Yesterday pretty much sucked
the life out of me as the pension board moved forward with the annuitization
plan instead of postponing it until the end of the year.
More disconcerting was the
fact that the active police trustee and active firefighter trustee--you know the ones whom
active first responders entrusted to the board--voted WITH the mayor’s
minions.
So much for holding the line.
So now that little hair cut Mayor Rawlings talked about has morphed into a shaved head. Our personal monthly loss is at least $1,000. Like many of you, we chose a substantially
reduced pension amount (my husband's is at 63%) when we entered DROP.
The only bright side out of
all of this is that according to their “experts” my husband will live until
he’s 86. And yes, I can sell you the
Brooklyn Bridge.
I do not know how we can
recover from this.
In my speech to the board
(which in retrospect was not my most shining or eloquent moment although one of my most passionate and sincerest), I told the pension board:
“You are asking us to choose between visiting
our children and family members who are scattered across these 50 states or
paying our taxes. You are asking us to
choose between paying our bills or covering our medical expenses. You are asking us to choose between selling
our homes and providing for our families.”
I also told the board that in
Dante’s Inferno, the inner most circle of hell—the ninth circle—was reserved
for the most serious sin for Treachery—for the traitors, the people who
betrayed trust.
“Make no mistake about it, if
you do this thing, you will find yourselves at home among your traitorous
brethren there," I told the board. "Be sure to tell Mayor Rawlings hello for us when you see him
there."
Sadly, I did not expect Sam Friar and Joe Schutz to be greeters there.
