Sunday, November 3, 2013

Pacifica Tribune Letters to the Editor


Lots of letters about Measure V this week -

Read 'em here...

Posted by Steve Sinai

Posted by at

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good letters from both sides. I oppose more taxes and this Council is hemorrhaging good will and public trust, but I keep coming back to the question of where's the money supposed to come from? Pacifica's continuing downward spiral demands we ask that question and that we answer truthfully and realistically. Not politically. Do we say no and roll the dice or do we continue to pick up the bill? Trying to overlook the mess made of this by inept politicians and find the greater good. Easier said than done.

November 3, 2013 at 2:08 PM
Anonymous said...

You don't give an addict more money for drugs anon 208. They will be back for more tomorrow. They need to get clean.

This council also hemorrhages millions and millions they waste on consultants, ipads,etc.

November 4, 2013 at 8:12 AM
Anonymous said...

Yeah, well, set Dr. Drew aside for the moment...lock on to just a sliver of reality, and answer this. Where's the money supposed to come from? Keep it real, show some insight, avoid the Bachmann-style of argument.

November 4, 2013 at 2:24 PM
Anonymous said...

"Where's the money supposed to come from?" While a very valid question, why does it seem that it ALWAYS has to be from the pockets of the taxpayers? Don't the City officials understand that many of us are still struggling to recover from the effects of the economic downturn and can ill afford to dig deeper into our pockets. Or is the climate becoming like our big city neighbor to the north, "if you can't afford to live here then don't?" Where are we supposed to go and still maintain whatever jobs we have? Fresno? That's one heck of a commute.

November 5, 2013 at 8:22 AM
Hutch said...

Where will the money come from? I've had council members ask me that question over and over even though I'v answered it many times.

They need to negotiate REAL wage reductions of at least 5% like our neighbor Millbrae just did. Actually Millbrae did 5% in 2012 and 5% in 2013. They need to also freeze wages for at least 5 years. And they need to stop spending millions on consultants and studies.

There.

November 5, 2013 at 9:46 AM
Anonymous said...

Oh Hutch, get real. This is Pacifica. What about this Council makes you think they'd ever cut wages? They missed the biggest opportunity to cut and reorganize in nearly a century. Blew right past them. If V wins, it signals a shift in the way voters view their role as consumers of city services or commodities. Aren't we all used to paying for the commodities we consume? Don't prices go up? Don't you want those commodities for you and your family? Finally, big retail has come to town. Who knew it'd be city government?

November 5, 2013 at 12:51 PM
dan murray said...

To Anon@12:51: if only City government could be treated as a commodity and paid by the individual subscriber. However, as it stands now, there are I believe many of us that are under the i mpression that our property taxes are supposed to cover most, if not all of our services. It's all the"little' extras that add up to a biig wallop. I pay FIVE, make that SIX school taxes on my bill, but do not, haven't had, don't plan to have any kids going to school. I'd be willing to pay for extra for fire protection , less for police (don't have much worth stealing) on a pay-as-you-go basis. Just got to wonder where all the damn money goes. gasoline taxes meant to maintain our roads but don't; etc. Yes, treating our City services like a commodity might be more cost effective for many of us. Hutch got it right when he wrote about cutting city salaries; you also got it right when you wrote that Pacifica completely missed that boat. While I believe that police, fire, and city employees should be reasonably compensated, I don't feel that they should be making a great deal more than the average working wage for the people they allegedly serve. If the average wage earner makes $50k per year, then city employees should be capped at $55k; not getting $80k+ per year or more.
The most frequent argument I hear is that "we have to pay the prevailing wage or we'll lose our employees to other towns." So what. Are we to believe that there aren't local people who would take the jobs at lesser pay? Or at least take those jobs as starter jobs until they get the experience to apply elsewhere. Is being a cop, a firefighter, a city employee in Pacifica really all that stressful? i kind of think we all know the answer to that.

November 5, 2013 at 2:02 PM
Anonymous said...

202 Wage caps. Snowball. Hell. Bay Area wages follow the leader and that's San Francisco, home to the highest or near highest police wages in the country. Fire is not far behind and then the parade of everyone from DPW to city day care workers. That places massive upward pressure on municipal wages in surrounding communities. And as we all know, wages are just one component in the cost of living. Prices go up and this Measure V tells us that Council sees city services as commodities which are not covered by any prior existing purchase agreement.

My biggest gripe is not with very competitive wages in an area with a high-cost of living, but with the benefits and rich pensions that exceed anything known by the private sector. Public employees and their unions need to pick one or the other because no one should get both high wages and lavish pensions. That was never the intent of the civil service system. That system has been corrupted by greedy unions and irresponsible--and often worse, politicians. Of course with a City Council like ours, they're under no pressure to choose. None at all. That's the real problem. Seeing the transformation of Jerry Brown, architect in the 70s of much that is wrong with these public pensions, to his role today as a leading pension reformer is encouraging, but Pacifica has very little time left. Now there's a terrific campaign issue for a new political face who really wants to make their mark as this town's savior. They'd have to be a warrior. Maybe a warrior princess.

November 5, 2013 at 6:51 PM
Anonymous said...

A warrior or warrior princess? Should we start looking in the vicinity of the Sharp Park Golf Course?

November 5, 2013 at 7:13 PM
Anonymous said...

713 Hell yes! Get busy. This town has sure kissed enough frogs. Gotta be a prince or princess out there.

November 5, 2013 at 8:22 PM

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