Cute. Actually, that picture is kind compared to the rest of the rust, peeling paint and dents that you can’t see.
What’d you expect on an alder’s salary (click on 3.29)? According to the Council Office Staff we actually get $592.75 per month, which is $7,113 a year, the ordinance linked there is OLD (it should have been updated twice, once for alders starting in 2005 and once for alders starting in 2007). Anyways, as you can see, we got a huge raise from 2003 when we got paid $6,771 or $564 per month. I bet you couldn’t pay some people $600 bucks to sit through one council meeting per month*, let alone two, plus committees, neighborhood meetings and constituent contacts.
If we ignore all the costs we have as alders:
At minimum wage ($6.50) we get paid for 21 hours of work per week.
At the City’s Living Wage ($10.58) which we require our contractors to pay, we get paid for 13 hours of work per week.
At a housing wage ($12.61) for one person to live in a one bedroom at below market rates (4oth percentile) we get paid for 11 hours of work per week.
My theory is, by the time you factor in breakfasts, coffees, lunches and beers for meeting with all the lobbyists and other interested individuals plus random office supplies and gas for driving around town, you probably end up paying to be an alder in this City.
Anyways, here’s my thinking on my car, it still runs with a occasional trip to the mechanic, it gets decent gas mileage and only has 125,000 miles on it. Why throw away a perfectly good running vehicle just cuz its ugly? This society focuses too much on aesthetics.
* Ugh, Nevermore just pointed out to me that there are people (he named names) who regularly get paid $600 to sit through a council meeting, they’re called lobbyists!
