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Wednesday, Aug 05, 2009
Councilwoman Hahn Fights to Keep Fire Stations Fully Operational
August 5, 2009
This week, I asked City staff to find a way to stave off the Los Angeles Fire Department’s service cuts, with an eye toward keeping Los Angeles fire stations fully operational through the month of August.
Faced with a $52 million dollar deficit, the Fire Department will begin to implement cuts that will eliminate up to 38 engines, trucks, and ambulances, reduce the number of daily on duty employees by 125, and increase response times.
The United Firefighters of Los Angeles City have made a good faith proposal to defer their excess sick payout and uniform allowance for the fiscal year 2009-2010. This would result in savings of approximately $4.2 million dollars, which would enable Los Angeles City fire stations to operate at full capacity for the remainder of August.
If any of us calls 911, we expect the Fire Department to respond immediately. These cuts will result in people waiting longer for help, which could end tragically. So while the union’s plan will only allow us to delay the cuts by a month, that buys us more time to find a way to maintain services long term.
The proposal will be considered in the Executive Employee Relations Committee's (EERC) August 6th meeting, in hopes that it could be enacted immediately.
Posted at 12:00 AM