Police Officers v. Sierra Madre

I feel obligated to share some real news about Sierra Madre after that last post. Erica Blodgett reports in the Arcadia Weekly:

After years of offers and counteroffers, the City of Sierra Madre and the Sierra Madre Police Officers Association have reached an impasse in the negotiation of a contract for the city’s police department.
...
the Association took another approach and drafted a petition for circulation amongst the citizens of Sierra Madre. The petition asks for support of a ballot initiative that would require that the city “provide compensation and benefits, at a minimum, equal to the lowest compensated of all municipal police agencies located in San Gabriel Valley.”

The measure would also prohibit funding from falling below the FY2004-05 budget or from contracting out police service without voter approval.

To get on the ballot, the Police Officers Association would have to get 10% of registered voter's signatures in the next few months. Sierra Madre already has the extreme, anti-development "Measure V" coming up for a vote this year. Some basic facts here, also from Erica Blodgett.