Scranton Fire Fighters (city hall, houses, neighborhood)

[SteelCityRising]

In what can be viewed as a "win" on Friday for both the city of Scranton's administration AND the city's fire department union, seven Commonwealth Court judges ruled that fire fighters MUST receive raises after so many years of being denied those through the bad blood that has been brewing namely between Mayor Chris Doherty and Dave Gervasi, president of the fire fighters' union. On that same token though those retiring (or whom are already retired) from the force will no longer receive medical benefits.

In my humble opinion I'm more than a little bit worried about what the future of Scranton's public safety will be now that Mayor Doherty is prancing around as if he has just won the lottery. I am NOT in favor of his plans to close many neighborhood fire stations in order to consolidate them into a mere few "super stations" in order to "save money." How will investing millions to build new buildings be saving money? How will losing property tax revenues after the next reassessment as property values decline by a couple of percentage points due to the longer response time for fire emergencies be saving money?

The highly-controversial article on the web site of the Scranton Times-Tribune can be found here:

City wins big in court; Firefighters get pay raises, but lose rights, retiree health care | News | thetimes-tribune.com - The Times-Tribune (http://scrantontimes.com/articles/2009/01/24/news/sc_times_trib.20090124.a.pg1.tt24firefighters_s1.2 253349_top2.txt - broken link)

I also can't believe the amount of sour grapes being aired in the comment thread for this article with several people BLASTING the fire fighters as being selfish, greedy, and/or lazy. In my eyes it takes a person of a very special caliber and level of bravado to don all of that heavy apparatus and charge into a burning building in an attempt to rescue a complete stranger. We all remember January 2008 when Cap. James Robeson gave his life when he was electrocuted trying to rescue an elderly couple from their Hill Section home (they also passed away in that fire), and it touched my heart to see a story on WNEP when the weather broke of his surviving brothers on the force showing up at his widow's home to volunteer their time and efforts to replace her leaking roof. Say what you will about this city being a "hell hole," but the level of COMMUNITY SPIRIT in the Electric City is off-the-charts.

[weluvpa]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

How will investing millions to build new buildings be saving money?

Ah yes there it is......A VERY LARGE CONTRACT to a construction company to build super stations on the taxpayers dime...During an election year no less, well I wonder who will be contributing money to the campaign for that job.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

How will investing millions to build new buildings be saving money?

There's both long term and short term savings. I don't know what the condition of the older buildings in Scranton are but if they are really old the savings on energy alone can be quite substantial. You can only do so much with old buildings and in some cases it costs just as much to renovate as it does to build new especially if you're building one large building as opposed to building/renovating many smaller ones.

[weluvpa]

I refer you to my above post. There is nothing wrong with the Scranton facilities, most are not that old(centuries). The downtown house is the oldest but its the main building of the SFD.

My post above is pretty much the standard reason to tear anything down in Scranton and rebuild it whether we need it or not.

Trust me....There is no reason for this other then to break the union and capitize while doing it.

[retrovintage]

ScranBarre I have to agree with your post.

I do feel badly for the people in Scranton if the Mayor decides to build a 'super station' because response time will drop due to location. It would also cost the City quite a bit just to build one yet they are struggling to 'keep' their distressed status (well the Mayor is trying to keep it at least).

The new contract leans more in the favor of the Mayor IMHO unfortunately. How many of the other City workers were given raises in the past 8 years? How many 'new' positions were 'created' for friends of the Mayor in that time? He can cry poverty all he wants but Doherty is reaping many benefits with his 'distressed' status.

The 'win' wasn't really for the SFD though. Sure they FINALLY get an increase in pay (after 8 yrs mind you) but they are also losing on medical coverage (with higher co-pays and deductibles) and retirement. How many of the other City workers will be able to retire with medical and retirement packages? They Mayor is having a hissy fit because he has to deal with unions and doesn't have full control. Then to add insult to injury, Davis and his increase in pay when he came back.....

The City/Mayor are being very reckless with their rationale. Cutting staff, deciding how many should be at a station, not providing proper equipment - basically playing God.

All in all though, if a super station gets built and everything is consolidated it will all come back to haunt Doherty. One fatality is all it takes - and maybe people would remember how Doherty basically put them in that position, placed lives on the line, all due to his own ignorance.

Hopefully someone runs against Doherty and has a true vision to fix Scranton. If not, well, the City is pretty much screwed once again and for another few years.

[johnqpublic]

if anyone has any questions on this subject, I am very well versed, and would be happy to explain what the media is and is not telling us..quite a lot of smoke and mirrors....

[bloominscranton]

I really just have a comment...I am not versed in the history behind the difficulties between the fire union and the city...I just have to say that well trained, well outfitted and happy firefighters make a positive impact on an area. My previous home had an all volunteer fire department and we were blessed that so many cared enough to be members. They did have state of the art equipment and many 'perks" but none that could truly compensate them for their time and risks.

A city that looks for even a moment to raise the mayors salary while firefighters have gone YEARS without even Cola...is well...arse backwards in its thinking.

I have never lived anywhere where fires were a daily occurence on the nightly news (not just speaking of Scranton for a moment). These men (any women on the department?) do something I could never be paid enough for. With all the waste I have heard of...the union should never have had to go to these lenghts...truly a sad state of affairs.

If a distressed city does not have to grant raises to fire/and or police because of its status...how can a mayor or city council be allowed?

[johnqpublic]

a few quick insights:
much has been made about "health benefits for life", this is not a true statement, sfd has a 25 year and 55 year old minimum to retire you must have achieved both in order to retire.
firefighter that retire prior to social security age , have in the past kept benefits till they reached the age to be elegible for medicare, This is standard with professional depts across the states, it is not unique to scranton.
There is logic to this, it really isnt a "perk" the reason is to ensure that communities do not end up having an elderly fire dept. it keeps a mix of younger and older firefighters.
Now, unfortunately we are going to see just that, barring a career ending injury no one is goin=g to retire befoe 65 years of age..

now lets touch on the mayors desire for a superstation:
lets start by getting one thing clear doherty has no plan, and has done no studies of the logistics of this debacle
Scranton now enjoys a 2 minute response time on average.this is because there are neighborhood firehouses. By building a "superstation" he will be closing these neighborhood fire stations and response time will absolutely be lost. minutes are crucial to averting tragedy.
Superstations have been tried in other locations throughout the us ...25 years ago!!!
Doherty is going to try to use a theory that is decades old and has proven to be ineffective.
Dont get me wrong, a superstation is a bean counters dream, but it is the responders and citizens nightmare.

[johnqpublic]

A quick P.S. I dont have the exact date, but retirement benefits for over 1/2 of the current Dept was taken away at least 10 years ago.

[weluvpa]

John you don't have to defend the SFD.......Doherty was quoted as saying in the Times Leader today as saying....

With the current “financial crisis” in Scranton, the city will now be able to find ways to “do more with less

Sure the SFD has to do more with less but the admin has been able to add $16,000,000 in new hires and raises in city hall. What a smuck.