MAILBAG: State must get public pension under control

Roughly speaking I’ve been a union man most of my life, and generally I support their aims, but the recent spate of public pension allowances have lost the unions’ sense of perspective. The city of Los Angeles currently has 600 retirees collecting more than $100,000 a year public pensions, and that doesn’t even include the Department of Water and Power, which consistently has higher-paid employees than City Hall. Have we lost it?

Now let’s hear it for Gov. Schwarzenegger. He is expected to improve a plan in the coming weeks that would revamp public retiree health benefits and pension formulas for new employees, saving the state an estimated $93 billion by 2040. I definitely support his apparent attempt to bring the public pensions under control, although his attempt to cut benefits for poor people recently I do not support.

WESLEY GREENE

Burbank

‘Lights, camera... oh, wait a second...’

I want to thank the Burbank City Council for its approval of our revised film permit ordinance Tuesday evening. There are many additional exemptions that I’m very pleased with, as well as the expanded hand-held devices definition that allows stabilizers like steadicams, reflectors and the like to be used without a permit.

I’m also happy that external lighting will now be permitted in some cases without a permit, subject to Burbank Fire Department review. I think it’s imperative we maintain an up-to-date list of FAQs on the city’s film permit Web page and believe it would be a good idea to consider the formation of some type of ad-hoc Film Advisory Committee to review the ordinance’s effectiveness and report back to the council on an annual basis.

That said, I was shocked to learn during council discussions that tripod use, which was previously permitted under the revised 2008 ordinance, may now be precluded with respect to video camera usage. I believe this is a giant step backward and will cause a lot of unnecessary public confusion.

While there are other things I’d like to see changed — such as a one-day film permit at a reduced fee and a 1,000-watt permit-free lighting cap — I’m willing to wait for a year to discuss those issues again once we’ve had a chance to see how this works.