Firefighters have been saying it for years…you cannot cut staffing, close stations, and slash the budgets in public safety and think that nothing will change.
But no one seems to be listening.
Who cares? Other than us and the ones affected the answer is not to many other people.
We are out of sight and out of mind.
But who really gets shafted? I wrote about one such situation in Cape Coral, Florida surrounding brownouts here.
Patrick Mahoney (an author on FireGeezer.com) writes:
No matter what it is, when it comes to fire and police layoffs it’s nothing short of depriving the poor of what may be their only safety net in order to line the pockets of the rich and powerful. Departments in these situations need to get with their minority communities and explain the consequences (hint: nearly any fire department facing layoffs is in this situation because this sort of reverse Robin Hooding is rampant). There are a ton of civil rights groups, ministers’ alliances, and neighborhood associations that are more than happy to apply pressure to the cretins in local government. Read the entire article here
He is not alone…
So we have reached a critical decision point in the United States. Are we going to sacrifice our quality of life, our public safety over politically charged budget cutting, or are we going to create ways to fix the budget problems, and keep our lives safe? Read teh entire article here
Silberberg’s article is a well written piece meant to get people to their feet. To educate them that cuts to public safety can effect anyone and everyone. That public safety cuts are not the answer and that cuts MUST be made elsewhere!
Mahnoney’s article is meant to get firefighters to stand up. To educate the poorer communities that public safety cuts show that their governement does not care about them if they are willing to cut their services.
Both articles are worth the read….both are thought provoking…and both should get people thinking!
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