City Gets Stuck on the Path to Privatization of Services

If you come to City Hall looking for evidence of Los Angeles’ improved government efficiency, be careful that you don’t step in it.

Those stripes of black goo on the marble floors are the residue of adhesive tape used to hold down the red carpet for last week’s visit from Costis Stephanopoulos, the president of Greece.

In an effort to save money, the city hired a private contractor to roll out the red carpet and do other work to prepare for the visit of a dignitary--work that until two years ago was done by city crews.

The city workers say that because of their years of experience, they had found a special type of tape to secure the carpet without leaving the unseemly mess behind.

Unfortunately, the private contractor instead used old-fashioned, gooey tape, as evidenced Thursday morning by the two city custodians, armed with a razor and a mop, trying to get rid of the goop.

After scraping and mopping for a few hours, the workers had to put off finishing the job until another day because a computer exhibition was taking place in the hallway most marred by the gunk.

“Look at that!” one custodian exclaimed as he stared down at a gooey mark on the floor. “It drives us crazy.”

What makes city maintenance supervisors even crazier is that when the razors and mops can’t do the job, the custodians must rely on extra-strength solvent that eats away at the marble finish, requiring workers to strip and refinish the entire hallway.

Ramiro Beltran, the manager of American Rental, the Tarzana-based firm hired by the city to lay the rug and set up tables and chairs for such events, defended his company’s performance, saying it has followed the city’s instructions on laying the carpet.

“We are using the same kind of tape that they use,” he said.

The city pays Beltran’s firm 45 cents for every square foot of carpeting it lays. The cleanup job, on the other hand, requires at least half a day’s work by two or three city custodians, each of whom earns a minimum of $9 per hour.

This is not the first time the custodians have had to deal with this problem. Each time a foreign dignitary or top-ranking church official arrives in town, the city rolls out the red carpet and the custodians prepare to scrape up the goo.

Since taking office three years ago, Mayor Richard Riordan has promoted private contracting for some city services as a way to increase efficiency. But a spokesman said Thursday that the city maintenance supervisors should share in some of the blame for not instructing the contractor on how to do the job correctly.

“Clearly, this is not the type of mark that outside contractors or even city employees should leave on City Hall,” said Steve Sugerman, Riordan’s communications deputy.