ERIP, Budget, Pensions and reality.

Where are we now after the Coalition of City Unions promised ERIP Savior, Budget Outlook, Pension costs and comparisons, our reality we must accept and planning for the future.

MYTH: ERIP, it was suppose to save jobs and protected us from furloughs and layoffs.

FACT: It was a poorly written agreement putting a huge burden on the backs of remaining city employees giving a bonus to those who already were leaving.

MYTH: ERIP saved jobs

FACT: It delayed the inevitable.

MYTH: Unions Were right about ERIP.

FACT: Everything lacityworkers.com told you would happen with ERIP did and more!

We will be paying the rest of our career with the City so others could enjoy a bonus a lottery winning on our backs.

Our Pensions and the ERIP Lotto continue to be the focus of the ignorant and uninformed, the same people who don’t pay their fair share of taxes attacking others because of their inability to participate in the system.

FACT: 100% of the top 25 employers in the Greater LA Area offer Better or the same benefits we receive.

We currently do NOT participate in Social Security, the only security we have is the Pension we earn when we retire, now the politicians, some of which are receiving not one but TWO pensions from the City of LA are trying to take away everything we have worked for our entire lives, stripping away every benefit we have in order to please a minority of critics.

FACT: Our pension system LACERS, would not have an unfunded liability if the politicians didn’t steal the money out of the pension fund and use it for pet projects just like Enron.

Had they in good times contributed a responsible amount to fund the pensions as we have done, this would not be a problem.

I lay this blame squarely on Richard Riordan, always the businessman, he decided raping employees benefits to fund his ambitions and projects was the right thing to do. While in office He gave away the store  in pension benefits to attract more cops to stay in Los Angeles, only to demand those very same benefits be taken away years later in a massive flip flop unseen before in LA politics.

Still bitter over his ‘retirement plan’ to eliminate the Sanitation operations of the City and replace them with his company only to charge residents 400% more for trash collection reminiscent of the Sopranos he now is a sharp critic of the city and the people who work delivering services to the people.

Pensions systems work, they have for over a hundred years. Read this fine article by the LAPPL Here

Budget:

As I predicted the CAO has managed to fiddle with the budget enough to develop yet another shortfall YAWN this time the magic number is 88 Million, and it can be found squarely on the backs of employees in the LAPD civilian ranks.

Police Service Representatives, more commonly known as 911 Operators continue to be furloughed, as do Detention Officers, Mechanics in the Police and Fire Departments, and the Entire Bureau of Street Services, and hundreds of other employees throughout the City.

What happens when enough civilians aren’t available to do the jobs required of the second most populous city in the United States?  Sworn LAPD officers are called upon to perform many of those duties, this directly reduces the number of Police officers available to the public.

Less cops on the street translates directly into more crime, longer response times and harm to both the city and the economy of this city.

How much of this budget shortfall is because the city continues to ignore collecting it’s bills and allowing people to get away with a multitude of crimes against the city?

Immediately a task force of building and safety lapd and other investigators of the city should be assembled to identify the quickest way to pass tougher penalties for misdemeanor violations and enforce or update the laws we have on the books.

Reality;

Currently the four million plus residents of the second largest city in the united states expect a wide range of services be provided to them at little or no cost, at the same time they fail to see the budget reality we have been dealing with for years.

Thankfully the City is fighting back and has begone the process of returning the sidewalks and parkways back to the property owners.

Within 3 years Street Services Investigators will begin patrolling the City, issuing property owners notice to correct and following up quickly with liens on the properties.

This will also greatly reduce the legal liability for the sidewalks and the ridiculous lawsuits associated with them.

Bureau of Street Services staffing is at an all time low, less then 800 employees to clean and maintain 500 square miles, let’s break down those numbers.

Nearly 14,350 Curb Miles of streets to sweep, Roughly 3000 litter baskets to empty, Respond to over 16,000 requests for pothole repair, Slurry Seal roughly 30 miles of streets, Clear 1,000 private property parcels, remove tons of illegal dumping, Produce 42,000 tons of Asphalt, Cold mill and Resurface 19.5 miles of roadways, Respond to emergencies as needed and this doesn’t include the technical  engineering work, administrative, or special projects work such as sidewalks access ramps and concrete gutters or bridges and retaining walls. Did I mention we have the Largest Urban forest in the WORLD! We do all this not per decade, but every single Month and we do it with less staff then cities 1/10 our size.

We somehow even with ARRA Funds, Measure R dedicated funding, Gas Tax funding and other sources have still remained on Furloughs.

An overwhelming majority of Bureau employees work Above their classification, for this they are rewarded with nothing.

SEIU was requested to calculate the amount of money saved to the general fund by working above classification they have so far refused to follow up on the request 24 months later.

Politicians need to hear from us especially those up for re-election, we need to work with other unions EAA, LAPPL, UFLAC and work against the campaigns of the elected officials spreading the vicious lies about pensions.

We are seriously considering  starting  a PAC to be able to legally donate to campaign ad’s against those who seek to destroy the working class of Los Angeles.

We need your involvement, We need your time, if you ever wanted to do something about the layoffs the furloughs and the cuts this is your time.

If you can’t volunteer, we need you to suppourt the cause, we need to step up because we are nearing the final inning in this game and we simply can not afford to lose!