one day this was going to come,” Saldana said at a news conference Thursday with Gascón. “I’m so grateful. I just thank God.” Gascón lamented the delay in the parole board notifying prosecutors about the information disclosed in the 2017 parole hearing. But he stressed the importance of justice being served, even when delayed. “As prosecutors, our duty is not simply to secure
convictions but to seek justice,” he said in a statement. “When someone is wrongfully convicted, it is a failure of our justice system and it is our responsibility to right that wrong. We owe it to the individual who was wrongfully convicted and to the public that justice is served. “Not only is it a tragedy to force people into prison for a crime they did not commit, every time an injustice of this magnitude takes place, the real people responsible are still out there to commit more crimes. Our job
LA County District Attorney George Gascón, at podium, announces the exoneration of Daniel Saldana, third from right, after 33 years behind bars. | Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office
is to hold people accountable when they cause harm, but we
also have to hold ourselves and the system accountable.”