GIVE ME A BREAK
STATEMENT FROM BART BOARD PRESIDENT THOMAS BLALOCK:
July 9, 2009
“We on the BART Board of Directors have clearly said that we do not want a cooling off period. Delay in solving our deficit will only make the financial challenges greater. A 60 day delay resulting from a cooling off period, if it requested and approved, will require us to revisit our original $250 million, four-year budget deficit projections and the $100 million labor cost savings we need to achieve in these contract negotiations. Based on the latest drop in sales tax – the worst in BART’s 37 year history - and declining ridership, we’re now facing a worsening financial picture. The FY10 deficit forecast has increased by $16 million and the four-year deficit has grown by another $60 million. The way the economy seems to be going, the financial picture will likely become increasingly worse.”
Not really
Not really surprising.
Another 60 days will just put them in the same situation again.
Both sides are refusing to budge, and there is no indication that anyone is going to change their minds even if given another 60 days.
At the start of the last
At the start of the last contract, ridership averaged 305,000 a day. It is now about 350,000 or more a day. Yes, it inched near 400,000 when gas was $4.50 a gallon, but only BART management would spin a 15% INCREASE in ridership over four years as a DECLINE. *AND* this higher ridership figure is being achieved with fewer employees than ever.
I wish BART would tie our raises to ridership. However, since we went from 250K riders to 350K riders over 10 years that would have meant a 40% raise.
Money --> (BLACK HOLE that
Money --> (BLACK HOLE that more people should be asking about)
BART deflects the reason of the deficit and ties this deficit to the economy not where the money really went. Watch the news, all the people they interviewed make comments about the economy, not the specific BART situation. The Lemmings follow..
This is something that I
This is something that I would support the unions on. You guys should be bargaining for raises and benefits tied to ridership and performance. Demanding all these perks by right and threatening to strike, gets no sympathies from me.
The raises should also be tied to individual performance. Slacking workers should not be dragging down the good one.
We should use this 60 day
We should use this 60 day cooling off period to have a public audit of all of BART's books and find out where the money has gone. Once it starts to appear in questionable accounts, the district will then concede. We especially need to take a close look at all of the real estate investments and revenues that they earn.
Some has been pilfered by
Some has been pilfered by Sacramento.
Some has gone into wasteful management spending.
Some has gone into unfinished projects & planning.
Some has gone into the wallets of overpaid union employees.
There you go, I just saved you 60 days.
My consultant fee for these services will be $20,000.00 in unmarked, non-sequential bills.