About twenty minutes into the late night meeting, Councilmember Sue Himmelrich finally made a statement everyone could agree on.

“I feel as if every time I come into this room, everyone is so angry,” she said.

The crowd of about thirty activists and members of the North of Montana Neighborhood Association mumbled and nodded in approval. The laundry list of complaints during the Thursday night meeting ran the gamut: perceived over-development of the City, tourists, staff incompetence and government waste. Himmelrich kept trying to bring the room back to the topic at hand: city salaries.

“We can’t go back. This is our situation today,” said the councilwoman. “We cannot do wholesale firing of entire departments and we can’t roll back pensions.”

Read More: http://smdp.com/too-late-to-turn-the-tide-on-santa-monica-salaries/159996