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Sanitation Department's slow snow clean-up was a budget protest

rebelbuc

rebelbuc

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The New York Post link is here!

Is there any question that the behavior alleged by this article is criminal? In addition to protesting budget cuts by ignoring their responsibilities, the sanitation workers' bosses set the stage to pad overtime for employees.

I am particularly disturbed by the New York Post's labeling of the whistleblowers as "snitches". It is interesting how they preceded the councilman's quote with the label of "snitch". Upon a quick glance, it looks like Councilman Dan Halloran defined them as snitches. However, it was the Post writer who used that term. See the quote below:

The snitches "didn't want to be identified because they were afraid of retaliation," Halloran said. "They were told [by supervisors] to take off routes [and] not do the plowing of some of the major arteries in a timely manner. They were told to make the mayor pay for the layoffs, the reductions in rank for the supervisors, shrinking the rolls of the rank-and-file."
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typical militancy from our public employees unions

they, by the way, are prime contributors to our greatest longterm economic instability, their pensions weigh almost as heavily against our overburdened bottom lines as public debt

all the way from greece to vallejo, california

Greece's generous pensions: What makes Germans so very cross about Greece? | The Economist

Pension Battle Heats Up in France | Labor Notes

Vallejo Is Largest California City to File Bankruptcy (Update3) - Bloomberg

with new york and illinois in between

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/business/economy/21pension.html

Shortfall Threatens Illinois Pension System : NPR

americans, and many others, are ON to the games being played out at their public expense by these mendacious elements of MACHINE politics

funding wars, efforts to shore up these overpromised and underfunded municipal pensions, must inevitably find their way on to congress' frustrated floor

we know what boehner and his broads and boys are gonna say

Opinion: Let states go bankrupt - Grover G. Norquist and Patrick Gleason - POLITICO.com

Boehner: We can't afford to bail out states - On Congress - POLITICO.com

what will be the positions of nancy PELOSI and charlie RANGEL?

how will the tenants of texas react to attempts to underwrite---at the national level---dmv workers in chicago?

try to see a move ahead

do you recall during "recovery summer" when the ny times reported that fiscally strained school systems coast to coast were using stimulus money NOT to hire additional teachers as intended, but instead were applying the aid (which came at the cost of 26 billion dollars of CUTS TO FOOD STAMPS) to stretching out a few more months of "solvency" for their plush pension plans?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/business/economy/18teachers.html

america is on to YOU, mr rangel

seeya in the cloak room, chairman

and on fox news
 
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Bloomberg is going to have a field day.
 
Boy but it does not get much to have you guys pointing north in near group orgasm. Three unnamed people talk to a person who talks to the NY Post (of all papers) and that is reason for your day of Jubilee? Some folks need to badly get a life.
 
LOL I love how you dishonestly portray it as if it's true, when it is simply hearsay. Just saw this on Drudge today and they did the same thing, not surprising in the least coming from you clowns.
 
Many comments from non-NYC folks I see. There is no justification. I went into work the night of the storm and days after, given I live near my job. It was rough and still is in many areas. Many areas are still not plowed! Who is to blame? Bloomy will continue to have a businesslike approach to politics which doesn't work because many times he appears to be out of touch with the concerns of many NYer's. He uses his power to elect an education chancellor with no prior experience as an educator, for example.

Is this fair? No, but this is NYC politics. Nothing will happen to Bloomy, especially given this is his last term in office (let's not forget how he received a third-term).... I sincerely feel bad for the folks and child who lost their lives due to the unpreparedness of the city. Someone or many in public office will be held accountable for those preventable lost of lives, where 911 was dictating which calls were priority and not. A young mother lost her new baby because EMT could not get to her for over 7 hours and she was on her way to the hospital. Apparently, 911 did not feel her calls and from others, were of priority for 6 ½ hours. We should not forget these souls when trying to play our debate forum game. Happy New Year to all.
 
haymarket said:
Boy but it does not get much to have you guys pointing north in near group orgasm. Three unnamed people talk to a person who talks to the NY Post (of all papers) and that is reason for your day of Jubilee? Some folks need to badly get a life.
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Khayembii Communique said:
LOL I love how you dishonestly portray it as if it's true, when it is simply hearsay. Just saw this on Drudge today and they did the same thing, not surprising in the least coming from you clowns.
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Manc Skipper said:
Maybe they don't want to be identified because they don't exist.
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Why would anyone jump to the conclusion that this report is untrue? Like this has never been done before? This information comes to the public by way of an Alderman and a Senator. Must be lying, you say. They're all clowns.

Your partisan approach to what may be a very real problem makes me ill.
 
MaggieD said:
Why would anyone jump to the conclusion that this report is untrue? Like this has never been done before? This information comes to the public by way of an Alderman and a Senator. Must be lying, you say. They're all clowns.

Your partisan approach to what may be a very real problem makes me ill.
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Because
1- it was published in a Murdoch yellow journalism rag
2- it came from a conservative Republican with an axe to grind against unions
3- it is based on a small group of nameless and faceless informers who do not even have the guts to stand up like men and people don't like that cowardice
4- it belies the reality that miles upon miles of NY streets are plowed and lots of union workers worked long and hard to do it
5- the NY TImes has documented how much of the problem was from the top and in management - NOT with the grunts on the front lines
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/nyregion/30response.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&hp

This is about scapegoating and trying to blame somebody else for the incompetence of the mayor and upper management responsible to the mayor.
 
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haymarket said:
Because
1- it was published in a Murdoch yellow journalism rag
2- it came from a conservative Republican with an axe to grind against unions
3- it is based on a small group of nameless and faceless informers who do not even have the guts to stand up like men and people don't like that cowardice
4- it belies the reality that miles upon miles of NY streets are plowed and lots of union workers worked long and hard to do it
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It also came from an Alderman as reported on CNN. You find it unusual that a group of whistleblowers would do everything they could to remain anonymous? What planet are you from?

Partisan baloney on your part. This needs to be investigated; and I'm sure it will be. Your riding in on white horses with blind partisan support is reeeedicklus.
 
Lol and here MaggieD comes ever so predictably jamming words down our throats. Perhaps Maggie you could point out where I said this is untrue?

I'll save you the time and let you know that you can't because I haven't even offered a position on the story, but merely pointed out that the OP and his cronies are lying by portraying this hearsay from unnamed sources as true.

And now here you come lying yourself by deliberately misrepresenting my post so that you can claim that I'm "just as bad".

Were you not thinking that I would catch your lie? Or were you just not thinking at all when you wrote that post? I'd give you the benefit of the doubt but I can't decide if it's worse to be a liar or an idiot.
 
MaggieD said:
It also came from an Alderman as reported on CNN. You find it unusual that a group of whistleblowers would do everything they could to remain anonymous? What planet are you from?

Partisan baloney on your part. This needs to be investigated; and I'm sure it will be. Your riding in on white horses with blind partisan support is reeeedicklus.
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I am from the planet where you stand tall and be a man. In my employment history i did not hesitate to take on my employer several times and never once did it hiding behind the outhouse pretending it was not me.
 
haymarket said:
I am from the planet where you stand tall and be a man. In my employment history i did not hesitate to take on my employer several times and never once did it hiding behind the outhouse pretending it was not me.
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So, naturally, anyone who 'does' want to initially hide their identity for any reason, is a coward compared to you?
 
Whovian said:
So, naturally, anyone who 'does' want to initially hide their identity for any reason, is a coward compared to you?
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My experience is that if you want to be taken seriously, you stand up and be counted. Eventually, you usually have to do so anyways if it gets anywhere. In addition, I, just like these workers, had union protection so their status as whistle blowers should be protected several different ways. And with the god-like Rupert Murdoch and his bastion of shining journalism on their side, who would dare try to retaliate against such righteousness?
 
haymarket said:
My experience is that if you want to be taken seriously, you stand up and be counted. Eventually, you usually have to do so anyways if it gets anywhere. In addition, I, just like these workers, had union protection so their status as whistle blowers should be protected several different ways. And with the god-like Rupert Murdoch and his bastion of shining journalism on their side, who would dare try to retaliate against such righteousness?
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Like I said... because 'you' have no fear of anything, that attitude should apply to everyone... and if it doesn't, well, they must be lying or trying to hide some important fact, right?

Not everyone is a shining bastion of bravery and power like you, Hay. :rolleyes:

BTW... seems like you've already decided they are not being honest in this situation... without even the benefit of an investigation. hmmmmmmmmmmmm, weren't you whining about that kind of attitude on the part of 'conservatives' in a couple other threads?
 
Whovian said:
Like I said... because 'you' have no fear of anything, that attitude should apply to everyone... and if it doesn't, well, they must be lying or trying to hide some important fact, right?

Not everyone is a shining bastion of bravery and power like you, Hay. :rolleyes:

BTW... seems like you've already decided they are not being honest in this situation... without even the benefit of an investigation. hmmmmmmmmmmmm, weren't you whining about that kind of attitude on the part of 'conservatives' in a couple other threads?
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I fully support any investigation if there is reasonable cause to go forth and have one. People here are constantly complaining about government spending and protecting the taxpayer. Lets do it here also. If people come forward with credible information and it bears out, have the investigation and let the chips fall where they may. The key there is people coming forward and being willing to do what is right.

I do NOT think I am any sort of paragon of bravery. I simply do as I was raised to do. In this world you can only die once. Might as well do it standing up like a man. But in this case, these are supposedly union members with protections and due process plus you have whistle blower laws also. I was never much for anonymous letters or whisper campaigns behind somebodys back. It always struck me as not the right thing to be doing.
 
Sources told The Post several neighborhoods were on the workers' hit list -- including Borough Park and Dyker Heights in Brooklyn and Middle Village in Queens -- because residents there have more money and their politicians carry big sticks.

"It was more targeted than people actually think," said a labor source. "Borough Park was specifically targeted [because of] . . . its ability to sort of gin up the p.r. machine."

The plan worked. Residents of those neighborhoods -- who, after three days, were still trying to dig out their cars -- are apoplectic.

Sources said Sanitation bosses issued verbal directives during the clean-up to give priority to streets near the homes of agency heads and other city bigwigs. "This happens all the time," one Sanit worker said. "They make sure the bosses and politicians get taken care of."
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Sanitation workers targeted neighborhoods in slowdown - NYPOST.com

the damage is done---politically---probably mostly because it all rings so true

happy new year, all
 
The Prof said:
Sanitation workers targeted neighborhoods in slowdown - NYPOST.com

the damage is done---politically---probably mostly because it all rings so true

happy new year, all
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more men without names or faces acting as "sources".

I think this all rings so true to you because Paul Simon was right...... "a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest".

btw - how did all those hundreds of miles of streets get plowed in the union workers were not plowing them properly?
 
paul simon shoveled out party bosses and bigwigs?

where was artie?

singing lie-la-lie?

as for all those streets cleared, maybe you should ask the mom of the braindead baby
 
I never understood the work slow down concept. Isn't the idea behind asking for a raise because you are an efficient employee that is worth the extra money? Seems by not doing your job well you'd be counter productive in both the job and the negotiation. What is the point in pissing of the people of NY? Don't you want them on your side?
 
The Prof said:
paul simon shoveled out party bosses and bigwigs?

where was artie?

singing lie-la-lie?

as for all those streets cleared, maybe you should ask the mom of the braindead baby
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What would she know about who cleared the hundreds of miles of NY Streets that everybody else does not know? or is this your attempt to bring emotionalism into this?

You would hope that the big publicity these allegations got in the last 24 hours would have provided the impetus for somebody to step forward with actual evidence of wrongdoing. The people of NY CIty deserve that.
 
haymarket said:
btw - how did all those hundreds of miles of streets get plowed in the union workers were not plowing them properly?
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i don't know, i wasn't there

but ms rose, mr markowitz, mr stuart and ms marshall were

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday his administration fulfilled a promise to plow every city street, but elected officials and others insisted some streets never saw a plow before the 7 a.m. deadline, marking another setback for the beleaguered mayor.

Council Member Debi Rose of Staten Island, who met with the mayor during his tour Thursday of every borough outside Manhattan, said she believes the city's sluggish response to the post-Christmas blizzard has dealt a serious blow to the mayor's reputation. "This could be the straw that breaks New York City's back in terms of how well they think, a good job, the mayor has done," said Ms. Rose. "I was stranded for three days myself. I could not get out," Ms. Rose said. "Something went drastically wrong with this snow removal."

The mayor said the administration plans to conduct a full investigation into the city's response to the storm. That probe will include examining allegations that disgruntled members of the Department of Sanitation deliberately slowed the snow removal as a protest.

During a news conference in Queens, Mr. Bloomberg again conceded that his administration's response to the storm was both "inadequate and unacceptable," an about-face from his defiant stance during the early portion of the cleanup effort. "Clearly the response to this storm has not met our standards or the standards that New Yorkers have come to expect from us," he said. "The long delays in plowing some of the city streets should not have happened. We're not making excuses."

At the same time, Mr. Bloomberg said the city met its commitment to plow every street, except those blocked by stranded vehicles, at least once by 7 a.m. Thursday. The mayor estimated there were about a dozen of those blocked roads in one section of Brooklyn and a handful of others elsewhere.

Some city residents and elected officials disputed the mayor's contention. "We still have quite a few blocks that have not been touched, still have quite a few blocks," Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said. He added: "There is no excuse for this—absolutely no excuse. This was an outrage."

Moments after the mayor finished speaking, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, who hadn't been invited to speak, approached the lectern to dispute the mayor's remarks. "Most of the roads, even where I live, there's still about four inches right where the cars and everything go," she said. During the last several days, she said, residents from nearly every section of Queens called her office, saying, "Where is the plow? Where is the plow?"
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Criticism of Mayor Mounts - WSJ.com
 
Aren't some of these folks the same ones that back JA and wikileaks?

Just sayin...
 
MrVicchio said:
Aren't some of these folks the same ones that back JA and wikileaks?

Just sayin...
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Well, yes, yes I think they are....Also, one should remember back to the times of Bush...I am wondering if they are also some of the same voices that not only believed anonymous sourcing against that administration, but shifted any criticism of that use in pointing out how we should debate what is alleged, and not how it was alleged. Shameful.


This whole story, Children dying, heart attacks going unattended to, Plows traversing streets with plows up 4 days later, Plowmen sleeping instead of doing their job, Sickouts. What a pile of crap these unions are. They should be outlawed in the public services sector.


j-mac
 
If this report is true, then the instigators should be fired or somehow disciplined. However, I would like to see reports from a reputable source first.
 
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