The Yakima School District #7 is now looking for a new superintendent to replace Ben Soria, when he retires this year. Dr. Soria’s retirement is determined by the average of his highest two years of employment during the five year period preceding retirement. It’s time to look at his salary and let the school board know how you feel, so they will not repeat the same mistakes with our next superintendent.

In the 2006-2007 projected budget:
$160,191.00 Base salary
$70,214.00 Superintendent Supplemental Not
Time
$13,863.00 Other Salary
$244,268.00 Total compensation
THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE 100% COMPENSATION FOR HEALTH CARE COVERAGE.

In the 2007-2008 projected budget:
$166,118.00 Base salary
56,183.00 Superintendent Supplemental Not
Time
15,828.00 Superintendent Supplemental
Days and Hours
$253,306.00 Total Compensation
THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE 100% COMPENSATION FOR HEALTH CARE COVERAGE.

PLEASE CONTACT THE YAKIMA SCHOOL BOARD AND QUESTION THEM ABOUT THIS EXORBITANT SALARY. QUESTIONS TO ASK:
1. Please explain the line items in the above projected budgets.
2. Since this is the projected budget, what were the actual expenses.
3. Please print and make available to the general public the superintendent salaries from other districts of comparable size.
4. Why do the Yakima taxpayers pay a larger salary for their superintendent than Washington State taxpayers pay their governor ($166,890)?
5. What are the plans for the next superintendent’s salary? (This would be an excellent time to rectify this fiduciary irresponsibility).
6. What percentage of district employee salaries goes to administration.

You will probably come up with your own questions. Address them at upcoming school board meetings. Call these numbers:
community relations 573-7007 or the superintendent’s office 573-7001.

Let’s get it right next time! Mawndawn

Do we really need two new railroad underpasses in downtown Yakima? It’s your tax dollars! The estimated cost at this time is forty-two million dollars and rising. That’s almost double the estimated cost when the project was first proposed.

On May 17, 2007 John Karl, BNSF’s regional manager of economic development gave testimony about BNSF’s projections for increasing railroad traffic through Yakima. Mr. Karl stated that Yakima, in the near future “could” expect up to fourteen trains per day, up from the six to eight trains presently passing through Yakima. That testimony by BNSF was over a year ago and Yakima hasn’t seen any significant increase in railroad traffic.

According to Puget Sound Business Journal June-July 2008 last year the British Columbia port handled a record 2.5 million TEU’s. That’s up seven percent and they are planning more port expansion that will take away more business from the port of Seattle. So far this year Seattle handled 1.97 million TEU’s that is down nearly five percent. With Canadian expansion and Southern California’s new port growth there is no reason to believe there will be a significant rise in rail traffic out of the port of Seattle.

Yakima Herald’s March 2008 article, “Railcars idled for lack of freight” is another indicator that Yakima’s Railroad traffic is not increasing and perhaps our railroad traffic may even drop. It appears at this time that the major route will be along the Columbia River. It is more cost effective and the railroad doesn’t have to pull any mountain passes. Yakima’s fire fighters and police are concerned if a high volume of trains are passing through Yakima their response time will be significantly reduced, causing a health and safety hazard.

Let’s not forget that not long ago train service dropped though Yakima to almost nothing, it can happen again. Big railroads don’t care about us and our tax dollars. Their major concern is rail profit. Do we really want to spend upwards of forty-two million tax dollars on underpasses when there isn’t any real indication or promise that rail traffic will significantly increase through Yakima?

As of now, we have two overpasses, (one in Union Gap and one on Nob Hill) and two underpasses; (Walnut and the end of 6th avenue). These at present, are sufficient to handle our vehicle traffic. It seems the most sensible thing to do at this point, without wasting the time and money that has already been spent, is to construct one underpass on Lincoln and have vehicle traffic go both directions. Lincoln was a two way street in the past, there is no reason why it can’t be again.

Let’s save twenty million dollars and only do one of the proposed projects. It makes sense and this way we will solve any health and safety issues that the city may have. With the present high cost of living, let’s not waste our hard earned tax dollars on a possible “two white elephants” when one should be enough.
Your comments and opinions are welcome and appreciated.
Joe Walkenhauer

RANDOM TESTING OF PUBLIC SAFETY EMPLOYEES

In the last labor contract negotiated between the City of Yakima and the Yakima Police Patrolman’s Association (the Police Union), the Union took the position that random drug testing of police officers violated the officers’ right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This is an interesting argument, given that the U.S. Supreme Court (and many other courts) have ruled that the “… safety interests of the public outweighed the worker’s right to privacy for individuals involved in ‘public safety’ activities”, such as policemen, firefighters, railway workers and truckers. Since the courts have created this exception to the Fourth Amendment right to privacy, many police departments (including New York, Houston, Detroit and Honolulu) require random drug testing as a condition of employment. Many private commercial trucking, busing, hospital and other public safety and service entities require drug testing as well. These entities find it prudent to protect their personnel, the public and their organizations against irresponsible employees.
With the Union contract due to expire in December of this year, it would be an excellent time to renegotiate this part of the contract and put the City of Yakima in charge of this very important condition of employment. The local media has reported numerous times that Chief Granato has requested this tool only to have it denied because of this contract provision. There are already some standards in place as conditions of employment for these important positions, such as height, weight and mental requirements, and adding drug testing to the list will only benefit public safety.
We, as citizens of Yakima, proudly support our professional Yakima police personnel, but expect these employees, who are charged with providing the safety of its citizens, not be impaired while making vital decisions involving the public welfare. Accordingly, it seems imperative that random drug testing be as important as regular physical exams, proficiency testing in firearms use and so forth. We believe that local citizens should put pressure on the police union and City officials to address this critical need in the forthcoming contract negotiations. If you agree, please speak up by emailing the following persons: The City of Yakima – http://www.ci.yakima.wa.us – Attn. Manager Dick Zais: Chief Granato – http://www.ci.yakima.wa.us/services police, with a copy to our organization – http://www.saveouramericanrights.com.
Respectfully Submitted.
Max Golladay
S.O.A.R Inc. Secretary

Our current main project is I-409, the petition now circulating to the legislature that would require the State of Washington to COOPERATE with Federal enforcement of immigration laws: It would require all employers to use the E-Verify system to check eligibility of a potential employee and to make sure he/she isn’t using fake or stolen ID’s; It would require the State and it’s agencies to use the same to check citizenship before issuing most state benefits that are meant for citizens only; it would require the state to issue drivers licenses and voter registrations to citizens only.

We need almost 300,000 signatures on this petition to get it into consideration for the legislature by December 10th, where they can do whatever they want with it. However, if they don’t act on it, it will automatically appear on the 2009 General Election ballot for citizen approval.

We desparaeetly need your help to both get signatures and to distribute these petitions to outlying areas. If you can help, please email me:

nhughes0180@charter.net

a way to contact you and I will see that you get what you need.

Thanks

Nick

 Go to: saveouramericanrights.com
 Click on: BLOG (top menu)
 Click on: Welcome to the SOAR BLOG (in orange)
 You will see all the posts so far.
 Go to the bottom of the page.
 Click on: Post a Comment.
 If you do not have a Google Account
 Click on: No Google Account? Sign up here.
 Follow the instructions on how to create a Google Account.
 Remember your User Name & Password.
 You will be emailed a verification go to it and verify to activate your account.
 You can now post comments on the SOAR BLOG using your Google User name and Password.

Anything I can do to help you, let me know. I am currently involved in an effort to organize a counter-rally to the annual parade of illegals, may 1st, in Yakima. I would like to see more than 100 people stand up to the 4000+ marchers that were there last year.

I will be adding this site as a link on a couple of sites I use as well.

Keep it up,

Pitt