LAist: Work Where the Money Is: Tons of City of LA Jobs Worth $100k

Manny

Tue, 13 May 2008 04:50:53 -0800

That's an excellent point. People for some reason believe that their choices are just "pay up or shut up". How about putting the money that you do get where it is needed most? Its Los Angeles people! Do you know the amount of money that is generated in this city from taxes? Where is it all going? I refuse to accept that we have to cough up more money in order to have decent city services.

SoapBoxLA

Tue, 13 May 2008 02:15:07 -0800

LAMapNerd writes: "If you just have to complain, then at least pick one side or the other - lower taxes or better services - and quit pining away for some imaginary neverland where you get all the cool stuff you want without having to pay what it costs." Sorry, but your false dichotomy doesn't fly. How about "responsibly spent taxes" and "efficiently managed services" as a choice. Surely you're not implying that taxpayers can't have both? Eliminating overtime would near balance the budget yet defenders claim that the police need the overtime to address staffing shortages and that it's cheaper than the alternative. Meanwhile the Police Department leads the City in the voluntary furlough program. Hmmm... "Irresponsibly spent taxes" and "inefficiently managed services" are the status quo. Yes, I think we should address both.

Marshall

Sun, 11 May 2008 21:10:01 -0800

I don't think I'm getting what I pay for, and I don't mind paying high taxes for services. That's the problem here. The corporate culture of the City of LA's various departments is not working, and just because we're obviously willing to pay the kind of wages that attract quality workers doesn't mean that we're actually getting quality work out of the workers we have.

LA MapNerd

Sun, 11 May 2008 16:25:51 -0800

Living in LA is extremely expensive - much more expensive than most other places. Keeping LA running is extremely challenging - much more difficult than most other places. And American workers are, on average, miserably underpaid - and far too often, they have crappy benefits to boot. Personally, I find it encouraging that there are so many well-paid opportunities for people who are willing to devote their careers to keeping Los Angeles humming, even though they're frequently hamstrung in their efforts by the constant complaints about "high taxes" emanating from barstool blowhards who have no clue just how low the typical American's tax burden really is, compared to much of the rest of the civilized world. The people who whine loudest about our lack of free universal medical care and bazillion-dollar 24/7 state-of-the-art transit systems are usually the same ones who think that $4.00/gal. gasoline is outrageous and intolerable. If you want superior public services, then you should support higher taxes - and not just higher taxes on other people. If you want lower taxes, then you should refrain from complaining about inadequate public services. You get what you pay for - there ain't no free lunch. If you just have to complain, then at least pick one side or the other - lower taxes or better services - and quit pining away for some imaginary neverland where you get all the cool stuff you want without having to pay what it costs.

bbkong

Sun, 11 May 2008 12:54:48 -0800

There's no real issue here, it's a punch line! 6,000 people making over 100K and this is how they maintain the city? And they expect ME to cough up $1500 to fix the sidewalk in front of my house? If that's not comedy, what is? Hey, let's just vote ourselves another raise and keep ignoring public opinion.

Marshall

Sun, 11 May 2008 12:27:28 -0800

The real issue is that most workers are underpaid - that the average American earns less and less every year. Whether many city workers actually make the effort to earn the pay they're getting is another issue altogether, and as far as I'm concerned, the 2nd elephant in the room (after the LAPD's lack of fiscal discipline) when it comes to the City of LA's budget.

torrmoz

Sun, 11 May 2008 12:17:26 -0800

The lesson to be learned here is not: "hey, why do these city employees make 'so much' money?!" But rather that we should be doing everything we can to ensure all workers have they ability to organize. Collective bargaining is essential in garnering automatic cost-of-living wage increases and other fair wage practices.

charmon

Sun, 11 May 2008 11:52:12 -0800

While I'm sure it's true that some of these folks are making more than their job is really worth, shouldn't we also consider the fact that LA has one of the highest costs-of-living in the country? I'm wondering what those "comparable cities" are because we all know that unless you've got $1M+ to spend on a house, you're stuck living in the boonies.