[Mpls] Peter Bell on Almanac

[Bill Cullen]

Chris Johnson wrote:

... I do agree with Mr. Hohmann in principle:  taxpayers should not be
subsidizing luxury or extravagant benefits far above and beyond what is
available to average workers in the workplace.

My response:

This is why most of the community is quiet about this strike.  It is hard
for the private sector to support a strike when the Met Council's position
paper clearly outlines that the drivers receive above average pay and
benefits compared to private sector employees doing the same job
(http://www.metrocouncil.org/labor/METCposition.pdf).

Couple that with the fact that most of us in the private sector have been
hurt by dismal pay and increasing job losses over the past few years and we
cannot figure out what the drivers are talking about.  Most of my tenants
would love their job.

Many of you complained when Strom wrote "the bus strike shows decisively
that proponents of transit are simply not telling the truth when they say
that transit ridership reduces congestion."  Strom's response was to THE
MEDIA PREDICTIONS that traffic would be crippled without the bus system.
Well, it hasn't happened.  Rybak claims traffic is flowing ok because he
"[put] five times the normal number of traffic control officers on duty in
downtown Minneapolis the first week of the strike."  Come on...  Traffic
cops don't have that much impact.

Most of my tenants are low income folk.  Many depend on the bus system.
Every single day of this strike, I have heard from multiple tenants about
how this strike has messed up their lives.  They are having trouble getting
to jobs, school and social events.  Everyday I have loaned out my pickup or
drove someone, someplace.

I am horribly frustrated.  It appears the drivers are demanding pay/benefits
exceeding others doing the same job.  The poor -- who are the ones primarily
hurt by this strike -- work for less than the drivers refuse to work for.
Meanwhile the Met Council won't even attempt NON-binding arbitration.

I have no respect for either side.  They are both out of touch with their
customers.  Our government is out of touch.

Regards, Bill Cullen.
Whittier Landlord.