Why are union contracts and how they are negotiated a popular topic right now? Why go after public safety if you want to save tax dollars?
Mayor Sullivan can give us an excellent example of how to achieve goals. When a goal is set it often cannot be achieved all at once. Instead there are many incremental steps building on one another to reach the goal.
The rewrite of how Anchorage works with its unions is one such incremental step.
If you have had the benefit of hearing the opinions of our city manager George Vakalis or chief financial officer Lucinda Mahoney, you would learn about their strongly held beliefs on how to save money. You would learn that a reduction of staffing on fire apparatus is a goal. That closing fire stations like Station 15 is a goal.
They can only see the end result of money saved, regardless of the value lost.
— John Booher
Eagle River