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San Diego 6

February 13, 2009

San Diegans march: Where's my bailout?

By Elex Michaelson

benefits
"Don't Terminate OUR Benefits"
sign
"IT'S TIME FOR THE PEOPLE'S BAILOUT"
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"NO CUTS TO THE IHSS PROGRAM"
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"No Cuts To The IHSS Program!"

Chants of "save our services, save our state" permeated the streets of Downtown San Diego, near Horton Plaza.

More than a dozen unions joined together to protest the potential budget deal being negotiated in Sacramento.

Among those protesting was Ruben Ceballos, who has cerebral palsy. "Everyday I need assistance getting out of bed, getting ready for work, and getting to work" he said.

He gets that help via a worker who is paid for by the state. That nurses pay would likely be cut in the new budget. "It makes me feel like a second class citizen...Why should people with disabilities pay for the mistakes of the state of California?"

Martha McCartney helps care for seniors everyday. She said she can not afford a pay cut. "It will affect me tremendously, I may go stay at a shelter."

Elementary school librarian Lisa Hoffman is worried about schools. "If these budget cuts go through, they are going to mean 380,0000 jobs lost in the field of education...My sister works...as a first grade teacher, she will be getting her pink slip in a few weeks. She's out a job and she's a single mom with two kids."

But Richard Rider, the chairman of the San Diego Tax Fighters, said unions are not doing their part. "They should be offering to reduce their salaries and reduce their pension because that's where the money goes. The cost of the actual service that is delivered is predicated on their labor."

He said more tax increases will not be an answer. "When we talk about a tax increase, that's a pay increase to the unions... As Milton Friedman said, 'there's nothing more permanent than a temporary tax cut."

If all proposed tax cuts go through, Rider said, by 2010 San Diego's "sales tax will go from 7.75 percent to anywhere between 11.75 and 12 percent... Should we be paying that much more in sales tax? Is it going to help our economy? No."

Finding compromise will be difficult. Of all the people we talked to at the protest, none would suggest another cut that should be made or additional tax increases that should be made. That challenge is perhaps why there is still a budget stalemate.