See what your neighbor gets paid

With another of its occasional Sunday packages railing about city salaries, the Daily News posts online a database listing the name and salary of all 8,500 workers at the Department of Water and Power. You can search by name, job title or salary range and find out, for instance, that general manager Ron Deaton makes $344,624 a year — or that clerk Gonzalo Lopez Jr. makes $41,885 a year. In general, the paper says, the average DWP worker makes 20% more than counterparts employed in other city departments, but apparently comparable or less than workers at other local utilities. The story online runs with a note from Editor Ron Kaye:

If you read only one story today, I hope it will be this one. The DWP's bloated salaries, poor management and soaring rates are the most glaring example of what's wrong with Los Angeles city government. We think this is so important we've put up the salaries of all 8,500 employees here at dailynews.com. See how your pay compares with theirs.

Among the reader reactions received by the paper are kudos for the story and complaints such as this: "How dare you! Did each one of these employees sign off on this? I hardly think so. What right do you have to open up these people's lives to public examination."