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"What kind of city would risk the lives of its citizens and firefighters to save a few dollars?"
Submitted by Ray Murphy on Tue, 12/16/2008 - 12:33pm.
The title of this post is a quote from Brian McBride from the Philadelphia Fire Fighters' Union in today's Inky. It's a great question, and frankly not one restricted to the cuts to the Fire Department.
The reality is that the City could keep library branches open, could maintain engines at firehouses, could keep funding to CCP and more through out the rest of this budget year. Yeah times are tough, but there is little conclusive proof that has been offered by the Mayor to justify Grinch-like December cuts and layoffs. And, as we proved two weeks ago with our poll, even if cash is low, there is an appetite from Philadelphians to help pay more to avoid cuts. Not to mention that help may well be on the way from Obama.
So what is this really about?
There is simply no doubt that Philadelphia is a city with an uncertain future. The glass-half-empty: We have low wages, high poverty, not enough college graduates and no cohesive economic development plan to change any of that. The glass half-full: We have a devoted populace, strong neighborhoods, and lots of good ideas and emerging leaders.
Which means that the central question is whether we have elected leadership that can activate our common dreams and inspire us all to be hopeful (Yes We Can!) while balancing decision-making on the reality of the choices we face. For the most part that means asking all Philadelphians to help invest in the city's future by spending a lot of money on education and economic development that leads to family-sustaining jobs for all of us, or at least a lot more of us. We are all going to have to sacrifice some to make this a better city, but it is an investment that can pay off in a big way.
National/global fiscal crisis aside, this question has been on the table for a long time. And so the introduction of a budget "crisis" two days after the election seems like a distraction from this central question.
So what is this really about?
Are Mayor Nutter and the duck-and-cover City Council unable to meet the challenges of leadership? Do they suffer from a lack of vision and purpose?
Or is something else up? The urgency and the sometimes hysteria that has surrounded this "crisis" sure has been effective--if nothing else--at setting the stakes for some very tough union negotiations in a few months and for a fiercely competitive budgeting process.
It's easy to speculate on what is really going on here, but at the end of the day, it's not all that complicated. Either we have leaders who are able, or at least want, to make the changes needed to strengthen or city. Or we don't. If we don't, the rest of us are in real trouble and it begs a lot of larger questions about what we're supposed to do--in a democracy--when our leaders just are not listening to us.
shock doctrine
I haven't read her book, only exerpts, but naomi Kelin has spoke and written quite abit about the shock doctrine
sound familiar? "our economy is collapsing, so we have to cut libraries and pools and fire engines and do it now. no time to discuss, do it now."
I'm not buying it. I don't think my neighbors are either.
Hm.
I think invoking The Shock Doctrine is inappropriate in this context. Sure, the old "sell a bad idea when times are tough" argument can fly, but you don't need Naomi Klein's help in doing so.
(Sorry, I just think her book is silly. Good prose, reflects a good foundation for its few legitimate criticisms, but ultimately imprudent in its demonization of Milton Friedman.)
---
- All politics is local.
What kind of City?
As the daughter of a Los Angeles fire chief and sister to a captain, my stomach has often dropped when I see the conditions and lack of respect the firemen in this city have to put up with.
The inability of the city leaders to actually run a city for good of the citizen is growing more apparent every day. It appears that the city which worked so hard to put Obama in office has a city government that does not adhere to the Obama principles of building from grassroots up. Firemen, education, libraries and environment are fundamental infrastructure.
Do you really think the casinos are going to help anything? Casinos are going bankrupt in other parts of the country. People know to spend their money on fundamentals. People want to spend their money on something of lasting worth.
The politicians should heed the rumbling of the citizens. This is Philadelphia, after all. People are fed up. One day, soon, the stronghold of city government will wake up to find a Philadelphia revolution of free citizens surrounding their secret meeting and finally claiming their right to a government that serves the will of the people.
Citizens have been bamboozled and abused and manipulated. The government has kept citizens poor, uneducated and afraid. Wake up! That is not the spirit of Philadelphia.
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Firefighters sue the city
From the AP:
Charming quote by Shelley Smith.
That's a great quote. I hope they put that up on their wall somewhere. The city declares victory over its own people, and its workers who risk their lives!
At least hopefully it finally spells the death of the old worn-out "it's a done deal," which got really boring after about the first three years or so.
Ray - to your point - and maybe this is too long-term to be inspiring...
But one of the best things that I think is going to come out of the election of Barack Obama is a totally new definition and model of leadership. Because of Obama's personal history, international background, etc etc, he is more of a listener than most other politicians I have seen. He is much more collaborative and respectful of people than most people who get elected to public office at that level... this served him well as a senator. Remember during the campaign when he said he'd actually talk to Iran and all those authoritarian Republican types started squawking? I was so excited. To me, that's what leadership is. Listening, and using what you hear to govern. After eight years of the imperial presidency, it's going to be refreshing, and hopefully it will affect the rest of the country.
Yeah, isn't it
They really are perfecting the dismissive tone.
The Obama listening thing is totally the product of his being trained as a community organizer. It will be really interesting if young people start putting in time as organizers--so radically different from the years of 'America's promise' and volunteerism being promoted just as a front for pulling the government out of various social services.