Los Angeles Can’t Afford Symbolic Spending While Critical Jobs and Services Are on the Line

As co-chair of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates, I have a front-row seat to the fiscal challenges our city faces—and the stakes have never been higher. The city of Los Angeles is staring down a historic $1 billion deficit. About 650 layoffs are on the table. Departments that keep neighborhoods running—from street maintenance to sanitation—are being gutted. Yet instead of stabilizing finances and protecting critical jobs and services, the City Council is still considering resource-intensive mandates it simply cannot afford to implement or enforce.

A textbook example of the City’s misplaced priorities is a proposed ordinance that imposes costly new scheduling and training requirements on local restaurants already struggling to survive. These mandates would require the City to oversee compliance for more than 50,000 fast food workers and about 3,000 new hires each month—roughly 90,000 workers a year, given the industry’s 80% annual turnover rate. And yet, as restaurants shutter, jobs disappear and food prices surge, the city is considering this duplicative mandate—without conducting a fiscal analysis of how it would impact already strained departments.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Contract Administration (BCA)—the department charged with this work—is facing a 48% staffing cut. BCA warned these cuts will delay wage theft investigations by three to four years and severely limit enforcement of existing labor laws. In other words, the city is proposing to dramatically expand enforcement duties while admitting it can’t manage the workload it already has.

As Budget Advocates, our job is to champion fiscal responsibility for all Angelenos. That means ensuring every dollar and staff hour is spent wisely—on programs that work, services that matter and priorities we can afford—not symbolic programs that sound good but break the bank. Real jobs are on the line, real services are at risk and real families and small businesses will suffer if we don’t change course.

Consider what happened on April 2, when Councilmember Bob Blumenfield offered a commonsense amendment requesting a fiscal analysis of the proposal before moving forward. He asked for details on cost, revenue impact and staff burden. Amid budget shortfalls, this due diligence should be automatic. Yet, the Council rejected the amendment by a 7–8 vote. Even Budget Committee Chair Katy Yaroslavsky voted no.

Rejecting basic fiscal analysis—while laying off workers and slashing services—is indefensible.

Los Angeles needs to get back to basics. You can’t spend what you don’t have. In tough times, every household makes hard choices, cuts back on wants and focuses on needs. The city should be no different.

And let’s not forget what our local businesses are up against. Since the state’s $20/hour fast food minimum wage took effect last year:

• Higher food prices: Food prices at California’s quick-service restaurants have surged 14.5%—nearly double the national average.
• Fewer jobs and cut hours: LA County has lost over 4,400 fast food jobs since AB 1228 passed last year. Nearly 90% of restaurant owners have cut employee hours to stay afloat.
• Closures: Over 100 restaurants in LA shut their doors in 2024.

Restaurants provide critical jobs, especially for immigrants, women and people of color. They support communities, generate tax revenue and offer a ladder of opportunity. Burdening them with more mandates—without analyzing cost or capacity—only punishes those working to keep our economy afloat.

The tourism industry—another major job engine—is also under pressure from new ordinances that increase costs, reduce competition and ultimately drive visitors and revenue elsewhere. In this economy, that’s the last thing we can afford.

The irony is painful: the City plans to eliminate 650 city jobs and 1,000 vacancies to balance the budget yet is weighing new policies that would require more staffing.

This isn’t about opposing all new ideas—it’s about demanding common sense. Before adding programs, the city must prove it can afford them, staff them and enforce them without undermining services Angelenos rely on every day.

Angelenos are tired of waiting years for sidewalk repairs, sitting on hold for 911 and seeing trash pile up because the City lacks capacity to deliver basic services. The answer isn’t more unfunded programs—it’s smarter governance.

As Budget Advocates, we urge the city to adopt two key principles:

• Require that any new ordinances include a fiscal analysis and be fully funded by the department tasked with implementation.
• Do not enact ordinances that would worsen the budget deficit or require enforcement resources the city cannot provide at current staffing levels.

Getting back to basics means laying the foundation for lasting progress.

Los Angeles can’t afford to get this wrong.

Jay Handal is co-chair of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates, an elected body that advises the mayor and City Council on fiscal issues affecting the city of Los Angeles.

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