What is your message to city administrators, starting with Mayor Bass?
My message is the fire department needs to be properly funded. And it's not, it's not at this point. And we've got the justification. We know where our gaps in service are. We know we need 62 new fire stations. We need to double the size of our firefighters. The growth of this city since 1960 has doubled and we have less fire stations.
>> Let's repeat that because those numbers are a little jarring. You know, 20 years ago you had more fire stations than you had.
Now we had 112 fire stations. Now we have 106. And since 2010 we've had an increase, doubled our call volume, which is firefighters responding to calls, 55% increase with 66, 68 less firefighters. So the city funding is not keeping up with the city's needs. END OF TRANSCRIPT
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It is imperative we identify the underbelly of the Los Angeles Fire Tragedy.
1. It was the passing of Proposition 47 in 2014
The Shift away from law and order to relaxation of prosecution against smaller crimes, the ability to live on the streets year round, and the emergence of lower cost designer drugs were all trumpeted world wide through the emergence of Smart Phone Technology.
2. It was the past 10 years of California Progressive Politicians Grifting about the Dangerous Donald Trump.
Instead of focusing on California's decline, Nancy Pelosi led the California Political charge against Donald Trump during Trumps entire first term with constant investigating, and an impeachment based on "digging for dirt", an accusation so ridiculous to this day it gobsmacks me.
3. It was renewed passion and total attention to Stop Trump that began as soon as Trump won in November of 2024.
Unable to define themselves by the quality of work that could be done within the State of California, California Progressive Democrats IMMEDIATELY began focusing on how they would stop Trump in 2025. The date of the letter Crowley wrote warning about the LAFD's lack of funding was December 4th, 2024, a full month before the LA Fires started. Bass would have had a month to double down on ensuring LAFD was as ready as it could be. Instead, Bass was planning her trip to Ghana, a trip she refused to cancel even after being warned that windfires were imminent. It's stunning to realize California Progressive Politicians grifted and continue to grift fighting Donald Trump over taking care of their own State and the basic needs of their constituents.
There is a 4th underbelly, and it is pension spiking. Pension Spiking is when City Pensions are based on the highest yearly wage a city employee makes during their 20 year service. An employee is offered massive overtime during one of those 20 years so their annual pension will spike well beyond what it would have been without that one year of pension spiking. The issue of Pension Spiking needs to be addressed, and, in fairness to Firefighters and Police Officers, who both risk their lives, health, and their marriages due to the high stress level of their jobs, the issue needs to be treated with compassion and compromise.