Mayor REED is a wild animal. He seems to be attacking public employees for his political agenda. Look at what he did to San Diego. During some of the greatest stock Market gains the U.S has ever seen. He put San Diego into Bancruptcy their too? Hmmm, Maybe the problem is Mayor Reed??? And not the hard working employees of San Jose or Santa Clara.

I wonder how much it cost the City for Ron Gonzalez’s golden parachute? or Del Borgsdorff’s? Both of which were more than likely approved by mayor Reed himself.

Now that the poop is hitting the fan and the sky is falling, Ceasar and his cohorts are running for cover. The plebs and serfs have to do the heavy lifting and the Emperor need not care if any of them get crushed by your failed decisions.

You have been with the City Council since 2000, Mr. Reed. Where was this sentiment when the Budget Office was presenting dwindling general fund resources almost a decade ago?

If I’m not mistaken, every non-appointed city employee had to pass rigorous Civil Service exams for gainful employment plus more exams for every promotion. Each retiree represents about 25+ years of his adult working life dedicated to serving the residents of the City of San Jose. Many of these people could have earned much more in the private sector during the dot com boom years.

San Jose is not alone in its plight. The USA has an unfunded liability of non-pension benefits in the amount of $173 billion according to the Pew Trust Study and $48 billion of that rests on the shoulders of taxpayers in the State of California.

To suggest that this can be corrected by decreasing the workforce or decreasing workforce benefits is morally irresponsible, not just to City employees but more so for its residents. Yet how can you suggest that taking away food, shelter, health care and education from families of your city employees and retirees be the sole panacea to the unfunded pension problem?

These are hard and harsh times for EVERYONE including the residents of the City of San Jose. For so many years, I have seen the City staff forces dwindle even as we built our new beautiful City Hall and left the old one empty. And still, city staffing and general fund decrease. The new City was supposed to save money. You played your shell game and now programs that were housed in a paid for building pay rent for your sterile monument. The need to increase fees gets blamed on employees benefits, not your decisions.
It seems to me you need to also consider increasing general fund revenues. You provoke the ire of government officials by chiding them for being weak when it comes to fiscal responsibility. How strong are you? Will you stand up to the taxpayers that you invoke? Will you ask for their help to increase the general fund and help stop the deficit? Will you ask them to pay a fair share of the cost for the services they want? The reserves have been used, capital funds transferred, workforces decreased to bare bones, paychecks frozen or cut, proposed 2-tier retirement packages alienating potential recruits and short of declaring bankruptcy and shutting down city hall, what else can you propose?
It has already started, but it could go farther: consolidate departments and decrease their numbers to align with the same number of CSA’s. Fewer departments and department/assistant department heads. Aim for an organization that is streamlined and breezy light on top and reaches out to all resident sectors on the lowest hierarchy.
What else can you propose? How about proposing fewer council members? Let’s go back to the general fund and the voters. Can you do it, Mr. Reed? If we residents want and need more services, then the simple painful truth is we the residents just need to PAY for those much needed services.

Robert Rizzo, if CalPERS tries to cut my pension payout by 50%, I will be sure to seek you out and include you in the class action lawsuit that will be filed. However, it is fortunate for us retirees, that we are in CA and not whatever redneck state you have emigrated from.

California is going to end up being saved because of all you did at and for the City of Bell. It was a game changer. Public employee unions and public employee administrators are now on the defensive and are on run and scrambling hard because of you. Thank you for awakening the press and the non-public employee general public to the fact that they have been sucker punched by the public sector. The name of Robert Rizzo will go down in the annals of California history as one of our most important and influential citizens. Thank you so much Mr. Rizzo. And by the way, how’s the food and the medical care you’ve been receiving this week?

LOL…the so called “heros” getting 10% compensation bumps for 10 years in a row……..this is why every muni in this state is BK.