Tag Archives: Budget

Public Safety says enough is enough! Overwhelming Rejection of LA Mayors Contract

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Los Angeles City Workers Public Safety professionals voted to Reject a deal by LA Mayor Villaraigosa last night.

In the strongest message yet to city leaders the overwhelming majority of public safety professionals rejected the proposed offer and chose to keep the contract they currently have.

Employees are entitled to retain their current contract, the voters elected the Mayor and City Council so they could plan a budget to provide services they pay taxes for.

Not this time!

Your elected leaders have decided the best way to solve this budget crisis is by attacking the Sworn men and women of the LAPD, the Los Angeles Fire Department and members of certain mous coincidentally these members the Mayor intends to furlough do more than just fill potholes, they are the difference between life and death.

LA City Workers have saved Billions for the city, only to be met by these same politicians the very next year with their hand out again telling workers to give more and raising the threat level used to achieve concessions.

Enough is enough, tax break after tax break, fee waiver after fee waiver, waste waste waste. Our residents deserve better then this. Fiscal irresponsibility year after year is no excuse to blame the hard working men and women that continue to provide services under adverse conditions. Residents spoke loudly and clearly that they wanted the services you keep taking away from them to fund your pet projects.

Let’s take a solid look at the 42 furlough days the Mayor and Eric Garcetti are proposing.

The following employees are at risk of furloughs which puts the tax paying citizens at risk.

Airport Security Officers

Airport Security Officers are responsible for LAX, Van Nuys, and Ontario Airports in securing the facility, preventing terrorist attacks, performing bomb inspections, vehicle inspections and maintaining order along with Airport Police.

Los Angeles International Airport has been the subject of numerous potential terrorist attacks, LAX is the fifth busiest airport in the world, with direct flights to North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Middle East. LAX is the 2nd busiest airport in the United States In 2007, 61,895,548 passengers traveled through LAX.

In the year 2000, Al-Qaeda attempted to bomb LAX during the millennium holiday. Ahmed Ressam was captured in Port Angeles, Washington, with a cache of explosives in the trunk of his rented car.He subsequently admits he planned to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on December 31, 1999

Securing one of the nations busiest airports and ensuring the safety of millions is a job performed by classifications the Mayor Can Not afford to Furlough without crippling Airport Operations and inviting a terrorist attack.

Thousands of people will avoid flying out of an International airport that has advertised it’s lack of security, Airport Police are to understaffed to pick up the duties of furloughed employees while paying Airport Police Overtime would cost much more than honoring the valid contract these employees currently have.

Will LAWA notify the Airlines that operate out of LAX that security may be compromised due to mandated furloughs by the Mayor, or will they stand up and inform him that as a proprietary department they will manage the Airport the way they need to.

Detention Officers

Detention officers take custody of millions of prisoners a year for the LAPD, they have several facility’s to hold prisoners one of those is the New Metropolitan Detention Center.

Detention officers are Civilian members of the Los Angeles Police Department, taking Sworn Police Officers out of the field off of patrol duties to cover for civilians results in:

  • Lower Police Officer Safety
  • Higher Response Times
  • Higher Crime
  • Reduction in Public Safety
  • Higher cost to the City

Furloughs Simply don’t work out for civilian members of the LAPD as they hurt public safety, crush officer morale, and make the citizens of LA suffer needlessly.

Police Service Representatives [PSR] / 911 Operators

PSR’s are the very first people to handle every single 911 call in a city of 5 million people, they technically are the first person in the public safety chain that dispatches the Los Angeles Police Department.

They handle ALL 911 calls, Non-Emergency calls, Radio Dispatching and requests for service for the entire Police department.

In Los Angeles with a majority population being Hispanic, it is shocking to see the increased time it took to answer 911 calls for Spanish Speakers, due to Furloughs on one particular day last month only 3, yes 3 Spanish speaking PSR’s were on duty.

Police Service reps have a high turnover rate due to the very stressful nature of their duties, we are so very fortunate to have a highly dedicated staff to answer the calls we make when we need Police or Fire Emergency services.

Without Police Service Representatives, Los Angeles would be in a crisis of immeasurable proportion, with a reduced number of Police Service Reps due to Furloughs Taxpayers are placed in a very dire predicament, one small earthquake or one civil disturbance would leave the Communications centers overwhelmed and nobody can do the job of a psr BUT a psr, Sworn officers can not simply step in to replace them.

City Attorneys

What more needs to be said about a group of highly skilled attorneys that take a huge pay-cut serving the public? How about they prosecute criminals every day of the year?

I couldn’t sum it up better then the City Attorney himself, “Moreover, as our prosecutors protect and serve our communities from threats to public health and safety posed by criminals, our litigators serve and protect other City departments so those entities can continue delivering City services, including police and fire protection. Without the City Attorney’s Office providing the public safety, legal and risk management services mandated under the provisions of the City Charter, no City services whatsoever could long be provided and public safety would soon be greatly diminished.”

Traffic Officers

Traffic Officers issue parking citations and make sure the roads remain free and passable, and direct traffic around hazardous situations or assist LAPD and other departments in traffic control. Without them vehicles would block lanes intended to remain clear during rush hour traffic, and the city would lose millions in revenue from the lack of citations issued.

Nobody likes to get a parking ticket, but if it helps reduce congestion and saves other city services, how good of an idea is it to furlough them?

LA City Workers, It’s not about us as employees.

We are members of the community as well and we care about the quality of life in Los Angeles, until we can all demand more from our council we will continue to be left wondering how we mismanaged 7 Billion dollars.

That’s $7,000,000,000.00, I think they need to take a second look.


 

2011 Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa State of the City Speech how it relates to City Employees

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Strong words reassure employees voting NO!

As We reported last month the CAO released several reports and we cut it down to a 36 page highlight of some of his intentions for the coming budget year.

It is taking effect and we will feel the full brunt of these innovations.

Some make sense, most however are cost cutting ideas which will severely impact both city services and city employees.

Below are quotes from his speech and further proof no good reason exists to vote yes on the new amendment.

Stop balancing the budget on our backs enough is enough!


“A New Contract”
2011 State of the City
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Remarks as Prepared

Over the last two years, working with our City Council, we’ve tackled nearly one billion dollars in combined budget deficits.

We’ve led an unprecedented reorganization and downsizing of City government.

We’ve trimmed our workforce by more than 4,000 permanent positions.

We’ve fortified the fiscal safety net by requiring a rainy day fund in the City Charter.
We’ve stabilized our revenues.
Working closely with our public safety unions, we passed a pension reform plan that protects retirement benefits and saves the City $152 million. 

In partnership with the Coalition of LA City Unions, we now have a watershed agreement that will correct our cost curve on health and pension spending far into the future.
This agreement will save the City nearly $400 million dollars over the next three years.
And next week, I’ll be able to present a budget that offers a sustainable long-term solution to our structural deficit while funding critical priorities.
No fine print. No surprises.

Our budget will clearly define and fund core City services.

It will expand library hours, including the restoration of Monday service.
It will allow the Department of Recreation and Parks to open new facilities – and new doors – for underserved youth.

It will lay down 735 miles of street maintenance and resurfacing.
And yes Angelenos, I’ve heard you loud and clear: it will fill 300,000 potholes, a 20 percent increase over last year.

And in keeping with a record of sustained success, our budget will fully fund and maintain the current size of our police force.

The simple truth is, my budget will propose a series of deep, permanent, and strategic reductions in City spending.

It will call on each member of our City Family to fairly and squarely shoulder their responsibility to help us balance the budget, with no protected parties or sacred cows and that begins with me.

 

 

City Controller Wendy Greuel Report and Giveback Considerations

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For your Review the financial reports the Controller reviewed when making the $6,336,797,000.00 Budget for 2011-2012.

Please note the Increase in Inflation & Increase for others in Personal Income.

If our contract is amended, we will see a net reduction in income and a substantial increase in our personal expenses.

That doesn’t make financial sense at all!

 


San Fernando Valley Cuts LAFD Hazardous Materials team courtesy of Councilman Greig Smith and Mitch Englander

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Los Angeles Fire Department faced another budget setback as they have been forced to remove the Only Hazardous Materials Response crew from service to the San Fernando valley.

With major factories, junkyards, airports and transportation corridors in the San Fernando Valley Grieg Smith and his Chief of Staff Mitch Englander have failed to provide the funding needed to keep Fire Stations open, and have resulted in the Only Hazardous Materials Response Team to be removed from service.

San Fernando Valley is roughly 260 square miles and home to nearly two million people, It is larger then Philadelphia, it has two Airports, Burbank Airport which borders the City of Los Angeles and Van Nuys Airport. Major oil distribution pipe lines &  several major Rail lines running through it, and it has the 405,  5, and 101 Freeways which are some of the busiest in the world and the San Andreas fault also runs right through the San Fernando valley.

Removing crews trained to handle these specific fire emergencies put’s the community at risk as well as our first responders, you can’t expect to throw together people at a moments notice and hope for the best when dealing with the threats we face today.

Mitch Englander  is the Chief of Staff and has failed to say a critical word about his partner Councilman Greig Smith instead he has supported the budget and finance decisions he has made, and he want’s to represent the very same council district he has helped put in harms way, from closing fire stations and removing hazardous materials response crews.

When will politicians and wanna be politicians learn, you can’t take from the public and then peddle for their votes?

We will not forget how you voted to risk our brave fireman’s lives and our very own in order to fund gang prevention programs or keep the lights on at the park at midnight. We all make choices and CD 12 has made some bad ones.

Take note of our politicians failures and remember them at the ballot box.