A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
The closest Safeway to my apartment, where I sometimes reluctantly do my grocery shopping, is located in the San Francisco neighborhood known as the Western Addition.
On any given weekday at any hour of the day, this particular Safeway is a hub of activity. Elderly homeless men form a line at one end of the parking lot, waiting to redeem bags of cans and bottles for rebate checks at the recycling center. Young black men zip around the parking lot at breakneck speeds in lowrider town cars, blasting their tunes to garner attention. Drunk hoodlums loiter around the entrance of the market, panhandling and yelling at passersby. Checkout lines are populated by folks who pay for their groceries with a combination of food stamps, clipped coupons, and ziplock baggies full of pennies and nickels.
It was at this particular Safeway, that I was motioned over to a table near the store's entrance some weeks ago by a black man not more than half a decade older than me who was holding a clipboard. “Would you sign our petition, Miss?” he asked. To be polite, and because I was slightly curious, I heard him out. “What we’d like to do, is get a measure on the San Francisco ballot that would require city employees to contribute a small portion of their paycheck to their healthcare and retirement pensions. The city’s in a lot of trouble, and this could really help the situation,” he explained. Admittedly skeptical, I was a bit reluctant to accept the pen and clipboard that I was handed. But upon reading the detailed description of the measure he hoped to get on the ballot, and seeing that he'd already collected hundreds of signatures that day, I could find no reason why I shouldn’t add my name to his growing list of citizens calling for a practical step that had the potential to restore some small measure of fiscal sanity to my city.
I was apparently one of 77,000 other San Franciscans to sign this petition. In Friday’s edition of the Wall Street Journal, Michael Moritz describes the battle behind Proposition B, and explains the hope it represents for a city mired in budget deficits, debt, and skyrocketing unemployment.
77,000 San Franciscans signed a petition to place a measure on the Nov. 2 ballot that would do what generations of politicians haven't: bring a modicum of sanity to the pension and benefit programs of San Francisco government employees. If passed, Proposition B would require all city employees to contribute up to 10% of their income to their pension plans, and to pay half of the health-care premiums of their dependents. This will save San Francisco at least $120 million a year, at a time when its pension tab is $400 million per year, up from $175 million in 2005.
Every incumbent official in the city opposes Proposition B except its sponsor, the progressive public defender Jeff Adachi, who is as far removed from being a tea party member as Wasilla is from Washington. The Democratic Party has condemned the initiative. Democratic Mayor Gavin Newsom says that if workers' benefits are trimmed it will be impossible to find replacements and that, rather than voting through Proposition B, we should "work together" to bring about change.
But San Franciscans know that unemployment rates top 20% in parts of California, that 50 years of just "working together" is what's landed us in this pickle, and that the city's current pension and benefit programs are unfair to all private-sector workers. On average, private-sector workers earn half as much as city employees. And as their savings disappear, they have no option but to continue working until their teeth fall out.
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
"Impossible to find replacements"?
Tell Gavin Newsome to run an ad on Craigslist. Next morning, he'll have 30,000 applicants camped outside City Hall.
Jul '10
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
Diane Ellis, Ed.: The closest Safeway to my apartment, where I sometimes reluctantly do my grocery shopping, is located in the San Francisco neighborhood known as the Western Addition.
On any given weekday at any hour of the day, this particular Safeway is a hub of activity. Elderly homeless men form a line at one end of the parking lot, waiting to redeem bags of cans and bottles for rebate checks at the recycling center. Young black men zip around the parking lot at breakneck speeds in lowrider town cars, blasting their tunes to garner attention. Drunk hoodlums loiter around the entrance of the market, panhandling and yelling at passersby. Checkout lines are populated by folks who pay for their groceries with a combination of food stamps, clipped coupons, and ziplock baggies full of pennies and nickels.
So, the obvious question: why the reluctance Diane? The cashiers, right? It's gotta be the cashiers.
Jun '10
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
Better or worse than 30 years ago?
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/30/us/san-francisco-tackling-den-of-thieves-project.html
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
Palaeologus
So, the obvious question: why the reluctance Diane? The cashiers, right? It's gotta be the cashiers. · Oct 21 at 9:36pm
Last week, the lady in front of me had an enormous cart of groceries, and then when she ran her debit card, it was declined. She swore that she had money in it and refused to move aside even after it became painfully clear that there was no way her account had enough money in it to cover her groceries. The clerk then proceeded to remove item by item from the check to see if the debit card would cover $99.50, then $94.70, then $88, until she got to $50, which was the magic number. I wasted the better part of an afternoon in that line.
May '10
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Last week, the lady in front of me had an enormous cart of groceries, and then when she ran her debit card, it was declined. She swore that she had money in it and refused to move aside even after it became painfully clear that there was no way her account had enough money in it to cover her groceries. The clerk then proceeded to remove item by item from the check to see if the debit card would cover $99.50, then $94.70, then $88, until she got to $50, which was the magic number. I wasted the better part of an afternoon in that line. · Oct 21 at 10:04pm
That the foundation for a short story Diane.
Jul '10
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Last week, the lady in front of me had an enormous cart of groceries, and then when she ran her debit card, it was declined. . The clerk then proceeded to remove item by item from the check to see if the debit card would cover $99.50, then $94.70, then $88, until she got to $50, which was the magic number. I wasted the better part of an afternoon in that line. · Oct 21 at 10:04pm
Brutal, I'm betting dollars to donuts that the customer was asked about some promotion or other during that retail travesty.
There's a CVS less than a block from my business that I pass by twice a day, walking an extra block-and-a-half to a (higher priced) 7-11. At the CVS a three person, one item per person line takes about 9 minutes with one cashier, and I swear, 10 minutes with two.
So, does Prop B have a snowball's chance in Frisco?
Jul '10
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
Diane Ellis, Ed.:
rather than voting through Proposition B, we should "work together" to bring about change.
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that when Democrats say "Work Together" it always ends up meaning "Do It MY Way!"
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
Palaeologus
So, does Prop B have a snowball's chance in Frisco? · Oct 21 at 11:08pm
You know, I was trying to track down some type of a poll for Prop B, but city-wide polls are hard to come by. The SF Chronicle, certainly no bastion of conservatism, has endorsed it though, so I'm hoping that's an indication of broad support for the measure.
Jun '10
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
I lived for a time in Riverdale, Maryland not far from a community that subsisted largely on welfare. At times a glitch in the scanner software at the local Super Giant caused the computers to misread the proper balance on the food program debit cards. The state agency that provided reimbursement to the market decided to make good on any overcharges without penalizing their clients. Whenever the problem occurred, the welfare class would pour out of the projects like locusts and denude the grocery of all its top-shelf merchandise. Said one of the cashiers: "The state is teaching the poor to steal." Indeed, the message of socialism in a nutshell.
Aug '10
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Palaeologus
So, the obvious question: why the reluctance Diane? The cashiers, right? It's gotta be the cashiers. · Oct 21 at 9:36pm
Last week, the lady in front of me had an enormous cart of groceries, and then when she ran her debit card, it was declined. She swore that she had money in it and refused to move aside even after it became painfully clear that there was no way her account had enough money in it to cover her groceries. The clerk then proceeded to remove item by item from the check to see if the debit card would cover $99.50, then $94.70, then $88, until she got to $50, which was the magic number. I wasted the better part of an afternoon in that line. · Oct 21 at 10:04pm
The question is, why didn't another cashier wave over the people behind her into his line? Or why didn't the people behind her in line move to another line themselves? There wasn't only one cashier, was there?
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
The question is, why didn't another cashier wave over the people behind her into his line? Or why didn't the people behind her in line move to another line themselves? There wasn't only one cashier, was there? · Oct 22 at 6:39am
Each line was about 10 people long, and a few of us in my line had already put our items on the conveyor belt. But this kind of thing is the norm there since no one much values time.
Jun '10
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
Diane Ellis, Ed.: "Each line was about 10 people long, and a few of us in my line had already put our items on the conveyor belt. But this kind of thing is the norm there since no one much values time."
This tendency by the underclass used to irk me to no end. I now do my grocery shopping at 0700 Sunday mornings.
I can adjust, but that doesn't address the deeper questions about what we as a society owe the underclass. Where is the social contract between the providers and the dependents? Why do we require nothing in return for our largess? At a minimum we should demand good citizenship. The following should be grounds for a denial of benefits: felony, truancy, bastardy, parental neglect, drug or alcohol abuse, and/or using benefits to secure the products or services of the black market. It's time the poor owed us something.
Jul '10
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
Look for a major last-minute media blitz by the labor unions to bury this good government measure. It's taking a while for us to understand that we exist to support government. I knew a gardener years ago who worked for the city and county of San Francisco. On the rare occasions when he was expected to do a job of work, he usually found a way to shirk it. You lost face if you didn't. His supervisors didn't care. Nobody did. He is now retired and living in another state on a handsome pension, courtesy of the suckers.
Aug '10
Re: A Glimmer of Hope For the City By the Bay
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
The question is, why didn't another cashier wave over the people behind her into his line? Or why didn't the people behind her in line move to another line themselves? There wasn't only one cashier, was there? · Oct 22 at 6:39am
Each line was about 10 people long, and a few of us in my line had already put our items on the conveyor belt. But this kind of thing is the norm there since no one much values time. · Oct 22 at 7:35am
Fair enough. If you can't reasonably expect quicker service in another line, it makes no sense to switch.