$25 Million Claim Against City – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, December 1, 2011 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

$25 Million Claim Against City

The widow of Hawthorne police officer Andrew Garton filed a $25 million claim against El Segundo, as required before filing a lawsuit. Officer Garton was killed in the tragic accident where El Segundo Police Sergeant Rex Fowler collided with his motorcycle while both were escorting a funeral procession through Torrance for a Manhattan Beach police officer who died of cancer.

Despite my many warnings, Mayor Busch and Councilman Fisher enthusiastically voted to approve new three-year city union contracts guaranteeing raises and no layoffs, leaving the City dangerously vulnerable to large unbudgeted, uncontrollable expenses including lawsuit judgments and settlements.

I warned against new contracts lasting more than one year, and that give away their management authority over staffing decisions and layoffs. Long before they approved the new contracts, I recommended that “All employee union contracts should incorporate a burden-sharing mechanism that stabilizes the city budget during economic downturns.

It would implement automatic cost reductions when unbudgeted revenue shortfalls and/or unavoidable, unbudgeted expenses exceed specified thresholds. Optionally, this mechanism could also re-open union contract negotiations.”

I warned again that “The contracts also provide no protection against unbudgeted and uncontrolled spending increases (e.g., new unfunded state government mandates, large lawsuit judgments, infrastructure repair costs after a natural or man-made disaster, etc.).”

Instead, they rushed through contract approval, trying to give the public less than 24 hours to review the contracts they negotiated in secret with firefighter and police unions that provided them with thousands of dollars in campaign support—exactly as I predicted.

Michael D. Robbins

Posted in Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on $25 Million Claim Against City – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Occupy Everywhere Gripes without Merit – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Arthur Christopher Schaper

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, December 1, 2011 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

Occupy Everywhere Gripes without Merit

There is a disparity of wealth in the United States. Such is the price of freedom. Therefore, one should not despair that the rich are getting richer, while the gap between rich and middle class, or middle class and poor, seems to be widening.

The real statistics to pay attention to are the number of individuals in different income brackets, and the mobility of individuals from one bracket to another. This kind of scrutiny requires more room than hasty protesters can provide on dirty fragments of cardboard as the march aimlessly and purposelessly from one city to another.

From Portland to Oakland, from New York City to Los Angeles and across the global, Occupy Everywhere is wearing out its welcome. The people who are working, who are raising themselves and their families, in spite of the ongoing economic downturn, have more to gripe about, but they are not taking up the public square, spreading deviance and disease at the expense of their neighbors and neighborhoods.

Those who choose to occupy their homes, their workplaces, and continue doing what they need to do, even voting for better leadership or electing to take charge themselves, they deserve our attention, their concerns merit our concern.

Arthur Christopher Schaper

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Torrance Helicopter Routes – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Richard Root

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, December 1, 2011 in the Letters section on page 2.

Torrance Helicopter Routes

The Torrance Airport Association is publishing false and misleading statements regarding the helicopter route changes being considered for Torrance Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration is in the process of evaluating the proposed changes at the request of the City of Torrance in an effort to reduce noise without compromising safety. On its public web site, the Association states that the City of Rolling Hills Estates has gone on record opposing the proposed changes because they would increase helicopter noise.

The truth is just the opposite. The proposed routes would not increase noise and Rolling Hills Estates has not opposed them. No city has opposed them. By asking pilots to fly higher, the proposed routes would result in an overall reduction of noise on the ground instead of shifting it from one neighborhood to another. The Association’s statements are patently untrue and do a disservice to the public.

Richard Root

Posted in El Segundo Herald Letters, Letters to the Editor | Comments Off on Torrance Helicopter Routes – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Richard Root

Email – RE: Chevron

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Mike

From: Willmore Doug
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 12:53 PM
To: dcullen@elsegundo.org; segundo/cn=recipients/cn=cityhall/cn=dcullen
Subject: RE: Chevron

ok

From: Cullen, Deborah
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 12:36 PM
To: Willmore, Doug
Subject: Chevron

Do you want to meet at 1:45?

Posted in El Segundo Chevron Public Records Act Request | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Email – RE: Chevron

Salary and Pension Increases – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Arthur Christopher Schaper

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, November 17, 2011 in the Letters section on page 2.

Salary and Pension Increases

The City of El Segundo is celebrating its centennial next year. The question remains: will there still be a viable city in the years to come?

With the public safety officers in El Segundo still taking in huge salary and pension increases, there is growing concern among residents whether the city can serve and protect those who are sworn to serve and protect the city and its inhabitants.

I respect the work that police officers and firefighters do on behalf of their communities. However, if individual taxpayers have to be on the hook for exorbitant pay raises that lead to outrageous, ongoing pension and medical benefits, then perhaps the citizens of El Segundo and the surrounding beach cities would be better off buying their own firearms and putting out their own fires.

Arthur Christopher Schaper

Posted in El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, Letters to the Editor | Comments Off on Salary and Pension Increases – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Arthur Christopher Schaper

New Contracts Unsustainable – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, November 17, 2011 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit.

New Contracts Unsustainable

Councilman Fisher claimed city employee unions took a nine percent salary cut. This is untrue. The new union contracts are still excessive and unsustainable. They don’t even rollback the huge 11 to 23 percent pay raises Councilmen Busch and Fisher gave the fire and police unions during the recession, on top of their already excessive and unsustainable salaries and pensions. And the new contracts include three different pay raises plus a guarantee of no layoffs for three years.

The maximum and average total annual compensation were $338 thousand and $202 thousand for firefighter union members, and $304 thousand and $178 thousand for police union members (previous contract). The city paid maximum and average individual annual pension contributions of $66 thousand and $40 thousand for firefighter union members, and $77 thousand and $41 thousand for police union members.

The firefighter and police union pension costs are excessive and unsustainable because they are based on excessive and unsustainable salaries and pension benefit formulas. All firefighters and police can still retire at age 55 with up to 90 percent of their single highest pay year as their annual pension benefit, plus free medical insurance for life.

However, firefighter and police retirement ages are easily circumvented by disability retirements. Many common health ailments are legally presumed to be job-related disabilities for firefighters and police under laws for which their unions lobbied. About 55 percent of all El Segundo firefighter and police retirements over the last ten years have been disability retirements, making half their pension income free from federal and state taxes.

Michael D. Robbins

Posted in El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on New Contracts Unsustainable – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins