The Restless State Worker And Her Quixotic Crusade

I don't think Ms. Noujaim fully calculates the benefits of having the crossing guards and the parking lot security guards there. Working in concert with the Sacramento Police Dept., they act as extra eyes, who shield the employees' vehicles and possessions from crime while they work. And they prevent injuries too. Maybe the crossing guards aren't cost-effective in some green eyeshade vision of reality, but in the real world they do a lot of good!

(I know how important these guards are. Inadvertently, by their mere presence, they safeguard my possessions. If it wasn't for these guards I might have to work at home, because of the ever-present danger of home burglary while at work.):

State employee Mariam Noujaim said the tussle with her union started with a question: Why does the state pay for crossing guards to work on a lightly traveled street between two DMV buildings connected by a tunnel?

"I really believe we can help solve our crisis by spending our money on monitoring the waste rather than bribing political and special interest (groups)," Noujaim wrote in an indelicate April 2010 email to her Service Employees International Union Local 1000 representative.

Dissatisfied with the response, she began pushing to find out what the union is spending its money on if it isn't working to ferret out waste.

Noujaim since has spent $18,000 of her own money in a fight to see the union's books, an effort she believes will pay off when she examines detailed business records on Tuesday.

Ha! Two years ago, I took a picture of someone who looks very much like this lady (a Sac Bee commenter confirms it's her), leading what appeared to be a union rally past my house.