I’m Vidal Kirby and normally when you see me on the phone by a computer I’m working at the city controller’s office. But on the Sunday before the December 8th runoff election, I went to the HOPE office and worked the phones to elect Wanda Adams — the HOPE member that we helped win the City Council seat in District D.

To see some of the work we did to help Wanda win, click on the video below:

- Vidal Kirby

In this WorkBlog video, Felix explains how paying him well and retaining him as a worker saves Houston money:

My name is Felix Harvey and I work for the City of Houston in Solid Waste Management. I’m a mechanic in the body shop, and I’ve been here for 12 years. Every day I take care of the vehicles that take care of your trash.

I’m also a member of the HOPE bargaining team. That means I’m one of the 38 city employees who represent the 13,000 municipal workers in contract talks with the city. But in my mind, I’m not just there for the other city workers – I’m there for my family.

During this time of year, people talk a lot about the importance of family and there is nothing more important to me than mine. They’re why I go to work every morning, and go to bargaining at night. My efforts as part of HOPE are not to benefit myself, but to help my family. The truth is, right now a 2% increase – like the City of Houston has offered us – is not enough for my family. With inflation, and the cost of living in Houston rising the way they are – after 4 years at 2% a year across the board, I’ll be even further behind. And the city’s numbers already show our pay is the second-worst in Texas.

I probably won’t be blogging a lot this week because it is the holiday season, but I’ll try and give you a perspective on why investing in city employees and their families is a smart move.

- Felix Harvey

I’m going to talk today about Crosstimbers, the Public Works barn that me and about 200 other city employees work out of. If you ask people at Crosstimbers what their number one problem is, it’s simple — it’s money.

I’d say a little more than half the people at Crosstimbers are laborers. They do hard work. Important work. Like keeping ditches clean so streets don’t flood. But our laborers are lucky to make ten dollars an hour. A lot make less than that.

When I started with the city 13 years ago, you told yourself the pay’s not great, but the insurance is OK so I’ll get by. But now the insurance has gotten ridiculous. And the pay hasn’t risen to make up for it. Right now with the city, the only way to really see your pay improve is to get a promotion. But there are only so many jobs you can promote to.

I got lucky. I came in as a truck driver and I got promoted the next year to equipment operator. True, I studied hard and trained, but there was an opening for me. There are a lot people in jobs where there aren’t openings, where there’s nowhere to go. And when you’ve got no chance of getting a promotion or a raise, morale drops. People fall away.

We’re losing good people. That’s why we need more money, because we’re losing good people.

- Calvin Miller 

Today is Veterans Day. It’s a holiday for a lot of people. But for some city workers, it’s a day they’ll be spending at their second jobs. Click on the video below to see me on my second job.

I’d say it’s pretty common for people at the city to have a second job. Given the pay, if you want any kind of real retirement, you need to be putting away extra money.

But I should make it clear, I love my second job. I’m a skycap at Bush airport and the money is great. It’s way better than the city in fact. But the people you meet, that’s my passion.

I talk to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee pretty much on a regular basis. The last time I saw her we talked about what’s going on with our contract. I saw State Senator Rodney Ellis and we talked about it too. And they are both concerned.

Making that kind of connection with people is what I really like about the job. Skycapping isn’t a city job, but it’s public service, too. You talk about a public servant. That’s what I am.

- Calvin Miller

For a quick look at my job and my take on performance pay, check out this video:

Usually, I sit at the controls of a 30-ton Gradall. How people sit staring at a computer all day I don’t know. To me the computer’s got only one advantage. It has a delete key. Make a mistake with the Gradall and there’s no way to erase it.

That’s why we need to pay our Gradall operators — and all the city workers who keep Houston running — a good wage. But that’s not happening right now. And the city’s offer of a 2 percent across-the-board raise with the rest coming in performance pay won’t work.

That’s what this blog is about. Letting people know what’s not working and how we can fix it. From now through Monday, I’ll be sharing my thoughts and the thoughts from folks at Crosstimbers. Then, every week we’ll have another worker from another site giving their ideas about how to make Houston work better.

- Calvin Miller

Well, I’m at the end of my run and I’ve got just 55 cents left in my pocket. But the truth is, compared to Belinda, I still had it easy.

Other than the one night I had my grandkids over, the Halloween shopping, and occasionally cooking for Anne - I mostly had to take care of myself. Sure I had stew for three meals one day. But Belinda has three children she takes care of every day. Children that she has to feed, house, clothe, and put through school – all while working and going to college herself.

I’m really glad the folks at HOPE asked me to take on this challenge. The reason I really wanted to take it on is because I believe it’s essential for any elected official to know what life is like for all the people they represent. This was a great opportunity to connect with her and learn her needs and wants. Living on her wage and understanding her experience has made me a better city council member.

I am more convinced than ever that the City of Houston needs to be a leader not a follower when it comes to paying workers a living wage. So many city workers make wages below the poverty line, below what Belinda Rodriguez makes, below what I lived on – it’s embarrassing.

Last night, I had the opportunity to stand with the HOPE workers at their rally at City Hall, and tell people that a poverty wage for city work is unacceptable. Belinda and I got to march with the more than 600 workers gathered to stand for a city that pays quality wages with quality benefits for quality public services. I was honored to be there.

 - Peter Brown 

Nine dollars and fifty-five cents – not a whole lot of money for more than 24 hours. That’s what I had last night before dinner, after shopping with Belinda and her children. I was hopeful though – because I still had the stew makings I had bought at El Guero the day before.

I forgot one thing though – I had told an old friend of mine that we would go out to dinner that night. No stew for me, and more money spent. I ate light, but six dollars later, I had just $3.55 left.

This morning I went to the gas station and put three dollars worth of gas in the tank. That doesn’t give you a lot of optimism when you know you have a busy day ahead and gas is $2.69 a gallon. Well, with just 55 cents remaining - not even enough for a candy bar most places these days - I pondered how to get through the day.

The answer of course was stew. I’ve never made stew in the morning before – but there’s a first time for everything. I got out the ingredients from shopping with Belinda and went to work. My wife took photos (look below) of the effort and I actually ended up with quite a lot of food. Stew for breakfast, lunch, and dinner – not my ideal meal plan – but it was filling.

 - Peter Brown 

This afternoon, I met up with Belinda for a trip to Dollar Deals - the store near her job where she had done some Halloween shopping, and where I hoped to get a few things for her kids and my grandkids. Belinda brought along two of her three children - her daughters Esperanza, 13, and Tiffany, 11 - because kids are the experts on Halloween.

As you may recall from my earlier post, I was down to just a little over seventeen dollars left for the rest of today and all of tomorrow - a scary proposition. I managed to save money at lunch by eating leftover soup, but I’m still worried about gas for tomorrow.

I probably spent a bit too much money on Halloween supplies - $7.91 to be precise which leaves me $9.55 for all of tomorrow, including the trip to the gas station. I bought each of Belinda’s daughters a bat hairband, a bag of candy, a treat bag in a hand (it’s hard to explain, just look at the pictures), and a skull flashlight for when my grandkids spend the night at my house. It’s tough with kids because you want to give them whatever you can, even when you don’t really have the money for it. At least I still have the makings for stew tonight - that may have to last for four meals.

- Peter Brown 

Well, it’s finally catching up to me. Despite my best efforts, I’m worried about how I’m going to afford the essentials for the next two days. I’ve done everything I could think of – clipped coupons, drove around town to find cheap gas – but it was the things I just couldn’t plan for that got to me.

Yesterday’s grocery shopping with Belinda was great, and I was looking forward to the stew I had planned to make, but I was really busy last night and ended up not having enough time to make it. So the stew makings sit in my refrigerator, and I bought a small cup of gumbo to eat while working, and then my wife Anne had dinner for me when I got home. While both the gumbo and the cauliflower/broccoli soup were good – there went about 13 more dollars.

As I continue this challenge I become convinced that with a little ingenuity and a love of cooking it’s possible to feed oneself on this amount of money. However, it’s not a healthy diet. The most inexpensive items are processed and full of chemicals, high fructose corn syrup, salt and grease. White bread, processed sandwich meat, frozen pizzas – all are affordable, none are good for you. Making sure those who are struggling to get by have a good diet has to be a part of any community health and wellness plan.

This morning at the city council chambers they usually serve breakfast as part of the meeting. I had a breakfast taco and a cup of coffee – and while it is free – Belinda doesn’t get that opportunity, so I’m deducting $3.50 from my total finances.

So here I am with one meal under my belt, and over 24 hours to go. I have just $17.46 remaining in my budget – and I think I need more gas. I’m going shopping with Belinda this afternoon for some Halloween supplies, but I don’t know how to include that in my budget. I’m facing a choice a lot of parents have to make – whether to have a “happy” Halloween, or have money for food tomorrow.

This is what I’m thinking – I must spend less than five dollars on lunch today. Then I think whatever is left after that, I can spend about $10 total on both gas and the items for Halloween. Then I’ll have probably about two dollars for tomorrows meals – so maybe breakfast and then leftover stew for lunch and dinner – if it lasts that long.

 - Peter Brown