This Ain't Hazzard County

Susannah Rosenblatt of the LAT tells us about the new layer of bureaucracy that will soon be added to Los Angeles County government.

The dramatic reorganization that will grant Los Angeles County's appointed administrator sweeping new executive authority is expected to cost $1.7 million a year and create five executive positions, according to a report released Monday.
...
Each of the five deputy chief executive officers will oversee a cluster of connected departments, help integrate their services, and act as a liaison between department heads and the board.

Not that the $1.7 million cost is anything more than spare change for the county. There is a nice summary of the "highlights" of this year's proposed county budget here. You know, just a little $21.241 billion county budget—nothing to write home about.

I'd much rather see them spend $1.7 million on upgrading their website (which is for all intents and purposes one's public face these days) thus allowing for more and better direct interaction between people and their government, rather than using the money to put more distance between us and the Supes.

And wait a sec, if one's website is one's public face, we're pretty damn ugly looking right now. But here's an anonymous tip for you: construction of the FC Blog's online Death Star is ongoing. In the next few weeks, it will be fully operational.