Save YOUR Firetruck

We received a copy of this letter that went to the Fort Worth Mayor and councilmembers, along with other members.  YOU might want to read it.

No one ever thinks about firetrucks, until they need one.

Save My Firetruck

As if we didn't have enough problems in getting the FW Council to be more than a rubber stamp for the gas drillers and a tool of the industry that off-loads the unacceptable risk of urban gas drilling on us, the City is now considering a plan to save money that involves cutting back our fire protection.

Some genius has come up with another idea that will save our tax dollars by cutting back on basic services that we are supposed to receive through our taxes, yet they have been spending our tax dollars on a faux gas drilling and production "regulation" scheme that allows the drillers to get whatever they want through a costly (to us) process in which they end up getting desired permits through a waiver obtained on each individual exception to the phony rules they live by. Then the City practically gives away gas leases on city-owned property so that far less revenue is collected than is necessary to support all the largess they give the industry.

This new brilliant plan is to decrease the cost of fire protection by $1.9 million by cutting services using a "rolling deactivation" scheme wherein 2 of the 44 fire trucks in the city will be deactivated each day. They'll just sit there in their fire stations, and the two companies of firefighters that now stand by to answer emergencies will be on unpaid leave. The result of this not only decreases our fire protection, it will be felt in our pocketbooks too. Since our city will be less well protected, the national insurance rating of FW will be degraded, and that will translate into higher homeowners insurance rates.

Clever plan, huh? Have you noticed how much attention taxpayers have to give to scheming governments at every level these days? And we are losing the battle too, because people won't take the time to inform and defend themselves against these corporation-based attacks on the public purse.

Any City Councilperson (or mayor) who supports this should be recalled. Further, the genius who proposed this should be outed and made to pay a price for scheming against the taxpayers.