Camden, NJ braces for deep police, fire cuts

ap ^ | Jan 16, 2011 | GEOFF MULVIHILL

[george76]

Deep layoffs of city workers go into effect on Tuesday - cutting up to 383 jobs, or one-fourth of the city's employees. The exact number depends on whether public workers' unions make last-minute concessions...

Three of Camden's past seven mayors have been sent to prison for corruption, including one who was convicted while he was still running the city.

[stilloftyhenight]

“Obvious then that it was No Man’s Land.”

Definitely a war zone.

[4yearlurker]

I had relatives that lived in Camden. They all moved out by the late 1960s. My 2 older brothers were born in Camden. I remember even in the early 1960s there were still some sections that were safe. Those old row homes were actually quite nice and spacious.

[pankot]

The schools pull that same crap: “We’ll have to double class size, fire half the teachers, layoff janitors, etc. etc.” Meanwhile the administrators keep drawing $100,000 plus salaries until the scared public grants more taxes or another bond issue. Cheap trick, just like threatening to cut cops and firefighters.

[Revel]

This does not make sense. They are going to need those people after the real cuts come to all the social services programs.

[The Great RJ]

How many city hall bureaucrats are getting cut? If the elected officials truly acted for the public’s best interest wouldn’t police and fire personnel be the last cut?

[P.O.E.]

Maybe there’s nothing left to steal or burn anymore. Camden: the Detroit of New Jersey.

[KeyLargo]

Does not matter to Illinois. Dem Rat Gov. just raised the state income tax 68%.

Thousands hired in Illinois ahead of new pension system

By SEAN DRISCOLL and ANDY BROWNFIELD
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Jan 16, 2011 @ 11:30 PM

When it comes to pensions in Illinois, a day can mean all the difference in the world.

Thanks to the eight-month span between Gov. Pat Quinn’s approval of a pension reform bill last spring and its implementation Jan. 1, any public worker hired in Illinois as late as Dec. 31 was enrolled in a far more lucrative pension plan than those hired after that date.

A GateHouse News Service analysis of pension data has identified nearly 19,000 public workers at all levels of Illinois government hired in that span, from bus drivers to university presidents.

http://www.sj-r.com/carousel/x1334356420/Thousands-hired-in-Illinois-ahead-of-new-pension-system

[proudpapa]

Exactly!

[GeronL]

Are there no bureaucrats that can be cut?

Can they cut any ethnic community centers? gay libraries?

I’m sure they have a lot of PC spending they could eliminate

[GeronL]

As long as they don’t cut the Mexican/Gay Community Center & Dating Club they promise not to riot.

[Brad from Tennessee]

The “larger issue”:

“The larger issue, which is the most frightening and disturbing, is a governor of the state who tells the city of Camden, ‘You have to get your house in order and in four years, you have to be self-sufficient,’” he (Professor Gillette) said. “The idea that Camden could pull itself up by the bootstraps, that can’t happen.”