The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, February 24, 2011 in the Letters section on page 3. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit.
Council Votes Save Money and Lives
I want to thank City Council members Bill Fisher, Suzanne Fuentes, and Carl Jacobson for voting on February 15 to put the firefighter union’s Punitive Initiative, Measure P, on the latest possible ballot – in April 2012. Their votes will save taxpayer money by avoiding an unnecessary special election, and much more tax money indirectly. But more importantly, their votes may save lives – especially the lives of our seniors.
The latest election date postpones the time residents will permanently lose their City-operated paramedic transport service, and be forced to use out-of-town ambulance companies with increased hospital transport times and fees, if enough voters are misled into approving the Punitive Initiative.
The union’s Punitive Initiative cuts emergency services to lock-in and pay for their wildly excessive and unsustainable employee salaries, benefits, and pensions. The latest election date can save $90 million over ten years in excess “special compensation” and pension contributions by giving the City Council more time to implement real and superior alternatives that save twice as much money without cutting our emergency services.
I was disheartened when, after I explained these facts, the firefighter union and Council candidate Scott Houston urged the Council to enact the initiative without any election, and Mayor Eric Busch, Councilman Don Brann, and probable 2012 City Council candidates Ron Swanson and Jim Boulgarides advocated the firefighter union’s backup position – a costly special election as soon as possible. Could it be that some union-backed candidates don’t want the Punitive Initiative on the same ballot as themselves?
Michael D. Robbins
El Segundo Police Officers' Association (ESPOA) Exposed