Friday, November 19, 2004
Media will be there for our doorbelling.
We have heard from a couple of TV news stations that they will be at the union office to show our story. Also, they want to follow a couple of doorbellers around while they are doing it. So see you tomorrow morning. Those of you with families, bring them along to the union office when you pick up your stuff. Those of you (quite a few) who have already picked up your stuff, thanks for your work and good luck this weekend. An hour or two of work from all of us will produce some great results.
Unemployment benefits meeting and prep.
For your calendar! Dec 1st 10 am – union office. WA State unemployment officials will give a talk-through and assist you in filling out your unemployment applications. Look for a departmental e-mail coming from Chris Cavanaugh. She will be asking for your Social Security Number. If you give it to her, she will forward the number to the unemployment office. And at the Dec 1st meeting, they will be able to tell you what to expect for benefits.
And democracy marches on… with your help.
Greg Haff needs some volunteers to help him stuff envelopes for the upcoming Local 29 election. When? Monday, November 22nd at 9:30 am. Where? Local 29's office. It won’t take long. And it's actually a pretty good time. Thanks for your help!
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
DOORBELLING THIS WEEKEND!!!
This weekend – November 20th and 21st, we will MASSIVELY doorbell Spokane. Come into the union office on Friday - during normal office hours, or on Saturday between 10 am and Noon to pick up your stuff and pick an area to doorbell this weekend. We’re going to alert the press that Saturday and Sunday are the major days that we are doorbelling. So, it would be great to have a lot of people out doing it.
Monday, November 15, 2004
A call from Bridget Luby!
E-mail your city leadership and let them know what you think. It's a Word document that will download to your computer when you click on the link.
Thanks Bridget.
Thanks Bridget.
Doorbelling...
There's now a sign-up sheet and some vague instructions at the Local 29 office. There were people stopping by today to doorbell - a great start! Take as many flyers and postcards as you need and go out and do a neighborhood. It's not a hard sell and, believe it or not, it's pretty fun to do. Maybe we should do CPR classes this way - door to door...
An open letter to Spokane’s leadership…
How does one make sense of the proposed cuts?
To begin, let’s talk round numbers and a simple premise. A round number - there is going to be a 10 percent cut to the city’s overall budget. A simple premise - our citizens and leaders agree that public safety is at the top of the list of what a city’s budget should do for its citizens.
OK, so city leaders know how much they need to cut, and they know what city functions are important to our citizens. Now, they can do one of two things, they could cut an even 10 percent from every department in the city, or they could weigh the cuts in response to what citizens desire from their government. Correspondingly, less than 10 percent would be cut from fire and police services.
But what the city has proposed is, indeed, a puzzling third option. Instead of a 10 percent cut (or less) to Fire and Police, they have more than doubled these cuts - contrary to what citizens want.
And when you do the math, the results are interesting. By cutting 20 percent, and then some, to the departments that citizens want preserved or even bolstered, it enables less than 10 percent to be cut from departments citizens deem not as important – if any cuts take place in these departments at all.
City leaders, if you are going to ignore the Priorities of Government survey, fine. But, don’t go in the opposite direction of its findings. Let’s just have a 10 percent cut across the board in every department in the city’s budget. Don’t subsidize non-essential departments by taking from those deemed essential. It doesn’t make sense. It goes against the wishes of the people, and it’s not good government.
John Griffith
Executive Board, IAFF Local 29
To begin, let’s talk round numbers and a simple premise. A round number - there is going to be a 10 percent cut to the city’s overall budget. A simple premise - our citizens and leaders agree that public safety is at the top of the list of what a city’s budget should do for its citizens.
OK, so city leaders know how much they need to cut, and they know what city functions are important to our citizens. Now, they can do one of two things, they could cut an even 10 percent from every department in the city, or they could weigh the cuts in response to what citizens desire from their government. Correspondingly, less than 10 percent would be cut from fire and police services.
But what the city has proposed is, indeed, a puzzling third option. Instead of a 10 percent cut (or less) to Fire and Police, they have more than doubled these cuts - contrary to what citizens want.
And when you do the math, the results are interesting. By cutting 20 percent, and then some, to the departments that citizens want preserved or even bolstered, it enables less than 10 percent to be cut from departments citizens deem not as important – if any cuts take place in these departments at all.
City leaders, if you are going to ignore the Priorities of Government survey, fine. But, don’t go in the opposite direction of its findings. Let’s just have a 10 percent cut across the board in every department in the city’s budget. Don’t subsidize non-essential departments by taking from those deemed essential. It doesn’t make sense. It goes against the wishes of the people, and it’s not good government.
John Griffith
Executive Board, IAFF Local 29
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