The S.S. Tony Villar

Our state is in a financial crisis, and the city is is trying not to go broke, so why would Los Angelinos be looking at hundreds of thousand of their tax dollars going to renovating a million dollar yacht?

The 73 foot long Angelena II is in drydock, and has not been on the water since September, but once it gets nearly $750,000 in upgrades, it will be back taking the city manager and his "guests" and "public relations tours".  Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Tony Villar says, “It’s not a yacht. It’s a boat,” but regardless of what you call it, it's going to be a taxpayer's nightmare.

Last year $147,000 was spent for two captains primarily assigned to the Angelina, $106,000 for a pair of deck hands, and more than $32,000 for fuel and maintenance. And to make matters worse, the engines have been removed because they no longer meet California emissions standards. They need to be replaced by low-emission hybrid motors, so $489,000 in federal taxpayer stimulus money that was supposed to go create jobs, plus another $200,000 coming from the Port of Los Angeles is going towards that upgrade.

“It’s not a perk to get them out on the water,” Villar said, trying to claim it is all business. But of the more than 4,000 took the cruise last year, very few and anything to do with the business of the port. Members of the Morongo Indian Tribe, screenwriters from Universal Studios, a YWCA cruise, people from the exclusive Jonathan Club, UCLA students and dozens of the mayor’s interns were in the ship's logs.

Last week, the final go ahead from the Coast Guard for the new engines came thought, so when the Angelena II hits the high seas in about 90 days, expect another chapter to this story...and not necessarily a happy ending.