voiceofsandiego.org: Cafesandiego... A Question of Resources

The primary difference between the San Diego fires and other national disasters such as Katrina and 9/11 was the ominous predictability as well as precedence of the disaster of this scale. Once burnt, twice prepared.

However, in the city of San Diego, we have made only incremental progress toward fire accreditation, three years after the Cedar Fire, and there are no additional revenues in sight. The funding of three people for brush clearance, when 33 are needed; the increase of $5 million to the fire budget when $40 million is needed; and the addition of one new fire-station when 22 are needed, demonstrates that there is a lack of political will to restructure our public infrastructure.

In comparison, when the Northridge earthquake hit Los Angeles, the city significantly increased Business License Taxes. Now they have more resources per capita and a better firefighter ratio. When the fires struck LA, the city of Los Angeles was better prepared to react immediately with a contingent of local helicopters than wait for state and federal assistance.

On the issue of future growth, reader Juvenal questions the wisdom of growing in the first place.

As we rebuild San Diego, we need to rethink our insurance policy, that is the level of fire-fighting service that we provide our residents. I conclude with an excerpt from reader Howeik’s comments:

Again, it is NOT a question of funding, it is a question of spending. The more you spend by giving outlanish pay and benefits, far superior to any other sector in American life, the less money there is for 1) equipment, 2) facilities, and 3) more personnel for SDFD. That is the bottom line. There are NO FF's going hungry at night or homeless, they are very well compensated, we need to freeze their pay and put all of them into Social Security.

Posted by Billy Bob Henry | reply to this comment
October 30, 2007 5:44 pm

Well, let's look at the root of Social Security.It was designed to supplement one's retirement, not replace it.So I guess we still need a real retirement.The bottom line is that SDFD needs to increase it's force by about 50%.That would take about $90 million.Show me where in the city budget you can come up with $90 million.(Since your boy Aguirre is still losing, cutting retirement doesn't count)So yes, it is a question of funding.

Posted by JF | reply to this comment
October 30, 2007 8:44 pm

Why not augment the fire fighters of any area with the Naval and Marine fire fighters, who would have loved to help us, but due to red tape, they were not allowed. Augment the fire departments with volunteer fire fighters and disaster relief volunteers that have been trained by our fire departments - when they are not out fighting fires. Fire departments used to be largely, and in some areas completely, staffed by volunteers. How much damage would have been prevented if there were additional help IMMEDIATELY. In addition, the heavy tankers were not airborn until late in the fires. If our military had been used at the outset, we could have even stopped some of the fires. When volunteers have bee trained, they will be more aware of their own surroundings and take further steps. The fire gel is a must.

Posted by Volunteers and military | reply to this comment
October 31, 2007 7:51 am

Billy Bob can't win for losing. He doesn't even realize this article is written about him and his ilk. Go brood Billy, the train is moving on without you!

Posted by Caitlin | reply to this comment
October 31, 2007 8:50 am

All we hear from CPI is raise taxes and spend more. WHat's next from CPI? A proposal to replace all those 1000 volunteers that showed up at Qualcomm with paid city staff? Because lord knows we can't do anything without government doing it and at the taxpayer's expense.

Posted by More Taxes, More Govt | reply to this comment
October 31, 2007 10:13 am

BBH writes: "Again, it is NOT a question of funding, it is a question of spending." Kroll report page M-21 (Remediation Measures) on the City's infrastructure needs says: "the Blue Ribbon Committee found that the City’s current funding level was contributing to the increase in the backlog...The City’s approach to funding deferred maintenance and unfunded procurement should be changed to allow for increased funding in these areas." link

Posted by Murtaza Baxamusa | reply to this comment
October 31, 2007 10:37 am

Who is "local personality" Murtaza Baxamusa? Usually you identify Cafe hosts under their pictures by position or organization they represent. Just curious.

Posted by Edgar | reply to this comment
October 31, 2007 10:41 am

Yes, it is true that politicians, as opposed to planners are generally short sighted due to the need to show progress within a short period of time for fear of losing political support; however, in the climate of the past four years, where the author propose to obtain the money to fund $40 million in essential fire equipment and services when the City couldn't get into the bond market and budget cuts were widespread. The City has an excellent corporate sponsorship program that has assisted in obtaining one helicopter and is trying to obtain another, but lacking the donations of corporations and private citizens, one service must be cut in favor of another. There is a court order to repair aging sewer system, so funds can't be taken from that. Our streets are falling apart, etc. So, again, where do we get the money....

Posted by Concerned | reply to this comment
October 31, 2007 10:45 am

Mr. Baxamusa: You will just be banging your head against a brick wall until it's a bloody pulp if you try to get BBH away from his "welfare queen" and "funding" versus "spending" rants. Sorry about the graphic symbolism above, but Billy Bob just does not think and process things in the rational, sensible way that most people do...

Posted by www.robert-lee.org | reply to this comment
October 31, 2007 12:01 pm

'Til now Sanders has been drawn a line and been perfectly clear: no matter how in debt we are, we will not be substantially paying our debts on his watch! Maybe the fires will provoke some rethinking.

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | reply to this comment
October 31, 2007 3:04 pm

I would like to ask Mr. Baxamusa to refrain from misrepresenting what I had previously wrote. In my last post, I wasn't questioning the wisdom of growing in the first place but instead, questioning how much the inherent anti-growth sentiment in the region is responsible for the underfunding of infrastructure and services. That said, I am not saying that growth is a good thing or a bad thing but instead, asking whether the blame on developers and new residents clouds the fact that our region has and will continue to have serious problems constructing and upgrading its infrastructure and improving public services for its existing residents regardless of whether we grow or not?

Posted by Juvenal | reply to this comment
October 31, 2007 4:45 pm

Freeze FF's pay and put them into SS? Maybe we should just ask them to pay us to go running into our burning houses to save our loved ones while we're at it?

Posted by What are you thinking? | reply to this comment
November 2, 2007 1:24 pm

A Question of Resources

Published: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 5:25 PM PDT