Mother, artist, teacher, education activist, former NJ State Legislature candidate, that teacher in that Chris Christie You Tube video, writing about education, poverty, politics, women's issues, social justice and living in a world gone strange.
Showing posts with label public employees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public employees. Show all posts
Twenty years ago today the world as we knew it came to a screeching halt. It also marked the very first day of my teaching career. Six years ago today I wrote the this piece. At the time, public employees—especially teachers—were under attack from both Republicans AND some Democrats, and my family was preparing to say our final farewells to my cousin, Tony, a retired firefighter who was there for me SO many times in my life when I needed strength and wisdom, so my emotions were raw.
I repost this piece every year on 9/11 as a tribute to the world I knew as a child and as an adult, to all the lives lost and to those whose job it is to protect so that others might live.
I probably won't be watching any of the TV coverage. That day altered my DNA so I feel it in every fiber of my being. For all those who were directly affected by that day, I wish you peace and comfort on this day and every day.
This post comes to you from the NJEA Convention in Atlantic City.
The winter of our discontent is over. With the election of Phil Murphy on November 7th, the countdown to the end of Chris Christie's reign of error has begun. It's been a long eight years for New Jersey—especially for the poor and middle class—with an extra special kind of awful for public employees.
Early yesterday morning I took a long walk on the boardwalk. It felt like the set of some post-apocalyptic movie. Granted, it was too early for most souvenir shops, massage parlors, and psychics to be open, but still, pop music and carnival barker-style announcements blared non-stop from speakers to no one. Litter, like tumbleweeds vacationing from Las Vegas, floated across the ancient boards desperately trying to get back home. Malls stood half empty. Boarded up casinos, lined up one after another like ghost ships run aground, while workers dismantled the phallic spires and onion domes atop the closed Trump Taj Mahal, the garish, gaudy, penultimate 80's version of his out of control ego.
Death Row: R to L: The Revel, Showboat and Trump Taj Mahal
This town is a fitting metaphor for the Christie administration and how he left this state: full of promise, but ultimately all smoke and mirrors and... nothing. I wrote about Christie's takeover of Atlantic City last year. Whether school districts or entire cities, he doesn't lead; he controls—badly. Plowing through Tony Soprano style, gobbling up everything and everyone in his path to feed his cavernous, deflated ego.
This empty lot is right next door to The Revel
Gambling came to this city almost 40 years ago with a lot of hope and promise. Shiny, gleaming, glizty pizzazz! The city will be transformed! Poverty erased! Money for everyone! But all these years later, almost 40% of the city's population still lives in poverty and almost half the casinos are shuttered. Like those pioneers of casino gambling, Christie has failed miserably at making life better for the majority of people in this state. For him, it's only ever been about power, control and his path to political immortality.
While the rest of America was continually shocked and appalled at Trump's "Insult Everyone" tour campaign, Jerseyans were all too used to that kind of behavior. You see, we had Chris Christie long before America had Donald Trump:
Before Trump boasted about grabbing women by the you-know-what, Christie made a vulgar remark to a woman at a Mitt Romney rally about performing a certain sex act on... who? Him?
Before Trump incited anti-Hillary crowds to chant, "Lock her up", Christie told the press to "take a bat out" on then-76-year old Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg
Before Trump mocked and ridiculed minorities of just about every race, creed, color and sexual orientation, Christie labeled public schools in high-poverty, high-minority districts "failure factories", and called Reed Gusciora, an openly gay assemblyman who was fighting for marriage equality, "numbnuts". He's insulted many an elected official along with countless reporters, teachers and average citizens. Too many to list here.
Before there was Betsy DeVos, there was Chris Cerf, Christie's education hit-man commissioner who left those of us who actually know a thing or two about education burning up the blog-o-sphere debunking his ignorant posturings and idiotic policies
Before Trump's plan to waste tax dollars on the wall, there was Christie's waste of public employee pension funds to bail out the then still-under-construction and now bankrupt Revel Casino at the height of the recession. The hotel was open less than two years because hey, everybody wants to gamble during the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression, right?
Billion dollar bust: The stunning Revel Casino sits empty
It took Christie eight years to sink this state. How he got re-elected, I will never know. His list of failures includes much more than what's written here, but I leave you with this one that just about sums it all up: a record 11 credit downgrades. But what does that matter when you're sitting in the owner's box at a Dallas Cowboy's game?
Hopefully Robert Mueller's investigation won't take much longer, and Trump will be (burnt) toast pretty soon. As for Christie? With poll numbers around 15% he's irrelevant. He will slink out of Trenton in the dead of night with a mirror to his face claiming to be the greatest governor ever to the adoring crowd of one looking back at him. My bet is Fox News has an anchor chair waiting for him.
Hey Chris, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
"And
in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make" ~ The Beatles
Dear Gov. Christie,
I hearyou're very upsetaboutyour book deal failing.
You said the legislation wasn't just about you profiting from writing a book
while still in office; it was also about political payback to newspapers giving some high-ranking public
employees a well-deserved raise. As you said:
"Judges today make
less than they did in 2003. You don't want judges who think getting $140,000 a
year is a raise... You want to appear before stupid judges? Then don't raise
their pay any more."
I get that we don't want incompetent public
employees in any position:
Christie complained that
paltry public sector salary caps had cost him qualified staffers, noting that
legislative staffers had not received a pay raise in 15 years.
Christie said that top
candidates had turned him down because they "can't afford to live in New
Jersey."
I'm sure those judges and
staffers do an admirable job. They put in an honest day's work, and most
likely their workday consists of many more hours than those they are contracted
for. You want to attract and retain the best people for those positions.
Taxpayers deserve no less.
Teachers are paid too much, that’s what’s bankrupting the system. Some teachers make six-figure salaries and that’s not including retirement benefits.
How can you, the governor
of New Jersey, have absolutely no idea what teachers earn? I mean, you built your reputation on cracking down on "greedy" and "selfish" teachers. Surely you would want to make sure your numbers are correct. But, just in case you forgot, click
onthis link. You'll be reminded that the majority of us make nowhere near that amount.
And what about
superintendents? I don't understand you not wanting to
hire and retain the very best to run our, as you call them, "failure factories". Once you put the cap on their salaries, quality school leaders fled the
state in droves to NY and PA for higher salaries—and
respect.
Judges and staffers aren’t
the only ones who struggle to live in New Jersey. Everyone in this state who
didn’t directly benefit from your draconian cuts over the past seven years (aka
the 99%) knows that story all too well. Did you forget that property taxes rose on average 20% in 2011 after you slashed billions from public education funding as part of your war on education? Are you aware that,
after you signed Chapter 78 into law, tens of thousands of public employees saw
our net take home pay slashed because we now must work longer, pay more for our
pensions and health insurance premiums and get less in return, with no guarantee
our pensions will even be there when we retire?
Hell, we can't even move to PA or NY to make ends meet because you made us indentured servants.
Don’t believe me? We have
the pay stubs—and the second and third jobs—to prove it.
If you want quality public
employees, you have to pay them all a living
wage and treat them all with respect. Anything otherwise is, quite frankly, terrible leadership.
For so many years, you've
expressed so much vitriol toward so many people in this state. Why are you
surprised that many feel that way about you now? Actually, I don’t
think it’s hatred on the part of our elected officials. I believe it’s
simply a case of what goes around, comes around.
You see, for the past seven
years you have disrespected, demoralized and demonized tens of thousands of
public employees who are simply
putting in an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. You've trashed and
bashed and lied about elected officials, and those of us who are not as fortunate as you or those
judges; who don't earn anywhere near $140,000 a year, let alone your salary of $175,000 a year
with a $95,000 a year 'entertainment' stipend.
Since you took office, you have sown the
seeds of hatred from High Point to Cape May and now it's time to reap what you
have sown.So, no, this isn't a case of "'the haters'" [who] allowed personal animus to deny [you] the ability" to profit from a writing book while in
office. No, this is karma, plain and simple.
“I am tired of you people.”
When you break promises,
when you go back on your word, when you don't play fair, when you pit people
against each other in some sick game of chess, when you call people names, when you act like a school yard bully, people remember. And they are not
too enthusiastic about supporting legislation that would directly line your
pockets and put hundreds of people out of work, even if it means denying some fellow public employees a raise.
Remember
this?This
is where it all started. These are your words, Governor, uttered before you
even won the election. Although they are aimed specifically at educators, they
are symbolic of your sleight-of-hand treatment of everyone in
this state who is not like you. And now you must accept the consequences.
And it’s pretty sad that judges and legislative staffers have to suffer.
Welcome home, Governor. New Jersey is a different place since you left two years ago to pursue your presidential dreams. You can rant and rave all you want about the loss of your book
deal, but remember what Lennon and McCartney said. Then look in the mirror ask
yourself what you’ve done in the past seven years to deserve it, and what
you're going to do during the next year for the people you were elected to
serve.
Yesterday dozens of NJEA members took to the streets in various communities to engage in and inform our members about the fight to save our pensions. My partner and I canvassed these Trenton neighborhoods: To be clear, these are not our members' homes, but our members live on these streets...
Yes, these are the Trenton neighborhoods where all those "greedy" and "selfish" public employees with their "Cadillac" benefits and "jobs for life" live—just like another public employee, Gov. Christie:
And now that he's been reduced to fetching coffee for Donald Trump, his ego bruised, he's back at what he really loves to do. No, not governing NJ. I'm talking about teacher—bashing.
I give this video 4 Pinocchios for the 4 basic lies he tells: 1. "I love public school teachers." Call me crazy, but I have never seen nor heard any evidence to back up this statement. If you have, please by all means, post a link in the comments.
2. "There's no way in any profession other than that one you get a job for life after 3 years, 'cause you get tenure after 3 years." I guess all that time out of state gave Christie a severe case of amnesia because he has completely forgotten that he pushed for and signed the TeachNJ law that extended the time it takes to earn tenure to four years! And as for the "job for life" comment, anybody with half a brain knows that is simply not true. But Christie has never let the facts get in the way of a good talking point. Which leads me to #3...
3. "And after 20 years, you get pension and health benefits for life." Well... I do pay into my pension every two weeks, just like anyone else pays into their retirement plans (which is way more than the state has done in the last 20 years), so why shouldn't I expect to receive my deferred compensation for the rest of my life when I retire? And he fails to mention that, under Chapter 78, the law he pushed for and signed, public employees now contribute more into our pensions, work more than 20 years before we can retire, and get less when we do. And as for those "health benefits for life"? Wrong again! State employees who were not grandfathered into the Ch. 78 reforms must pay a percentage of their health benefits when they retire.
4. The 4th lie he tells isn't on this video, but it has to do with his proposed $6600 per pupil school funding formula and how it will solve the problems of all high-poverty/high-needs school districts and magically reduce property taxes. Read Jersey Jazzman here and here for all the facts and figures 'cause you won't find them anywhere in Christie's messaging. And PS: before the 2% property tax cap went into effect, property taxes went up an average of 20% in NJ, so don't hold your breath waiting for any big tax breaks to materialize. No, Christie doesn't want the average taxpayer who doesn't follow politics every waking minute to know that the state unions were forced to accept many concessions in Ch. 78 with the expectation that he would uphold his end of the bargain by making the required pension payments—but didn't. It's so much easier to make stuff up and sell it to unsuspecting taxpayers under the premise of #TellingItLikeItIs (and you know how well that hashtag worked out once we hijacked it).
On Monday, August 1st, the state senate may possibly vote on SCR-2 which, if approved, would put a question on the November ballot to engrave state pension payments into our constitution, and that is driving Christie nuts. Not only does he want to defund public education further, he wants to crush the unions—period. The only thing stopping him from becoming another right-to-work-(for less) governor like Scott Walker or Rick Snyder is the Democratically-controlled state legislature. So, the next time someone tries to tell you that state workers have it great, that we have cushy jobs and great benefits, show them this post. Show them the pictures of the neighborhoods in which some of our members live. Tell them that many of our members who are working full time also collect food stamps. Share the stories of your co-workers who have been living on the edge of financial disaster since Ch. 78 was signed into law, whose take home pay has decreased every year since, who have lost (or almost lost) their homes as a result,who were forced to leave the profession to find a higher-paying job in the private sector. Remind them of all the give-backs and concessions we've made and the promises that Gov. Christie has broken. Educate them on how important unions are to a thriving middle class and the New Jersey economy.
Then tell them to vote Yes on the Constitutional Amendment ballot question in November because if it fails, and the pension system goes bust, the sky really will be falling on Chicken Little Gov. Christie. Part 2: How GOP politicians spin the tale of 'greedy unions' for their political gain.
In a big PR move to sell the state on their recommendations, last week two members of the NJ Pension Study Commission, Tom Byrne and Tom Healey took to the media. Here is my response:
My response to the Pension Study Commission's Report can be summed up in one word: No. No, you will not take one more dime from the hard working, middle class people who keep this state running 24/7/365 through rain, snow, sleet, hail, super storms, blizzards, floods, bone chilling cold, tornados and blazing heat while you and your families stay warm and cozy in your homes. No, you will not take one more dime from the hard working, middle class people who would willingly put themselves in harm's way to protect you and your family, because it's their job. No, you will not take one more dime from the hard working, middle class people who would willingly run into a burning building to save your spouse, your child or your pet because it's their job. No, you will not take one more dime from the hard working, middle class people who educate the majority of our state's children, sometimes in conditions so deplorable they rival third world countries. Who already spend far too much of their own money to purchase basic supplies for their classrooms and to feed and clothe their neediest students. Who, more often than not, work 10-, 12-, 14-hour days just to keep up with their workload, and then go to their second or third job to keep up with their bills. Who have endured years of verbal abuse from a governor who hates them and the public education system they have made into one of the very best in the nation. Not. One. More. Dime. For decades middle class public and private sector workers have watched our take home pay decrease, and our work loads and out-of-pocket costs for benefits increase. All the while, the super wealthy, big corporations and Wall Street cronies have fattened their coffers and lived life on Easy Street. All of this has increased exponentially under Gov. Christie who never met a millionaire he didn't like—or a union that he did. When do those making the most "share the sacrifice"? How much more do those at the very top expect those of us who are propping them up and supporting their lavish lifestyles to pay? When do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? Why aren't you doing anything about this:
... instead of recommending that people who make $40,000 a year pay more? Why aren't you recommending the state negotiate better, cheaper healthcare deals with the insurance and pharmaceutical companies? And why wouldn't these deals be made available to every, single person in this state?
Already, taxpayers are giving $1.3 million a year to 62 retirees of three Trenton organizations: the League of Municipalities, the School Boards Association and the Association of Counties, records show. That’s in addition to the roughly $7.5 million in local and county taxes handed over for the groups’ annual membership dues that pay the six-figure salaries and cover operating costs.
None of the three associations is part of state government. Privately run, they were granted pension rights by legislators decades before New Jersey entered a fiscal crisis that is leading to an estimated $8 billion structural deficit.
(...)
As taxpayers squirm beneath the highest property taxes in the country, the retirement bill from these groups will only grow. Right now, 107 non-government employees have combined pensionable salaries of more than $7 million, according to Department of Treasury data analyzed by the Record.
One of those employees is Bill Dressel, $191,000-a-year executive director [of the New Jersey League of Municipalities].
Celeste Carpiano, who makes $205,000 a year as head of the New Jersey Association of Counties, will also get a publicly funded pension. So will Marie Bilik, who gets $150,000 to oversee the New Jersey School Boards Association.
My pension is not an entitlement. It is deferred compensation. Any notion that my benefits are somehow better than those in the private sector is offset by what I have sacrificed in salary as a public employee. As you well know, the New Jersey pension fund "ranks 95th in pension generosity out of the top 100 plans nationally", and the average New Jersey public employee pension is only $26,000 a year. Hardly a "Cadillac benefit", as Gov. Christie loves to say. Compare that to the daily salaries those insurance company CEOs make, then tell me it's excessive. But, that's the deal the state made with me and the hundreds of thousands of other New Jersey public employees. And we are the only ones who've upheld our end of the bargain over the past few decades. We are getting screwed. And you are presenting us with a screwdriver. How do you sleep at night knowing that your recommendations may push even more middle class people into foreclosure in the state with the highest foreclosure rate in the nation?
There comes a time when the hard working public employees who keep New Jersey running have to say, "Enough is enough!" I reject the notion that public employees, who have dutifully paid more than our fare share over the decades must now pay more for less and work longer to get it. I reject the notion that the only solution is to place the burden of the fix on the shoulders of those who are following the law. I reject the notion that our pensions will bankrupt the state when the state is giving away hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations.
Here is my recommendation: Go back to the drawing board. Scrounge under every sofa cushion and check every coat pocket in Trenton. Hold a bake sale, a garage sale, do whatever it takes to find the money. Except do not expect the only people who have followed the law and consistently contributed to the pension system year in and year out while politicians from both sides of the aisle used it as their cash cow to contribute one more dime. Not. One. More. Dime.
Yesterday's Star Ledgereditorial page is a case study in the double standards it applies to organized labor. On the one hand, they make an impassioned and completely justified plea in support of the unsustainable wages earned by SEIU 32BJ's 7,000 custodians and janitors who are fighting for a $15 minimum wage; while on the other, they excoriate Sen. Sweeneyfor pushing for a constitutional amendment to fund NJ's anemic pension system, and as usual, beat the war drums for public employees to pay more for less. But this is nothing new. The S-L editorial board, led by Tom Moran, has a long history of union bashing—especially teachers. Just search this blog or Jersey Jazzman's for a list of Moran's rants. Who knows why he hates us and loves others. And now that Sen. Sweeney has proposed the amendment that would require quarterly pension payments, Moran is at it again, spinning his ill-informed, teacher-hating rhetoric to unsuspecting readers:
But public workers continue to receive health benefits that are far more generous than those enjoyed by the typical taxpayers. The cost is about 50 percent more than the average plan in the private sector, according to Tom Byrne, a former Democratic state chairman and member of the governor's bipartisan reform commission.
First, I beg to differ on those generous benefits. The days of 'Cadillac' benefits are long gone thanks to Chr. 78 (more on this below). Second, does anyone else see the subtle fracturing here? The blaming and shaming of middle class workers? The pitting of public vs. private sector? The brainwashing of the general public that the financial crisis would go away if only we could get rid of those pesky, greedy unions? Those in power, including Moran, have done an admirable job of convincing private sector, middle class workers into thinking that labor is the problem, when instead, labor is the solution. If more middle and working class people belonged to unions, wages, benefits, workplace safety and morale would be up, and so would the economy (more on this below). The middle class was built on labor, and the glory days of the middle class in the mid 20th Century are a perfect example. But Gov. Christie and other anti-union leaders, corporate heads and the newspapers they control have done an admirable job of convincing the general public that labor is the problem. The message goes something like this:
How dare you want. How dare you expect anything more than what we elected officials and corporate heads feel you deserve. How dare you expect us to sacrifice when we are so important and—well—wealthy?
We are the job creators. We can't sacrifice anything because we provide you with your ever increasing workloads and ever decreasing salaries and benefits job, and you should be grateful. After all, times are tough, and we all have to "share the sacrifice". (Notice how you never hear that phrase anymore. Could it be because the only people who were sacrificing realized they were also the ones getting screwed?)
We're sorry we have to screw you cut your compensation, ship jobs overseas and lay off employees, but those greedy unions have negotiated contracts just want more and more, and we would have to take less in salaries and bonuses can't afford that. So, we're hoping that if we cut your compensation enough you will speak out against their greed and selfishness so no one notices that new yacht we just purchased because they are destroying NJ.
Today, however, while the cost of New Jersey public employee health insurance coverage remains the third-highest in the nation, most New Jersey public employees are paying more than the national average for state government workers toward their health insurance costs, an NJ Spotlight analysis shows.
In fact, the average New Jersey government employee is paying more for individual health insurance coverage than government workers in any other state and the 10th-highest average premium for family coverage in the country.Further, state and local government workers are paying a much higher percentage of the cost of their individual health insurance policies than private-sector employees in New Jersey have been paying, and not much less than the percentage paid by the state’s private-sector workers for family coverage.
The health benefit payment schedule set by Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) as part of the controversial 2011 pension and health benefits overhaulestablished a complex premium-sharing formula based on “ability to pay” that is the most progressive in the nation — one that ranges from a low of 3 percent of premium cost for those earning under $25,000 to a high of 35 percent of premium for those making over $110,000 for family coverage.
“Public employees are paying more for their health insurance in New Jersey than in most other states, but we made sure that the premium schedule is based on ability to pay. That’s important going forward,” Sweeney said in a comment aimed squarely at Christie’s pension and health benefits panel. (all emphasis mine)
And don't think for one minute that we're paying more because we're getting more. Far from it. Labor has had to give back a lot over the past 5 years. Co-pays, premiums and deductibles are up, and services are down. I can put you in touch with many public employees who are in the same boat as private sector workers—paying more and getting less. Sinking all ships instead of raising all boats makes everyone drown.
Moran continues...
The problem with Sweeney's amendment is that he answers the key demand of the unions – to fully fund the pensions – without asking for cuts in health spending in return.
Why should public employees—and all middle and working class families for that matter—have to sacrifice to the point of unsustainable living while America's 1% is making more now than at any other time since the Great Depression? Why isn't anyone questioning the near loan shark tactics of health insurance companies that jack up premiums by double digits seemingly overnight? Why has this country not yet moved to a true universal healthcare system so that everyone has access to quality, affordable healthcare? (Yea, I know... I know... that's a convo for another day) How much more can public employees—and all workers for that matter—sacrifice and still pay our bills? How much more can we be forced to give back while Gov. Christie gives billions in tax cuts to corporations? How much more can we do without before it becomes impossible for us to do our jobs? Why should public employees, the majority of whom have seen a net decrease in take home pay, give back one more penny while Christie refuses to keep his end of the deal, opting instead to give his Wall St. buddies/GOP donors huge bonuses for their lackluster returns on our deferred compensation? None of this is the fault of public employees, who built the middle class, yet we are blamed by people like Moran who have a hidden agenda and either don't know or are in denial about all the facts.
But this hypocrisy is nothing new. In Jersey Jazzman's latest he reminds us of the S-Ls bizarre-o endorsement—and later retraction— of Christie for governor in 2013, and eviscerates Moran for criticizing The New Hampshire Union Leader for its recent endorsement of Christie:
Tom Moran ignored Chris Christie's many, many failings and endorsed him for reelection as governor for one reason: Christie was willing to go to war with the New Jersey Education Association. In Moran's bizarre world, Christie's jihad against the teachers union was more important than solving the pension problem, or adequately managing Sandy relief, or keeping the state's credit rating up.
...
Tom Moran is the most shameless type of hypocrite imaginable. He looks down his nose at another newspaper for ignoring the facts about Chris Christie — the same facts Moran ignored just so he could stick it to teachers and their union.
Look, as a registered Democrat and proud union member, I was incensed when Sweeney and other Trenton Democrats sold us down the river on the Pen-Ben deal. They turned their backs on the core values of our party and those for whom they are supposed to fight. But, I'm not going to sit here and rehash that, especially when the clock is ticking on the pension fund time bomb (see my countdown clock at the top of this page). The fact is that Sweeney is taking steps today to fix this mess by ensuring that the state finally does what it promised. Are there political aspirations tied to it? Probably. But, it's a helluva lot more than Christie ever had any intentions of doing.
With corporate money now controlling virtually every aspect of American life, it's only natural for the news media to spin tales of union greed as the downfall of civilization, when in fact, that downfall is being caused by corporate greed. Robert Reich's documentary film, Inequality for Alllays it all out in devastatingly simple language and stresses the importance of organized labor as a key to building a strong middle class. Here's the trailer: Everyone should watch this film. Public employees are not the cause of this financial crisis. Instead of sinking all ships, Trenton should be trying to lift all boats—both public and private. If unions die, so does the middle class. We are the last vestiges of a workforce that can stand up to corporate greed, and fight for fair wages, benefits and working conditions—for everyone—because as go the unions, so goes the middle class. But private sector workers have been turned against us by the likes of Moran and the S-L editorial board who spew hateful and derisive rhetoric. Millionaires are not fleeing NJ in droves. On the contrary, they are the only ones who can really afford to live here comfortably. NJ is home to over 600,000 public employees who contribute to local, county and state economies every day. But, unless the pension system is fixed—without any more public employee sacrifice—many middle class people will be forced to leave because we are the ones who can't afford it. But that's an inconvenient truth Moran is all too happy to avoid.
I've told this story many times, and on today's anniversary, I have to tell it again.
I took this picture somewhere around 1987
Having grown up less than 10 miles from Manhattan, I watched the Twin Towers being built every day as I walked to St. Stephen's School in Kearny. The Chestnut Street bridge offered the best vantage point. Every day, every week, every year they inched up higher and higher like two giant Lego towers, brick by brick, foot by foot. The audacity of their simplicity almost forcing them to lower Manhattan like the kid who is never allowed to sit with the cool kids at lunch because he doesn't look or act like them, but who inevitably leaves them all in the dust (in this case, quite literally).
I had been to the observation deck many times; taken the PATH to NYC via WTC for as long as I can remember. On long, out-of-state trips I knew I was almost home, almost to Exit 15W on the NJ Turnpike or Exit 145 on the Parkway, when I could see them standing there like twin lighthouses at the southern tip of Manhattan, watching over commuters, guiding us home. "Yes, you've been to the 'other' world—the world without bagles and real pizza and Taylor Ham ('pork roll' to the rest of you). Now it's time to come home to the grit and the grime and the crowded and the busy and the endless days that dissolve into endless nights, and you know as crazy as it is to live here, you wouldn't want it any other way." Yes, I was home.
The Twin Towers were a part of the collective unconscious of everyone in that region just as mountain ranges are for those who live near them. They were always there... until they weren't.
14 years ago today was my very first day teaching ever—except I didn't teach. Instead, I sat at the front door of Immaculate Conception School in Annandale all day and signed students out. From where I sat I had a direct view of Rt. 78. All day I watched as a constant stream of police, fire and rescue vehicles raced east from Pennsylvania and parts unknown to a scene unlike any most of them had ever seen or prepared for. At one point I held the hands of a woman who was in the car line to pick up her child. She was in a panic because her husband was an airline pilot and he was flying that day. She didn't know if he was dead or alive. I just remember holding on tight and telling her that he was alive, and hoping to God that it was true.
9/11 was a gloriously beautiful late summer day. Not a cloud in the sky. The days that followed were the same—picture perfect—except for the fact that the soul of America had been ripped from its gut and we were all walking around like vivisections.
Having lived the majority of my life under the flight paths of Newark, JFK, La Guardia and Teterboro airports, airplane noise was nothing more than white noise. I moved to Hunterdon County in 1996 for a better, less hectic way of life. Oh well, you can take the girl out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the girl. The eerie silence that followed over the next few days as all air traffic was grounded was as unnerving as navigating Routes 1 & 9 at rush hour. I remember trying to play with my daughter in the sandbox. I remember trying to be 'normal', but there was no normal. Where were the planes? Where were the contrails? Where was the noise? It was as silent as a tomb because a piece of all of us died that day. As I write this, I hear the soothing song of the crickets—country living at its best. Silence that, silence the katydids, silence the birds, Rachel Carson'sSilent Spring in a different season for a different reason. That's what it was like. I remember traveling the Turnpike and the Parkway for years after that day, looking for my lighthouses. Scanning the horizon from the Empire State Building south... south... south... Where were they? Gone.Ashes and blood in the river. Would I ever make it home? No, I could never truly go home again. None of us could. That life before 9/11 is gone forever.
Many of the people who lost their lives that day were simply going to work. Office workers, street cart vendors, pilots, flight attendants, custodians, cooks, dishwashers, store clerks—they were true innocents. Some were accidental heroes like the passengers on Flight 92. All were in the right place at the wrong time. But many were public employees whose job it was to run into Dante's Inferno while everyone inside was trying to escape: right place, right time.
I think of all the brave members of Engine 10 Ladder 10, the firehouse across the street from Ground Zero—especially the 5 who made the ultimate sacrifice. National Geographic made a powerful documentary about their bravery as they traveled into the heart of darkness. If you haven't seen it, please take some time to view it here:
They, along with hundreds of other brave men and women, were public employees who were just doing their job. They showed up for work every single day knowing that, at any moment, they might be called on to put themselves in harm's way. All in a day's work. How many of us would willingly take that job? And now we must add education professionals who are becoming first responders in the all too frequent and violent attacks on our schools. When the attacks against public employees started raining down, the hipocrisy was undeniable. Elected leaders with a prescribed and scripted agenda villifying people whose job it is to protect and serve simply so they can push their agenda and protect those whom they serve. It's a sacrilige for any of them to partake of 9/11 activities. They might as well spit on the graves of those who died.
My beloved cousin recently lost his battle with cancer. He was a retired firefighter with a heart as big as the ocean on which he loved to take his boat out to fish. He was as strong as he was generous and kind. It breaks my heart that he couldn't win that battle, but I'm so grateful that he wasn't called to the city that day. He had 14 more years to be a husband, father, brother, son, and all around great guy. I will miss him forever. His memorial service will be later this month. I'm sure the members of the Maplewood-South Orange Fire Department will honor him. He deserves that and more, not only for the work he did, but for the work he didn't have to do. He didn't have to sacrifice his life. He didn't have to die in a burning building so others could live. But he would have if called to do so, because that was his job. Never forget...
They weren't as fluid and graceful as the marines at Iwo Jima. They weren't trained to fight wars, but they were the first to battle in a war that still wages today. They were awkward, exhausted, and filthy, covered in toxic dust and human remains. But just as their brothers did over 50 years before, they raised the flag and kept on going. One day at a time; one foot in front of the other against seemingly insurmountable odds, until the job was done.
It's the 15th of the month, and once again, along with thousands of other public employees across the state, I made my legally-required pension payment. How about you, Gov. Christie? No? I didn't think so. If you live in NJ, you'd have to be living under a rock to not know about the pension battle raging in Trenton. And if you're reading this, you also know that this debacle is decades old with Democratic and Republican governors being equal opportunity offenders as one after another raided the once-flush fund to plug budget holes and prop up their pet projects. (Bonus points for alliteration!)
So, what can public employees do to fix this mess? Nothing. We didn't cause it and we can't cure it. The only thing we can and should do is demand nothing less than full funding of the pension system as required by the law Gov. Christie touts as his signature, bipartisan 'reform'. Because while he was busy cutting deals with certain Democrats to 'fix' this fiasco (translation: public employees work more, pay more and get less in return while the super wealthy and corporations get tax breaks) he was also doing this—with the blessings of the NJ Democratic Party Machine and GOP legislators who have been too afraid to stand up to him:
The state can afford to fix this crisis; it all comes down to priorities. If Christie can afford to give tax breaks to the super wealthy and corporations—which, by the way, has done little to spur the state's economy—he can afford to make his legally-obligated pension payments. If he doesn't, this will happen in 12 years:
It's really that simple, folks.
But that would mean helping public employees, and if there's one thing Gov. Christie hates, it's public employees. So he keeps beating the same dead horse, continuing to excoriate us, oddly fighting his signature legislation in court, while his poll numbers point to a populace that has grown weary of the blustering, the bullying and the flat-out lies. He's acting less like a confident presidential candidate and more like one who has to play defense. And that is way outside Gov. Christie's comfort zone. At yesterday's town hall meeting taxpayer funded campaign stop there was this bit of irony:
“There is still the deadly sins of the past that we have to fix and they’re the things that we do, promises that politicians make to folks, have made to folks, with no understanding of how they’re going to be paid for and those big things right now are pensions and health care, health insurance for public workers.” (emphasis mine)
Gov. Christie 2009 campaign promise
And this response to a retired educator who asked for shared sacrifice from the state's wealthiest:
“You want shared sacrifice, then have health benefits like everybody else has,” Christie replied to huge applause.
The problem is, gov, thanks to you, we do have health benefits like everybody else. Have you forgotten? As I wrote in a previous post, last year NJ Spotlight reported on how your signature legislation has affected our 'lavish perks':
"[T]he average New Jersey government employee is paying more for individual health insurance coverage than government workers in any other state and the 10th-highest average premium for family coverage in the country.
"Further, state and local government workers are paying a much higher percentage of the cost of their individual health insurance policies than private-sector employees in New Jersey have been paying, and not much less than the percentage paid by the state’s private-sector workers for family coverage."(emphasis mine) This was your doing, part of your crowing legislative achievement that put us in this position. Don't you remember? What will happen to all of us if the pension system goes belly-up? Our retirement savings will be wiped out, our health insurance premiums will only continue to head in one direction (up), and we can't even move out of state because, thanks to another genius piece of legislation you signed into law, we're basically indentured servants. Perhaps you could use a few extra gardeners to care for your estate?
Gov. Christie made his tough guy reputation by trampling on the backs of the middle class and the working poor and the state has plenty to show for it. As he inches ever closer to announcing his presidential candidacy, our governor is looking more like this guy:
To be clear, these are not our members' homes, but our members live on these streets...
1. "I love public school teachers." Call me crazy, but I have never seen nor heard any evidence to back up this statement. If you have, please by all means, post a link in the comments. 
In fact, the average New Jersey government employee is paying more for individual health insurance coverage than government workers in any other state and the 10th-highest average premium for family coverage in the country.Further, state and local government workers are paying a much higher percentage of the cost of their individual health insurance policies than private-sector employees in New Jersey have been paying, and not much less than the percentage paid by the state’s private-sector workers for family coverage.
