For the past few years, Scott Walker has been touting the idea of abolishing county government. His solution is to push off his responsibilities onto the state and the municipalities, especially the City of Milwaukee.
I argued against them a year ago on my personal blog. Those reasons still hold valid, even in light of the recent PPF report regarding this issue.
The fallout from the recent tragic fire that destroyed Pizza Man and a number of other businesses, as well as displaced several people from their homes goes to fortify this position.
While some people have tried to make political hay from fanning the flames of this tragedy, there are still some deep embers burning in the community:
Debate over whether Milwaukee is playing with fire by cutting Fire Department staff has led to criticism of suburban departments such as West Allis, which has decided to fire back with words of its own.
The back-and-forth started with a leading Milwaukee firefighter who suggested that suburban fire departments aren’t capable of fighting urban fires, according to an open letter written by the West Allis Police and Fire Commission.
The letter quotes comments made by David Seager, president of the Milwaukee firefighters union. He spoke Jan. 20 on Jeff Wagner’s radop show on WTMJ-AM, according to the letter.
Seager is quoted saying a number of suburban fire departments, including West Allis’, don’t have the ability to conduct “urban firefighting.”
“It’s blatantly clear that these communities, if called upon, to respond to a working structure fire of any nature within the City of Milwaukee, they would have extreme difficulty . . . not to mention the fact that the City of Milwaukee conducts aggressive, offensive firefighting tactics, which means that we actually go into the building and fight the fire to reduce any further damage.”
In the letter, West Allis Police and Fire Commission President Joseph Kempen says he is “deeply disappointed” by the comments.
“I am confident that West Allis firefighters are as well trained and proficient as any of the area’s top performing departments,” the letter says.
When one would expect Milwaukee’s finest to be appreciative of the help received by the neighboring fire departments, like officials in Cudahy were after the Patrick Cudahy fire last summer, we instead find this territorial sniping.
I, for one, if in need of emergency services, would rather have either cooperation between the various departments, or have one countywide fire department that would serve the entire county. Not several smaller departments getting into turf wars. Not to mention that one department would have less administrative costs and better response times than several departments unwilling to cross city lines.
Walker and the supporters of Walker’s idea of abolishing county government have it completely backwards, as this unfortunate situation demonstrates.
Chris, you have it wrong. It’s not a territorial dispute. The Milwaukee Union President took a swipe at the suburban fire departments in order to hammer the point that the MFD shouldn’t be taking cuts. We understand what he was trying to accomplish, but he did it the wrong way.
West Allis is just one, among several suburban fire departments that’s pissed off because of Seager’s comments on Wagner’s show. My brother works for Cudahy, and the last thing they need is their own residents thinking that Cudahy won’t go into burning houses because they are not as aggressive as the MFD.
Oh, I forgot to add, fire departments don’t need a county government to conduct a MABAS. Some of the Racine County fire departments responded to Patrick Cudahy, which lies in Milwaukee County. I think you are so preoccupied with Walker that you are willing to find any event to prove him wrong.
Aaron, a year ago, on my personal blog, I wrote about the problems involved with creating a city/county metro government. In that post, I mentioned the turf wars that would occur.
The actions of that loudmouth set up a firestorm (excuse the pun) of reactions back and forth, and now our elected leaders are having to waste their time and our tax dollars in trying to calm a few ruffled feathers.
The Cudahy plant fire is an example of how it is supposed to work, I agree. But the Pizza Man fire shows that it doesn’t always work that well.
Chris,
Right, but territory is not the root of the problem. As a firefighter, I understand why Seager said what he said, but he went about it the wrong way. Seagers’ job is to protect the jobs and benefits of MFD firefighters, but not at the expense of other IAFF brothers.
Seager said what he did precisely because the Pizza Man collaboration worked as well as it did. He doesn’t want politicians to get the wrong idea that they can depend upon MABAS more than they should in order to justify more budget cuts to the Fire Department. However, Seagers’ comments, if taken too seriously, could ruin good PR between Milwaukee suburbs and their respective departments. Not to mention, Seagers’ comments are just flat wrong. If anything, the suburban fire departments are better trained than the urban ones – something we owe to what economists call the division of labor.
That is part of the problem, Aaron. As insiders, we know what is going on. The public doesn’t care about the deep insider information, just what appears on the surface. That is why I am more than a little surprised at your backing Walker doing this sort of thing.
Chris,
As a conservative, you know I have a different philosophy about government programs. I tend to see the existence of the city employee for the taxpayer, not the existence of the taxpayer for the city employee. Thus, when government administrators see themselves in a budget crunch, they have to do what they have to do to ensure a balanced budget. It’s just their obligation to the taxpayer.
However, I seem to part with some of my conservative brethren, e.g., Dad29 (or what ever his handle is) on emergency personnel. When it comes to police or fire, government administrators had better have a good reason for making budget cuts to their departments. Because, unlike garbage men and the like, emergency personnel is literally the “last” safety net that the citizenry has during the “worst times of their life”.
I’m not saying that every other city employee is expendable, but that we need to understand the importance of public safety.
Now, if the citizens want reductions at the fire department, who am I to say that they are wrong? If my union cannot protect me, then I will have to apply somewhere else. I am convinced that, although the process would be tough on my family, that I have enough “human capital” so that my services will be valuable to the next employer – whoever that employer may be.
In other words, those of us who work for the city should understand that our jobs aren’t a guarantee – just like it’s not a guarantee in the private sector. As I tell my fellow fire fighters, I will pretend that my pension is not guaranteed so if it is ever stripped from me, I have an alternative retirement plan. As individuals, we need to be ready for whatever curve ball life throws our way – especially during a recession.
Back to Walker. If Walker cut from a budget that negatively affects emergency personnel, he is likely to hear from me about it. And I know people in his campaign and county offices, so I know he would hear my message. So when I heard about the potential layoffs at the sheriff’s office, I took a wait and see approach to see if it would really happen. If it did, I would say something about it. But as for now, it looks like that won’t happen.
I would argue that public safety expands beyond the conservatives’ belief that it is limited to fire, police and EMS.
While those are vital services, and I agree they should be preserved, there are many more vital services that meet public safety needs.
One of the best examples would be the mental health services. These services are actually good in two ways. One is the obvious meeting the needs of someone in psychiatric crisis. I think most people agree that it would be better to have trained professionals dealing with someone that is a danger to themselves and/or to others, rather than possibly make things worse by having untrained personnel or even no one address the imminent threat to public safety.
Secondly, it saves tax payers money. Untreated psychiatric illnesses cost society literally billions of dollars each year.
Also important are the protective services, like Disability Services (where I work), Department of Aging and child welfare. However, most people see these things as expendable and funding and services get cut, as they are about to do so again. But these same people then complain when stories hit the papers about a disabled adult, and elderly citizen, or a child is abused, neglected and sometimes killed.
Ironic, isn’t it?