This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Government Brilliance In Action
I've written before about Palo Alto's clumsy attempts to prevent teen suicide by posting guards at two sections of railroad track here in town (which constitutes about 0.1% of the tracks available on which to fling yourself). To my knowledge, in spite of being posted there for five years now, these guards haven't prevented a single suicide. I was always a little curious how much my fair city was spending on these guys, who basically sit on plastic chairs and stare into space all day. This morning's paper gives me my answer:
So there you have it. The city is spending $456,000 a year for nothing.
But let's take this a step further: there are two portions of track guarded during weekdays. I'll be generous and assume they are there from 9 to 5. So what this means is that somehow the city is managing to pay the equivalent of $228,000 per year per person on what must surely be the most unskilled labor in the world. All you have to do is sit there and, should someone come up to your particular section of track and announce they are about to jump in front of a train, you call the police.
This, in a nutshell, exhibits beautifully the waste and idiocy of government shared by every municipality, state, and country on the planet. Oh, and if I ever decide to stop blogging. you might find me on a plastic chair near the train tracks. It sounds a lot more lucrative.
- advertisements -
Dear Mr. Knight,
Where's the rest of the article by Breena Kerr? Or is this just another, "GOVERNMENT BAD, PRIVATIZATION GOOD". screed? I see "the guards work for a private security company..." which brings up more questions than you even bother to address. Your post based on numerous assumptions, some really clueless math and evidently Zero research? Obviously, if even some of your assumptions are facts this case warrants further investigation. Private security guards usually are paid very little (educated assumptions) so who gets most of the money and are they related to anyone in the Government, etc. etc
Perhaps if you stopped parroting wingnut anti government memes of the corporate kind and started investigating you could blog something worthwhile and saves the overburdened "taxpayers" a few bucks to boot.
For you, I recommend a large dose of Thomas Hobbs and cut down on the corporate propaganda of the self serving kind.
Exomike
BTW – I was able to discern your humanity and ability to analyze societal problems in your first post on this subject or I wouldn’t have bothered to post this.
Follow the money. There is a relative on the payroll or politicians are getting envelopes for Christmas.
He's dead, Tim.
for you, and me it's wasting 1/2 mil. a year, for a Keynesian it's a 1/2 mil. a year out of capitalism into a cronies pocket, who will vote, raise money, and campaign for the Keynesian.
democrat m.o., use tax-payer dollars for election purposes.
In case you haven't noticed, republicrats do the same thing. No mo rose colored glasses.
What, no benefits or pension?
Now see, they have it all backwards, its just slothful Keynesian waste the way they do it out in Kalifornia.
In NYC a "track guard" would jump to his feet from his/her LazyBoy recliner whenever someone even approached the tracks looking despondent or disoriented and being "legally armed" unload his weapon toward and then reload & fire again & again until the perp was finally hit and wounded!
In this real paradigm of Keynesian socio-economic central planning analysis, no one actually dies, the track remains clear of all obstructions so the trains can continue to "run on time", the paramedics, dispatchers, paper shufflers & reports writers of officialdom get new business, the ammo manufacturers get new business, the newspapers get new business etc.
Krugman says so.
//////
Was it something I said?...lol.
In other news, King Obama will don his flight suit to personally lead his troops into battle against...oh wait, thats a different king...
http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/04/jordans-king-may-participate-personally-in-isis-raids/
I doubt they are concerned about people committing suicide. More likely they don't want the trains derailed and all their precious geeks and academics dying or giving Palo Alto a bad name.
That "work of art" which Kareninca linked to is an abomination. It looks like some sick version of natural childbirth. But it does represent everything which the formerly great Palo Alto is now; a haven for the rich and slimy.
Why not do both. Blog and sit guard!
jeez --its no wonder the kids are trying to get out--- it's a fucking nut house--
Here is another example. These are not repellent looking, just banal, but they are incredibly dangerous; metal "bears" with sharp edges that would be perfect for gouging out a kid's flesh: http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2013/10/04/bears-spotted-in-midtown-p.... I don't think you have to make everything ultra safe for kids by any means, but I have seen these in person and they are a genuine hazard; who the fuck could think they suitable to offer kids to climb on?? If you want art, fine, if you want a climbing toy, fine; this is a wretched combo.
I wonder if the Palo Alto Art Commission invited Kilgore Trout to speak at the dedication.
in watermelon sugar the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar
I have never been able to get that out of my brain.
Oh Don't tell me about it becuase I am here and you are distant.
Please, please look at this example of Palo Alto public art: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ya-ko/9529937401/. Please. It is a large statue on one of the major city shopping streets. Can you imagine growing up in a town where this has pride of place??? If I were a kid it would give me nightmares.
That makes the murals at Denver's New World Airport look downright festive.
Wow. Those are pretty strange. I was not aware of the Denver airport conspiracy theory. Wow.
After the $100K kickback to city hall the contractor only gets $150,
I bet you that the guards are not paid directly from the city. There is probably a "contractor" that gets paid $250,000 a year to arrange this and than pay $8-9 an hour to the guards. Someone is smiling.......
I just linked to an article that says that. Go up a couple of posts and you'll see: the guards get paid $9/hour.
Post Office has a mileage auditor that follows each carrier on their route once a year to confirm they aren't stealing miles. You have to see it to believe it. The person "auditing" probably is up pretty high on the income scale. Pure insanity.
Is he/she called an " odometer"?
You made that one up. Right? Please say yes. My fucking head is going to explode.
Sadly, I am not making this up. i wouldn't believe it if i didn't see it with my own eyes. Carrier was not too happy about but said it happens every year to all the carriers. That and other stupid policies make me want the USPS to fail.
Bought stamps from the machine last week. They were Christmas stamps. I tried to exchange them but was told that the machines are owned and operated by a different entity so they couldn't be exchanged. What? The post offcie doesn't own the machines they encourage you to use while they run at a loss?
No two ounce christmas stamps exist even though a large volume of cards are now two ounces. They want me to send out booker t washington stamps and the such. When I then want them to meter the cards instead they say they are not allowed to.
They urge you to use machines but the machines print postage that is oversized or forced to be wrapped around the back of the envelope. How about just letting us print a different value stamp?
I could go on forever about the USPS. it is everything that a goverment organization should not be.
Thing is I also think the postal service should not be privatized, just forced to be operated more efficiently. The damn post office would put fed ex and UPS out of business if they were run more effciently, maybe that is why they are not?
if it's completely privatized, and it should be, it will be run more efficiently.
usps is actually a pretty good operation, despite the fucked-upedness of its management.
i ship thousands of packages with them, they maybe lose 1 a year, and pretty much everything gets to where it should and pretty quick, and cheaply for first class; i don't know how they stay in business with their low rates for small packages.
the only thing that i really hate about them is usps insurance; it's a total scam, don't ever bother with it, you will never collect anything from them even if you insure a package and they lose or destroy it.
Years ago, the night guard in my office building and I were talking. He worked for the P.O. days. Actually a pretty sharp guy who seemed to be no slacker and was saving and investing for his retirement. Somehow the P.O. slackers came up, and I made a comment about how he seemed to be more of a hustler and wasn't like that. He said no, he finished his route in 4 hours. I asked him what he did for the rest of his shift, and he said he would pull over, park, and sleep in his truck. True story.
I have read that these guys are paid $9/hour. The city pays a private company $25/hour for each guard (http://www.paloaltoonline.com/print/story/2009/11/27/city-hires-guard-fo...). That fits my experience with temp work pay. There are a fair number of these guards; it is not the case that two guys are dividing the take of the whole program!
The program is an ineffective and stupid waste of money, but the track guards are not rolling in bucks as a result. They are poor people who commute in from poor areas who get paid the usual shit wages that are paid to poor people. The community members who "care" about this are not going to do it themselves as volunteers; they'd rather hire poor people to do it.
If they wanted to make it a safety zone, all they have to do is put a cell phone scrambler that disrupts service and the kids won't come within 100 yards of the place.
We face a future of guaranteed incomes and menial pointless busywork. It will be my job to screw in a screw and it will be your job to unscrew it.
So don't knock it. People will fling each other onto the tracks for the privilege of sitting in those chairs - with a brown bag of liquor and a snubnose .38 you keep handy to protect your chair.
Nice to know one of the guards would attempt to save a life if given the chance.. of paying attention? Ridiculous all the way around.
Bummer about the increasing number of youth deaths. A thought that came up was that where there is money, there is usually access to a lot of fancy drugs, many of which may be too much to handle for them in these ego-fueled/high-pressure environments. Whatever it is, hopefully the community can acknowledge and get a handle on it.
What is wrong with the citizens of Palo Alto that they allow this corruption to continue?
Only in California.
Why aren't the city leaders who arranged this boondoggle in jail for misappropriation of taxpayer funds? This is fraud writ large.
I wonder what the relationship between the guards and those that passed the ordinance? Was a bid let?
Unskilled? Good sir, I paid top dollar for that Bachelor of Track Guarding degree. My skills are ABET certified.
Can't imagine the despair someone must feel in order to jump in front of a train.
Osmium said: "Can't imagine the despair someone must feel in order to jump in front of a train."
Imagine living in a bubble that is a fairy tale land of instant success for breathing and saying "Web 2.0" or "Facebook".
Now consider that you are a kid who wants to write with a keyboard, paint with your hands, do something constructive and creative with your body and your life that doesn't make you a millionaire and doesn't involve an iPhone or binary code.
Well, this probably = train>jump. Poor kids. This society has few places for anyone not smoking the hopium.
And, a suicide'r is not a "victim" of anything other than an insanely juvenile narcissistic society.
It is not "depression" or solvable with "medication"; the problem is the society.
Probably worked as a fucking security guard for five years. That would do it.
How do the track guards not wake up , and go over and stand in front of a train befuddles me.
If they are going to invent this shit for brain jobs, at least have EBT users do it for the weekly/ monthly replenishment .
Happens frequently on Chicago area Metra lines. Sure seems like more pleasant ways to go, but they always jump in front during rush hour causing maximum inconvenience for commuters. Don't get it.
I don't get it either. The least they could do is have the common courtesy to handcuff themselves to a banker or a politician before taking the jump.
I thought Chicago SOP was to keep moving?
Ha - frickin wimps out here. We got on a train Friday before labor day 2013 went about 1000 feet and got an announcement we would be sitting there until the 'heavy storms' passed through west of the city?
Heavy storms? if no funnel clouds it ain't a heavy storm for fucks sake.
$228,000 per year to stare into space but when you consider the cost of living, the inconvenience of no bathroom facilities, the tax liability of that high an income, the stress of watching a suicide etc... I'll just keep eating the gubmint cheese. /s
What we are most likely talking about here is the head Councilman's ne'er do well In Laws or sons needed jobs, so jobs were created for them. Guaranteed that nepotism or favors owed created that boondoggle.
"What we are most likely talking about here is the head Councilman's ne'er do well In Laws or sons needed jobs, so jobs were created for them. Guaranteed that nepotism or favors owed created that boondoggle."
ding ding ding
I don't think that this grey-haired black guy is a Council-member's son: http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2014/12/23/donations-pour-in-to-thank...
I wouldn't doubt that there is corruption involved, but the guards aren't the beneficiaries of it. A council member in Palo Alto would get his kid a much better "invented" job than that; status matters here, and having your kid doing something even slightly useful (guard work) would be considered really shameful.
I wonder how much they pay the people that clean up the mess.
Cleaning up the mess pays pretty well compared with average wages:
http://aftermath.atsondemand.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=512280.viewjobdeta...
With the elderly population growing, industries dealing with the aging should see business begining to "boom"-- this included.
Soylent Green. It's what's for dinner. Buy it in bulk, it's cheaper.
Thanks Tim.
That's cheap compared to what we pay to patrol the border with Mexico ... to no avail.