Competing plans by new “Gang of Four” and by Faulconer suggest not if, but how it will be done
By Craig Gustafson / San Diego U-T / May 10, 2011
Remember those devastating cuts to city parks and libraries proposed last month by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders? Not going to happen.
A swift public outcry has led to dueling proposals from City Council members to restore the mayor’s suggested reductions in operating hours at branch libraries and recreation centers. The question is no longer if the cuts will be reversed but rather what’s the best way to do it.
For the moment, the leading proposal appears to be a bipartisan mix of budget solutions — slashing overtime, eliminating employee cell phones and skipping a reserve payment — that would free up $13.5 million to alleviate most of the proposed cuts to parks and libraries. It has the support of four council members, one shy of passage. Councilman Kevin Faulconer has a similar but separate plan that would shake loose $12.8 million and maintain beach fire pits and after-school programs.
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I am definitely relieved, and pleased. . .The cuts listed here make total sense. . .I am amazed at how much money is expended with employee cell phones, etc.
On the one hand, I expected this; on the other, I did not. This is a game played so many times. . .isn’t it? The proposed cuts, the protests, the “we found a way to budget it back it.” Why don’t they find the way to budget it in BEFORE putting so many people through the ringer?!
And why-oh-why-oh-why do they go after education and the university without walls, etc. rather than employee perks and other “extras”, etc.?