Upfront Shop Local Online Sales Representative (20-30 hrs per week) Embarcadero Media is seeking a self-starter and motivated individual interested in helping build an innovative new online program that helps local businesses market themselves to the local community. Our Shop Local websites, powered by ShopCity.com, offer a unique and simple platform for business owners to promote their merchandise, make special offers, announce special events, maintain customer lists and engage in social network marketing on Facebook and Twitter. The Shop Local Sales Representative is responsible for generating revenue by selling businesses subscriptions/ memberships on the Shop Palo Alto, Shop Menlo Park and Shop Mountain View websites and helping to increase awareness about the program in the broader community. Specific duties include: * Heightening awareness of the Shop Local program through distribution of marketing materials to local businesses * Directly selling Shop Local packages by phone and in-person to businesses within the local community, with an emphasis on locally-owned establishments * Increasing the use of the site by assisting businesses in setting up profiles, posting offers and understanding the features of the site * Assist in the marketing of the site through attendance at business and community events * Coordinate sales efforts and work with Embarcadero Media sales team as a resource person on the Shop Local program
The Shop Local Sales Representative is supervised by the Multimedia Product Manager. Compensation is an hourly rate plus commissions for all sales. Schedule is flexible, but the target number of hours per week is 25 (five hours per day.) This position is currently considered temporary, exempt and non-benefited, but may evolve into a permanent position as the program develops. To apply, submit a letter describing why this position is a good fit for your background and experience and a resume to Rachel Hatch, Multimedia Product Manager at rhatch@embarcaderopublishing.com
We invite you to experience our
beautiful residential community Take a stroll down our walking paths and lovely landscaped gardens. As you tour our spacious apartments enjoy the view from the balcony or patio. Take advantage of our many amenities and concierge services. We offer independent and assisted living options with six levels of care available.
Palo Alto Commons is a privately owned and managed senior residence in Palo Alto. Here you'll find a warm and vibrant environment with a loyal and committed long-term staff and management. Please call for a personal tour and be our guest for lunch. We look forward to seeing you. 4075 El Camino Way, Palo Alto, CA 94306
650-494-0760 www.paloaltocommons.com License #435200706
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Short term stays are available.
24 Hour On-site Licensed Nurse Services
POLITICS
Political establishment split over labor measure Current and former City Council members at odds over proposed repeal of binding arbitration for police, firefighters by Gennady Sheyner hen Palo Alto’s firefighters spearheaded a ballot measure last year that sought to freeze staffing levels in the Fire Department, former Councilman John Barton was in the forefront of the opposition. Barton, whose term ended in 2008 and who chose not to run again, took part in a debate against union President Tony Spitaleri and co-founded a group of former elected officials to fight the ballot measure. The voters ultimately handed Measure R an overwhelming defeat. This year, however, Barton and Spitaleri find themselves on the same side of another election debate involving firefighters. The City Council voted in July to place on the November ballot a measure that would repeal the binding-arbitration provision in the City Charter. The provision, which has been in place since 1978, empowers a three-member panel to settle labor disputes between the city and its public-safety unions. In placing the measure on the ballot, four council members — Karen Holman, Greg Scharff, Pat Burt and Greg Schmid — have argued that the provision is undemocratic because it strips the council of its power to balance the city budget. But Barton, who last year called the firefighter measure a “power grab,” now applies the term to the council. Voters adopted binding arbitration in 1978 to prevent police and fire unions from striking. State law has since made it illegal for these units to strike. “If we take away binding arbitration and combine it with the fact that firefighters and police officers don’t have a right to strike — you’ve essentially gutted their union,” Barton told the Weekly. Barton isn’t the only current or former elected official to oppose Measure D, the proposal to repeal binding arbitration. Former Councilwoman LaDoris Cordell has also signed the argument opposing Measure D, as have current Vice Mayor Yiaway Yeh and Councilwoman Gail Price, the council’s most outspoken critic of the repeal effort. Other council members, including Larry Klein and Nancy Shepherd, supported modifying rather than repealing the existing binding-arbitration provision. Their proposal fell one vote short of adoption. The decision by Barton and Cordell to join the election fray illustrates a major difference between last year’s ballot measure and the one voters are being asked to consider on Nov. 8. Last year, the city’s political establishment was united in opposing Measure R, which would have required the city to hold an election before it could reduce staffing levels in the Fire Department or close a fire station. This year, Palo Alto’s
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elected officials and their predecessors are almost evenly split over the merits of the repeal. The council placed the measure on the ballot through a 5-4 vote, with Yeh giving the four critics of binding arbitration the bare majority they needed. Yeh said he wanted to give the voters a clear say on the issue even though he personally opposes the repeal. Other former elected officials have joined the council majority. Lanie Wheeler and Yoriko Kishimoto, both former mayors, have signed on to the argument in support of the repeal. Kishimoto cited the growing expenditures in the Fire Department as the main reason for her supporting the repeal measure. According to the city’s 2010 Service Efforts and Accomplishments report, total Fire Department spending increased by 37 percent between fiscal years 2006 and 2010. Repealing the binding-arbitration provision, Kishimoto said, is one way to encourage the department to bring down its costs. “There is a structural impediment to the firefighters getting the incentive to look at innovations in service delivery and cost cutting as the other departments have been forced to do,” Kishimoto told the Weekly. The official argument in favor of Measure D largely reiterates many of the points that Holman, Scharff, Burt and Schmid have made over the past year — namely that repeal of binding arbitration is necessary to ensure that all labor groups contribute in cutting down employee costs during the ongoing economic downturn. “While City policy is for fairness across employee groups, binding arbitration for public-safety unions has prevented the City from ensuring equitable reforms across employee groups and balancing the budget,” the pro-Measure D argument states. Proponents of the repeal also note in the argument that the city’s current budget assumes $4.3 million in salary and benefit reductions from the police and firefighter unions. “Without these concessions the City may be forced to cut police staff, reducing vital emergency services,” the argument states. “Alternately, the city may need to cut public services including streets, parks and libraries.” Opponents of Measure D counter in their official argument that the binding-arbitration provision has a “proven track record that works.” The provision has been used six times, with each side scoring several victories. But the arbitrators had also rebuffed the city’s earlier efforts to change the pension formula — a major driver in the recent (continued on page 10)