CM PRESS # 424

BAD COPS IN BELL TARGETED DRIVERS WITH A GAME
Link

Many residents of Costa Mesa believe that our city has a small clique of bad cops, also.  These bad cops make the whole department look bad.

Many citizens who generally support the police hope that the CMPD will take corrective action and get rid of the few bad apples.  One way to start is by checking the computers used by some of the cops.  The second thing to do is to have some of the suspected bad cops undergo proper psychological testing.

Being a cop isn't an easy job and some people are not cut out for it but manage to trick their way into the job. When these bad apples get into a department, the whole department suffers.
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GOVERNMENT VS. PRIVATE INDUSTRY

Try this:  Go to the DMV on 19th Street to register a car.

Then, go to AAA on Harbor Blvd. to register a car.

Which one would you use again?
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NOTE TO: daddytaughtmegood--Why don't you use your real name?  Are you using city property to make your hate comments?
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SHOULD ALL GOVERNMENT JOBS BE OUTSOURCED?

Of course not.  However, if some services can be provided more efficiently and more cheaply to residents of Costa Mesa than can be done by government, then those jobs should at least be looked at to see if they can be brought in line with what the private sector would charge to do the same thing.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to just look at and make adjustments to jobs being done by City employees because prior City Councils have gone along with byzantine contracts for employees that are as tangled as the Gordian Knot and which leave the present City Council with little choice but to take out a sword and untangle the mess by cutting through it (read, lay off many good employees).
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WE GET A REPLY ABOUT THE FIGURES IN CM PRESS # 423 THAT ALSO APPEARED IN THE DAILY PILOT (LINK)

THE CM PRESS WROTE:

"[M]ore than 80 percent of the city budget goes to pay employees; the statewide average is 47 percent."
In Costa Mesa, you can see that we're about 33 percent higher than the statewide average for the percent of the budget that goes to labor.

THE ANONYMOUS REPLY WE RECEIVED:

As a cost variation, 70% is way sexier than 33%, and fortunately it is also the correct percentage.


47% is your 100% basis

In the 47% - 80% comparison 80% is actually 70% higher than 47%. (94% would be 100% higher)

47 x 1.7 = 79.9 (80)

If you prefer the "intuitiveness" of 33 with the "budget" being the 100% basis, then; "we use 33% ("a third" sounds good too!) more of our budget towards staff cost." would be accurate. The downside of this approach is that it can be mistaken as 33% of 47. which is only 15.66.
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