Friday, Nov. 30, 2007 | When I hear we need 22 fire stations to ensure adequate response times, I have to ask why did we allow this to get out of hand? Five, maybe 10 I could see, not 22.
What I see is city officials going into defense mode. Double talk and excuses. I’m not buying this.
The first excuse is that growth was so great we could not keep up. I’d like to see what the facts say when we go back and examine what steps have been taken to systematically address this issue head on. Why, for example, did we host a Republican Convention in 1996 at an expense that has never been shared, when we needed to address fire and police protection in light of this explosive growth.
The cops are dangerously understaffed, as is the fire department. How did this happen? Who is responsible and where did we go wrong?