Being detached and ignorant allowed Obama to get elected twice. I won't even bring up the others in office.
That is a good question. Why are none of the other news media in the United States screaming about 27% teacher raises in Massachusetts, Myron?
Where is the outrage?
Simple...dumb dumbs.....Democrats don't care about costs! Why do you think that they have run the national debt up to over 17 trillion? And certainly one would not expect the main stream press to cover it..after all they are in the "tank" for the Democrats!
Next stupid question!
MFD, you are doing yourself and your causes a big disservice by name calling and making inaccurate generalizations about Democrats. I usually agree with your specific statements about Melrose government but your latest post about Democrats in general detracts from the rest of your reasonable posts. I am a democrat, and I think Dolan calling himself a Democrat is a shame. Your generalizations give fodder to the crazies who spout that Democrats only want to spend money. Well, I and most reasonable democrats believe that we need to spend some money but spend it in a smart and effective manner. Are you a tea party wacko that thinks we should pay nothing in taxes? Well, I like things like the FDA (food and drug regulation), FAA (planes), infrastructure, licensing of drivers, etc., to list just a few. Could the government do a better job at any one of these? Absolutely, but that does not mean that I love wasteful spending.
As for Dolan, he is someone who just wants an override to cover up his total financial and idealogical failures as a Mayor. What we are seeing now is someone who is a politician in the worst sense of the word. His themes are as follows: Melrose is great, I have done a great job, we have no problems but an override is just necessary to get all the services you are all asking for. The reality is that Melrose is a great community of people, but we do have a lot of problems, created in no small part by Dolan and his ilk. Refusing to identify and deal with them, as Dolan has, has now resulted in the situation before us. Mr. Mroz has been telling the SC for years how their decisions were very poor and how to make better ones. They have consistently ignored him, tried to marginalize him, make him a pariah and treat him very poorly. The chickens have come home to roost. Their answer is more money instead of fixing the mess they created.
For the person who still does not understand where the 27% comes from, please read (or reread) Mr. Mroz's excellent breakdown posted earlier in this thread. If you still don't get it, go to the mayor and let him explain it to you.
I asked in the other message string but got no answers, so I guess I can ask here too. I don't quite understand the 27% increase in the budget statements. Looking at the 2012 budget for teacher's salaries, it was $14,608,590. If the salaries were going up by 27% over 3 years, or 9 percent each year, that would be an increase of $1,314,773 each year. However, the adminstration is asking for an additional $750,000 in teacher salaries for next year, which is only about a 5% increase. So it is not adding up. Can someone explain? Thank you.
To the person who doesn't understand the large percentage increases in the teacher's salaries:
It is complex. Whatever is being allocated in the proposed budget for teacher salaries is determined by the length of time the teacher has been in the system, which Step/Lane, etc. So not everyone will receive as much as 27% percent, obviously. The seasoned teachers receive single-digit increases, for example. It is those new teachers who jump up the Steps/Lanes in their early years that see the large increases. So no, you won't see a 27% increase in the overall teacher salary line item, but rather an aggregate which includes lots of staggered rates of increase depending on length of service, degree, etc. Hope that helps.
So perhaps MFD should stop making blanket statements about a 27% salary increase if that is not necessarily the case?
I guess my rhetoric in my postings above was a little bit much for some people! But I have little patience now with people who refuse to learn what important tings are going on around them in this city. I guess my anger gets the better of me at times.
Melrosian...as far as I am concerned if you have been a lifelong democrat, and only votes for democrats, you are part of the problem in this city, state , and country! Things have changed significantly in the party since FDR and even since JFK! Living in the past isn't going to help you much to live in the present or in the future for that matter! The democrat party has changed and is evolving into something that Kennedy or FDR would recognize!
Thanks for the clarification Melrosian.....I did make some assumptions when you noted that you were a life-long Democrat! Also I have switched between Democrats and Republicans myself...even voted for Clinton.
Go Patty & Myron!
Super looked like she was gonna blow last night after Mrs. K spoke (thanks to her) and said the only sensible things the whole meeting. What a farce. That "presentation" of the administration's to gloss over MCAS was an insult to our intelligence.