Are You or Someone You Know Among the 2 million Set to Lose Jobless Benefits this month?

You hear the recession over, I read on Walnut Creek Patch, of which I’m editor, that Black Friday retail sales, for example, showed signs that the U.S. economy is in recovery

I talked last week with Walnut Creek’s retiring city manager, Gary Pokorny, who acknowledged the 10-plus-percent unemployment rate nationally and in California but said locally, “there are some signs the economy is coming back.” He mentioned some new development coming to town, some interest in investing in the rental housing market.

But he also said “Obviously, the economy is still pretty awful.”

Yeah, no kidding.

I’m sorry, but I’m in the glass-half-empty camp mode now. I'm kind of a gloomy gal that way.

I know people who have been laid off, been jobless for months, and seen savings and their hopes for their kids’ and their own futures’ slip away.

We all know people who have been laid off, whether we’re talking about neighbors or co-workers. Or, you’re the manager or business owner who had the job of telling someone his or her services are no longer required.

I've been hearing about high-earning male breadwinners of households being laid off. What’s up with that?

And, I hear about highly skilled workers staying unemployed for months…. A contrasting image to claims by some Republicans that some of those long-term unemployed want to continue to coast along on their unemployment benefits.

Personally, I don’t know anyone who fits into this category. Everyone I know who is jobless or “underemployed” is desperately seeking that elusive goal—which wasn’t so elusive, once upon a time--the full-time job.

I’ve been through a layoff, although this was back in the dot-com bust. The recovery from that seems like a breeze compared with what we’re dealing with now.

The only upside—if you want to call it that—to being laid off in an economic downturn is that you don’t have to take it personally. You’re not getting laid off because you can’t perform. You’re losing your job because the company or the organization you work for can’t perform. Or because of larger macro-economic conditions beyond anyone’s control. That's it: The economy is slacking off and failing to uphold its responsibility as a productive worker and team player.

When I was laid off in 2003, I was the family breadwinner. It was scary. I did qualify for unemployment benefits, which helped us pay for our health care and other basic costs. I believed I earned those unemployment benefits, which I collected for about three months before I found another job. I had been paying into the system since I first started working fulltime at age 22.

Congress has deadocked on extending jobless benefits, which average about $310 per week and have been helping millions of families make ends meet.

More partisan wrangling is rearing it’s ugly head on this issue, which is too bad. Without an extension, 454,000 jobless Californians will see an end to their benefit checks this month, according to Labor Department figures.

Gary Pokorny to retire as city manager later this year

In an email sent out to city employees this afternoon, Gary Pokorny announced he would be retiring later this year. Pokorny has been with the city for 10 years and was appointed city manager in 2006.  Before becoming city manager, he was the director of the Arts, Recreation and Community Services department.


UPDATE: Pokorny says that despite budget challenges ahead, he believes that "overall things are going right" in Walnut Creek. In place, he says,  is "the strongest management team I've ever worked with. The executive team is a dynamite team."


Pokorny says he just turned 68, and personally felt it was the right time to do other things. He hasn't set his exact departure date--late October or early November--and he has no big plans for what he'll do once he leaves the city, other than to go on a six-week vacation to New Zealand with his wife and friends.  


Meanwhile, here is the letter he sent to city employees:

Good Afternoon,  

For the past ten years, I have had a series of challenging and interesting jobs in the City of Walnut Creek. It has been my pleasure to come to know you and to appreciate the unique contribution each of you makes toward building a community that is such a great place to work, live, and visit. You have made coming to work each morning something special that energizes and excites me.

 It is, therefore, with very mixed feelings that I am writing to let you know that I will be retiring as City Manager of Walnut Creek late this year. I have shared this information with the City Council and they are beginning, immediately, a search and selection process for a new City  Manager.

This is my 36th year in public management in four cities in three states. I can say with sincerity and honesty that being a part of the Walnut Creek team and community is the most satisfying job I have ever had.

In solid partnership with the community we have accomplished much over the years. We should all be proud of our accomplishments.

Significant challenges lie ahead in the current difficult economic environment. We are not unique or alone in facing these challenges. But, we are special in the way we deal with such situations. Based on our past track record, I am confident that the Walnut Creek team will meet these challenges with creativity, energy, and excellent results.  

The support my family and I have had from thoughtful and caring City Council members, from hard-working, dedicated city staff members, and from hundreds of involved and supportive individuals and organizations in our community over the past decade has been gratifying. Thank you.

I trust that I will have time, between now and November, to thank each of you personally for your dedicated work and support. In the meanwhile, thanks for making me one very lucky and blessed person.

Gary

According to the September/October 2006 issue of In the Nutshell, the city's newsletter, Pokorny was appointed interim city manager by the City Council following the resignation of Mike Parness on August 3, 2006. 


Pokorney was previously city manager with El Cerrito (1989-2000), Corvallis, Oregan (1978-1988), and Sioux City, Iowa (1975-78). He has been with the city since 2000.

Pokorny is a native of Howells, Nebraska, and has bachelor’s and masters degrees from the University of Nebraska and additional graduate work in government and public administration in Ithaca, New York.

The Real Housewives of Walnut Creek? Why not, now that Walnut Creek has its own TV channel?

Walnut Creek residents will start to enjoy even more local, original programming than just live coverage of City Council and Planning Commission meetings, thanks to the city assuming more responsibility for its government access channel.

“Producing our government access channel gives us another way to engage the community. People can know what’s going on in Walnut Creek just by turning on their television,” City Manager Gary Pokorny told the January/February issue of In the Nutshell.

So, the new WCTV, as the channel is called, will also feature coverage of local arts classes and programs and special events, from a Civic Arts Education class, to a segment on the Holiday Tree lighting, to peeks at what’s going on behind the scenes at the Lesher Center. Oh, and very useful: it will broadcast local weather and traffic news and “How To” features on such tasks as taking out a building permit to property pruning trees.

Sounds great.

But, hmm, why should the city stop with tips on getting building permits? Why not take a cue from successful network and cable shows and devise the kind of entertaining fare that could put Walnut Creek on the national cultural radar! Come on! We have some creative, talented people in town! Hey, let's put on a show! Here are some of my thoughts on potential shows. If you have any of your own…

--Walnut Creek Idol? Yeah, I know some other local groups and towns around here have already jumped on this bandwagon and produced their own Idol-inspired programs. But, from what I’ve heard of those events, they are all—shall we say?—a bit sugar-coated. What we would absolutely need is a judge with some Simon Cowell snark. Any ideas on local personalities who could fit this requirement?

--Glee Walnut Creek: This should be easy. No doubt, there’s lots of musical theater talent among the students at Northgate and Las Lomas high schools. And just to expand the talent pool, we could let some of those song-and-dance kids from Acalanes in, as well as De La Salle and Carondelet. We could also do some episodes where our Glee kids get to work in local productions at the Lesher Center, and directors, actors ,and designers from Center Repertory Company, Contra Costa Musical Theatre, and Diablo Theatre Company could make guest appearances.

--Okay, we need a cop procedural. CSI: Walnut Creek seems a bit too obvious. But maybe I’m missing something.

--We in Walnut Creek could do medical drama really well. After all, we are hospital central for this part of Contra Costa. Why don’t we revive the concept of the SF-based show Trauma (whose future with NBC is questionable) and set it at, yes, John Muir Medical Center? Gunshot victims from Richmond. Binge-drinking teens. One of our “residentially challenged” citizens gone off his meds. (Or a Soccer Mom gone off her meds?) Ice skating mishaps.

A swine flu outbreak puts Walnut Creek in quarantine! Yes, this is all dark stuff. But ultimately what would really drive interest in the show would be the outside-the-ER soap operatic escapades of a hot young staff of residents and nurses, and the ego-driven machinations of hospital administrators and the fictional chief of emergency services.

--Parks and Recreation Walnut Creek: Our version of the NBC show starring Amy Poehler. This is a no brainer.

--Gone to Pot: That’s my working title for what could be an Office-like, documentary-style comedy set not in the cubicle-land of a Shadeslands office park company, but among the staff at the C3 Collective medical marijuana dispensary. There is the potential for some Harold and Kumar-esque stoner comedy, as well as C3 staff’s funny run-ins with straight-laced representatives from the city, the Chamber of Commerce and the police department. More comic relief could come from zingers lobbed by a straight-talking Rossmoor granny who is one of C3’s regular customers.

--Perhaps most importantly, if we’re looking for Emmys to rain down on Walnut Creek, we need to create a quality, scripted drama a la HBO, Showtime, AMC, and FX. Don’t know if Walnut Creek has the socio-economic, demographic profile to seriously consider our own version of The Sopranos or The Wire.

But we could possibly do a Breaking Bad. There might be an underpaid chemistry teacher at one of our local high schools who needs to do some “cooking” to earn some extra cash.

Better yet: Why don’t we update the Mad Men concept to Walnut Creek 2010.

We could provide the gender equity missing from Mad Men's Sterling Cooper, and call our show Mad Women. And, we won’t set our show in an advertising agency trying to hawk products to give 1960s consumers the illusion that they are purchasing their piece of the American dream.

We will set our Mad Women in a real estate agency, and our protagonist will be Sally Draper all growed up (the effed-up daughter of Mad Men’s Don Draper), and she’s having her own existential crisis as she tries to sell prospective suburban home buyers on the delusion that to enjoy their own piece of the American dream they really need a two-story foyer, a master suite with fireplace, imported granite kitchen countertops and a separate prep sink. Of course, her clients can't really afford these things, because they already have massive credit card debt and hubby’s company is in downsizing mode.

--Finally, don't you think our local TV station needs its own Glenn Beck? Some charismatic demagogue, spouting nutsy, wildly contrived paranoid conspiracy theories, and giving voice to the discontented and alienated amongst us?