Central to Villaraigosa's plan is a proposal to lay off 1,000 city employees and cut 50 percent of the funds earmarked for Los Angeles' Neighborhood Councils. The idea of lay offs in particular incited the ire of people on both sides of the ropes. 

Meeting attendees representing various interest groups voiced their grievances with the mayor's plan. 

The crowd responded with cheers and applause when several council members expressed misgiving about the lay offs. Those council members said they recognized the need for immediate action on the budget crisis, but that the city should look into other options to address the deficit. 

Prior to Villaraigosa's appearance, the Council grilled financial advisors about alternatives to resorting to lay offs to balance the budget. The advisors brought up options such as the privatization of parking meters, and transferring employees targeted by lay offs to departments not funded by the city's general fund. 

Council members and the mayor agreed that any decision regarding budget cuts would be tough, but necessary in the end. Councilman Bernard Parks said that while some of the prospective changes in the budget are daunting, the alternative of waiting or deliberating longer would only make the situation worse.

"We have to make decisions today...we cannot opt out, we can't take a pass," he said, adding that "time is not our friend."

The urgency of the situation was one issue that everyone in the room could agree on.

Villaraigosa repeatedly asserted that the Council must "act now." He said the city will have to accept some of his proposed measures or the budget situation will become much worse and the city's credit rating could drop. That would cause another set of serious issues down the line.

"We can't continue to say no to everything," he said. "We can't say no to layoffs, no to furloughs, no to department eliminations."

Council member Janice Hahn countered that laying off such a large number of people might not benefit the city's economy in the long term.

"If we move forward to begin to layoff, the number has been a thousand, aren't we then adding to that one big reason that we're in a tough place, which is the economy?" she asked. "If we lay off 1,000 people, that's a thousand people that aren't paying their mortgage, that's a thousand people that aren't shopping in our stores, that's a thousand people who are not contributing to our economy."

City employees at the meeting said there are options for addressing the budget crisis without putting so many people out of work.

Richard Serrano, a maintenance worker from Granada Hills, spoke at the meeting on behalf of people he said he felt have no voice.

"I know this isn't an easy decision, but layoffs cannot be an option," Serrano said.

He said he feels particular concern for student workers. Those jobs won't be saved by transferring them to funds outside of the city's general fund. He thinks that instead of letting even one person lose their job, all city employees should take a minor pay cut.

"We all share the benefits and we should all bear the burden," the second-generation city employee said. 

He compared it to a family who falls on rough times. The family cannot afford to eat steak for dinner "but at least everyone still eats." 

Serrano said he also feels that contracting out to private companies is a bad idea.

"You don't want nine-to-five companies doing these services." he said

Simboa Wright, another city employee, echoed Serrano's sentiments. 

"[Villaraigosa] is still stuck on layoffs and public-private partnerships, but he needs to work with us [city workers] because we're the people who know the services and where the savings are," Wright said. 

He was disturbed that, of the more than 100 suggestions presented by city workers for how the city could save money, the Council only implemented 10.

"We're here to say, hey we gave you the tools to work with, we've made concessions, now [the City Council] needs to use those tools before resorting to layoffs," said Wright, who did not speak publically during the meeting but came with other city employees in an act of solidarity.

"Let's remember that city employees are the backbone of the city," he said. "We are proud of our jobs. We keep the city running...not them [the City Council]."