Mayor’s Home Violates Watering Rules
Published on: Sep 3, 2009
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa admitted on August 26 that the Getty House, the mayor’s official residence near Larchmont Village, has been violating the city’s water conservation ordinance that limits the use of sprinklers.
The official residence of the mayor of Los Angeles is the Getty House at 605 South Irving Boulevard in the Windsor Square neighborhood.
The last time the mayor was in the news in connection with Larchmont Village was back in June when he was first spotted with new girlfriend KTLA-TV Channel 5 reporter Lu Parker at Chevalier’s Books.
MAYOR’S HOME VIOLATES CITY WATERING RULES
Villaraigosa blames ‘glitch’ in irrigation system for sprinklers caught on camera during the evening.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa admitted that the Getty House, the mayor’s official residence, has been violating the city’s water conservation ordinance that limits the use of sprinklers. He blamed it on “a glitch” in his irrigation system.
NBC4 cameras showed sprinklers watering the backyard of the mayor’s house in Hancock Park, on nights restrictions were in effect.
At a news conference in City Hall called to announce that Angelenos had set new records for energy efficiency and water conservation, Villaraigosa was forced to admit the embarrassing mistake.
“Apparently, there was a glitch in a system that was installed about two years ago,” he said.
Villaraigosa said the “smart irrigation system” was one of the most advanced systems anywhere, “but yes, there was a glitch and, apparently, it was running on in the evening.”
He said he had not known the sprinklers had been on, only finding out about it after seeing the NBC4 report. He said he asked the Department of Parks and Recreation to do more frequent checks of his home to make sure he was conforming with the ordinance.
Villaraigosa, however, insisted that he was saving water.
“I can tell you this, though, and this is great news. One, my water consumption at Getty House has been reduced by 70 percent and that’s for irrigation. There’s been a 67 percent reduction in water use for the resident, so thank you for alerting me to the issue and giving me an opportunity to share with the rest of the city just how successful this program has been.”
When a reporter expressed skepticism about the mayor’s ignorance of the violation, noting that the sprinklers were very loud and could be heard by other residents in the neighborhood, Villaraigosa replied, “I don’t have staff that’s at my home in the evening so they couldn’t hear it. I sleep very heavily so I couldn’t hear it.”
When another reporter said that the sprinklers at City Hall seemed to be on every morning — also in violation of the ordinance — Villaraigosa said he was unaware of that and promised to look into it.
According to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Angelenos saved a record 318 gigawatt-hours during fiscal year 2008-09 — equivalent to removing 53,000 households from the power grid and taking 34,000 cars off the road.
Villaraigosa said it prevented 178,700 metric tons of greenhouse gases from polluting the air.
Angelenos also reduced water use by a record 17 percent in July, according to the DWP.
In single-family residential properties, water use declined by 20.1 percent; in multifamily residential properties, 8.3 percent; commercial properties, 17.1 percent; industrial properties, 21.8 percent; and government properties, 34.4 percent.
“Avoiding the need to generate power through energy efficiency is the cleanest and most economical way to reduce the city’s carbon footprint and I am pleased that the DWP and its customers have been so mindful of their energy usage,” Villaraigosa said.
Five programs accounted for 92 percent of the energy savings. One of the programs distributed 2.4 million free compact fluorescent light bulbs to homes across the city. Another program enabled residents to get 13,650 Energy Star-rated refrigerators in exchange for their older models.
The DWP also installed free energy-efficient lighting at more than 34,000 small businesses, and gave customers rebates and other incentives for installing energy-efficient equipment.
Villaraigosa claimed it was a worthwhile investment to make L.A. the greenest big city in the country.
“We’ve increased our energy efficiency budget ten-fold over the last three years and as a result, we’ve seen a 19-fold increase in how much energy we save,” he said.
Much of the savings in water use was attributed to an ordinance that banned residents from turning on their sprinklers more than twice a week and never between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The DWP’s imposition of “shortage year” water rates also helped.
Under shortage year rates, the amount of water that residents can purchase at the lowest price was reduced by 15 percent. Customers who exceeded the allotment had to pay a higher rate.