From: <restorative.justice.for.all_at_(domain_name_was_removed)>
Date: Sat May 24 2008 - 20:48:59 PDT

*Just how powerful are police unions?  Palo Alto will be next!*
**
*Why don't you just give Chief Johnson a "blank" check and twin tower police

buildings, devoid of all heritage oak trees!*

Monrovia's Police Union Takes a Wage Dispute Public

http://www.scpr.org/news/stories/2008/05/20/18_billboard_fight_0520.html

*"Union representatives say the signs will stay up until they get their way".*
*The squeaky police union wheel, gets the munks "oil"*

A dispute over a Southland police department's pay has gone public - very public. *The union* representing Monrovia's police department has put up billboards to *pressure the city to pay its law enforcement more.* KPCC's Brooke Binkowski reports on the response among business and home owners.

*Brooke Binkowski:* The Monrovia Police Officers' Association greenlighted the billboards a few weeks ago, just ahead of a round of pay negotiations. The signs, right beyond city borders, read: *"You're approaching Monrovia – higher violent crime, fewer officers patrolling. Thank the city manager and the city council."* Pam Fitzpatrick owns a doll shop on Myrtle Avenue, one of Monrovia's main streets. She says she and other business owners object to the signs.

*Pam Fitzpatrick:* What we want to say is that the billboards are a slap in the face, and that we don't want to be drawn into the salary dispute, or the emotion.

*Binkowski:* She says the signs coincide with the union's annual fundraising drive.

*Fitzpatrick:* I downloaded a picture of the billboard, and I sent it back in the envelope and thanked them for at least coordinating the fundraiser with– it'll be hard to contribute again. It'll be hard. I realized that I paid for a little square of that billboard.

*Binkowski:* Nick Collas owns a restaurant. One of the billboards sits in its parking lot, just across the street from Monrovia's border. Collas is quick to explain that he had nothing to do with it.

*Nick Collas:* It's drawn a lot of attention, through the TV's and radios, and the print, and it's not the kind of attention I think Monrovia wants to hear about, or see about. And I don't either, to be personal.

*Binkowski:* The 83 police department employees want a 23% pay raise. The city has offered 16%. Monrovia officials say the small city doesn't have the money to pay police more than the $7,000 a month they make right now. Union representatives say the signs will stay up until they get their way.

On 5/24/08, restorative.justice.for.all@gmail.com < restorative.justice.for.all@gmail.com> wrote:

> Vallejo files for bankruptcy protection
>
> *Mat Mustard, vice president of the Vallejo Police Officers Association.*
>
> "Filing for bankruptcy is and was unnecessary," *Mustard said*. "Yes, I
> believe they have a financial crisis, but I think they're turning their
> crisis into a catastrophe by going into bankruptcy."
> Will someone pass me the mayonnaise? It has been reported there fire chief
> is expected to receive a pension in excess of 400k annually. That's more
> retirement pension benefits, then the President of the US!
>
> Just who are they really protecting? And do you really know just how
> powerful the police and their unions are? Bottem line....This is a well
> Munk's "oiled" organized crime syndicate.
> **
> **
> *"Code blue, there killing us softly" - *Mark Petersen-Perez
>
>
>
> By Terence Chea
> The Associated Press
> Saturday, May 24, 2008
>
> SAN FRANCISCO — The city of Vallejo filed for bankruptcy protection Friday
> to deal with a ballooning budget deficit caused by soaring employee costs
> and declining tax revenue.
>
> The San Francisco Bay Area suburb of about 120,000 residents became the
> largest California city to seek bankruptcy protection.
>
> Mayor Osby Davis said the city's attorneys filed papers seeking Chapter 9
> bankruptcy protection in federal court in Sacramento.
>
> "We've exhausted all avenues at this point, and this is all we had left,"
> Davis said. "I had hoped to avoid it all the way up until yesterday. It's
> something we can't avoid ... We can't pay our bills."
>
> Vallejo will ask the judge to set a June 9 deadline for creditors to
> challenge the filing, said Marc Levinson, the city's bankruptcy attorney. If
> there are no objections, the city automatically enters bankruptcy
> protection.
>
> The police and firefighter unions plan to file a legal challenge, arguing
> that the city's finances aren't as dire as officials claim and there are
> other ways to fix the budget deficit, said Mat Mustard, vice president of
> the Vallejo Police Officers Association.
>
> "Filing for bankruptcy is and was unnecessary," Mustard said. "Yes, I
> believe they have a financial crisis, but I think they're turning their
> crisis into a catastrophe by going into bankruptcy."
>
> The seven-member City Council voted to authorize the city manager to file
> for bankruptcy protection on May 6 after months of failed negotiations with
> its police and firefighters unions.
>
> After that vote, city officials and union representatives continued to meet
> in hopes of reaching a last-minute deal to stave off the bankruptcy filing,
> but the two sides couldn't come to an agreement.
>
> Vallejo, a mostly working-class city about 30 miles northeast of San
> Francisco, faces a $16 million budget deficit in its fiscal year starting
> July 1.
>
> The foreclosure crisis and economic downturn have caused a sharp decline in
> revenue from sales tax, property tax and development fees.
>
> Many officials and residents blame Vallejo's chronic financial problems on
> labor contracts that they say provide overly generous pay and benefits to
> the city's police officers and firefighters. Those city workers comprise
> about three-quarters of Vallejo's general fund.
>
> The unions say compensation for Vallejo's public safety employees is in
> line with that of other Bay Area cities, and blame the fiscal crisis on
> government mismanagement and poor decisions by previous city councils.
>
> Other cities around the country could find themselves in the same position
> as Vallejo, experts say.
>
> "If the economy doesn't turn, you're going to see other cities in the same
> spot," said Marcia Fritz, vice president of the California Foundation for
> Fiscal Responsibility. "You're seeing a lot of cities and counties where
> reserves are being drawn down to pay for benefits."
>
> Union representatives did not have an immediate comment on Friday's filing,
> but they previously said they would challenge it and argue that the city
> isn't insolvent. They say city officials rejected offers of salary cuts that
> would help solve the financial crisis.
>
> In addition to being the largest California city to file for bankruptcy
> protection, Vallejo is the first to do so because its revenues cannot cover
> expenses, experts say.
>
> Orange County filed for bankruptcy protection in 1994 after it lost money
> in a series of bad investments; the Southern California town of Desert Hot
> Springs filed in 2001 after losing a lawsuit.
>
>
> --
> "It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power
> attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things
> than power."
>
> David Brin quotes (American science-fiction writer b.1950

-- 
"It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power
attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things
than power."

David Brin quotes (American science-fiction writer b.1950

Received on Sat May 24 20:49:20 2008