Vallejo leaders should have seen crisis coming

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 5/9/8 | Chip Johnson

[samadams2000]

Yes but the scam is that the overtime pay is loaded up in the years just before retirement which leads to a higher basis which is used to calculate retirement pay. Meaning a guy that makes 110K as a fireman, working 14 days a month by the way...works OT for the last 3 years, averages $165,000 and then receives 80% of the 165,000 for the rest of his life. By the way that fireman might be 53 years old when he retires.....

[CallToAction]

Now we've Heard alot of discussion on a topic that is near and dear to many American hearts. So what do we do about it. Talking about it doesn't do much, except get ‘em fired up!!!! I'm quite fired up!!!! how alone am I! I sit in the salon and diner, and listen to people complain about these exact issues all the time. everyone has a solution. everyones a genius! I'm wanting to DO something. I vote but I don't believe my vote really makes a difference except to get folks off my back. What do I do I want to see change, and I feel I may have to embarrass someone to do it (probably myself included) I'm tired of talking!!!!!! Is there a genius out there who has some kind of real solution. Just so you all know. I Own the salon and the diner. I am also a homeschooling mother and grandmother. not just some disaffected young adult who is determined to be pissed off at something. I'm just ready for real changes!!!!!!

[calcowgirl]

They politicians saw it coming. They were warned repeatedly. They just wanted to get theirs and didn't care what came later. So were the people who voted for them. The union goons who wanted the dough were perfectly happy to stick it to the stupid voters later. The enviros, afraid of a liquefied natural gas terminal, didn't want the commerce. The guys who promised unfunded goodies and "protection" from the gas terminal won the election. No terminal. The "stupid" voters who got stuck blew town. A "crisis" ensues.

I don't know about Vallejo, but I believe what you say is true in many situations. They either don't care, believing that there will be some safety net way down the road that will correct their current ill-doings or they have their own personal escape-hatch to retreat with their goodies and the ultimate "crisis" is actually by design.

As someone posted above, we need to "throw the bums out."

[Carry_Okie]

I had a speaking engagement in Vallejo about five years ago when this was all on the table.

They knew.

[Carry_Okie]

Maybe Vallejo residents should apply for concealed-carry licenses since the city is obviously unprepared to provide meaningful police services.

CCW is under control of the local Sheriff in California. Given that it's Solano County, that's not as bad as some, but still iffy.

[LeGrande]

There is nothing that you or I can do. In a Democracy when the majority decides that it wants everything and it wants the minority to pay, it is all over. The minority votes by leaving. That is why there are gutted cities sprinkled around the country.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

In Florida a cirty is any incorporated municipality. We have cities with less than 20 inhabitants.