As Pittsburgh city workers learn of layoffs, talk of ousting mayor begins

As Pittsburgh city workers learn of layoffs, talk of ousting mayor begins

Saturday August 16, 2003

PITTSBURGH (AP) As city workers protest threatened layoffs, a petition drive is under way that seeks to oust Mayor Tom Murphy.

Murphy announced last week 731 city workers nearly 17 percent of Pittsburgh's work force would be released to close a $60 million budget shortfall.

Petition organizer Jim Jenco, who has gathered more than 200 signatures, denied the effort was inspired by the recall campaign targeting California Gov. Gray Davis.

``People are sick of him,'' Jenco said of Murphy. ``They want him out.''

Murphy began his third term last year. Calls to his office after hours Friday were not immediately returned. (snip/...)

http://cbsnewyork.com/national/BRF--PittsburghMayor-aa/resources_news_html

Looked him up in google; he's a Democrat. Natch, right?

things have been so bad here in the last week with the layoffs and such, but crikey... i never expected a *recall* petition. ugh :-(.

I just got through reading a bunch of posts and they just don't seem to get it. When they got their tax cut, the State and City naturally lost money, now it has to be made up. I don't blame the mayor for cutting those services the people are going to notice. Why cut things for poor people when the middle class was chomping at the bit for their tax cuts?

And do you know how much of the police officer cut is due to Bush cutting Clinton's Cops on the Streets program? That could be another reason for the cops getting cut.

And whining about jobs. Everybody's out of work. Don't they watch the news?

And one more time, they just elected this guy last year and now that Bushanomics have taken its toll, they're blaming the mayor instead of Bush.

....due largely to the shifting demographics of the area in which more people live in the suburbs but work in the city so there is a smaller and smaller resident income tax base to fund the necessary city services. Also the Rethug state legislature here and Ridge ignored Murphy's pleas for assistance for years while simultaneously exacerbating the problem by draining the state treasury for corporate tax breaks AND exempting the well heeled well oiled financial services companies in Pittsburgh from the same taxes that every other business there pays. Additionally Pittsburgh has a huge amount of property which is tax exempt and owned by non profit corporations, almost 40%. Not all of these non profits, which are in many cases wealthy foundations, pay impact fees for their use of city services in lieu of taxes, so that is an additional drain on the city. Murphy asked for an increase in the occupational privilege tax and to roll back the tax exemptions on the financial services corporations but the legislature ignored him. As a commuter who works in the city I will be glad to pay more than the ten dollars a year that I am paying now. That ten dollar a year figure has not changed for fifty years. IT is IMHO the RETHUG CONTROLLED damnable state senate here who should be recalled. They are in a TWO MONTH recess and won't be back until late September despite there being a state budget impasse and local funding of schools remaining unresolved. To show you the Rethug mindset one of the local rightwing blatherskites, a Rush Limbaugh wannabe said on his hours of hate:"The boys earned their vacation. Let em be. Its payback time." Yeah harming kids and elderly people is payback. Bastards. I will be glad to recall their sorry asses.

started a trend.

it may help to show the damage of the idiots tax cuts...and far sooner than I would have guessed.

I think that after the wing-nuts capture CA, they will be coming after PA. Senator Rick Santorum is assigned the task of getting PA in the bush* column in 2004. Gotta start blaming everything on the Dems right now!

wasn't Cyril Wecht the democratic runner who was sadly defeated by this putz?

...there were two problems with Cyril Wecht.

1) He couldn't promise the taxpayers he would stay in Pittsburgh and not be jetting around doing his sideline gig with high profile criminal cases.
2) He is too much show for Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh requires people to be humble. This includes any public figure, sports or otherwise.

Later,
JM

...this is not entirely Mayor Murphy's fault. Yes, stupid things like one-time revenue generating taxes and the incessant insistence on recruiting large corporations with tax abatements rather than pusuing small business growth are his fault. Former Governor Ridge giving away 3/4 billion state dollars to taxpayers is not Murphy's fault. That money would still be there and would have helped prevent this mess had it not been given away.

They need to make up $54 million shortfall.

1) Add a $12 annual fee per residence fee for both garbage and recycling collection. That would raise about $1.2 mm
2) Add a $12 annual vehicle registration fee. That would raise about $2.4 mm
3) Change the state sales tax to 4% on all items except professional services. Currently some grocery items and clothes are not taxed. Tax them all, and make up for the regressive nature of the tax by adding a tax rebate and child deduction to the state income tax. This way low-income earners and those with young children would get a break.

4) Merge the City and County Crime labs
5) Merge City and County Engineering and Contruction

As for Repubs, people are furious with County Commisioner Roddy, who is a Repub. He raised property taxes for most, and I wound up with a 110% increase over 2 years. Now he is fighting an uphill battle to keep USAir in Pittsburgh.

The biggest problem in Pittsburgh is the Allegheny County Dem Party, who is far more interested in protecting their own turf and asses through political inbreeding than they are about anything else. Through years of being an exclusive club, they have completely run out of candidates with an original thought.

Later,
JM

I have family in Pittsburgh, Bridgeville and Pleasent Hills.....I grew-up north of Pittsburgh. I try to keep tabs on things....I've missed a lot I see......

..........to partially fund both stadiums here and in Philadephia out of state funds without difficulty.(78% of the total construction price came from state, federal and local money) He was passing out moneyand tax breaks like a kid in the candy store to any corporation or big business that wanted it. Transit riders, elderly and the poor though got the SHAFT from Tom the Terrible. We also have Mario Lemieux now asking for more state financial help for his arena. Methinks he will not get it from Governor Rendell so long as schools, mass transit and social services remain underfunded.