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Brilliant city councilors figure out way to get a raise without having to vote on it
By adamg on Wed, 10/07/2015 - 10:49pm
And it's a perfect city council maneuver because it involves doing absolutely nothing, the Globe reports. Granted, it would only take them to the $99,500 the mayor proposed rather than the $105,000 salary that was angrily demanded by Council President Bill Linehan, but that's not bad for doing nothing at all.
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Comments
This is Corruption
When are you citizens of Boston going to wake up and realize that Boston City Hall, the Boston Police, and other politics are not all that great!
I am not saying that this is as bad as the corruption in New York or Chicago but I have overhears conversations and seen so much corruption here from city departments, state agencies and politicians
When enough cowards like you stand up....
And run for office or join the police force instead of commenting as an anon on a message board complaining (which does nothing).
I would also like said
I would also like said candidate to realize the police aren't politicians.
Calling someone a coward?
No need to resort to insults. You're not better than anyone.
Maybe because he or she is
Maybe because he or she is worried about retaliation. I have seen people retaliated against and they get away with it. I remember the probation chief getting sentenced to prison for hiring people that he was asked to hire from politicians but nothing ever happened to one politician. Hmm, something isn't right here!
When you do come forward
The police find a reason not to hire you. Try running for office against an incumbent? People make complaints and they don't go anywhere because they deny everything!
It must be nice! I think I
It must be nice! I think I might want to be a city councilor when I grow up! Maybe they will use it to donate to their own campaign and stop asking people for donations. Lol
The bigger issue
Why didn't Councilor Baker wear pink for Breast Cancer Awareness today? Every other Councilor did.
Maybe he wore pink underwear
Maybe he wore pink underwear
Maybe because the whole pink thing
is annoying and phony. Many of us are plenty aware of breast cancer without having to drape ourselves in a hideous color or buy pink tires, Windex, Oreos or whatever else they can slap a meaningless feel-good pink ribbon on.
Plus, maybe he was worried
Plus, maybe he was worried about getting sued by the Susan G Koman Center for Abusing Copyright and Licensing.
'Awareness'
Breast cancer research gets far more $ than other types of cancer.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/02/07/where_do_the_millions_of_can...
Yes it's a horrible disease, but so are lung cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer...
#1 for Cancer Deaths in Women
Don't think pink - think turquoise.
Lung Cancer is the biggest killer of women - even those who never smoked! http://lungforce.org/womens-lung-health-barometer-infographic
Nearly 100k a year
For having a pulse and wearing t-shirts with hashtag du jour every now and then - not bad, not bad at all.
Enter a Recipient (Filer) Councilor's last name...
Enter a Recipient (Filer) Councilor's last name...
at
http://www.ocpf.us/Reports/SearchItems
What is needed is a court injunction
It seems to me this is why we have a balance of powers. I imagine a court injunction that holds activation of this proposal for 24 hours would put it on the wrong side of election day and the new Council rules (vote for pay raises for future councils) would take effect in time to cause a different judicial showdown of whether the proposal to law/ordinance pathway or the new rule takes precedence.
Did Mayor Walsh understand
that he was giving the City Council a comfortable way out, by sending his proposal to them? It looks like he knowingly assisted them by offering an alternative proposal that would automatically become law if they did nothing. I think the mayor is as responsible as the councillors for this ridiculous pay raise.
Of course he did...
Happy, well-fed piggies in the City Council means they won't want to challenge him for the office of the Mayor.
Exactly
City Council has so little power in Boston and now the Mayor has bought them off. Really wish someone was running against Linehan so I could vote against him.
Stenographic Record. Full text of WGBH Captions. Public Meetings
This is another reason it would be useful to have available online the full text transcripts of the Stenographic Record of Public Meetings of Boston City Council and the WGBH Captions from the Webcasts of Public Meetings of Boston City Council for hard of hearing folks, for the Deaf Community, for all.
A counterpoint: I have no
A counterpoint: I have no personal friends in the city council or even at City Hall for that matter, but I don’t quite get the whole outrage about councilors wanting a raise when they haven’t had one in 15 years. That’s for a job that involve dealing with a lot of BS on a daily basis -you couldn’t pay me enough to wear a pink ribbon or "Boston Strong!" t-shirt on any day of the year among other things. Lowering the pay doesn't help improve the quality and professionalism of the council.
And if this is such a cushy job, then you should apply: each one of these position opens every two years!
Agreed
Not having a raise for 15 years is not a great way to insure we get a continuous stream of qualified applicants for the job. These people are professionals and should be paid as such. Also, in case no one's noticed, this town has gotten more expensive recently. Is it asking so much that our city councilors get paid well enough that they don't have to work a second job if they want to raise a family in this burg?
We should fix this once and for all. Peg both the Mayor's salary and the councillors' salaries to inflation with an adjustment every 2 years and be done with it.
Who wants the hassle
Whether or not they should get a raise now is not contingent on the last time they got a raise.
For example, if they've been getting paid $300,000 since 1970, then it's 45 years later and they've never gotten a raise in 45 years!! Someone should do something!
We have no reason to increase their pay if they are making fair market value for the job they're doing. Considering we have a weak city council (and strong mayor) to begin with, their pay should reflect that. These aren't the people moving and shaking this city the most. In some ways, your state representative has more power over what happens in Boston than any city councilor...which is sad, but true of our shitty surrogate parent system of government in MA where preventing the hoi polloi from making Beacon Hill elite eat crow occasionally meant the state began micromanaging the city and never gave back the reins in 200 years.
So, based on the city size (how much power they need to wield) and the level of power they hold in the government process (how much power they can wield), is their pay commensurate to other cities in similar settings?
Based on past surveys of similar cities, it is...without the raise.
But wasn't there an actual independent report
That recommended a raise basically along the lines of what Walsh proposed?
I don't know your public policy and public administration bona fides. Yes, your point about the strong mayor/weak council system is apt, but people who get paid to figure out how well/poorly compensated they actually are did say a raise was in order.
No
It said they don't deserve a raise based on what others make...buuuuuut since they were making so much more and inflation goes up, then we should give them a raise to keep pace with inflation.
http://www.wbur.org/2015/09/02/boston-city-council-pay-raises
Can we add a poll to this post?
I'm curious to know how many Uhub readers are against this. I'm also curious to know how many Uhub readers (city residents) will contact the city council office to express their feelings on this matter.
I think there are two seperate issues here.
The raise and the process for getting the raise. It seems like the process stinks, but the raise isn't completely irrational.
I contacted them:) I have no
I contacted them:) I have no issue with ppl getting raises but they shouldn't do it in one felt swoop.
Be like most ppl and get a measly 1.8% every year.
Are you the one who misled O'Malley on "one felt swoop?"
https://mobile.twitter.com/MattOMalley/status/651569996913602560
1.8%
Would be giving them an 18% raise since their last one, so that really isn't that bad.
I think a poll is a great
I think a poll is a great idea.
And yes, there are two different issues here: the fact of how little the council really does and whether that is worth a 6-figure (or almost 6-figure) salary; there can be differing views. Then there's the sneaky way to try to get said salary. At the very least, they need to be held to account on election day.
What other jobs do the Councilors have beside Councilor?
For those Councilors that have other jobs, what other jobs do those Councilors have beside Councilor?
Lawyers
The claim would be that they are full time city councillors, going to meetings from 8 AM til 8 PM, but side work like drawing up powers of attorney or real estate documents probably brings them some coin on the side.
Here's one for you. In a city close to Boston, there was a guy who was a city councillor AND state rep at the same time. Kept on getting reelected, basically every year, like voting for him was a habit.