The item originated (as LBREPORT.com reported two weeks ago at this link) when the President of Friends of Bixby Park came to the Aug. 5 City Council budget session and pleaded for restoration of at least some of the Park Rangers.

The taxpayer testified to visible drug use in Bixby Park, said this caused some residents to avoid using their parks and said this was a serious problem in other city parks. No one refuted her testimony.

Instead, Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal (who represents the area that includes Bixby Park), spotted the taxpayer in the audience and before her constituent could speak, Lowenthal urged the Council not to support any request to restore Park Rangers until they knew the full costs, asked if staff could provide full details (she piled on every cost imaginable) at the Aug. 19 Budget Oversight Committee meeting and staff replied yes.

On the eve of the meeting, someone fed the PressTelegram an overall cost figure (no details) which means someone knows the cost details now. So...where's an accompanying staff memo with those details?

Shouldn't the Budget Oversight Committee (to make an informed decision) and taxpayers (to provide meaningful input) know the basic facts before heading into a decisional meeting on the matter?

No major business would be run this way, offering decisionmakers a verbal presentation on a matter so important that staff was explicitly directed to provide details. In a governmental context, it's manipulative not to provide elected officials and taxpayers with information in advance. It prevents scrutiny and, dare we say it, oversight before actions are taken.