Drama at City Hall: Nightly wrap

The high-stakes budget machinations between Mayor Villaraigosa, the City Council, the Department of Water and Power and the agency's perennial critics have apparently inspired the Daily News to market a series of City Hall images by photographer Hans Gutknecht. They get prominent billing tonight on the paper's website.

Highlights of the day:

LAT lede: "City Council members sought to tighten their grip over Los Angeles' public utility Wednesday, after an influential Wall Street firm (Moody's Investors Service) lowered the city's bond rating based in part on 'the increased political contention' swirling around the budget at City Hall."
Orlov: "Flexing its muscles in an escalating City Hall budget battle, the City Council moved Wednesday to block Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's city shutdown plan and to seize control over the Department of Water and Power."
Councilman Greig Smith proposed City Charter changes to give the council control over the DWP budget, allow it to remove board members with a two-thirds vote and limit Villaraigosa's power to appoint all five.
Former DWP commission President Nick Patsaouras filed a ratepayer lawsuit against the DWP, saying it had an obligation to transfer $73.5 million to the city's general fund as promised.
Bill Boyarsky posted here at LA Observed that "the city is not going broke. There’s no need for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to shut down city services two days a week beginning next week." It's all about the DWP union trying to hold on to future solar jobs, he says.
Controller Wendy Greuel announced she will audit DWP finances.
Legislative analyst Gerry Miller advised the City Council that the mayor lacks the authority to shut down city departments two days a week, as he has threatened.
Villaraigosa and Councilman Paul Krekorian guested on Which Way, L.A.? to talk about the budget crisis with Warren Olney.
Greuel and councilmembers Jan Perry and Bernard Parks had their say on KPCC's Patt Morrison show.
"Years from now historians may see this as the turning point in the great debate about the role of government in our lives," says Jonathan Dobrer at the Daily News' Friendly Fire blog.

Photo by Hans Gutknecht / Daily News