Cathy Ann Viveiros' Plan to Balance the Budget

Thoughts on Cutting our Police Force

Absolutely unconscionable that the Mayor still has a driver. Yes, I realize that she does other things like holding his umbrella over him in the rain, gets him coffee, attends the occasional neighborhood meeting to earn her title as 'Director of Intergovernmental Affairs," and yes I realize cutting her would not completely solve the budget issue but I would rather save one police officer's job than have the comfort of knowing Bob will never get wet in the rain. Her position is a symptom of the disease in this administration.

I have not seen one of the many good suggestions on ameliorating the budget issue, by the city council, acted upon. Three weeks ago, at a city council meeting, Councilor Steve Camara requested that Adam Chapdelaine bring him the list of the 68 non-union employees at city hall to perhaps start trimming with them. That seemed like a great idea. Trim the fat at city hall. Two weeks later, at the next city council meeting, Chapdelaine failed to provide the council with that list, this failure to comply with the request indicated to me that the administration wasn't at all interested in making cuts at city hall. Councilor Lund suggested making the top 100 salaries take percentage decrease. Councilor Viveiros had submitted a 5 page report to the Mayor with suggestions. Councilor Bigelow suggested that the city do an inventory of things we own like at the prison where they inventory screwdrivers because if they lose track a prisoner may get one and use it as a weapon.......not sure where he was going with that, but hopefully I am making my point. MULTITUDES of good suggestions (and Councilor Bigelow's) have been made yet Bob has not, from what I have seen, used any of them and continues on with the plan he had from the beginning: CUT SAFETY.

Don't even get me started on the city's law department...I think William Shakespeare would take a more forceful approach,"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." - (Henry VI ), but can't we at least cut some of that fat? Or in retrospect, knowing that a financial crisis was only months away maybe we shouldn't have given Arthur Frank a 30/40,000 dollar raise.

Mayor Correia, dust off your fiddle, sit in your throne on the 6th floor of government center, and be prepared to watch Fall River burn.

• I think that pretty much sums up my thoughts at the moment.

Budget Cut Recommendation

Paul Walnuts made a budget cut recommendation in the Herald News comments that got me laughing:

"I just saved the city $50 large."

Juxtaposition FAIL

2-5-09 Herald News Headline
City facing mass layoffs