The Hospital.

Elliott Gorelick’s post today warrants republishing (see below here).  And PLEASE SHARE this post with others; it could protect one’s quality of life. It could safe a life.

The hospital itself told me they nearly killed me in the Emergency Department (ED) a couple of years ago, they don’t know why I didn’t die. This, during a minor (read: easy straight forward diagnosis and treatment) medical emergency (that was extremely painful, i.e., required emergency attention). Not only did I nearly die whilst in the Alameda Hospital ED, I was about 200% worse once home . . . 

Walker’s 3 Criteria

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s three criteria upon which the relationship between public workers and taxpayers should be evaluated, adapted for our city:

1. Equity in employment benefits and burdens between public and private workers
2. The preservation of core government services for all Alamedans
3. Linked to both these goals: the improvement of the City of Alameda’s economic competitiveness.

Like Scott Walker, our city government needs to stop hiding from our budget plight, begin managing our general fund properly and that means first and foremost a.) reduce fire overstaffing b.) reduce top-paid city worker salaries across the board, and c.) negotiate in earnest with our fire and police unions for real concessions (not the meaningless kind you can splash across pricey mailers for sounds bites).

If the city laid off the 15 excess/unnecessary fire captains, we’d save nearly $4M just in salaries/benefits alone.  That’d be an immediate solution to our short-tem budget woes, would be a first step toward optimizing fire services, and give us time to map out a responsible long-term budget. It’s a win-win. There is no good reason for not doing this; so why isn’t our city leadership and management considering this?!

Vote NO on Measure C. Here’s why:

In 2009, the City tasked the ICMA (International City/County Management Association) with providing a professional assessment of Alameda’s fire service needs. Their report stated 75% of calls are medical and the Alameda Fire Department (AFD) should focus on medical responses and fire prevention.  ICMA advised, per industry standards, 78 personnel, two fire stations, and five captains are sufficient to retain response time and safety.

National firefighting industry standards call for one fire station for every 1.5 mile radius, and one ladder truck for every 2 mile radius. Alameda is 4 miles long; we need two stations and 1 ladder truck.

If our city did just three things—-reduce four fire stations to two, mothballed two of our three ladder trucks, and cut 15 of our 20 fire captains (who earn on average $217/K/year [$3.25M/year alone!])-—it would make Measure C’s relatively paltry $1.8m tax revenue per year irrelevant. 

Instead, the City has acted in opposition to that independent evaluation. Today, we have 92 station personnel, four open fire stations, 20 captains, and plans for six new facilities requiring additional staffing. The AFD’s overstaffing currently costs Alameda Citizens $4M+ annually. Measure C’s projected $11M cost for fire facilities will actually be doubled by the bond costs. We are being asked for $22M for fire facilities we don’t need.

According to the City’s Fiscal Sustainability Committee, actual City debt was almost $12M in 2009, despite the passing of the Measure P property tax in 2008.

In 2011, debt spiked 250% to $4.4M, and another 24% since then, to $5.1M, making actual debt today north of $15M. It was deceptive or shockingly uninformed of Vice Mayor Bonta to tell people that the City’s debt is decreasing each year and soon the City will be debt-free.

2011 city worker earnings skyrocketed $4.8M above 2010. 30% of fire and police earn $200K – $400K. 88% take home over $150K. Additionally, there are 66 retired workers drawing annual pensions over $100k.

Measure C does three things:

1) Suggests, but does not guarantee, city improvements (Carnegie Library, 50m pool, lighted fields)

2) Allocates 50% of the tax revenue to offload 90% of our annual city-vehicle costs from the General Fund, to offset continued overstaffing and exorbitant worker pay, and

3) Allocates the other 50% to pay for bonds to build fire stations we don’t need, to prioritize firefighting when only 25% of AFD calls are for fire responses. These costs will only continue to spike as we hire new staff .

Why are firefighters going house to house to campaign for Measure C? Why does the firefighters’ union pump nearly $50K each year into our local elections? Is it because they can afford to? Six fire staff earn over $240/K per year, 34 earn over $200K, and the rest mostly earn over $150K. Is it because the AFD’s high staff-to-call ratio makes it so easy?  Are firefighters campaigning for their own security or the security of the Citizens of Alameda?  The ICMA found the AFD lacked performance management and measurements. Despite our talented personnel, the AFD is responsible for a string of failures in recent years: they didn’t protect our public and environmental health from toxic and regulated substances (friable asbestos and crude oil), they didn’t  rescue Raymond Zack one year ago, and they have engaged in other behavior that has incurred several lawsuits against the City.

In the future, a well-written sales tax measure could be a great idea. But today, there is no justification to impose a 30-year sales tax to fund an excess of fire facilities.

Alameda needs fiscal responsibility focused on necessary services. We demand that the City stop wasting our hard-earned money and get to work for the Citizens of Alameda.

Get informed, read the facts (www.AlamedaNoOnC.com) and join me—June 5^th—vote NO on Measure C.

Good stuff.

Hope all yawl are having a happy Fourth!

And enjoy these two small, but important, news items:

1. Chief Noonan has scheduled the APD Patrol Boat to be out working the estuary Sunday and Monday, July 3rd and 4th.  Give them a wave hello if you’re out there too. And you best not be working it as Captain Anejo*. On sea or on land for that matter.

2. City Manager Russo makes a move to improve the discussions at city hall on both sides: on the dais and from ROCs**. Starting in September, all documents for City Council Meetings must be published twelve (yes, that’s 12) days prior to each city council meeting. That translates into …..  

The morning after…

I keep getting asked the same question in a variety of ways…

Why do Alamedans get hot and bothered over an issue for oh, say, about 10 minutes, then calm down and ignore issues?

Why don’t they care?

Where are their voices? Bodies? Why aren’t they on the steps of City Hall in an uproar?

Why do they go back home, given up and listless about city issues?

I think I know the answer.  It’s the Morning After Effect. Each of us have our individual and very personal Walk of Shame the next morning.  What did our city leadership and management say in Monday’s aftermath that made us proud of them? Absolutely nothing.

After a horrific event, we should be able to feel some satisfaction, we could feel proud, if those in charge exhibited any kind of gravitas about what happened on their watch, at their hands.

“One city staffer asked me if I could put a positive spin on this story, but <clear throat, look askance> judging by the comments we heard from the public, people are already thinking that the city’s reaction has been nothing short of dismal.” – Ken Wayne, KTVU Channel 2. That video is here.

The unidentified witness said it best: ”We expected to see at some point that there would be a concern for him (Raymond Zack)”.

What we get is politic-speak: soundbites designed to be legally unaccountable, something that can be said while still smiling to the cameras and those watching. Something that appears to be right….but is not. And THAT is what we feel, the ‘not enough’ feeling, the it looks right but feels wrong feeling.

It happened after the FISC fire–the City behaved as though it could care less about the thousands of residents–adults and children!–who were blanketed with friable asbestos or the future diseases this will cause.

It is always too little too late and we, the residents, get to bear the burden, the harm that was caused.  And those in charge are narcissists focused on themselves. Overriding concern for our first responders—who, ahem, are paid to do risky things!—was the soundbite of the night:

“We don’t want them [our fire fighters and police officers] in distress.”  Police Chief Noonan

And this: “the mood at the [fire] stations is somber today”.  Really? That’s what you care about? Your own experience?!

And why does it matter whether it’s an adult or a child?  ”If it had been a child, they would have jumped in.”

Unfreakingbelievable. NO MATTER HOW BADLY THE CITY PERFORMS, THEY WANT “A GOOD SPIN” ON THE STORY. Like we believe the spin…what?! Are we idiots?! Sheesh! This is why Alamedans GIVE UP. UNCLE already; we cannot take any more of this!

Noonan said he his officers can go into the water but that he could not send in an unarmed officer after Zack. Why the hell not?! Zack was observed standing in water up to his neck, with both hands in the water—doesn’t a water disable a firearm?  Zack was observed standing out there putting his arms up into the air periodically—couldn’t the APD officers see that he had no gun in his hands? Noonan said that “it’s muddy out there”.  Huh?  Kite- and sail-boarders stand out there all the time? WTF?

This is why we are apathetic. Nothing we do causes those in charge to make sense or give a real damn. Those in charge do not get it. They don’t seem to feel any life—the good or the bad—like we do. Why is that?  Oh right, they do not live here.  They are not emotionally bonded to us or our city. It’s clearly not public service. It’s just their job. Put in the hours, take the line of least resistance to get ‘er done, then go home in your Jetta TDI (I can’t afford one of those, can you?!) or whatever other very nice car they own, and fergeddaboudit. Cash in on your pension and healthcare, and go live the good life leaving us far, far behind.

The size of a postage stamp.

It’s spring time (finally) and with it a riot of garden growth.  Which always amazes me, the colors, the fragrances, the active squirrels, birds and bees.

But what’s up with front (and back) yards full of 2+ foot tall weeds?  And sidewalks/walkways riddled with weeds?

Most of our front yards are the size of a postage stamp.  So how hard is it to landscape that little bit of land and keep it looking attractive?  Why don’t people care? Where is the civic pride?  There are all kinds of good things that correlate to well-kempt front yards: community, decrease in crime, litter, etc.

Seems like there are four categories of front-yard owners in Alameda–residential or commercial:

-Cement Is Best – weeds in the cracks everywhere and we don’t need no stinkin’ permeable land!

-The Vacant Lot Look – What weeds?! What trash?

-Tending Wanne Bees – it looked good once….does it need regular maintenance?

-Well-Tended – well-designed and easy schmeasy maintenance, a hour or two per month

- The Martini – where gardening is an after-work and weekend relaxation technique

The first three rely types on yard blindness—you know, the way you simply do not see what’s right in front of you?  And provide eyesores to the community.  That said, I’ve had some cans of paint in my front yard all winter long that I’m sure people could complain about (honest, I’ll get to them any weekend now…)

It’d be nice if more people had civic pride and took an interest and participated in helping create the positive impact to our community that keeping nice looking curbs and front yards has. Failing that, I just wish people would keep their weedy front and back yards from going to seed so that the rest of us can enjoy in our gardens instead of getting up every second to weed out the sprouting seeds your continual neglect allows the wind to carry to our yards.

“It would be foolhardy…to risk doing business with the City of Alameda…”

Eugenie Thomson withdraws her proposal for contracted work to the city; why?  Alameda City Council is untrustworthy. Their recent actions have been inexcusable. They been behaving illegally and worse.  In fact, she was so incensed–watching the January 4th city council meeting from home–that she walked straight into the meeting after the public comment period had finished (11:30p), went to the podium, and interrupted the meeting to get her comments heard. I wanted to post that video here too, but the new city website only has the minutes published; there are no audio or video files of city council meetings posted for 2010 or 2011.  (!) The video is here, go to minute 3:36:00.

See Eugenie’s letter, right below here, to the the Deputy City Manager.  Long, VERY worthy read that clarifies and explains A LOT.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LETTER FROM: Eugenie Thomson, P.E , Project Management Consultant, dated January 7, 2011

To: Deputy City Manager Lisa Goldman, City of Alameda

Dear Ms. Goldman:

With great dismay, I hereby withdraw my proposal to contract with the City of Alameda for on-call consulting services for Alameda Point and other citywide projects. City Manager Ann Marie Gallant and the Department of Public Works encouraged me multiple times to submit. Ms. Ann Marie Gallant was the first City Manager since the Base Closure in 1997, to fairly consider all facts including accurately identifying the constraints associated with developments with the goal to find buildable solutions with a design that would fit within our City. Her early assessment of the SunCal mega plan and financing CAPS in SunCal’s Measure B saved our City.

But now due to recent events, I am withdrawing my proposal because I cannot, in good conscience, contract with the Alameda City Council, in which I have lost all trust. . . .

It’s Thanksgiving.

I am NOT grateful for the local hospital.  And I’m really angry about the leadership. We got more documents yesterday.  It’s one million percent clear that Alameda Hospital has been and continues strategizing for revenue and going 100% against sound medical standards for emergency stroke responses.  I hope and pray that none of the 500+ Alamedans who suffer a stroke each year do so while at home in Alameda.  It’s an abomination for Stebbins and Deutsch have stepped up their efforts with the county to retain the stroke transport preference to Alameda Hospital, to claim that their ER using a remote neurologist (like a rural hospital) with the Alameda Hospital outsourced physicians (yes, a contracted workforce), and non-stroke specialized teams can begin to give us the kind of care that ever other county in the SF Bay Area secures for their residents in a certified stroke center.    I’ll post the documents later…it is a holiday after all.  Were it me as CEO or board member, I could not enjoy this day or another other day knowing that I was putting Alamedans at risk by ensuring lesser medical care.  As it is, I’m having a hard time finding joy today after seeing Stebbins recent letter to the County EMS.  <big sigh>