Yes, scratch your head time. I had been doing some digging after seeing some political ads because I cared about things that are going on and don't rely on so called reputable news agencies to explain or research anything. Now that the election is over I had a chuckle reading the PR article when Donny said he was glad people didn't believe the negative ads run about him. Well after digging around I realize he's glad because they are true!!!
First of all, the ads were run by 'friends of kathi4mayor' and while I originally thought it was possible to just say it was someone different and do it (me here, ironically) I later learned that you can't. Election Law stuff I don't care to know about. Anyway, one ad criticized how he was running the government. There is a ridiculously formal way of doing business in a city that involves resolutions to make expenditures or to do certain kinds of work which can be very time consuming but more importantly detailed and public. Just reading the minutes that are available you see they have broken the council into chairs for line expenditure items to save time (and disclosure) discussing items. This is great if your a councilor who wants short meetings so you can leave to go get your drink on but leaves the taxpayer befuddled as to what is actually being done in the city. Also, it was standard practice for the council to meet in a work session earlier in the week so that information from Department heads could be relayed back and forth to councilors about the different departments and necessary expenses and orders could be reviewed a few days before voting. This gave the councilor time to research things, know facts and perhaps even get taxpayer input. Some former councilors used to have public meetings between work session and council meetings so the public was up to speed with things. Well this has been gone for years. Work sessions and meetings combined have lasted a half hour these days with councilors simply stating ' I have reviewed expenses related to this line item and found them to be valid and neccessary', all in favor, approved. So much for open government! The bigger problem has been that some of these items need formal review, discussion and public response prior to voting (Charter and Municipal Law). I'm guessing it is just an oversight by the councilors.
Another ad addresses that the mayor doesn't follow Taylor Law, State Law, Contract Law and opposes unions. Well I did deep digging into this (haha). It is entirely public knowledge that the mayor has repeatedly violated union contracts to which the unions have grieved, fought and won via state and PERB arbitrators. These violations and fights have been with EVERY CITY BARGAINING UNIT!!! Well the fact that these have happened reflect breaking Taylor Law, State Law and Contract Law. How else can one explain it. Grievances can only be won if you can show clear violation in contract language. When a discretion about allowed practices occurs it can only be fought as 'Past Practice' or 'Improper Practice' charge, NOT a grievance. While MLD, Police and AFSCME have had a half dozen or less he has been after the Fire Union over 20 times. How does spending hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting over small bits of a contract save the taxpayers money? And on that subject of saving money, how is it he claims victories in two contract negotiations that cost the city over $200k a piece annually (FOIL and excellent math) and is holding out for arbitration for the other two that cost less than $150k annually with the same concessions (inside information). My guess is the personalities involved that won't bow down to his highness.
This brings me finally, since I'm long winded, to an ad I found most disturbing. Disturbing because he dismisses it so readily and it DISGUSTS ME because of the impact it's already had. This ad brought to light the cuts that have been made to the Fire Department and what it means to the city. I have several friends in the Fire Department and know how poorly they have been reflected by the local media and the effects it has on them personally and professionally. These guys go to hell and back on a regular basis, be it on EMS or fire calls. They have repeatedly seen horrific things that people may never experience in two lifetimes and no doubt in my mind need counselling for it (especially since Ive seen them with their drink on). The staffing level has been allowed to drop as low as 6 men on duty for the city in order to save on overtime. It wasn't very long ago, perhaps 2 or 3 years that even WPTZ took a shot at them for having 'built in overtime' and contractually 'holding the city hostage'. This occurred when the budget proposed $300k in overtime for the department. The union response when the PR picked it up was 'the city has full control of the daily staffing level and in no way does the contract specify they have to use overtime'. I've also come to find out that the city Fire union wrote the mayor directly as each level of daily staffing was reduced informing him that at those levels they would be unable to provide adequate protection when they first arrive at a fire. There is an OSHA requirement for Firemen to be able to actually enter a building for any condition and its something to do with 2 at a time. My disgust comes from the fact that when the Fanning boy died in the Fire at Court St. they were working with one less man which didn't allow them a 2nd search team. The city tried to save a few hundred dollars that day, the Fire department tried to save a life that day and a family had their lives changed forever. I'm horrified for the family, one will never know if he even could have been saved but whats worse is the city CONTINUES to operate at unsafe levels sometimes even ONE MAN LESS than the day Mr. Fanning died. My understanding is that the annual overtime saved is less than $200k. The other aspect of the ad had to do with the ladder truck and praying if you live on a third floor or higher. This is true also. The city daily level used to be 8 which was so the ladder truck could always be included in a first response. Obviously when they are working sometimes at 6 its safe to say the ladder truck will not be showing up anytime soon. I'm going to write again on this entire last topic because I don't want to continue right now. Between the outcome of this election and discussing the death of Mr. Fanning I need to be done and as much as it would of been devastating to the city financially, his family should've sued the city for not caring enough to keep their son safe. My sincerest sympathies go out to the Fanning family and I apologize that we couldn't get rid of the person who did this to you to save some money......
