Left In Lowell

Wrong Signals

by Mimi at 4:25 pm.

Tuesday’s Lowell City Council Public Safety Sub- Committee meeting concerned the purchases or bidding process of fire department apparatus. It turned out to be much more than that. After watching the proceedings, I think three of the four City Councilors in attendance sent the Fire Department the wrong signals.

I wanted to wait until LTC uploaded the video of the meeting to blip.tv so that I could link to it and provide a video clip.

A few weeks back at a City Council meeting, CC A. Kazanjian questioned the City Manager on the fire apparatus purchases. One thing, led to another and before you know it the issue is going to a Sub-Committee meeting.

I don’t like it when an issue is brought up without being on the agenda first. Most of the CC members are not prepared to have a meaningful discussion and the individual who raises the topic has the upper hand. Anyway, back to the fire apparatus issue…

According to this year’s budget, the Lowell Fire Department was scheduled to replace two pumpers (fire trucks that pump water) and one ladder truck; equipment they desperately need.

So a committee of 7 individuals, professionals who understand fire trucks, is formed; they study and review trucks, they write the specifications, they put the specs out to bid, twice; three bids come back; they make their selection under budget. Most are happy with the selection; a few are not. So if you know a City Councilor, you tell him what you think and he goes on the City Council floor questioning the City Manager, who for different reasons happens to agree wit the City Councilor, somewhat.

The following video clip is a representation of the comments made during the meeting by the Fire Department leadership, the City Manager and City Councilors.

The only ally the professional fire personnel had in that room yesterday was CC Jim Milinazzo. Unfortunately, this Sub-Committee and the entire CC has no jurisdiction when it comes to purchasing equipment. I am not even sure why this meeting took place. And even if it were to go to a vote, CC members are so eager to show Lowellians that they are saving us money, that they would take a vote that in the long run may not save us money at all.

If it is true that all this was done to save $110,000 in the short run what does it say to the firefighters who were so eager to do their fair share in helping the City close its budget gap this year?

[Filed under City Council] [link]

9 Responses to “Wrong Signals”

K-R-S Says:
April 9th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
well said M
Eleanor Rigby Says:
April 9th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Mimi, please tell us what happened, what you liked or object to and who was invoved. I hate to say this but you sound like Rita trying to say something, but not say something, all at the same time.
Mimi Says:
April 10th, 2009 at 8:53 am
ER:

I do not agree with your assessment. Here is the link to Jenn Myers’ story in the Sun. What is missing from Jen’s story is the tone of the discussion between the two fire department professionals, Lowell Fire Chief Edward Pitta and Deputy Fire Chief Phil Lemire, who Chaired the 7 person committee, and the City Councilors.

Both Pitta and Lemire strongly challenged CC Kazanjian’s comments that the firefighters he spoke to were in favor of the other truck. I guess noone asked their opinion.

I just find it hard to believe that the City Council knows better than the Fire Department as to what kind of apparatus they need to do their job. Mind you, the bid that the committee approved came in under budget. What’s next, a meeting on what kind of firearms the Police Department should buy?

As for the CM, obviously he is looking ahead at FY 2010.

Satisfied?
Maggie Says:
April 11th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
I cannot believe that any fireman in his right mind is going speak out in favor of an inferior product as Kazanjian would have us believe. I admit to being disapointed in Elliot going along with him. These guys ( and gals, if there are any) depend on their equipment and trucks for their lives. They have had previos problems with one of the companies. Why repeat the mistake. The fire dept. people have done the research, they know what they need- go with it. As for CC K, he toured our neu-ighborhhod when he was running for election and made a promise that he has since “forgotten” . I will not forget in November.
K-R-S Says:
April 11th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
too bad most pols “forget” their promises. It’s called “lying” to get your vote
Anonymous this time Says:
April 12th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
It is not “lying” to get your vote. I have to say that I agree with AK questioning this. It is his job to do so. Ak should ask “why now”. He may get a completely acceptable answer, but I find it much more dissapointing for Mr. Millanazo to just jump on board with agreement. The fire department has not been doing the needed maintenance on the E-One vehicles that they should be. E-One has become a scape goat for a poor maintenance record. The Pierce units may offer the same headaches with a higher price tags.
Mr. Lynne Says:
April 13th, 2009 at 9:22 am
My problem is that its AK. In principal I agree w/ anonymous, but there is a ‘boy who cried wolf’ aspect to almost anything AK gets interested in. I can’t trust the guy not to be playing games.
K-R-S Says:
April 13th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
precisely (Mr L.)
Jake Says:
April 13th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Doesn’t matter about the trucks now. The cat is effectively out of the bag in this morning’s paper. Layoffs are coming. No need to buy new trucks when you can’t staff them. Watch when the bids come back the same and the statement goes something like “We just can’t justify the expense at this time in light of the city’s worsening financial picture.” Since the money was reportedly bonded last summer (which means we are paying interest on it), anyone have opinions where it will be spent now?

Six more firefighters are slated to take the buyout offer and there are three unfilled positions right now. With three more out on long term injury very unlikely to ever return, that’s one complete fire company worth of manning gone right there.

April 2009
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Mar		May »
	1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

Email us!

(replace spaces, ['s, symbols)
Lynne | Mimi

Lowell Area Bloggers/Forums

Lowell Politics

City Meeting Streams Online from LTC

Mass Bloggers

- Leftyblogs MA Blogroll - Almost all of my favorite lefty blogs in Massachusetts can be found here. Linking here keeps my own blogroll short but still up to date! Below are some other MA blogs which are not listed at LB.
H2Otown (Watertown, MA)
MargeBLOG (Williamstown)
Michael Forbes Wilcox (Western MA)
The Gazebo (Worcester area)

Media in Lowell

Chelmsford Mass News
Community Connections The online archive of many of WUML's radio shows.
LTC :: Our community cable access channel (8 & 10). Excellent people, I've worked with them before.
Open Source :: Chris Lydon's new show, broadcast on WUML and WGBH locally.
The Lowell Sun :: Love it or hate it, it's the big newspaper in town.
WCAP radio :: Talk radio in Lowell - still locally owned, and in transition.
WUML :: The student- and community-run radio station of UMass-Lowell. Lynne hosts a radio show, Thinking Out Loud, 10am on Fridays.

Media in MA

WBUR (90.9 FM)
WGBH (89.7 FM, Ch. 2)

Politics Online

City Council Agenda Past City Council agendas, posted in a mostly timely manner
Lowellma.gov Official city website

Progressive Local Orgs

Snark and politics

The Arts in Lowell

119 Gallery - Art gallery with exhibitions of many local artists, interesting events, and living, breathing culture.
Arts League of Lowell (ALL) - Artist community group, a recent but welcome addition to the arts scene in Lowell.
Brush Art Gallery - Come and meet working artists in their natural habitats!
Cultural Organization of Lowell (COOL) - Great local calendar of events.
Lowell Opera Company - Community opera.
Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra - Local community orchestra.
Lowell Poetry Network
Lowell Rocks - List of live music events
Merrimack Repertory Theatre - A local theatre "presenting an exciting mix of contemporary and new plays in historic downtown Lowell."
OUtlET - Paper and online 'zine making a splash locally with events in art, poetry, music, and everything in between!
Revolving Museum Contemporary, local, public art space with a plethora of children's programs and art by and for the community.
The Fine Print - Socially aware, themed, arts and issues periodic publication available throughout Lowell.
The Image Theater - Theatre company which puts on all original works by local playwrights.
Whistler House Museum - A great collection of contemporaries of Whistler at his historic birthplace.

April 9, 2009

Wrong Signals

9 Responses to “Wrong Signals”

Leave a Reply

LeftinLowell Tweets

Pages:

Recent Posts

Search

Categories:

Archives:

Other: