State, city layoffs: 45,000 and counting

Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 6727 Location: Central CA

Here's the next target for the cluster bomb effects of corporate greed over the past 20 years:

Joined: 09 Feb 2008 Posts: 1292 Location: Brand Central

It would make sense for the building, zoning and planning departments to cut people based on volume

If nothing is getting built, those people are extra overhead

but...

Parks? Forests? Fire & Police? none of that changes in responsibility.

Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 6727 Location: Central CA

No but those are the people the majority of the public rely on the most and it's easier to convince the public that you need to raise taxes or punish them for their refusal to allow it by threatening to eliminate or eliminating their local neighborhood fire station than to lay off some nameless faceless building inspector or even some redundant fire chief's position at headquarters.

After Prop 13 passed here in CA back in 78, the state cut numerous engine and hand crews from the CDF roster statewide. As the immediate crunch wound own over the next couple of years, instead of reopening stations and restaffing engines, they began instead to hire MORE chiefs and managers. The county, which utilized CDF manpower on a contract basis, naturally followed suit.

At one time here in the county, long about 1982 I believe it was, we had 22 engines staffed on a daily basis (after cutting eight engine companies due to Prop 13 cuts) with one paid person on duty in each... and a chief, five division chiefs, 10 battalion chiefs and at least 8 administrative Captains all of whom command responsibility and could sub for the actual chiefs.

A true case of having more chiefs than Indians. Mr. Green

The county finally kicked CDF out and started staffing it's engines itself and IT'S command structure is pretty much normal these days but CDF itself has continued to cut at the bottom and add at the top ever since then and there's no reason to believe that they'll do any differently since they're budgeted with X number of dollars and it's up to them what they spend it on.

Incidentally, it's one of the only fire departments in the country where the officers can belong to the same union as the rank and file and share in the same comp/hour/overtime packages which gives you an idea of where their priorities are when it comes to negotiating new contracts. Mr. Green

Joined: 09 Feb 2008 Posts: 1292 Location: Brand Central

typical government ploy

cut the stuff the public will notice and/or actually needs to 'punish' them for cutting revenues

this time however, its the economy forcing the issue and they'll have no one to blame... because cutting the chiefs is simply unthinkable!

Joined: 26 Aug 2005 Posts: 1362

Joined: 09 Feb 2008 Posts: 1292 Location: Brand Central

maybe those cops should get out of their cars and walk the neighborhoods the patrol and do actual 'community policing'

be good for their waistlines too. Mr. Green

Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 6727 Location: Central CA

Wow! You still have cops like that out there or does your image of police officers in general derive from watching too many episodes of "The Simpsons"?
Wink

I don't know about Florida, but the physical training requirements for police officers in our little area of California here are such that they don't need to be too worried about extra physical activities or make work solutions to that problem. It's non-existent, actually.

Besides, walking around in triple digit heat and the dirtiest air in the US is not going to be any more conducive to good heath or physical conditioning than sitting in a car in the shade somewhere.

Joined: 09 Feb 2008 Posts: 1292 Location: Brand Central

yeah, me and Chief Wiggum go way back... *chuckle*

Here, its mostly guys in A/C'd cruisers roaming around ... walking beat cops would really improve my 'hood

Joined: 08 Jul 2003 Posts: 4780

This is one of the side effects of the flipping craze.In Calif and Florida you probably had so many flippers,real estate developers and contractors that were there simply following the money/work.

And when you know you going to be there for any length of time you do things like enroll kids in school,get your trash picked up,your taxes collected,you drive which makes the traffic/roads seem more than it actually will be down the road. But when these flippers and friends leave or stop the whole associated economy goes to pot with them including shopping centers.

In theory some of these areas should see a decline in population which requires less services.I can see things like less inspectors or code people.And probably even smaller school budgets and less roads-although infrastructure will always be needed and needed to be fixed or upgraded.

What puzzles me is the financial types these governments use for budgets/taxes should've realized this.I understand the hiring of extra during boom times but everyone else seemed to know property was selling at 4-5 times it's actual value you should not being making projections made on the inflated property values and sales.Leadership ie government in this case is supposed to think things out-not.

Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 6727 Location: Central CA

First of all, you have to have a government that WANTS to solve the problems. I firmly believe that this is NOT the case.

Our government has done little more than enable this crap for the past 20-25 years and it isn't because they're dumb... it's because the government is made up of the same people who are causing and benefiting from the problems we talk about.

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