The New York City Police Department has reached all kinds of lows in the past fifteen years, however, the lowest they have gotten is $25,000 per year. As in the starting salary of rookie police officers. Yes, that's right. The starting salary of people that are supposed to fight crime and protect the city in times of strife are only making $25K to start. It has come to light that the Department of Parks and Recreation is looking to hire three new puppeteers with a starting salary of between roughly $32K and $50K with complete benefits and union status. And what has the city done to try to supplement the low salary of starting rookies? Offer them a low interest credit card "to make ends meet". Is this the best they can do?!?! Put these poor cadets into DEBT?
**Parks spokesman Warner Johnston called the puppet job "a very skilled position."
"It's not just someone with his hand up a puppet," he said. "It's someone who has to create and maintain the marionette. It's an artisan position."
The new puppeteer will work at the Marionette Theater in Central Park - and also make rounds in the "PuppetMobile," doing performances in city parks and recreation centers. [NY Post, 13 March 2007]**
Oh my fucking god - this one is so wide open I CAN'T crack on it... but I can get $50K per year plus benefits for putting my hand up a puppet's ass? What's Condoleeza doing after she's out of office?
And it makes me wonder - where is all the money from my parking tickets going? What about the unusually high city taxes I pay? Lottery tickets? Parking meters? I wonder because if it's not going to pay the cops, it sure as hell isn't going to fix the potholes in the streets, repair busted parking meters that people get ticketed on anyway, more police video cameras on the streets (I will get into Big Brother in a later post), beefing up the 311 hotline (it STINKS Bloomberg), cleaner streets in Manhattan, more available parking, etc., etc. It leads me to believe that some fat bastard is getting fatter off of MY tax dollars!! And that pisses me off. This is the most expensive city to live in the country and we can't fix a fucking POTHOLE? Here Bloomberg, I have a suggestion for you. How about the new recruits can make overtime by filling in potholes on weekends? Or how about we give the beat cops brooms so they can sweep while on patrol? Oh I know, how about when on beat, we give them quarters to watch our cars for half an hour? Yeah, then they'll really rack it in and supplement that income, and not only that, will always have change for laundry!! Righteous!!
It sickens me the kind of financial management we have here in the city. I just CAN'T hear officials bitch anymore about how the city is broke - because we're NOT. Someone is skimming that money into his or her own pocket. And I can't wait for the day that this salary gets so out of control, there will be a strike by officers - then New York will REALLY know the meaning of hell...
And I just have to put in here that I do NOT read the NY Post - I don't even line the catbox with it. NY1 (another example of "quality" journalism) pointed it out this morning in their "In the Papers" segment. Don't laugh. I like NY1 to listen to when I get ready for work in the morning. I mean, how else do I get my daily dose of violence, carneage, heartbreak, murder, rape and the fluff story?
