Left In Lowell

LiL has learned that yesterday the Lowell Firefighters Local 853 voted overwhelmingly to accept a 24 hour pay cut by giving up two paid holidays for the remainder of this fiscal year (ending June 30th). It averages out to $600 per firefighter. Unlike furloughs this is a straight pay cut, no time off. They will still have to work the holidays.

This decision will save the City approximately $121,000 or about 20% of the remaining deficit of $501,000 fiscal 2009. Earlier, 40 non-union City employees agreed after being “asked” by the City Manager to take 3 days of furlough, thus saving the City $30,000 in wages. So now the deficit for FY 09 is down to about $410,000.

The firefighters need to be commended for stepping up to the plate. They have done their part in preserving services in the short term by working with the City Manager’s office, despite knowing what is inevitably coming in July; i.e. potential lay-offs.

Let’s see what the other unions will do to help close this gap. As for the residents of Lowell, we will all need to do our fair share either by accepting more taxes or demanding less service.

Now that’s the way it’s done.

In lieu of toll hikes, Governor Patrick is proposing instead a $.19 gas tax hike. He also wants to eliminate tolls on the Pike outside of 128, reform the MBTA pension system, and proposes the vehicle miles traveled option. (Still a bit worried about the Big Brother aspect.)

We have, for years, watched the deterioration of the MBTA after the so-called “forward funding” fiasco, where the MBTA was told to be responsible for funding expansions:

The Commonwealth assigned to the MBTA responsibility for increasing public transit to compensate for increased automobile pollution from the Big Dig (see “Big Dig remediation projects” below). The T submerged a nearby portion of the Green Line and rebuilt Haymarket and North Stations during Big Dig construction, however these projects have strained the MBTA’s limited resources since the Big Dig project did not include funding for these improvements.

Uh huh. That worked out well. This needs fixing, fast. We have to decide that having stable roads and bridges that don’t collapse and a public transit system to serve the needs of our community are worth a couple bucks a week more. Or, we could just stick our heads in the sand and pretend there’s no problem…

BMG has a great interview overview with Secretary of Transportation Jim Aloisi, if you haven’t seen it, go take a read. In his interview with them, Aloisi talks about all of the aforementioned proposals from Patrick. Particularly interesting are these details:

Aloisi explained that the 19 cents will be dedicated as follows:

6 cents “to save the T from imminent budget disaster”;
4 cents “to save the Turnpike and its toll payers from the imminent toll increases that you’ve read about in the paper that are really sky-high and are going to be very harmful to people”;
3 cents “to take down tolls west of route 128″;
1.5 cents for “regional transit authorities, to both forward fund them and to fund them in addition to their current level of funding”;
3 cents for “regional road and bridge and rail projects outside of the city [of Boston]”;
1.5 cents to “moving people in the highway department off of the capital budget, freeing up capital dollars” (apparently many highway department employees’ salaries are now paid from the capital budget — i.e., the money is borrowed — instead of the operating budget).

The LRTA and our local bridges and roads will be the winners here, as well as the solvency of the MBTA.

As for reform in the system, of course it’s needed and I look forward to supporting Patrick’s proposal on the pension reform, though I suspect, despite the numbers involved, it’s still a drop in the bucket to the budget crisis itself. That’s one of the problems of thinking “efficiency” and “reform” will solve all our problems. If you’re a Republican, you think 90% of the budget is inefficient, but in reality, these things take up a lot smaller portion of our costs than people think, despite the fact they are blown up bigger than life in the newspapers like the Lowell Sun.

I support the gas tax hike, I think Governor Patrick and Aloisi have, so far at least, showed their math and that they have a good plan to go forward, and I think our legislature ought to sincerely entertain this proposal with little “tweaking” if they want to have any chance of solving the problems we face, from budgets all the way up to the global climate crisis.

We heard from declared City Council candidate Ryan Berard in comments of my last post, and I wanted to “front page” it so everyone was sure to see it.

Ryan is a Lowell native (in his bio he talks about living in Centralville and Christian Hill) and is currently attending UML. He writes in comments:

I have to say that like most other people in Lowell, I desire new blood on the city council. Massachusetts, as many of us are aware, is now, and always has been, the land of the incumbents. Once you win an election here you know that your chances of being ousted decrease dramatically. What does this say about our democratic system? Why do we allow our representatives, people we choose to represent our values, to do whatever they desire with no oversight? I am not saying that I dislike the system, I adore our elective process, and I believe it to be one of the best in the world. However, we, the voters, always desire change, yet are content to continue the status quos. Well I am personally no longer willing to only dream of change. That is why I have decided to run for the Lowell City Council and bring a fresh perspective to our local government.

(Check out what Ryan has to say on the subject of ethics on his website.) He then continues in comments:

I do not come to this decision lightly. I know that the road ahead will be filled with obstacles and obstructions, but if the citizens of Lowell feel as I do, I firmly believe that I can not only win, but that I can impact meaningful change. There are many who would doubt even the most seasoned political veterans’ chances in such a tightly packed local race. I am under no illusions; there will not be much support for me, at least in the beginning. Yet, when I think of all the major politicians whom I have heard speak, the one story that seems to connect them all, regardless of party or ideology, is that they were not given great odds in their first elections. This is true of many of our state representatives, senators, our governor, and even our current president.

I have faith and confidence in my abilities and I ask for nothing more than a chance to prove myself. I have started a website, RYANBERARD.COM, where voters can go to get a better sense of who I am and what I stand for. It is a little rough around the edges right now, but it has the basic information you need to find out where I stand. You can email me at ryan@ryanberard.com to let be know what you think or if you are interested in helping out. Even though right now most people may scoff at the idea of such a “weak” challenger, I am anything but. Not only am I capable and motivated, I am also confident beyond doubt that I will be one of Lowell’s City Council members come this November.

Dick points out (and as he says, a first for Lowell for sure) that Ryan has a facebook presence to go with his website.

A young person in the race may be able to galvanize more youth to volunteer and vote in the upcoming election, so I’m all for it. Congrats to Ryan on his decision, and we look forward to seeing more of him as the election season rolls on.