Huntington Park : Laid-Off Employees Demonstrate at City Hall

About a dozen former municipal employees picketed Huntington Park City Hall earlier this week, carrying placards that blamed the City Council for financial problems that led to the recent layoff of 25 workers.

Several of the former employees carried signs into City Hall for the council’s Monday night meeting.

Activist Louis Hernandez, leader of a group called Huntington Park Citizens for Responsible Government, told the council that the layoffs could have been avoided if the city had not loaned more than $10 million to its financially strained Redevelopment Agency.

Mayor William Cunningham denied that the Redevelopment Agency was the culprit. Cunningham said the loss of three auto dealers and federal subsidies over the past couple of years cost the city about $2 million annually and resulted in layoffs of 25 employees earlier this month.

Councilman Thomas E. Jackson apologized for the layoffs, but said the city did not have the money to rehire the employees.

City officials said they were forced to lay off the employees to save $1.2 million a year, money that is to pay for raises for Huntington Park’s remaining employees, among other things.