Well, I might be the last one to know this, but there's a new city e-mail access address. The sign on stuff remains the same. Just click on the link above and it should take you there. Sorry if this is old news to many of you, but things are otherwise slow. Hope everyone is enjoying Thanksgiving Weekend.
JG
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
City Council Meeting Last Night...
We packed the house. And a lot of our members had great things to say. It seemed like the councilmembers were hearing us, as well. When Borg was speaking, a lot of them were taking notes. The best was the citzens who spoke. I think if we have any success, it will be because the citizens of this city are really angry.
The city acknowledges public safety is at the top of the list for what's important for a city to fund, yet, percentage-wise, they cut fire and police like it's the least important thing a city does. Not a recipe for re-election I would wager.
They replay the city council meeting on channel 5. If you get a chance to watch some of it, do. After watching it, you realize that if the city put a tax on Power Point presentations, we would soon be out of our financial woes. But when I heard what most of the citizens had to say about what we do, I was grateful and humbled. We have such good people in our corner willing to come to come to bat for us, so we can continue to do our job for them.
Thanks,
John G.
The city acknowledges public safety is at the top of the list for what's important for a city to fund, yet, percentage-wise, they cut fire and police like it's the least important thing a city does. Not a recipe for re-election I would wager.
They replay the city council meeting on channel 5. If you get a chance to watch some of it, do. After watching it, you realize that if the city put a tax on Power Point presentations, we would soon be out of our financial woes. But when I heard what most of the citizens had to say about what we do, I was grateful and humbled. We have such good people in our corner willing to come to come to bat for us, so we can continue to do our job for them.
Thanks,
John G.
Monday, November 22, 2004
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Yesterday's doorbelling, today's news....
When I left the office yesterday, there were only about 1000 flyers left. That means we put out 5000 so far. Around 50 firefighters (including a battalion chief) had signed up to deliver the flyers and postcards. Yesterday, we also had KREM, KXLY and KHQ follow firefighters and their families as they doorbell. Thanks to all the families that participated in this effort.
On another note, we had a big write-up in this morning's paper. Other than comparing the current salary of Tacoma firefighters with a salary we will have 2 years from now, it was good. Chief Williams did a great job telling citizens what they can expect from these cuts. We are becoming more unified, and that can only help us in our goal of not gutting the department that the citizens deem as the most essential in the city budget.
Remember the city council meeting tomorrow night at 6 pm. We need to pack the house.
JG
On another note, we had a big write-up in this morning's paper. Other than comparing the current salary of Tacoma firefighters with a salary we will have 2 years from now, it was good. Chief Williams did a great job telling citizens what they can expect from these cuts. We are becoming more unified, and that can only help us in our goal of not gutting the department that the citizens deem as the most essential in the city budget.
Remember the city council meeting tomorrow night at 6 pm. We need to pack the house.
JG
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
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Doorbelling begins!
We have all the materials at the union office. We will be doing some organized campaigns, probably next weekend - 11-20 and 11-21. But, you don't have to wait for that. Grab your crew and pick a neighborhood (in the city) and go out and do it. Just make sure you sign up and tell us which neighborhood you're going to do, so we don't duplicate our efforts. I went out for about 45 minutes today and hit 30 houses. Everybody I talked to was real supportive. What they usually had to say was that we were getting screwed, but they were getting it worse because of the reduction in their service.
I don't like it when I have to answer the door for solicitors, so I kept that in mind when I was doorbelling. If it looked like there wasn't activity in the front room, I didn't ring the bell. I just left a flyer. The folks I did talk to were happy to take, not only the flyer, but a postcard for the city council as well.
I would grab 1 postcard for every 4 flyers when you are stocking up to go out. Also, if they have any questions you can't answer, Local 29's website and phone number is on the flyer.
If you have any questions for me, give me a call or e-mail
John Griffith
I don't like it when I have to answer the door for solicitors, so I kept that in mind when I was doorbelling. If it looked like there wasn't activity in the front room, I didn't ring the bell. I just left a flyer. The folks I did talk to were happy to take, not only the flyer, but a postcard for the city council as well.
I would grab 1 postcard for every 4 flyers when you are stocking up to go out. Also, if they have any questions you can't answer, Local 29's website and phone number is on the flyer.
If you have any questions for me, give me a call or e-mail
John Griffith
Friday, November 12, 2004
Offer of work from a concerned citizen...
From Kevin Haughton:
Today a citizen came by the union office and offered the following;
Dwayne Phinney needs general handyman work in his rentals ie walls, plumbing, general plumbing, painting, and clean up. The position or positions are part time with very flexible hours so if you are interested give him a call.
Dwayne Phinney 466-9316
Today a citizen came by the union office and offered the following;
Dwayne Phinney needs general handyman work in his rentals ie walls, plumbing, general plumbing, painting, and clean up. The position or positions are part time with very flexible hours so if you are interested give him a call.
Dwayne Phinney 466-9316
List of billboard locales...
This is a word document. The last 2 locations won't go up until Monday.
The press conference on Wednesday
DJ Hill and Don Waller did a great job briefing our local media on the budget cut issues. There was a great picture of Greg Borg with a gramatically correct slide in the background (Thanks Jesse) in yesterday's paper.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Mickey Reynolds in motorcycle accident...
We (E3) went up tonight and saw Mickey at Deaconess. He looks pretty banged up, but was in good spirits. Mickey says the deer looks even worse. Mickey might be there tomorrow or longer, so if you're in the neighborhood...
We all wish you a speedy recovery Mickey!
JG
We all wish you a speedy recovery Mickey!
JG
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