Better Pay Isn’t the Answer for DWP Head

“It’s Lonely at the Top for DWP” (Feb. 20) was right on target about the need for the Department of Water and Power to change to survive in the new deregulated environment, but was way off base crying about the general manager’s pay being too low. Throwing more money at management won’t solve the problem.

Look at DWP’s record in the last couple of years. A City Council report came out saying the agency was top-heavy and overstaffed. The DWP responded by getting rid of 1,500 mostly rank-and-file employees, who actually provide customers with service, such as risking their lives to climb power poles in a storm or just answering the phone in a timely, courteous manner.

Then the agency hired Bill McCarley as general manager and increased the number of assistant general managers from the traditional two to five. All of those top executives get $130,000 to $150,000-plus. Consider what we got in return: Customers now have to wait longer hours for our water or power service to be restored. And, as anyone who has ever tried calling the DWP on a weekend knows, there are fewer operators to serve you. I’d trade all of those executives for an extra repair crew any day.

To top it off, I would challenge anyone to name one cost-cutting or service-improving idea that McCarley or his cohorts have personally come up with during his tenure. If you look beyond the hype, it’s clear that all of the highly touted changes DWP is making for deregulation came from its non-management employees.

What amazes me the most is that the same politicians who cried foul a few years ago when the DWP rank-and-file employees asked for a 3% raise are now toeing the party line and moaning about pay inequities. That’s deja vu for what they said when the City Council voted itself a more than 20% pay raise a couple of terms ago.

I guess money only matters if you’re one of the people at the top--that must be why it’s lonely. The bottom line is that the people of Los Angeles are the ones getting the shaft.

CHRISTOPHER IMHOFF

Winnetka