No no no.
Once again the kids take the cuts from SRB.
What a crock.
Is this what her master MOM taught her?
Keep the pools, rec centers and libraries open.
Paying for bulk trash will just increase the amount of junk discarded illegally.
Do a 5 percent pay cut across the board on all city employees making 6 figures or more.
Take a paid vacation day away from each and every city employee.
Force city council to take a pay cut/benefit cut.
No more cola increases either for city council.
And no more city cars for any city employee from the mayor on done.

Do not cut trash pickup. I see enough furniture sitting on Baltimore streets. Leave pools open as much as possible, as well as rec centers. There was a gang of 80 to 100 kids this past weekend roaming the streets looking for something to get them in trouble. Those gangs will be on the streets more when school closes. Cut city wages, benefits and tax local churches and non profits over a certain income.

I think the idea of closing three more firehouses on a rolling basis is dangerous sinceeach station is placed centrally to the area it serves; closing the company in area A would men that companies from area B would have to come into the area to help - IF they had the manpower and apparatus available.

I can't help but wonder how the two five-alarm fires last winter - one on The Block and one on Charles Street - would have gone if one of the stations that respond there was closed because of this concept. When will politicians learn that when you are PLAYING with your budgets there is NO ROOM to PLAY with PEOPLE'S LIVES.

Raise taxes fools, before it is too late. Or, stop complaining about cut services.

I agree with John, take a look at what the city is spending on their employee and make adjustments. Also think about this, why did one apply for positions knowing that his or her life would be on the line every day, why does one run for political position available if he or she can not keep a promise. If you cannot apply yourself, then step aside and let those who can. As far as I can remember, my thoughts were when I grow up I want to be a FIREMAN and help save lives, when I grow up I want to be a POLICE MAN and help protect put away the bad guy. I want to be a POLITICIAN so I can make a difference, I want to be a DOCTOR and help save lives, and I want to be a NURSE to help take care of people. Well let all of the above suck it up and do what they said they would do. Times are tuff for all. I risk my life everyday just moving about, not knowing if someone is going to do something stupid to harm me or my family. Lets all pitch in and do what’s right for all, lets put out those fires, save lives, protect and put away the bad guy, help those who really need it, do what right for your district, city, county, and State. This includes those who help run it.

You have 13 lowlifes drinking and gambling on the job every other Friday, buy gotta close the pools and cut back other services to make ends meet. WTG I wonder how much more of this kinda stuff goes on and how much it ends up costing the Tax payers.

I have lived in the city for 11 years now and my taxes are over 8K. Very interesting to see what this gets you. There are some fundamental things that one would hope to have as a tax payer, but they all seem to be slowly but surely disappearing. It will be very interesting to see what Baltimore City looks like in another 10 years. The police don't come when you call, the streets are in dis-repair, rat problems, crime problems, etc. At a property tax rate of over 2.2 cents on the dollar you really have to wonder what is going on. Maybe its time to move and get at least a little something for your tax dollars.

Doesnt everyone know by now it does NOT matter what we say or think or do about the budget. She can and will do whatever she wants and she is counting on private companies/people to step in again and open the pools. I personally cant stand the entire city government. But like I said, this is all we can do. post comments.

Mark,
Who has to wait 10 years; I thought that's what Baltimore was like now...

Try living here for 40 years, Mark. It's time to cut personnel in the City government. I never saw any disruption in City services when the employees were given mandatory furlough, which proves how overstaffed the government is.

Time to have a riot. Time to bring this governement down and replace it with a new one. WIll NATO help those of us who fight in the streets?

The economic situation in the city and the state is the worst it has been in decades. There's no question about that. These are times that require real political leadership. It is unfortunate that leadership seems to be in short supply.

Rioting does not help anything but to destroy what one has build, to take from those who have earned it and hurt innocent people. And you no that is what would happen

The real costs in city government are in personnel. The city has too many employees.

Of course, the mayor and council won't lay off anyone or cut positions because they need to pay back AFSCME and the other unions. The unions don't care about pools and rec centers. They just want more jobs where their members can gamble and drink on the job, collect paychecks while in jail, and be generally slow and unhelpful whenever they look like they're actually working.

The city has too many employees. Get rid of some. At all levels.

Across-the-board cuts are stupid and counter-productive.

ANY large organization -- from the city government to a private corporation -- has waste, inefficiencies, and ineffective employees. It is impossible to have a 100% success rate in eliminating bad employees and retaining good ones. Which isn't to say that the organizations shouldn't try to do the best they can in pruning away dead wood and in replacing ineffective employees with productive ones.

But an across-the-board cut does not accomplish this. An across-the-board cut penalizes the most effective, efficient departments (because they have little dead wood to reduce) and rewards the most wasteful, unproductive departments (because they can easily cut without suffering).

If anyone has an idea on how to only fire the bad city employees, I'm sure the Mayor would be glad to hear it. None have been expressed on this board thus far, however.

What I am pretty certain of is that the more collective punishment is heaped upon the backs of public workers, the worse off the public will be. Because the good workers will leave and we will be left with only the bad ones. Which doesn't help anyone.

I've yet to see any alternative suggestions that would not make the situation worse. Across-the-board furloughs, pay cuts, or budget reductions make the city worse, not better, in the long run.

Interesting that everyone assumes the city has too many employees. Has anyone actually checked this out? How does Baltimore compare with other cities? What is the work load of each employee? How do the pay rates stack up nationally?

I love people who "know the facts" without ever doing the analysis. To paraphrase, "Knowing something without thinking is useless, thinking without knowing anything is dangerous."

Let's get the facts. Then we can propose solutions.

And while we're at it, lets' compliment the hard-working people at 311. When I've called they've always been helpful and polite, even when I was complaining about no snow removal. (Yes, the plow came the next day.)

you can't win votes this way to be elected for mayor.

Sad about the pools -- they were open such a ridiculously short amount of time in years past, especially given the weather here. Can't they charge more for entry ($2 vs $1.25)? Recruit neighborhood volunteers to help with the upkeep? Perhaps extending the schedule (and making it known well ahead of time) would actually help bring in funds as people know they could count on and make regular use of the pools.

I am concerned charging for bulk trash pick up with just lead to more illegal dumping

Its hard to say what will work and will not. But kids on the streets equal more problems. Paying for bulk pick up will result in trash being just dumped anywhere thru out the city. I can not say that the city has too many workers but they do have some that hav too much free time on their hands that they can gamble, hang down lexington market, ect,....

The issue should not be with across-the-boards cuts to all salaries for City workers, the issue should be with holding employees accountable for performance. At present, personnel reviews are required every 3-6 months, BUT the City does not give merit increases based on excellent or very good performance, COLA is the only way a salary typically increases. Eliminate the protections afforded by the Unions, and make people's salaries based on performance, and you're likely to see the chance to eliminate a LOT of dead weight, and an opportunity to recruit and retain talented individuals who ARE willing and able to work.

Force every city department (except for Fire and Police) to cut their costs by 10%. They can choice to cut their staff, their salaries or their expenses. This will force the department heads to find the waste.

So everyone says they need to cut employee pay both for city and state. Let me tell you something, my pay has ben cut to the point that i make less than when i started. I also know for a fact that i make less than college drop outs that become retail managers and i make much less than those who graduate with a BS and work in the private sector. You can not continue to cut the pay of those who work to hold things together because they will leave and no one NO ONE will come to work in baltimore for peanuts.