Brooke Binkowski
May 20, 2008
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A dispute over a Southland police department's pay has gone public - very public. The union representing Monrovia's police department has put up billboards to pressure the city to pay its law enforcement more. KPCC's Brooke Binkowski reports on the response among business and home owners.
Brooke Binkowski: The Monrovia Police Officers' Association greenlighted the billboards a few weeks ago, just ahead of a round of pay negotiations. The signs, right beyond city borders, read: "You're approaching Monrovia – higher violent crime, fewer officers patrolling. Thank the city manager and the city council." Pam Fitzpatrick owns a doll shop on Myrtle Avenue, one of Monrovia's main streets. She says she and other business owners object to the signs.
Pam Fitzpatrick: What we want to say is that the billboards are a slap in the face, and that we don't want to be drawn into the salary dispute, or the emotion.
Binkowski: She says the signs coincide with the union's annual fundraising drive.
Fitzpatrick: I downloaded a picture of the billboard, and I sent it back in the envelope and thanked them for at least coordinating the fundraiser with– it'll be hard to contribute again. It'll be hard. I realized that I paid for a little square of that billboard.
Binkowski: Nick Collas owns a restaurant. One of the billboards sits in its parking lot, just across the street from Monrovia's border. Collas is quick to explain that he had nothing to do with it.
Nick Collas: It's drawn a lot of attention, through the TV's and radios, and the print, and it's not the kind of attention I think Monrovia wants to hear about, or see about. And I don't either, to be personal.
Binkowski: The 83 police department employees want a 23% pay raise. The city has offered 16%. Monrovia officials say the small city doesn't have the money to pay police more than the $7,000 a month they make right now. Union representatives say the signs will stay up until they get their way.
