07-23-09, Full Content of Richard Dickinson’s
Community Commentary, “ ‘Gadflies’ bring abundance of knowledge”, 07-22-09
Below is the full content of the letter that Richard
Dickinson sent to the Glendale News-Press and which was published in Community Commentary,
“
‘Gadflies’ bring abundance of knowledge
”, on July 22nd. The content
shown below in red was omitted from the published article.
Hal Weber
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 17, 2009
Dear Mr.
Evans:
Although I
agreed with some issues raised by Michael Teahan when he ran for city council,
I disagree with much of his recent Community Commentary (“Could
our gadflies please buzz off?”, July 11).
Teahan wrote that he was tired of reading rants from the
same people, and he suggests that Glendale News-Press should run a “nice story
about cats.” Of course more citizens
should speak out, but democracy is not served by running stories about cats. Democracy works only when citizens remain
fully informed about the government institutions they have created. Unfortunately print journalism -- a
cornerstone to democracy -- is shrinking.
Glendale has plenty
of issues to speak out about. But during
the last election I found that a small group of vocal citizens were unfairly
labeled “gadflies” by powerful forces and their surrogates who seemed bent on
marginalizing these critics.
I found the
so-called “gadflies” to be very knowledgeable and their issues valid. Near the top of their list was a complaint about
exorbitant wages and benefits for some job classifications. Unfortunately, Teahan’s article produces more
heat than light. Teahan admits the need
to “look at” Glendale’s
wage and benefit structure. But instead
of calling for action in the form of a citizen commission or an independent
study, he attacks the few local people who have tried to keep the issue on the
radar screen. Then Teahan whined that
the gadflies have “made constructive debate impossible.” Poppycock. Constructive debate may be uncomfortable, but
it is always possible and essential.
I found
strong evidence to support the critics’ claim about a runaway wage and benefit
problem. Glendale’s labor agreements seem to be
lavish, even when compared to other government jurisdictions.
City
manager Starbird refutes this assertion by citing wage surveys to support his
claim that Glendale
wages and benefits are within the norm. But when Barry Allen, a city hall watchdog,
asked the city to produce such evidence -- a right afforded every citizen under
the California
Public Records Act -- the city denied Allen’s request.
I
compared Glendale
labor agreements with federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data for the Glendale area. Although my review was cursory, I found
hundreds of Glendale
jobs that are being paid far more than most top private sector professionals
like doctors, lawyers, engineers, and entertainment industry executives. I also found that Glendale pensions, bonuses and benefits were
extremely high. One stunning finding
showed that Glendale’s
fire and police contribute very little, even when compared to counterparts in
other governmental jurisdictions. In
fact simply increasing the employee pension contribution rates would raise
millions of dollars a year for the city. Also, isn’t it time to revisit the wisdom of
allowing public safety employees to retire at age 50 with 90% of their highest
salary?
Glendale
has enacted some of the highest utility taxes around. In fiscal year 2008 some $27.8 million tax
dollars went into the city general fund. On top of the tax, Glendale also transferred some $25 million
from those utilities to the general fund -- in effect a hidden tax on our
utility bills, but one authorized under the charter.
I don’t
believe Glendale
citizens would have approved this charter amendment if they had known it was
going to be used to prop up a bloated wage structure. Why don’t we have the
funds to replace those recently demolished tennis courts? Why did the city have
to consider hiking fees last year for youth athletic teams to use city
recreational facilities? Citizens expect
that higher utility bills will translate into things like having their library
doors open longer, seeing more aging infrastructure repaired, and receiving a
variety of other services and improvements.
I’d say Teahan’s
call for a “look at” Glendale’s
wage and benefit structure is long overdue.
Sincerely,
Richard
Dickinson