Who ya gonna call?

"I wish I could say it was some great altruistic reason that I don't have the taxpayers paying for my mobile phone bill, but it's just plain old laziness because I don't want to have to sit down and separate all the city calls from the personal ones," Luna told me last week, speaking on his mobile phone.

Well, you don't have to do that, councilman. It's a $75 flat rate for all your local calls--only personal long-distance calls and special charges require reimbursement. "Oh," he said, clearly surprised. "I had to assume that whatever the percentage of personal, I would have to reimburse the city--and that's too much work."

Luna says he never wanted a car phone at all until a free one and a month's airtime were included in the purchase of his last car. Now, Luna says, he's hooked. He uses it to return dozens of messages a day. (Luna's phone bills also prove unequivocally that he is the council's media darling--there are dozens of calls to reporters. But Luna swears he's only returning calls, not offering juicy tips.)

Luna says only four people have his mobile number--and his secretary at city hall isn't one of them. She let him have an earful last week when, in a frenzy to locate him, she realized she wasn't one of the privileged few.

So, then, what would you think about letting several hundred thousand people have your number, Mr. Luna?

That's all right. We'll let it go this time.

Observer editorial assistant DeJannette Neugent provided research assistance for this story.