El Segundo: Bought By Unions? (No On Measure A)

El Segundo (El Segundo Blvd. and Sepulveda) Source: SameerKhan.

El Segundo, CA: I love that city.

It's quiet and quaint, with a great library, mostly residential, but with a beautiful and well-financed business corridor in the eastern part of the city. One of the best cities in California, and an overlooked treasure in the South Bay.

They even have their own beach, yet the city coexists with one of the largest corporations in the world: Chevron.

El Segundo represents how businesses can thrive and do well for a city, too.

Unless, of course, public sector unions attempt to take over city hall and demand salary, pension, and benefits increases at the expense of the taxpayer and the businesses whose tax receipts keep the city strong and viable.

I remember reading in the Daily Breeze how city leaders wanted to hire a Public Relations representative to invite more business investment to the city.

If El Segundo leaders really want to do well for businesses and serve their residents, they will resist Measure A and inform votes to reject the measure, too.

Tax increases on individuals and businesses alike are not the way to increase city revenue. One ad in the local paper, the El Segundo Herald, displayed that at least 18 public employees are drawing a six figure salary, with a commensurate pension to follow.

Torrance, California is facing massive pension liabilities, too, and the next city council and mayor must take steps to stand up to unions and curb the demands. One mayoral candidate, Tom Brewer, has moved that city employees contribute as much as he does to his own pension: 9%

That's a good start.

But what about the remaining debt? Will this reform apply to all public employees, or just new hires? Measures to save money and redirect funding back to the city, and all of its residents, must include shared sacrifice from all employees. They all took on public jobs to serve the public, did they not?

Last time I checked, individuals do not enter the public sector to get rich. They want to contribute to the city, and they find that their skills best ally with employment in a public institution.

Fine. As far as wealth, retirement, and legacies are concerned, however, those interested must be met by individual employees through their time and investment strategies. Cities should not bear so great a burden of shoring up the massive (excessive) retirement of public employees, especially top brass taking in $200, 000 to $300,000 a year.

Visit the latest link from The Public Safety Project, where any reader will find that the major supporters for El Segundo Measure A come from the city's public sector unions. This demand for more money is petty and brazen, thus insulting.

I agree with Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and former labor leader Samuel Gompers: public sector employees should not form unions, as their salaries and financing of political action groups pose an inevitable conflict of interest, against the public interest, and now bankrupting cities throughout the country, including four cities in California (with more likely to follow).

Let us hope that El Segundo residents, no matter what their party affiliation, share the same anathema to public sector unionization and vote against Measure A, then start holding their city council accountable and demand that they press back against heavy-handed union demands.