stopping climate change one 5-star hotel at a time
stopping climate change one 5-star hotel at a time
ladwp board president cynthia mcclain-hill stayed at a fancy, $700 a night hotel in dubai during COP28. ladwp employees flagged that she filled out a false per diem form, but that didn't stop her.
COP28 was the big environmental conference this month. It’s where important busy people gathered to try and save the planet from our climate crisis, but in the coolest way possible.
My friend, who attended COP28 and stayed at an amazing hotel for $150, described it this way:
“It felt like a big spectacle. Dubai is an even worse version of Vegas. And nothing about it works. The whole thing felt like an insult to God.”
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), meanwhile, has sought to position itself as the most enviro-conscious public utility in the country. And the head of the LADWP board, Cynthia McClain-Hill, attended the global summit to give a speech at the “Indigenous, Migrant and Frontline Communities Pavilion.”
And she did it in style. Here’s the $700 a night, 5-star hotel where she stayed, “Atlantis, The Palm,” which looks like if AI created a rich person hotel:
To go on the taxpayer-funded trip, McClain-Hill filled out a form asking for a higher per diem, from $383 to $700, stating it was “allowed per the city controller guidelines” and that “no other hotels were available with in the Green Zone of the conference.”
The problem is, according to people at LADWP who looked at the form, is that McClain-Hill “provided false information” when she said on her form there were no other hotels around the “green zone” of the conference. An LADWP employee pointed out city travel policy, which states a traveler must select, “the most economical and practical accommodations.” The employee said it was able to find other rooms that were cheaper. Apparently as low as $93 per night. The employee said in an email that, “the hotel being requested does not comply with several of these factors:”
Ultimately, the per diem, about $10,000 for three people, was OK’d by someone higher up at LADWP. It was supposed to get approval from the mayor’s office, but that did not appear to happen.
Anyway, you can read more about it in a recently filed State Bar complaint against McClain-Hill.
That's a shocking per diem for 3 people. I work for the state of California and our hotel accommodation for most counties is around $100. I get the appeal of wanting to stay at a resort, but a public servant should pay the balance above what is approved out of their own pocket. Abuses like this make us subject to so much scrutiny at the agency level and from the public.