Comments on: Fremont can’t afford to staff new fire station

By: Old Fremont Resident

Old Fremont Resident — Wed, 19 May 2010 23:01:31 +0000

Horribly written article by the way.
There is a reason why the station was built there or it wouldn’t be built. The money for the station was raised through a bond that the residents of Fremont voted on (Measure R) back in 2002. No one anticipated a recession of this magnitude and for it to last for as long as it has.
You also have to recognize that because there may not be residential neighborhoods where the station was built, I’m sure there are quite a few target hazard facilities along with HAZMAT facilities – not to mention the amount of people the industrial buildings house during the day that increase the calls for EMS services.
Yes – EMS calls/services are 85%+ of the call volume of almost all fire departments in the United States.

By: Marty

Marty — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:07:03 +0000

“I agree with Bbox this will eventually bankrupt California.”

California cant file bankruptcy, but each and every city can. It’s entirely up to the unions. If the obligations cant be cleared by concessions, then cities as large as LA and SJ will go bankrupt.

The result would remove unions from the public sector for a generation. California will be a “right to work” state in no time.

By: Ha Ha Ha

Ha Ha Ha — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:57:45 +0000

I guess Fremont better call on Alameda County Fire. Newark and Union City found it would save hundreds of thousands of dollars!!! And it increased service to it’s residents.!

By: bbox231

bbox231 — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:05:20 +0000

Guessing that Bill saw this article this morning -

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_15112725

By: Fremont_Bill

Fremont_Bill — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:07:32 +0000

This is the tip of the iceberg CalPERS has DEMANDED a
additional 600 million dollars to cover there shortfall.
CalPers Pensions are way out of line with private sector. This on top of Medical Benefits for life!
Check the City budget and see what part of the budget is for retirement and health benefits for life.
I agree with Bbox this will eventually bankrupt California.

By: bbox231

bbox231 — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:35:20 +0000

As evidenced by current headlines as well as the reported salaries and wonderful benefit packages of these emergency providers, SMALLS is obviously very mistaken.

The kind of ancedotes s/he/it profers – “The Fire and Police are always in question until you need them.” – is exactly the kind of emotional banter that has been used for decades to rationalize what should otherwise be a *business* decision.

The results speak for themselves . . . . pensions (first), salaries and other benefits of municipal employees are on track to bankrupt the very communities they service.

By: SMALLS

SMALLS — Wed, 19 May 2010 11:26:27 +0000

Heather if you lived or worked in this area and had a medical emergency the there would be at least 3-5 min response differece from this station, which could be life or death.

The Fire and Police are always in question until you need them.

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 19 May 2010 06:18:37 +0000

From your earlier entry:

Station 11 is unstaffed during the day, says the chief. It’s the lowest demand district in Fremont. You know what that means? It means Fremont is building a new fire station that it won’t have the money or personnel to staff. Thanks to Mr. Wieckowski for that nugget. I’m going to have to separate that out.

So to answer my earlier comment – it’s a business district, most businesses have sprinklers and it seems pretty certain that a fire station is not needed except for possible EMT to the neighborhood to the east of Warm Springs.

How did this building happen? Love to know!

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 19 May 2010 06:03:10 +0000

I’m not sure that Marty’s comment is germane. There’s a pretty big difference between fire departments and local theater groups.

It looks like the unstaffed station is in a business district. Do most of the businesses have sprinklers? How recently were they built, i.e. to what fire code were they built? What station services the residential neighborhoods to the east of Warm Springs Blvd? Do any of these neighborhoods have pools that are not attended by lifeguards? I’m thinking here that most fire calls are actually EMT calls….

By: Marty

Marty — Wed, 19 May 2010 04:39:44 +0000

In the comments section of Palo Alto Online, a contributor to the Children’s Theater had contacted a theater counterpart from out of state. The PA theater budget is over $1M. The out of state theater budget is $15K. Further inquiry revealed that the two theaters are almost identical in every aspect, except for the fact that PA has decided to have an overpaid staff, with some staff making 6 figures. The executor for the out of state theater asked if that $1M figure included building the damn thing.

I think this same story and set of circumstances repeats itself over and over again in CA, and pretty much sums up the reasons we along with SJ and surely many other cities in CA will have a vacant fire stations. We pay people too much. Plain and simple. Until resident of this state come to the realization that there is nothing special ingrained in the fabric of this state that dictates that we should be paying orders of magnitude more than what people are worth, we will never remedy.