Mayor Kasim Reed caused a little controversy after responding to a comment posted on WSB-TV’s Instagram page.
After snapping a picture with Ludacris during LudaDay Weekend, a Instagram user took this opportunity to criticize Mayor Reed over police & firefighters’ pay.
Shazad Hamid, who identifies himself as a student at Kennesaw State University, tagged Reed in his comment:
I’ve lost all respect for (Kasim Reed) after he didn’t increase the pay for police officers and firefighters. However, he increased the pay for all city of Atlanta employees. Shame on you. So childish.
Reed then responds to the comment:
Did you lose respect for me in 2011 when police & fire got a 3.5 percent raise and other employees did not? Did you know that police and fire have received 6% increases since I took office.
Did you know that we spend more on police and fire than at any point in our city’s history. The very nature of crime is that it flows and ebbs, because that is the nature of criminals.
We work very hard on preventive strategies and when they do not work we adjust them. That is what our command team is doing right now and for five years it has delivered the best results in nearly forty years but do not expect me to broadcast our counter measures on IG, FB or twitter.
When I got this job police and fire had been furloughed regularly. City Hall had experienced reduced hours of service and we were in the worst recession in 80 years. Right now, police and fire unions are suing the city for $35-50M to break an agreement that they endorsed.
At the same time, they are asking for raises which total $80M over ten years. I can not agree to that because that would force me to lay off hundreds of people if their wrong minded lawsuit was successful. So the other employees who did not get a raise is 2011, got one in 2015.
So, it’s fine to sit on social media and post your opinion, but you should at least make it an informed one. Good luck with your studies at KSU and have a safe Labor Day.
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