Pension Fund Scandal Biting Into City Services, Reputation of San Diego

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB48IPH19E.html

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Sandi Lehan bought her first home in December, but she worries she'll soon be unable to afford it. A new union contract proposed as the city struggles with a costly pension scandal could cut her police officer's pay as much as $500 a month, she says.

"I'm scared to death because I might not be able to make my house payments," said Lehan, an eight-year Police Department veteran and single mother of three who might soon consider taking a job elsewhere.

Another resident, Alek Cunningham, is bothered by the growing number of potholes in his beachfront neighborhood. "You've got to hold on to your coffee to make sure it doesn't spill over the dashboard," he complained.

The nation's seventh-largest city - dubbed "America's Finest City" on its government Web site - has fallen on hard times.

[Tansy_Gold]

1. Why should cities have "pension funds"?

Why should employers or unions or anyone else have "pension funds"?

Why should anyone NEED a pension fund?

Why should anyone think that a working person wouldn't want to work forever? I mean, isn't that what makes workers happy -- working? Why would we want to FORCE them to RETIRE to lead lives of IDLE LUXURY to which they are not accustomed and, furthermore, to which GAWD AWLMIGHTEE has not entitled them?

:sarcasm:

:sarcasm:

:sarcasm:

[LunaC]

2. The DROP program is a real sweet scam

Part of the problem is the Deferred Retirement Option Plan where you collect a pension AND a salary if you continue working. Can you say "Double-dipping"? I knew you could!

[TahitiNut]

3. She'll be more willing to take bribes.

I can easily imagine a surge of corruption in public service jobs when the pay is cut and the job-holders are stressed to pay their mortgages.

[Bozita]

5. Isn't that how New Orleans got such a fine police force?

4-5 years ago, I seem to recall a starting salary for a NO cop was something like $14,000/yr.

[wakeme2008]

4. This should be a major selling point for Councilwoman Donna Frye

You tried the Repug way now let's fix the problems.....

[NuttyFluffers]

10. exactly, this is the end result of being a repug stronghold.

note that orange county had to file for bankrupcy a good while back. you play with thieves you are bound to get screwed.

this from the same city that helped spearheaded the stupidity about deregulating energy for california. gee, if you weren't so greedy and stupid in the first place you might actually not be in this situation, san diego. gee, all that nice 90's money evaporated because of being scammed by energy price fixing, and now you have no monetary cushion for when times get tough. gee, ain't that sad. maybe if you vote more republicans in you can fix it... my ass.

suck it up and learn to vote correctly next time. not all tax increases are evil. not all social services are the devil incarnate. but dammit all to hell, i've yet to see a single dedicated neo-con corporate libertarian be a good person, let alone not have their head up their ass. keep voting in your cruel overlords or learn from your mistakes... those are the only choices.

[RickWn]

6. She must be bi-polar

I think the subject of the article must be in a depressive phase. There's no way the city of San Diego is going to cut her pay by $500 a month. She and every other officer similarly affected would simply walk out on strike and the city would cave within 24 hours.

I live in San Diego county and the trend all over the place is boosting pay and benefits for safety personnel.

If the city of San Diego needs to cut, or must stop contributing it will be on the backs of administrative paper-pushers or a decrease in payments to programs for the arts, library funding, health care and the poor.

There's no way the wealthy elite in this county (that city) are going to set up a situation for wholesale lawlessness.

[MADem]

7. Man, I don't know you, but that is one strange comment

You disagree with the assertions, so you ascribe it to mental illness?? There's a word for that....

You might be enlightened by these LTTEs in the SD paper. Guess there are a lot of bipolar people out your way. I certainly would not want to be a public employee in SD nowadays. The way I see it, either employee contributions to the fund will increase mightily, or benefits will be slashed.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050507/news_lz1e7letone.html

[RickWn]

11. I don't see why you think my comment strange

The helpful and interesting link you posted is to an LTE page. There are many letters from citizens of San Diego county, suggesting remedies for the fiscal crunch (to say the least) in which San Diego is mired.

Not one letter catagorically states an individual employed in the capacity of safety personnel has suffered a cut in pay or benefits. I say again, it will not happen. The cuts will come elsewhere.

I apologize if I offended with my bipolar remark. The difficulty with this medium of communication is that we often don't know history of a particular poster. For the record, my mother starved herself to death because of undiagnosed depression. When she died at age 64, this former Miss Connecticut of 1934 weighed 72 pounds. She was a human skeleton when her heart collapsed. What I would have given during her long slow decline for a legal medication that taken daily would have stimulated her appetite, even if her eyes got a little glassy and red.

Of her three sons (me, the oldest at 56) only the youngest boy apparently picked up the gene. It was a damn long family struggle until just the right physician was finally found.

I'm sorry if you misconstrued. I don't take bipolar disorder lightly, but I think I have some familiarity with the condition.

In the case of the female firefighter who was so worried about a huge pay cut, I hope many of her chums have reassured her, since, how unneccessary to worry given her training and skills.

She just struck me as bipolar in a depressive phase, I wasn't trying to be flip or casually reaching for cheap chuckle.

Look again, only 20 something posts on my part. I'll try to do better as I move along. Thanks for the heads up, man.

[MADem]

12. I pointed out, specifically, that it was a LTTE page in my remarks

I just think ascribing mental illness to someone who believes that their pension benefits are going to be reduced, or that their cost shares will go up, resulting in a net loss of five C's in the paycheck, was a strange remark.

I still think it is a strange remark.

[RickWn]

13. Well, then...

You are certainly welcome to your opinion of my remark(s).

I'd feel a whole lot better, though, if you were jumping on me because I'd written something nice about Bill Frist's haircut.

That wouldn't be something you could expect me to write, but if I did, it wouldn't be a bi-polar moment. It would mean I'd been into the beer again. :toast:

[Trillo]

8. From the article: "Firefighters are taking pay cuts."

It certainly runs counter to your words, "trend all over the place is boosting pay and benefits for safety personnel."

[RickWn]

9. Of which article?

I don't mean to nitpick, but I didn't see one comment in your immediately preceeding poster's link where that quote is evident.

Yes, in the original story the firefighter does express that opinion, but, so far, and I still mantain, that benefits and pay for safety personnel are not being cut.

She has nothing to worry about and should know that.

[Trillo]

14. The article referenced in the 'original message'.

It's not clear who said, "firefighters are taking pay cuts." The statement occurs in the second paragraph succeeding a quote by business person recommending the city declare bankruptcy, without any other quotes in between.

I don't think it's reasonable to state the policewoman has nothing to worry about. Someone, or some group: embezzled retirement funds, made false and empty future benefit promises, gave themselves extra benefits, etc.; at the same time the statistics are pointing out a melding of the middle-class and poor, and a widening chasm between rich and poor/middle, so her 'worry' is clearly reasonable, at least to me.

I still maintain, that benefits and pay for safety personnel are not being cut." The disappearance of 'future benefits', otherwise known as retirement pay or "Pension Fund Scandal", promised at some point in the past to employees, is the very issue under discussion.

Overall, it appears to me CEOs and their ilk are capturing all these disappearing funds of workers.