Gadflies smell blood, union bares teeth

They say an animal is most dangerous when cornered, and if that's the case, we better keep a few steps away from Long Beach's employee associations.

With furloughs already implemented, pay freezes or more furloughs on the horizon, and now the City Council deciding this week to open up discussions about reforming the costly pensions held by public employees, the unions are being threatened from all sides.

Last night at the 5th District community budget meeting, the Long Beach Firefighters Association bared its teeth as it faced attacks from political gadflies, who are starting to smell blood.

Many of the usual suspects who regularly hammer at the council and city management over workers' pay, pensions and making financially sound decisions in general were at the 5th District meeting in El Dorado Park Community Center. There was Larry Boland, a loud voice for pension reform who has dedicated much of his time to analyzing why Long Beach's pension costs have grown to $80 million citywide. Also among the crowd were the founding members of the Long Beach Taxpayers Association, Tom Stout and Kathy Ryan, and a few other critics.

They all railed against past city councils for approving pay raises and fat pensions for employees, against city management for letting it happen and against the unions for seeking the kinds of benefits that critics say few workers in the private sector enjoy.

Following a presentation by City Manager Pat West and Finance Director Lori Ann Farrell about the budget, Boland was the first to talk, and as he went on and on about pensions, Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske had to ask him to sit down and let others speak.

Then Ryan said that, as Long Beach faces 34 potential police officer layoffs and the partial closure of Fire Station 18 in East Long Beach, "We've priced ourselves out of the public safety market."

Firefighters Association leaders disputed these claims, saying that Long Beach firefighters are below the median pay of comparable California cities and that the Fire Department budget hasn't increased significantly in recent years. Things got tense as Rich Brandt, president of the Firefighters Association, was speaking. He suddenly turned to Stout, who had been grumbling under his breath, got right in his face and asked him if he had something to say. Stout didn't respond.

Ultimately, it took Schipske to calm things down again, and while a few 5th District residents asked questions or made comments, many of them seemed caught in the crossfire between gadflies, unions and city management as the debate escalated. My recommendation: When the growling starts, stay out of the way.

Read more about the Fire Department budget, how the department operates, and what it could be doing differently, better or more cheaply this Sunday at www.presstelegram.com.