Foxes Guarding the Hen House Around Town, posted by Dan, a resident of the Danville neighborhood, on Oct 20, 2012 at 7:08 pm
From the Sunday CC Times: "It would be the foxes guarding the hen house. San Ramon Valley residents should be alarmed by a labor move to take control of the fire district board during critical contract negotiations that will affect the ability to deliver future services." Read the scary article here Web Link
We cannot let this happen. Let the firefighters know this is unacceptable!
Posted by Kathy, a resident of the Walnut Creek neighborhood, on Oct 21, 2012 at 10:26 am
Look around guys. How much is enough? I will now vote no on Q and 32 because of this. I wanted to believe you but you have shown your true colors. Disappointed in all of you.
Posted by Nanci, a resident of the San Ramon neighborhood, on Oct 21, 2012 at 3:45 pm
If the firefighters control the board then they will be negotiating with themselves. Does everyone understand that? Share this article with everyone you know - now!
Posted by d'bomb, a member of the Los Cerros Middle School community, on Oct 22, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Take a look at their red and black coup signs. All three together in a nice tidy package to F all of us. Thank you ff's for always doing the right thing and looking out for our best interests. Right.
Posted by Rick, a resident of another community, on Oct 22, 2012 at 4:11 pm
Gerardo Peniche is a Chevron employee. Chevron must approve the political activities of its employees and should not have OK'd participation in this union slate. Chevron should be looking out for the community. Just more soot for us I guess.
Posted by DR, a resident of the San Ramon neighborhood, on Oct 23, 2012 at 7:48 am
These San Ramon guys (3546) are not representative of other firefighters or of the fire service in general. They are taking us all down with this BS. Don't lump us all in with them.
Posted by C. R. Mudgeon, a resident of the Danville neighborhood, on Oct 23, 2012 at 3:51 pm
The San Ramon Valley Times had run an earlier article on the union ties of the three candidates for the SRV Fire Protection District board, a week or two ago, which I posted in the Express' TownSquare section. So I'm glad to see that the Times followed through with a more prominent editorial in Sunday's paper.
As the editorial notes, even though you can vote for three candidates, it is best to just cast two votes, one for Kerr, and one for Stamey, as the only two candidates who DON'T have ties to the union. This will help to ensure that at least two of the three elected candidates are without union ties.
Given that retiring Fire Chief Price's relative is already on the board, and not up for re-election, it is imperative that both Kerr and Stamey get elected. Unless you like signing blank checks....
Posted by C. R. Mudgeon, a resident of the Danville neighborhood, on Oct 23, 2012 at 3:55 pm
As a bit of an adder comment, this fire board election is not just for San Ramon residents. I'm not completely sure of the exact boundaries of the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District, but it encompasses more than just the town/city of San Ramon.
So commit this little jingle to memory: "Stamey and Kerr will be more fair!"
Posted by jake, a resident of the Alamo neighborhood, on Oct 23, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Why is every well-intentioned program has to be gamed to the point that it becomes untenable? The Community valued its public servants by providing good compensation but over time the abuses have resulted in a no-confident vote for public employees. There is something wrong when you servants live better than you do! Firefighter's jobs have evolved into a top-end ambulance service with the average of couple of actual fire calls per month per station yet the total compensation keeps going through the roof. Since Jerry Brown, in his previous term, authorized the unionization of the public service employees the abuse has become the norm. They use the union power to elect the politicians (some of whom are relatives!) which in effect provide them with more power and money and the circle keeps repeating (even the "management" is unionized and gets overtime pay!).
We need another tax payer revolt to totally revamp the system and do away with the public service unions and bring some sanity to this mess.