Above: City workers sent a message to the mayor as he delivered his State of the City address at LAPD headquarters
In his State of the City address today, Mayor Villaraigosa talked about closing the budget deficit with more cuts and layoffs. But city workers were there with our own plan that closes the $432 million deficit without layoffs, furloughs or service cuts to parks, libraries, fire stations or neighborhood services.
The Mayor announced:
- 750 layoffs: including hundreds of Coalition members
- 16 to 26 furlough days: a 10% cut in services
- Cuts to fire safety: staffing cuts at neighborhood fire stations, paramedic disaster response and hazmat units
- Cuts to library hours and parks programs
- Cuts to police patrols: while the Mayor continues to hire officers he’s cutting civilian positions, pulling officers off patrol and sitting them behind desks
We got a jump on the Mayor by announcing our plan on Friday at Griffith Park Observatory, and when trash trucks rolled out yesterday to thousands of residents with signs reading: “Don’t Give Up on LA, Mr. Mayor” and directing residents to www.keepLAstrong.com for details of our plan.
“26 furlough days is over 5 weeks of service cuts to residents. That’s not a solution, that’s a disaster.”
–tree surgeon Art Sweatman (talking to a reporter, right)
“I work for Building and Safety. We’re also tasked with keeping the public safe. I’m a plan check engineer. With us on furlough delays in plan checks lead to delays in construction.”
–structural engineering associate Chad Doi (far left, talking to a reporter)
The fight continues next Tuesday, April 27, at City Hall when budget hearings begin. Call your Worksite Organizer or Steward or the Member Action Center at (877) 721-4YOU [4968] to join the push.