W-B will lay off 11 firefighters; other city unions will feel sting

[Magritte25]

You have to have three men on a garbage truck. Cutting that is a very bad idea, IMO.

[johnqpublic]

Originally Posted by MatildaLoo

Unfortunately I already know of some people who resort to illegal dumping instead of paying garbage fees. I think fewer trash collections would make it worse. (Of course, they dump outside city limits)

I agree that admin should go first, or be reduced in hours, before any public safety cuts are made. The fire chief said that the cuts would not affect the number of firefighters on the job at any given time. What a load of BS--so firefighters will be working OT, possibly overworked, and possibly be putting their lives at risk? There's gotta be a better solution than that.

Oh and a bit OT since we are talking about WB but for those of you in Lackawanna County, just remember your county taxes will go up so that your illustrious Deputy Director of Arts and Culture can keep her job!

Im a SFD firefighter, here are facts, not 'scare tactics"
Response time is everything seconds DO matter

less manpower on a fire scene is very dangerous to firefighters and occupants the avg weight of gear and equipment is in excess of 60 lbs, couple that with extreme physical exertion while breathing bottled air and we have maybe 12 to 15 minutes of fight in us at best.. Once exhausted , if there isnt any manpower for relief , it is a lost cause

in Scranton everyone slams the cost of the F.D yet there have been SAFER GRANT available since the 9 / 11 twin towers.. millions of dollars per year available .. Scranton {by its firefighter efforts, not administrations} just applied for their first this past year... I wonder if W. B. ever applied to offset costs??

[auntieannie68]

Originally Posted by johnqpublic

Im a SFD firefighter, here are facts, not 'scare tactics"
Response time is everything seconds DO matter

less manpower on a fire scene is very dangerous to firefighters and occupants the avg weight of gear and equipment is in excess of 60 lbs, couple that with extreme physical exertion while breathing bottled air and we have maybe 12 to 15 minutes of fight in us at best.. Once exhausted , if there isnt any manpower for relief , it is a lost cause

in Scranton everyone slams the cost of the F.D yet there have been SAFER GRANT available since the 9 / 11 twin towers.. millions of dollars per year available .. Scranton {by its firefighter efforts, not administrations} just applied for their first this past year... I wonder if W. B. ever applied to offset costs??

i agree--imo--even if they did apply for and got a grant--things being what they are here,the money would go into someone's pocket and not to the actual fire department's usage as it should

btw--lived in a more populated state and the number of fires here is double the amount---seems to be an arsonist's paradise

[MatildaLoo]

Originally Posted by johnqpublic

Im a SFD firefighter, here are facts, not 'scare tactics"
Response time is everything seconds DO matter

less manpower on a fire scene is very dangerous to firefighters and occupants the avg weight of gear and equipment is in excess of 60 lbs, couple that with extreme physical exertion while breathing bottled air and we have maybe 12 to 15 minutes of fight in us at best.. Once exhausted , if there isnt any manpower for relief , it is a lost cause

in Scranton everyone slams the cost of the F.D yet there have been SAFER GRANT available since the 9 / 11 twin towers.. millions of dollars per year available .. Scranton {by its firefighter efforts, not administrations} just applied for their first this past year... I wonder if W. B. ever applied to offset costs??

This is exactly my point. Overworking the firefighters isn't going to solve anything, and could lead to more injuries and deaths. Taking away public safety jobs should be the very last resort of any budget balance.

[johnqpublic]

Originally Posted by auntieannie68

i agree--imo--even if they did apply for and got a grant--things being what they are here,the money would go into someone's pocket and not to the actual fire department's usage as it should

btw--lived in a more populated state and the number of fires here is double the amount---seems to be an arsonist's paradise

Safer Grants are very strictly regulated thru homeland security.. very hard to misappropriate without looking at some serious federal jail time..

[MatildaLoo]

Originally Posted by auntieannie68

i agree--imo--even if they did apply for and got a grant--things being what they are here,the money would go into someone's pocket and not to the actual fire department's usage as it should

btw--lived in a more populated state and the number of fires here is double the amount---seems to be an arsonist's paradise

Government grants are much harder to embezzle than general budget funds, though. They have to be used for exactly what you say they are being used for, and you have to prove that every penny is going where you say it is going. It's not as easy as some secretary or city manager "accidentally" funneling the funds somewhere else. Of course, with the way things are in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties I guess anything's possible.

I also have wondered about the number of fires in NEPA. They also seem to occur in the same types of communities, and rarely other communities, yet many are never ruled arson.

[MatildaLoo]

Originally Posted by johnqpublic

Safer Grants are very strictly regulated thru homeland security.. very hard to misappropriate without looking at some serious federal jail time..

Oops, I just repeated you. Sorry, I guess I should have read ahead.

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by MatildaLoo

Oh and a bit OT since we are talking about WB but for those of you in Lackawanna County, just remember your county taxes will go up so that your illustrious Deputy Director of Arts and Culture can keep her job!

"Deputy Director of Arts and Culture." It is laughable that such a position even exists, especially in cash-strapped Lackawanna County. But people are just so numb to the corruption, they just accept this blatant wasting of money by creating some BS position for a political crony.

[MatildaLoo]

Originally Posted by Mr Yuk

"Deputy Director of Arts and Culture." It is laughable that such a position even exists, especially in cash-strapped Lackawanna County. But people are just so numb to the corruption, they just accept this blatant wasting of money by creating some BS position for a political crony.

I wonder how many residents of Lackawanna County even know that they are paying the salary for such a position, or that among all the layoffs included in the 2013 budget, this position was not one of them AFAIK.

Maureen's actually a nice person, but...

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by MatildaLoo

I wonder how many residents of Lackawanna County even know that they are paying the salary for such a position, or that among all the layoffs included in the 2013 budget, this position was not one of them AFAIK.

Maureen's actually a nice person, but...

What's really bad is that since theres a DEPUTY director, that means we're also paying an actual DIRECTOR of arts and culture as well. I can't see why such a department even needs to exist in county government, nevermind needing a director and a deputy. But they probably laid off a lot of grunt worker types who aren't political cronies and actually need their paycheck to put a roof over their family's head.

County government is way too big....this state has way too many layers of government...city/borough/township, county, state.....