The mood of the public and officials alike has tilted hard against outsized consumers. Although “water providers such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power have refused to divulge the names of California’s top residential water users,” the Los Angeles Times reported, “the DWP is now considering changes to its water conservation ordinance that would impose ‘substantial’ fines for excessive use and make the names public.”

Pressed by “public outrage, and questioning by Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz,” the Times noted, DWP would follow in the East Bay’s footsteps, where agency overusers recently confronted “an excessive-use penalty ordinance that allows it to fine and name water customers who consume more than four times the average household.”

From nagging to snitching

In the Bay Area, a culture of water shaming has developed from the ground up. In a report on “the domestic water police,” the New York Times recently identified “moms and dads, spouses and partners, children, even co-workers and neighbors” as among the residents “quick to wag a finger when they spot people squandering moisture, such as a faucet left running while they’re brushing their teeth, or using too much water to clean dinner plates in the sink. And showers? No lingering allowed.”

More nagging has gone hand in hand with more snitching. The Times reported that “state water agencies issued more than 70,000 warnings for overuse and more than 20,000 penalties” this June and July, with many issued when “someone’s neighbor ratted on them,” according to State Water Resources Control Board climate and conservation manager Max Gomberg.

Although those penalties landed on a relatively small group of die-hard squanderers, the state has now leveled substantial fines on whole cities that failed to meet conservation targets. “While most communities continue to hit mandated conservation targets, a few have consistently missed,” the Sacramento Bee noted. “All four were in Southern California: Beverly Hills, Indio, Redlands and Coachella Valley Water District. Each was fined $61,000.”

These sums could be only the beginning. “The penalties are based on the board’s authority to issue fines of $500 per day for violations of its emergency regulation,” according to the Press-Enterprise. “The board could also issue the providers a cease and desist order, which carries a fine up to $10,000 per day for non-compliance.”

A vicious circle

The crackdown has come as agencies have hiked rates for users who do conserve. “Water providers in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and other parts of the state have recently told customers that rates will go up at least temporarily, as utilities struggle to pay for building and repairing pipes, buying water and other costs, even as customers cut back,” according to Reuters. Agencies have sometimes wound up a victim of their own success. “In Los Angeles, conservation led to a $111 million drop in revenues during the fiscal year that ended July 1, a period mostly before the mandatory cutbacks kicked into high gear, Department of Water and Power budget director Neil Guglielmo said Friday.”

But for now, regulators have tried to emphasize the positive. “Californians slashed their water use 26 percent in September, meeting Gov. Jerry Brown’s goal of 25 percent for the fourth straight month,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing recently released state data. Though encouraged by the numbers, water agencies have strained to strike a messaging balance between threats and warnings on the one hand and encouragement and pride on the other, hoping to give savers a sense of reward without subtly encouraging a return to laxity. Utilities, noted the Chronicle, remained dedicated to “trying to keep the conservation message front and center after four dry years, especially as residents may be tempted to become less diligent with forecasts calling for a wetter-than-average winter.”

During a Wednesday appearance on one of Southern California’s top-rated radio shows, Koretz admitted he’s taken money from cab companies.

“I’m mad that you’re doing the bidding of the taxi companies because that’s what this is really about,” John Phillips, the quick-witted co-host of KABC AM 790’s Mid-Day LA show, said during a heated exchange over controversial new regulations on ridesharing services. “The taxis are now having competition from someone who is eating their lunch.”

Then, he bluntly asked Koretz, “Do you take any money from the taxi cab companies? Have you gotten any contributions?”

“Yeah, sure,” the councilman replied. “A few bucks here, a few buck there.”

Koretz takes money from taxi companies, insurance industry

A CalWatchDog.com analysis of campaign finance records shows that Koretz has taken more than “a few bucks” from the taxi industry.

Since his first city council campaign in 2007, Koretz’ campaign committees have cashed checks from Bell Cab Management, City Cab, Yellow Cab, Taxi Systems Inc., Pacific Yellow Cab, L.A. Checker Cab Cooperative, Independent Taxi Owners Association, L.A. Taxi Cooperative, United Independent Taxi Drivers and the L.A. Transportation PAC, which is sponsored by the L.A. Taxi Cooperative.  In total, Koretz has accepted nearly $11,000 from the taxi industry. (See detailed list below.)

In addition to the taxi industry, Koretz has cashed checks from another beneficiary of rideshare regulations, the insurance industry. According to Maplight.org, which tracks special interest money in politics, the insurance industry is the fourth highest contributor to Koretz’ city council campaigns, having given $32,700 in recent years.

The campaign contributions from the taxi industry have flowed as Koretz ramped up his rhetoric against ridesharing. In June, Koretz and fellow Los Angeles City Councilman Gil Cedillo joined a demonstration at City Hall to support new government regulations of ridesharing companies.

Safety: L.A. taxis rack up more than 10,000 violations

Koretz and other rideshare regulators repeatedly cite safety concerns as the justification for new regulations.

“I would ask my daughter not to ride in an Uber car because, in my opinion, they are unsafe,” Koretz said, according to CBS Los Angeles. “We’ve seen incidents where Uber riders right here in Los Angeles, as well as all around the nation, have been endangered.”

But according to records from the Los Angeles Taxi Commission, regulations haven’t made taxis safe.

Los Angeles taxi drivers have been cited more than 10,000 times in the past five years, according to data obtained by CalNewsroom.com in response to a public records request filed with the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation. In some cases, taxi drivers have been caught drinking on the job, aiding in prostitution and driving without a license.

As regulators have raised safety concerns about ridesharing, they’ve grown less vigilant in policing the taxi industry. The number of taxi cabs in Los Angeles has remained relatively fixed at roughly 2,300 in the past five years. The same regulations have been on the books. Yet there has been a staggering drop in citations, hearing notices, suspension days and fines against drivers.

From 2009-2013, the number of violations has declined 50 percent, while driver suspension days have plummeted from a high of 355 in 2009 to just 108 in 2013. In the first quarter of 2014, taxi drivers took just 22 suspension days for violations.

Koretz in 2010: Enforce laws already on the books

Koretz hasn’t always been in favor of new regulations to solve transportation-related problems. In 2010, when Angelenos complained about the growing number of food trucks in residential neighborhoods, Koretz said that current laws were adequate.

“The main reason we have problems is that our people are not enforcing the law,” said Koretz, according to LAist.com. “If we were just enforcing the laws strictly, our problems would be solved.”

Now, it appears, Koretz has lost those libertarian impulses.

“If John is a grown adult man making the decision that he wants to take Uber… isn’t that John’s right?” Mid-Day LA co-host Jillian Barberie asked Koretz.

“That’s a little more libertarian than I would go,” he said. “I think you have a responsibility to protect the public if you’re a government entity.”

Listen to the entire interview.

Koretz Campaign Contributions from Taxi Companies: $10,950