A wise man once said, many years ago, “Follow The Money” and it has always been true, especially when it comes to civics.
If you want a clear indication of a government’s goals and direction, follow the money using this database for All City Funds, Current balances of all Funds for the City of Los Angeles. Includes General Fund, Reserve Fund, Budget Stabilization Fund, and Special Funds. Upated daily, Monday through Friday.
If you want to follow Los Angles accounts — and I admit, it can be quite a geeky endeavor — they are online for all citizens to see as yet another database on the data.lacity.org site. I previously highlighted another datas showing the status of 311 calls in the city. This database has a lot more data and can take a bit longer to sort through, but you can use the online tools to slice and dice it in any way you wish.
Want a deeper understanding of your city. Dive in a swim around in this data for a while and I am almost sure you will find it!