Results tagged “davidnahai”

Have a frank talk with an LADWP official this month and they'll tell you it's been a tough few weeks. The perception of the city-owned utility has gone downhill amid a series of water main breaks, the sudden resignation of David Nahai (however, with a comfy consulting gig) and one moderate rainstorm knocking out electricity service to nearly 50,000 customers.

Furthering the ridiculousness of the David Nahai consulting contract, City Councilmembers are chiming in as well. "This is more than comical," City Councilman Dennis Zine was quoted saying in the Daily News. "Here we are putting city workers on furlough, talking about reducing cop hiring, asking people to conserve water, and then we're talking about squandering thousands of dollars on this man."

What a hot mess. The Department of Water and Power's commission today voted to not only name and pay a Deputy Mayor as the interim General Manager of the utility, but also continue to pay retired General Manager David Nahai for three months for consulting services. Both will earn over $6,200 a week, equivalent to a salary of $325,000.

Former Department of Water & Power CEO David Nahai may have resigned last Friday, but that doesn't mean he still won't get a comfy paycheck while he starts his new job at the Clinton Climate Initiative. Through the end of 2009, Nahai will earn about $6,300 a week as a consultant. “There’s nothing nefarious about it, nothing complex about it. This is a reasonable business decision, nothing more than that,” DWP commission President Lee Kanon Alpert told the LA Times. “David’s resigned, and we need his institutional knowledge for the next few months.”

KNX1070 is reporting that the head of the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power will resign today. A rash of recent water main breaks, including flooding in Studio City and a fire truck sucking sinkhole in Valley Village, apparently has played a role in CEO David Nahai's decision. An announcement by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected at 1 p.m.

NPR's Ben Bergman did a ride along with one of the fifteen Department of Water and Power's Water Cops, who patrol and respond to complaints about water wasting. It's not like riding along with a police officer, he rode with a city employee in a Toyota Prius, whose job is about trying to educate before writing citations as high as $600.

As temperatures reached high temperatures today, the LA Department of Water & Power announced spiked energy usage by residents this afternoon and is urging energy conservation. "Any time energy demand exceeds 5000 megawatts we need to begin conserving wherever possible, while not jeopardizing anyone's health or safety," said David Nahai, LADWP General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, in a e-mail notice. The DWP expects demand to reach up to 5500 megawatts. Has anyone run over to Nahai's house to see if he's conserving energy?

For six weeks, ex-LA City Beat writer Alan Mittelstaedt has been trying to get a hold of DWP's CEO and General Manager's personal water bills, something that must be released by law within 10 days of request. The reporter was ready to bring the DWP to court, but before that, the Daily News printed a story about Nahai's bills but left out the backstory on why Nahai was all of the sudden releasing this info. "[The Daily News reporter] deserves to be hauled before the Court of Public Opinion and denounced as a toady for writing a puff piece devoid of even a hint of the real reason that Nahai coughed up his bills and hired an auditor to examine waste at his 6,012-square-foot Benedict Canyon palace," Mittelstaedt wrote in reaction to the series of events.

Ex-LA City Beat writer Alan Mittelstaedt (known as the LA Sniper) might sue the LA Dept. of Water & Power General Manager and CEO David Nahai over a California Public Records Request violation -- Nahai won't give up his personal water bills for his 6,012-square foot Benedict Canyon mansion. Mittelstaedt thinks the bills will show Nahai's lifestyle is opposite the one his department preaches: sustainability and green. "We’re in ongoing discussions with DWP’s attorneys and are hopeful that the bills will be released by the end of the week," the reporter told LAist in an e-mail. If not released by then, Mittelstaedt will sue. UPDATE: Nahai released an audit of his home energy use to the Daily News. He has an average bimonthly electric bill of $414.

With temperatures soaring past 100 degrees in the Valley and with other parts of Los Angeles feeling sticky, it's no surprise that energy use spiked yesterday.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power says that most households in Los Angeles use between 30-40 percent of water outdoors and in some neighborhoods located in zones with warmer temperatures or with homes on larger lots, households use as much as 70% of their water outdoors. And after a hot weekend, this weekend looks to be much cooler and wetter.

This morning, the Los Angeles City Council gave a first round of approval for water and power rate hikes, saying infrastructure is needed to be updated. Over the next year and a half, monthly rates are expected to increase to around $7.25 (plus tax).