Thursday, December 7, 2017

Twas the Month of Christmas And All Was Not Right

During the holidays, it’s easy to forget. 

…Especially when the politicians and their cronies are busy patting each other on the back for “solving” the pension crisis, or when the news media paints Mayor Mike as savior of the troubled pension fund even nominating him for Texan of the Year.

It made many of us wonder why the people who faithfully served the citizens of Dallas fighting crime, living in peril, and responding to medical emergencies, fire, danger and natural disasters weren’t considered the real Texans of the Year. And, yet, the man who has such a disdain for first responders is. 

Texan of the Year? Try the Grinch instead.

It’s enough to make Frosty melt, the Elves strike and Santa skip Christmas.

Do not be lulled into complacency by their lies that all is well and all is fixed.

We remain at Elcon and Defcon 1, forced now to fight our fight in the courts to regain our confiscated money and reinstate our benefits. The state constitution is clear: the city and pension system are “jointly responsible for ensuring that benefits under this section are not reduced or otherwise impaired.” (Read  Article 16, Section 66, paragraph (f) here.)

I don’t know about you, but stealing our money and stopping our annual adjustment (COLA) surely impairs and reduces our benefits violating the state constitution.

We just ask one thing this holiday season: Don’t forget our fight! Donate to our legal fund at DPROA, PO Box 720446, Dallas, TX 75372.





Thursday, November 2, 2017

The Inner Circle


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. 




Friday, September 1, 2017

A Storm Is Coming…The Pension "Fix" Takes Effect

With the havoc, devastation and sorrow left in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, those of us with roofs over our heads, unflooded homes and loved ones by our sides answered the call for volunteers, cash donations, material goods and prayers.

Somehow we feel better when we change our Facebook banners in support of our great state, text our donations to rescue efforts, buy t-shirts to support our Gulf Coast friends or tweet to create awareness of this epic disaster of biblical proportions.

As with every crisis--big or small, epic or minuscule--first responders always answer the call. Always. That's what they do.

For Hurricane Harvey, the state mobilized, the federal government mobilized, the country mobilized. Donations poured in by the millions. Texas will not just survive; we will thrive because that's what Texans do.

But today, this day of September 1 of 2017, about 10,000 of us have momentarily set aside our concerns for our Gulf Coast brothers and sisters.

Today marks our day of despair, disillusionment and betrayal--the epic kind, and there is no FEMA to come and make it right, there are no disaster declarations to be signed or tweets to mobilize the masses.

Today HB 3158 went into effect.

Instead, there are 10,000 retired first responders and their families abandoned in this Dallas Police & Fire Pension "fix." Our promised pensions are gone. Our money frozen and unobtainable. Our financial futures uncertain.

Then there's our active police and fire first responders who lost any pay raise given to them by having to tithe 13.5 percent to the City of Dallas. A bit outrageous, don't you think, when even our good Lord only asks for 10 percent? The city broke all its promises and failed to meet its obligations to its first responders,  but first responders are still forced to shoulder 75 percent of the financial burden in an effort to shore up the pension.  

Your local politicians and state officials would have you believe that the Dallas police and fire pension system is fixed with HB 3158.

It ain't.

They would have you believe that active and retired first responders and their families are OK with this bill.

We're not.

They would have you believe that the city isn't facing a public safety crisis.

It is.

They would have you believe that first responders caused the pension crisis.

We didn't.

They think we are too old, too tired and too weak to fight.

We're not…We're just getting started.

#StayStrong #HoldTheLine #AStormIsComing




Saturday, August 19, 2017

A Few 'Worrisome' Things & More



Oh, so now the DMN finds our public safety crisis "worrisome." In true form, the City Manager T.C. Broadnax trots out his first proposed budget aiming, as the DMN says, to put "service first." Or, as we prefer to say: putting Projects Before People. 

 The DMN comments: "But it's worrisome that this budget with no significant service cuts was delivered on the backs of salary savings from hundreds of police officers who have left the city. Broadnax and his staff account for 3,094 officers in 2017-18 — 519 fewer than in the budget this fiscal year. As the crime rate ticks up, it's important that Dallas doesn't curtail aggressive efforts to recruit and hire more officers. (Violent crimes — including murder, sexual assaults, robberies and aggravated assaults — are up 7 percent through June, compared with 2016.)"

Hmmmm, they call it "worrisome." We call it a public safety crisis.


And with the State Fair of Texas just around the corner, officials are now a little concern

about security at the fair. The DMN reports, "The shrinking Dallas Police Department — already struggling with slower response times and an uptick in violent crimes — may have trouble providing security for the State Fair of Texas the way it once did." Ya think? Perhaps Big Tex as part of his welcome speech to fair goers should warn everyone with a: "HOWDY FOLKS! Your estimated police response time is…"


And speaking of And speaking of response times and the shortage of police officers, retiring police officer Nick Novello took a parting shot. According to an article in The Dallas Morning News, Novello told Dallas City Council members "the same thing he's been saying all over Facebook and the television news in recent days: Police response times are worse than you think. Priority calls are being sent to officers who can't respond, just to clear the emergency off the board. Morale's in the toilet. Stress levels are way up. And help ain't on the way."
"You no longer have a viable policing function in Dallas, Texas," Novello told the council. File this one under the category of #WeToldYouSo and #HelpAintOnTheWay


Not sure if this will have anything to do with anything, but for now, a small, red flag flutters. According to news reports, federal regulators are investigating the financing behind the massive Statler Hotel redevelopment in downtown Dallas.

According to the DMN, "One focus of the SEC inquiry is the sale last year of $26.5 million in municipal bonds backed by future tax incentives that the city of Dallas granted to the developer under what’s called tax-increment financing. Cities use such deals to lure developers to build in specific areas with little economic growth." Like I said, just a small red flag fluttering… for now.
SaveSaveSaveSave
SaveSave
SaveSave

Friday, July 14, 2017

Reality Check

So apparently now it takes a Reality Star from "American Grit" to call out the city of Dallas over the appointment of Black Lives Matter activist and convicted felon Dominique Alexander to the DPD search panel. Watch the report here.

John Burk, a star on the FOX reality show "American Grit" lives and works in Dallas. In his Facebook video, he characterizes the committee appointment as "a slap in the face to every police officer that walks that street." Watch it here. (Warning: video contains expletives)

Tomi Lahren, a popular conservative commentator, was also outraged and posted an angry commentary to Facebook on Wednesday night that has been viewed 2.1 million times. Read about that here.

Blue Lives Matter also reported on the controversy. You can read about it here.

Once again, we see just how little first responders lives matter to Mayor Mike and the City of Dallas.  

Just wondering where all the outrage was when the City of Dallas broke all its promises to its first responders and their families and stole the pension? Despite what they tell you, it ain't fixed.

And we aren't going away.

#ItAintFixed #savethepension #holdtheline


Saturday, July 1, 2017

Please Release Thing 1 & Thing 2

Without taking sides into the latest brouhaha over a lawsuit filed by the widow of Lorne Ahrens who was gunned down along with four other officers July 7, I felt compelled to highlight one tiny paragraph in the 26-page document.

For me, it continues to highlight all that is woefully wrong with the city of Dallas and its leadership.  Lots of people—we don’t know how many because the city apparently won’t share those numbers—so let’s just say lots of people sent letters addressed to Ahrens’ widow, Katrina, but mailed to Dallas City Hall. These letters, according to the lawsuit, contained heartfelt messages, checks, cash and gift cards to Katrina.  The city apparently has been opening and reading her mail and supposedly logging everything.

According to the suit, Katrina “requested a copy of the log, but was denied by the City, which claimed the log contained confidential information.”

Hmmmm, the city likes to say a lot of things and then hide behind a lot of things.  Kind of like a dystopian version of Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss.

Since March 18, I’ve tried unsuccessfully to get the city and Mayor Mike Rawlings to up some basic info.  I wasn’t asking for state secrets. I wasn’t asking for the code to his gated community. I didn’t even ask to see whatever secret handshake one needs for admittance into that special Dallas Citizens Council.  Nope. All I asked for were two basic things:

Thing 1: All email correspondence related to HB 3158 between Mayor Mike Rawlings or his staff and Pension Committee Chair Dan Flynn or his staff.

Thing 2: That survey that Mayor Mike said he had that shows 80 percent of citizens would not support a tax increase for its first responders and the pension.

Instead, the city stalled a bit, and then on April 3, the city requested an attorney general’s opinion. Then on June 7—you know about a week after the governor signed the pension bill—the city withdrew its request for an AG opinion on my request and said they would release the info to me.

But when they finally released the info—85 days after my initial request—I received one document on June 9.

One.

That’s right.

Just one three-page email about an interview request.

Are you kidding me?

And as for Thing 2--Complete crickets on that alleged survey.

There has to be one right?  After all, the mayor said he had one, so it’s got to be there somewhere right? The mayor wouldn’t lie about something like that, or would he?

If I were a bettin’ woman, I’d wager some DROP money that there ain’t no stinkin’ survey.

But then again, I couldn’t bet any DROP money even if I wanted to. Mr. Mayor saw to that.

In the meantime, I’ve filed a complaint with the attorney general’s office about releasing Thing 1 and Thing 2.

#SaveThePensionItAintFixed





Sunday, June 11, 2017

Cursing Mayor Mike; Out of the Good Times and Into the Bad

Well mark another one done—34 years. Happy anniversary, babe. Out of all the couples we started our marriage journey with, we are the only ones left standing.

I guess we took those vows seriously because here we are 34 years later and I’ve got those “for richer or poorer” and “in good times and bad” ringing in my ears.

Unfortunately this year, we moved back into the poorer side and landed in the badlands. We can thank the city of Dallas and Mayor Mike for that.

We never, ever expected, planned or dreamed of being rich. We just worked hard at our regular jobs (my husband as a Dallas police officer and I as a public school teacher).

We both took on extra jobs, kept our promises, paid our bills, served our communities, raised two kids and eked out a reasonable living. We planned a future where we could live our golden years with some semblance of dignity and comfort.

But here we are—our pension money frozen, our benefits cut, our financial security zapped into oblivion and a trail of one broken promise after another by the city of Dallas.  Better Call Saul.

Make no mistake. The Dallas police and fire pension systemisn’t fixed, and those 10,000 active and first responders and their families are still broken. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

You know, we spent our lives like a lot of other first responders never really expecting much.  All we ever really expected and wanted in our retirement years was to travel, see our kids and not worry about money.

Ok, so maybe my wants were a bit more extravagant than my husband’s.

Go ahead and call me excessive and greedy: I just want to be able to walk into Central Market every three or four months and buy some of the fancy food there like the rich folks do without worrying about the cost.  (You know, like Mayor Mike and his crew of cronies.) Heck, I'd settle for just being able to buy a steak at my local grocery store without having to worry about my grocery bill.

Instead, life seems to have come full circle—and not in a good way.  I see my future days mirroring my college days where I subsisted on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and boxed macaroni and cheese.

But on this day, the day of my 34th anniversary, I will still count my blessings. I am blessed that my husband and I have each other through these tough times. I am certain we will endure, but I have to admit, it’s not exactly my idea of the circle of life.


And for that, even on this day, I curse Mayor Mike and the city of Dallas every single day.

#ThanksForNothingMayorRawlings #StopSpreadingLies #BackThePension #ThePensionAintFixed

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Giving Credit Where It Isn't Due

So the governor signed the bill to "fix" the Dallas Police & Fire Pension fund.

The official fix begins Sept. 1.

The fall out began long before that.  While I understand the need for the bill, excuse me if I don't do the dance of joy when 75 percent of the "shared sacrifice" sits squarely on the backs of the city's first responders.

About a week or so ago, The Dallas Morning News did its celebratory mayoral kumbaya circle in its editorial post. (Honestly, it made me gag and caused a spike in my blood pressure despite my yoga breathing.)

It's taken more than a week for my anger to subside and for me to re-start this latest post. However, it's important to correct some of the statements bandied about by the DMN (which btw has become nothing more than the mayor's private PR firm).

And yes, I know we are supposed to quit pointing fingers and playing the blame game, but when the DMN and the city continues circulating falsehoods, we need to point and wag a few fingers and assign blame.

In its editorial post last week, the DMN gushes in praise for the mayor and still credits him with trying to prevent a "run on the bank" to save the pension. I'm all for giving credit where credit is due, but let's credit the mayor for actually causing the run on the bank.

Remember when the pension board asked him to assuage members fears and issue a public statement expressing support for the fund and telling its first responders that the city had their back?

Remember the Mayor's words? 

Oh wait, you can't because he didn't. 

Instead, he wrote a letter demanding that the pension board stop access to accounts earned by first responders and then filed his lawsuit.

Game on.

$520 million gone.

Why bring it up again? So the mayor can't claim he fixed something that he purposefully  and actively broke.

The DMN editorial wistfully stated that maybe the pension bill fix "can even become a catalyst to rebuild trust between first responders and City Hall."

Well, I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but this ain't no Disney movie, and when you've got Pinocchio living at 1500 Marilla Street, well, you're a long, long way from happily ever after. 

#ThanksForNothingMayorRawlings #StopSpreadingLies #BackThePension