I think this is the last streetlamp base left on the coast highway.
From the files of Fred Caldwell, the old Leucadia streetlamps:
Click for large view
For some reason somebody decided to stash their trash into the vintage streetlamp base(???).
Winter center median flower bed a couple of years ago, blooming with native California Poppies.
The same center median today, scorched earth.
Leucadia Blog: Remember the Coast Hwy Flowers?
JP, block this jerk from posting again, his touting of his web site to earn $$$$ has nothing to do with Leucadia.
ReplyDeleteDitto 4:23
ReplyDeleteI'd rather be harshed than hyped here.
That was a spambot, never click on links in the comments section, they contain spyware. Make sure your computer is updated with the latest version of Norton Anti-Virus.
ReplyDeleteBelow is the future of Encinitas with $5 million dollar bitchen fire station (total $15 million Plus) for our high paid golden glory boys with golden parachutes. THANKS JEROME STOCKS! There support of you sure did wonders for our City's Fiscal health!
ReplyDeleteGomes and others have blamed much of the city's financial woes on police and fire contracts, which she says comprise 80 percent of the city's $80 million budget.
The starting salary for a Vallejo firefighter is about $70,000 a year, among the highest in the state. Ten firefighters earned more than $200,000 each last year, including overtime, city officials said.
"Of course we value our police and firefighters and the risks they take, but their salaries are simply too high," Gomes said. "They can afford to live in Marin and Napa, and it's the very hard-working, blue-collar residents of Vallejo who are bearing the repercussions. It's unfair."
Firefighters say their earnings are high because the department is so short-staffed they're forced to work huge amounts of overtime.
Since 2001, 30 firefighters have retired or left the department, and only three have been hired, said Vallejo fire Capt. Jon Riley, vice president of Fire Fighters Union Local 1186. And after rumors of bankruptcy began circulating, 14 more retired, fearing that their benefits and salaries would be cut, he said.
"We're having to work an extraordinary amount of overtime," he said. "We make great salaries, but if you're not able to see your family, what good is it?"
Firefighters typically work 48-hour shifts with four days off between shifts. Many Vallejo firefighters are now forced to work 96-hour shifts with two days off, he said. Sleep deprivation, divorce and child-care complications are common, he said.
"I'd say morale has hit rock bottom," he said. "But we're still committed to providing the highest level of service to the citizens of Vallejo."
Vallejo residents, meanwhile, are outraged at the city's economic straits. The problem should have been addressed years ago, when it first became apparent, said community activist Marc Garman.
"We've been screaming about this for a long time," he said. "It's a mess. It's chaos. It's a disaster. Vallejo's become the poster child for mismanagement. And this may happen throughout California."
How to get involved
-- Two city councilwomen will host a community meeting with a bankruptcy lawyer tonight at 7 p.m., 733 Tennessee St., Vallejo.
-- The City Council meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 555 Santa Clara St., Vallejo.
-- The city's report on the budget crisis can be read at links.sfgate.com/ZCMV
How Vallejo went broke
Officials say the Solano County city is likely to run out of cash in a few weeks as a result of expenses that are expected to exceed revenues by about $10 million this year.
Expenses: Salaries and overtime for police officers and firefighters have burgeoned as a result of union contracts and staff shortages that have forced public safety workers to put in extended hours.
Revenues: The souring economy has hit the city hard, resulting in nearly $2 million less revenue from sales and property taxes than expected.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/21/MN35V5V9I.DTL
JP, please put the "comments" at the top of each posting so I don't have to scroll through the entire posting to get to the "comments". I'm quite lazy!!!
ReplyDeleteI am jealous.
ReplyDeleteFighter Fighters have it made at the government tit…. Well Paid. Work two days including calls, eating, sleeping, washing fire trucks, going to the store, reading, working out, BBQing and going on another call......Then you’re off for 5 days.
And the guy in the story saids, and "if we are not able to see our families, its not worth it"" What a joke.
Most Americans work 5 or 6 days per week and have 1 or two days off and we don't get paid for things like sleeping and eating when we are on call with our work. I keep telling my nieces and nephews to get a job with a fire department. About 5 of them are trying, but they say the waiting list is about 10,000 long. I heard the sheriffs are hiring, but everyone knows that’s a thankless job.
I hope our City has our budget and fire fighter costs under control.
Re/ 1:06
ReplyDeleteIn all fairness, even Firemen I've talked to acknowledge that the 5m stations don't need to cost that much. Makes me wonder who's decision that really was.
And when it comes to the hours they keep and whatever else they get to do while on duty, I still think they're worth every penny they get. I'm glad they get to work out at work. Makes for a sturdier crew to carry folks out of harms way. (Especially with obesity at epidemic proportions. Well with me anyway.) The physical tests they have to go through to become and stay a fireman are not easy.
The stress and horror of what they frequently have to endure is beyond many of us. But I'll leave those details to your bloodiest imagination. I asked one once how he dealt with severely injured people and he said "I focus on trying to make those suffering as comfortable as I can." Great and needed attitude I think.
And on a personal note, it was a local Fireman who arrived first at the scene, and (for a mile) chased down, over fences and through backyards, and apprehended the thief who stabbed me in 1985. So whoever you are, thanks again for your swift and effective response!
If it's people who make a lot of money with little effort that disturb you, a non-fireman spent 500K for the corner lots on my block and then sold them for $1,250,000 in less than 2 years. No losing sleep, no falling through roofs, no towers collapsing on them, no rescues, no burns, no smoke inhilation, nada.
But good luck to your nieces and nephews getting on board, if that's what they want to do with their lives. And I mean that.
I hope the City can afford the big salaries and 100% salary pensions. I think the long term on going costs one will come back to get us in a few years.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you were saved Fred. I hope the City can be saved from the long term liabilities weighing down on it.
I can just hear it now, the City doesn't have any money for any improvements in town- All of our money is going to pay for Staff and their benefits for life, and people are living a long time now adays.