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No-One Has Answered My Question. Why Does This Undertaking Have To Include Lights & Sirens? How About Just Playing Holiday Songs On The Truck Loudspeaker? Seems Like A Simple Solution To A Safety Related Issue.
Kids like the lights and sirens. Kids like firemen. Lots of kids also like Santa. It's not terribly hard to see why they combine them. In all of the years I have seen this done, I have never seen any Santa bearing fire engines blasting through intersections, lights and sirens blaring, endangering the public. They only do it on a residential street at about 3 miles per hour.
I think your fears of it being a safety issue are in your head.
They should not be using property tax funded equipment for this purpose.
If property taxes shouldn't be going towards providing happiness to countless thousands of Long Islanders, young and old, through such a simple, inexpensive, harmless and honored tradition - what on earth SHOULD property taxes be used for? Our LI forefathers created this ridiculous spider web of local municipalities to provide services and better the communities they're a part of. It's easy to forget that they were designed to exist for that purpose most of the time. We see it more as just a sad, sh*tty fact of life that we have to write a big check twice a year to make sure some anonymous entity keeps the toilets flushing and the trash being taken off the curb. Here's one of the few - if only - things that reminds us we're all a part of a community, the people in those adjacent boxes are our neighbors and we should all be trying to be a little more kind and cheerful to one another. That's the spirit of the season regardless of your religious beliefs and cultural background. I don't see that as a waste at all.
Speaking of which, I'm sure your main gripe is that this violates some kind of "separation of church and state" and panders to the goyim majority? Give me a break. Santa Claus and associated "Christmas" imagery has more to do with long extinct Germanic rituals and Coca-Cola than it does with any sort of Christianity. I do not believe in any "higher power", spirituality, religious mumbo-jumbo or associated voodoo - but I sure as hell believe in love, friendship, family and kindness. Those are the things everyone is really celebrating - whether they're also celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ at the same time or not.
Yes, WALTER GREENSPAN, there is a Santa Claus. He exists on your local vollie's ladder truck as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound to give to your life it's highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus? It would be as dreary as if there were no WALTER GREENSPANs. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence!
Merry Christmas (and Happy Channukah), Walter - may your heart grow three times it's size
It's NOT a problem on LI. Most enjoy and look forward to it. It's just the few crankpots ....a few of which are on this forum. Everywhere you go there will be a few old crankypants yelling at the kids to get off the lawn.
Thank you so much for the FABULOUS visual. It makes a lot of us smile.
Last edited by nuts2uiam; 12-18-2011 at 07:18 PM..
Reason: The photo accompanying the original post did not copy
It's not like anyone on LI pulls over for emergency vehicles, Santa or no Santa, anyway.
I think doing something for kids is great. I also strongly believe in tradition, especially when it brings happiness to others. The issue, for me at least, is that there seems to be so much waste on Long Island, especially when it comes to public service employees. Because of this, anything that our money goes towards that isn't seen as essential is just frustrating.
People POUR money into taxes every year and they want to see a big return on it (rightfully so on Long Island). I honestly feel there wouldn't be so much anger or frustration if we didn't have reports every year of firehouse "palaces" or waste on equipment that is more suitable for NYC highrises than residential Long Island homes/businesses.
The WASTE overshadows these good things such as Santa on a firetruck or the fundraising that firehouses do each year.
Eliminate the day-to-day waste seen at high levels in the public service area, and you'll hear less complaints, regardless if it involves Santa.
There should not have even been a discussion on this topic in the first place. If you don't like Santa or the fact that santa rides on a volunteer fire truck with sirens blasting then go get some ear plugs. It the Holiday season get over it. and by the way as op's have said I have yet to see santa on a fire truck speeding through intersections, they ride through the town and neighborhood nice and slow so everyone gets a chance to see Santa.
RE:There should not have even been a discussion on this topic in the first place. If you don't like Santa or the fact that santa rides on a volunteer fire truck with sirens blasting then go get some ear plugs. It the Holiday season get over it. and by the way as op's have said I have yet to see santa on a fire truck speeding through intersections, they ride through the town and neighborhood nice and slow so everyone gets a chance to see Santa.
Why shouldn't there be a discussion on this topic? Perhaps you can provide us with a listing of topics you find acceptable for discussion. It's a public safety issue period. Fire trucks should not be driving around communities for hours upon hours with lights & sirens. Lights and sirens should only be used to get emergency vehicles to the scene of an emergency quickly. My only objection is the lights & sirens. Why not play Holiday music from the rig's loudspeakers instead?
RE:There should not have even been a discussion on this topic in the first place. If you don't like Santa or the fact that santa rides on a volunteer fire truck with sirens blasting then go get some ear plugs. It the Holiday season get over it. and by the way as op's have said I have yet to see santa on a fire truck speeding through intersections, they ride through the town and neighborhood nice and slow so everyone gets a chance to see Santa.
Why shouldn't there be a discussion on this topic? Perhaps you can provide us with a listing of topics you find acceptable for discussion. It's a public safety issue period. Fire trucks should not be driving around communities for hours upon hours with lights & sirens. Lights and sirens should only be used to get emergency vehicles to the scene of an emergency quickly. My only objection is the lights & sirens. Why not play Holiday music from the rig's loudspeakers instead?
I live on a main road and would be pissed if I had to deal with lights and sirens for hours but I think the firetrucks don't hang out in one area for long.
There should not have even been a discussion on this topic in the first place. If you don't like Santa or the fact that santa rides on a volunteer fire truck with sirens blasting then go get some ear plugs. It the Holiday season get over it. and by the way as op's have said I have yet to see santa on a fire truck speeding through intersections, they ride through the town and neighborhood nice and slow so everyone gets a chance to see Santa.
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