THANKS, L.A. CITY COUNCIL! Billionaire Eli Broad gets $52 million of taxpayer funds for parking garage:

We told you it was happening, and now it has. The cash-strapped city of L.A., which is having trouble hiring cops and keeping fire stations manned, is officially giving billionaire El Broad $52 million for a parking lot.You heard it right. The L.A. City Council approved the deal this week. Of course, there are details that help public officials deflect the reality of of the situation.

Like the fact that the cash is coming from a separate fund — from the controversial Community Redevelopment Agency, which is supposed to help redevelop blighted properties (not rich guys who want to house their art collections with the aid of your dollars).

Still, it’s a bit of a boondoggle, innit?

Gov. Jerry Brown has been attempting to seize CRA money across the state for precisely this reason — that it’s being misused.

Broad is building a museum as part of downtown’s Grand Avenue redevelopment project. His venue would house his multimillion-dollar art collection.

But will the graffiti be on the inside of the museum, the outside, or both?

RELATED: Steven Greenhut of City Journal on “California’s Secret Government: How Redevelopment agencies blight the Golden State.”