Re: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KnowingNewport/message/706

Moderator comment --

Thank you Brian for the information shared in the above posting. The difficulty
in getting access to relevant information appears to be part of the local
problem. (Perhaps the firefighter union can maintain a website or blog that
broadly communicates the union's perspectives).

My own view is that the local community is blissfully ignorant regarding
positions and strategies of both sides of the negotiations. Perhaps a well
informed public runs contrary to collective bargaining "best practices."

The express purpose of KnowingNewport is to "incite" the Newport public into
caring about where (and, more importantly, how well) their tax dollars are being
used. While I can read the city's financial documents and can tell where city
funds are being spent within the fire department I have no idea on how well the
fire department performs against any set of meaningful performance metrics.
(Again, perhaps the firefighter union can work with city management and improve
the seriously lacking departmental measurements contained on pages 151-152 of
the FY2005 city budget as shown on the city web site).

Thanks again for your contribution on this complex topic.

Mike Cullen