The recent cutting of the trees on Park Street from Santa Clara to Clinton has provoked a lot of outcry from residents and business owners alike. I thought it might be a good idea to record the messages left behind on the stumps of the trees as a reminder that everyone but the City Administration knows what Alameda really means.
Mark Your Calendar!
For: A Community Meeting With City Treasurer, Kevin Kennedy and City Auditor, Kevin Kearney
Purpose: De-Mystifying the Budget: An Explanation of the Alameda City Budget – Where We Are Now and What We Need To Do To Gain and Protect Financial Sustainability
When: Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Time: 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Where: Alameda Hospital Community Meeting Room
The economic issues facing Alameda affect everyone who lives or works in Alameda. Our City Treasurer, Kevin Kennedy and Alameda City Auditor, Kevin Kearney will be explaining the budget and discussing their recommendations for what we need to do to gain financial sustainability and protect against bankruptcy. This meeting is sponsored by the Alameda Citizen’s Task Force (ACT), a non-partisan group of Alamedans that advocate for open government and community participation.
All Alamedans are invited to attend. There will be an opportunity for Questions and Discussion from the audience. Refreshments will be served.
Please Forward This Announcement to Your Neighbors and Friends. We can solve Alameda’s economic issues if we all understand the problems and work together.
John Russo is actually finally set to become Alameda’s new City Manager, after months of breathless anticipation. Despite how absurdly scripted and unethical it may look, City Council is set to announce his hiring at their meeting on May 3, 2011. According to the terms of his contract, he will start sometime in June. Mr. Russo, soon to be the ex-elected City Attorney of Oakland, has no experience as a City Manager, nor does he bring any financial management experience to the job, despite Alameda’s impending budget crisis.
Mr. Henneberry, I am writing in response to your editorial on The Island and in the Alameda Journal.
Unions are more often than not a wonderful institution that serve their members well.
Right now, it would do union leaders like yourself some good to look out for the community they serve, even more than their membership for several reasons:
In short, Mr. Henneberry, you have your hand out, with many demands and strong reasoning in your mind, but in the bigger picture, are you just looking out for yourself and your unions to the detriment of Alameda? Or are you part of the solution to the City’s looming budget crisis and here to help every citizen of Alameda?
The City of Alameda is facing the most serious budget crisis in its history. The financial commitments to the firefighters’ union and other unions in the long-range budget currently before the council represent 70 to 80 percent of the total. If this future gross overspending is not resolved immediately, within three to four years, our city could go bankrupt say both the City Auditor Kevin Kearney and City Treasurer Kevin Kennedy.
We acknowledge the courage and valor of the firefighters who risk their lives to protect the Alameda public; they deserve reasonable wages for their valiant service. We recognize the costs for retirement benefits and health care are increasing. But past union agreements are unsustainable. Other public safety unions throughout the Bay Area like San Jose have stepped up in a mutual collaboration to constructively rework their contracts to help preserve the communities in which they work. If we continue with business as usual, how will we maintain the essential services such as infrastructure maintenance? How will we protect our quality of life that attracted us all to this community?
We, the undersigned, call on the council to deal with Alameda’s budget crisis immediately. Structural changes to city government may be needed. Union employees and other city staff may need to make larger contributions to their pension and health care plans. Switching administration of fire services from the city to county may save money by sharing dispatch and overhead costs.
The point is: alternatives exist. We need an open, active and fully-engaged public dialog in order to be able to identify the mix of near- and long-term solutions that are best for us.
Alameda belongs to all of her citizens, not just those at the helm of city government and their supporters. We are privileged to live in this great community. However, with privilege comes many responsibilities: be informed, share our ideas and preferences with our elected representatives so they can better represent us. The public cannot afford to turn a blind eye to our critical situation. The City Council cannot do their work in a vacuum: let your voices be heard in council chambers. Insist the council do the hard work necessary to craft a responsible budget that safeguards our city’s future.
Eugenie and John Thomson
Dr. Alice Challen
Denise Lai
Eric Cross, Banker
Horst Breuer, Past Econ. Dev. Com.
Bob Perata
Karin Lucas, Past CC
Dianne Coler Dark
Patricia and Paul Bail
Jean and Jim Sweeney
Jane and Jim Burgelin
Gretchen and Arthur Lipow
Jeannie Graham
Don and Miki Roberts
Dorothy Freeman
Dr. Carol Gottstein
Charles Howell
Robert Platt
Noel Folsom
Rita Nesel
Nancy Gordon
Darcy Morrison
