ORANGE Action Alert! Support Responsible Revenue on April 6, 2011! Orange Up @ City Hall at 10am Sharp!

Dear Brothers & Sisters:
April 6, 2011, 10am
City Hall - Orange Action Alert!
"Shared Sacrifice...Not just sacrifice of the workers!"
Last year, many of you recall our effort to protect responsible revenue in the Department of Recreation and Parks. One particular item has drawn the aggression of an active vocal-minority of park advocates. That item is the continuation of the admission fee for non-City residents at the Botanical Garden.
While they have reached agreement with both Local 261 & SEIU on Community hiring practices for miscellaneous non-jurisdictional work (such as ticket-taking, etc.) and, have been major sponsors of our own Annual William Hammond Hall Event at RPD, the Society appears to be subjected to the brunt of most of the attacks, but I can attest that the General Manager (& even yours truly,) has been subjected vicious personal attacks related to the issue.
This may be only the tip of the iceberg as there in a move underway to by some of the same people to "landmark" the parks which will require gardeners to apply to City Hall in order to plant, and make small changes to the landscape. One of the benefits of a strong union membership, is that we do have the power to be heard and sometimes, that's all it takes! We must show up!
Last year, over 50 Union members showed up to City Hall to support the fee because we believe that it is unfair to TAKE ONLY FROM THE WORKERS INSTEAD OF SHARING THE PAIN OF THIS ECONOMIC CRISIS! We took a position last year because we were fresh off of a negotiation which saw our earnings take a 4.6% cut. We expect the Board of Supervisors to make tough decisions and to raise revenue where it can, instead of just taking from the workers through negotiations.
We revisited the position again this year because I met with the advocates of the other side who asked us to, and Supervisor John Avalos requested to meet with us. We heard both sides, and again, overwhelmingly support this modest fee because it is fair. It is simply wrong to take our money (they plan on taking more, see pension/healthcare,) so that they can look good politically by not even charging the non-tax payers to use our unique, world-class and not-so-inexpensive facilities. We know Supervisor John Avalos is a great friend of Local 261, and he respects our position, but we must agree to disagree.
Now, we must prevail! We must converge on City Hall on APRIL 6th, so that we have the greatest success at helping our Board of Supervisors make difficult, but necessary decisions, so our respective Departments generate much-needed revenue, and they don't keep taking from the workers through layoffs and compensation reductions. We are meeting now to increase revenue, not decrease it. In short, our reputation is riding on it! See you there!