This may be only of interest to attorneys practicing in Marion County, but I had it confirmed this week that the attorney ID (employees and attorneys have IDs that allow them to bypass the lines at security that often can be quite long) used to enter various county facilities, including the City-County Building, is being increased from $10 to $25. Starting in September any attorney who obtains an ID will have to fork over $25. By January, all attorneys will have had to purchase the new $25 ID.
I have not been able to confirm who ordered this change and the reason why. Obviously at $25 a pop for an ID card it might cost $1 to make, someone is making a profit. If 400 attorneys have the card (my estimate), you're talking about a profit of about $9,600, again assuming the cost of the card is about $1.
It seems more than a little odd that driver's licenses can last for 6 years, but the current $10 attorney IDs attorneys purchased are being declared obsolete much sooner than that. In fact, if you received an ID just last month, it won't be usable come January 2010.
10 comments:
Quit whining. No one feels sorry for you. It was probably some lawyer who made the suggestion. 25 seems cheap. You should have to wait in line like everyone else. You sound so elitist.
Gee, Zirk, are you a little curious where all that extra money is going?
So why can't attorneys go through the line like other citizens?
What makes them better?
You were whining about it getting raised, not where it was going. It is not a big deal to me. Arrogant lawyers wanting to bypass the line should pay a lot more than $25. You are out of line with your usual populist message on this one. You should go through the line like everyone else. They need to take away this special privilege or raise the price to like 1,000 a year and give it to the CIB.
Zirk and Concerned Taxpayer, I hate to say it but you're missing the point and talking about something - the overall policy - that is not even on the table. The issue is 1) jacking the rate up 250%; and 2) forcing all attorneys no matter how new their ID to buy new ones.
The point of the post is to ask questions about who decided this and where that nearly $10,000 is going. It was not to debate the overall policy which again is not something that is even being reconsidered.
As far as the policy, employees and attorneys get IDs to bypass security. Frankly, the assumption here that it is becuase of a desire to bestow special privileges on a group of people is not the reason at all...the reason is that in the early days of the security system it was so backed up that they adopted the policy to reduce the number having to go through the lines. That way the general public would not have to wait behind people entering the building several times a day. So it's nice to claim it has to do with "elitism" but that's not the case at all.
You are full of it on this one. You are the one missing the point. You are whining about a paltry amount when you should not even be given the privilege in the first place. The policy was passed (so I am told by the Mayor's office) because lawyers griped about having to wait. Plus, if they raised the amount more, they could open up another line which would solve the waiting problem. Yes your post was reflective of an elitist. The public is sick of it. A lawyer whining about 25! Do not pay it and go through the line with us mere mortals.
Correction: It's 150% increase, not 250%.
Ok... if attorneys not wanting to stand in line is elitist... imagine you, trying to go to your job, waiting in line for 10 minutes, hoisting boxes of file folders onto the security conveyer belt, trying to collect everything as it comes through, while being wanded and lifting your pant legs for the security guards. Now, imagine you have to do that 4-5 times a day. Attorneys do not bypass the line because they think they are more special than everybody else, they do so because they WORK in the courtrooms City-County Building.
Also, no matter how much you think somebody makes, most attorneys do not make huge salaries and even if they did, it is not fair to nickle and dime somebody to death just so that they can perform their job duties.
Nobody wants to stand in line and everybody has an excuse. Lawyers are biggest cry babies I know. I know I used to be one.
If my case is being heard and I'm next in line to see the judge, I don't want my attorney stuck in a long security line because he's running late from a deposition or consult for another client.
Some attorneys are in and out of that building all day. It doesn't make sense for them to spend so much time in the security line when they really aren't a security risk. They are there to do the business of the courts, just like a city employee is. They are a known entity and not a threat.
The rest of us who visit the building once in a while are not known. Therefore, we wait in line.
The badge is to show quickly that you are known to the building as someone WHO DOES BUSINESS inside the courts.
Who is getting that extra $10k?
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