Weekend Diversion: Night Of The Ponies
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The Chicago City Council agreed on Tuesday to mandatory unpaid furloughs of two-days for non-union city employees and three day furloughs for those who are unrepresented or are earning more than $75,000. The city expects to save an estimated $3.3 million, as they scramble to close an expected $400 million deficit in the city's budget 2009 fiscal year budget. But the pain won't stop there. The mayor refused to give specifics on layoffs or furloughs for front-line city workers, saying he wanted to talk to union leaders representing city workers first. "You have to sit down and talk to these people...They understand how important these jobs are to them...We're gonna work with them...If you can work this out and you can keep a number of people working, it helps the economy," Daley said. Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon said "they're not asking for anything yet, [but] everything is on the table. You can assume that furlough days are part of the mix. Layoffs could be part of the mix...We'll be united wherever we make our stand. We're gonna have a coalition meeting next week to discuss what actions the unions will take collectively - if any."
One union leader, speaking to NBC5 anonymously, said that Chief Financial Officer Paul Volpe and Intergovernmental Affairs Director John Dunn had warned him to be ready for the worst. "They said it's going to be very bad. I said, 'There's always a black hole when we're in negotiations.' They said, 'This is more than a black hole,'" the union leader said. "They're looking for cooperation. They're probably looking at unpaid furlough days again. They said that could be one of the ways we could show a cooperative effort."
Noting that this is the worst economic downturn he's seen since becoming mayor, Daley said nothing is off the table. He told Chicago Public Radio, "This is a real crisis, I think when you look at what’s happened across states and now cities. It’s a major problem now."
Photo by TheeErin
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I think that if you're making more than $75K a year, taking two or three unpaid days off is not going to be a big deal.
I have a feeling that part of the problem is that sooooo many damn people in this government make over 75k.
I agree.
But what about the people making 40K with two kids in college that aspire to take a family vacation.
I agree in that it's not the end of the world, but it always sucks to pay for other peoples mistakes.
Well MikeDL, those making 40k with kids in college can have a staycation! Yknow, it is the hip new thing to do nowadays.
Sarcasm.
We pay the highest city taxes in the country. The mayor has the $$ to pay for that ridiculous Children's Museum move as well as campaigning for an Olympics that no one else wants. He has 25 million in the coffers for a Buckingham Fountain renovation. Feel free to add to the list, but it's basically a lot of people who earn 75k a year and perhaps only working an hour or two a day who's being asked to take some free time off. Ohhh, the outrage.
How about a few less boulevard flower pots or new fancy bridge houses? How many days will they have to take off when the Olympics loses money (as we all know it will)? Or maybe we will have even fewer police officers than we already do? I'm just sayin'....
Doesn't this idiot know that the term "Black Hole" is racist? But who am I to correct him? That would be like the pot calling the kettle black.
"Alright, well why don't we smooth the head down to nothing, stick a pumpkin under its arm and change the nameplate to Ichabod Crane?"
This is the city that sends out a 12 man crew to fix a pothole for 5 days.
This is the city where I've been watching the brown line workers sitting on their asses around the cooler at 5 minutes after nine, getting started around 11ish, taking a 90 minute lunch and wrapping up the day by bolting at 4:30.
This is the city where the less you do the higher your salary.
This is the city of managers and department heads who can't even tell you what they do.
This is the city where we'll spend millions on red light cameras and fancy new department of REVENUE vans to drain every concievable drop from the citizenry. All to avoid "raising taxes"
This is the city where today they're debating spaying and neutering. Where not too long ago they banned goose liver and where jokes like Dorothy Tillman demanded reparations for slavery from the (over 60% black) city of Chicago.
This is the city that does not work. Coupleof unpaid days? No worries.
City workers blocked off several parking spaces on my block (with temporary parking signs) for a whole week and literally did one day of work to fix some kind of water problem. I don't mean that they were there and lazy either, I mean they prohibited parking for a week and didn't even *show up* but for one day to do the work. It also took a week or so for them to return and clean up the mess.
Wow. You really need to get a life albanyparkour.
You spent your day, from 9:05 am to 4 pm, monitoring what a particular crew of brown line workers were doing?
You're spending your day, presumably while you yourself should be at work, monitoring what the brown line guys are doing.
I think you win the do-nothing award for today.
That said, that we are pursuing the Olympics with a $400 million hole to plug is just plain wrong. Say no to the Olympics.
Stop giving this moron "mayor" money to waste and to fill his cronies pockets with.
Close down the TIF's. Stop with the tit-for-tat bribes. $40 million for the CBOE to eliminate 400 jobs? another $40 million to bring in 400 new jobs to Miller? All while these companies fill the mayor's "campaign" coffers.
It's all about padding the mayors retirement fund. Give the mayor $10,000 and he'll make sure you get a million in TIF money.
Construction workers typically start well before nine, Albany, especially in the summer. Not sure if that is the case with the CTA--and the agency has its fair share of lazy jagoffs--but I am just saying.
Perhaps you could simply go ask these workers or the apparent supervisor? Surely you are not afraid.
Chicago is not 60% black.