Mayor Cox Needs to Admit Her Mistakes
By Al Shur, Business Manager, IBEW 569
This week’s City Council meeting was canceled, so we’re going to have to wait a few more days to find out if Mayor Cox still wants to close a fire station and lay off about 20 firefighters as part of her plan to deal with the budget crisis. She’s been quiet since the wildfires broke out, but I’m hoping that this tragedy has caused the Mayor to change her mind about trimming the fire department. Even though we disagree on many issues, if she’s willing to admit that proposal was a mistake, I’ll support her and give her credit for doing the right thing.
One of the toughest things for a public official to do is admit when they’ve made a mistake. Whether it’s pride or fear of angering political allies and financial supporters, nobody ever wants to say they were wrong… but sometimes it needs to be done.
Take a look at Mayor Cox’s partnership with Gaylord for the bayfront development, another mistake she should admit: The more details that come out, the crazier this whole scheme looks.
Scott Barnett of TaxpayersAdvocate.org is about to release another study adding more evidence to what we already know about Chula Vista’s financial situation: our debt is growing and revenues are drying up. Add Chula Vista’s budget crisis to Gaylord’s “F grade” financial situation, and you’ve got a pretty shaky partnership. Don Bauder made a great point in this article a few months back when he pointed out that this country is already saturated with money-losing convention centers. Plus, most people don’t even like Gaylord’s design for the building — it’s an ugly Taj Mahal!
Worst of all, the Gaylord plan will replace 2000 good union machinist jobs at Rohr Industries with 2000 permanent low-wage Gaylord jobs. Chula Vista needs the middle class tax base now more than ever, but the Mayor is backing a plan that would squeeze these jobs right out of town.
If you want to get a sneak preview of the jobs that Gaylord will bring to Chula Vista, take a look at this Dallas-Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, article about one of the employees at Gaylord’s Texas resort: “There are days when all I have is $2 to my name.”
If you think it’s time for Mayor Cox to stand up for Chula Vista instead of caving into Gaylord’s demands, drop her a line to let her know how you feel.
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://localjobsfirst.org/files-mt/mt-tb.fcgi/31
