Parks seeks to wean City from LADWP

In recent years, the City of Los Angeles has treated its municipal utility, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, as a Cash Cow. "Not so fast," says City Councilman and Mayoral candidate Bernard Parks:

Councilman Bernard Parks, stepping up his criticism in his campaign against Mayor James Hahn, said Wednesday that he would freeze rates at the Department of Water and Power and try to wean the city off using so much money from the utility to balance its books.

"The current administration looks at the DWP as a cookie jar," Parks said at a news conference in front of the utility's downtown headquarters. "In the last four years, the mayor has taken $600 million from the DWP ratepayers to use to give in salary increases and pension benefits to city workers."