Frightened Council

Yet more wobbling by the City Council over budget cuts. The latest time-blower: A few members are wondering whether the value of city contracts could be cut by 10 percent and whether city workers could do some of the work. "It's time for us to lay off private contractors and keep our city workers," said Councilwoman Janice Hahn. Councilman Paul Koretz figures that cutting private contracts by 10 percent cut would save the city $200 million. But wait a sec - doesn't that mean the private contractors will have to lay off their own people? And weren't private contractors brought on because city workers couldn't handle whatever work was needed, some of it requiring specialized skill sets? And won't it take months to determine what can and cannot be transferred over to the public payrolls? And isn't the clock ticking on making cuts? From the Daily News:

Other council members questioned Koretz's figures. "We need to speak the truth about what we are up against," Councilwoman Jan Perry said. "We need to be truthful without setting up false hopes."

The city's unionized workers are really putting a squeeze on council members - and as you can see, some are handling it a lot better than others.