Brookline to mull cutting 20 firefighters

Brookline resident here.

I don't see any way out. If anything, I'd say cut back on the police as we have such a large number of cops relative to our size and populace. And don't get me started on how often I watch cops chatting away idly in cars and restaurants, with apparently nothing to do.

Fantastic! Let's see...the Brookline FD does about 7,500 runs a year and has about 160 (or less) members, so that would be over a 10% reduction in manpower.

Simply disconnect 10% of 911 callers and cut 750 runs a year short. Just drive around the block, or tell Arlington or Boston to go.

Thank goodness we'll have surveillance cameras to give us a false sense of security once all our men in uniform are laid off.

To bad Gov. Patrick gave away 7.4 million dollars last monday as part of life science initiative? I am sure some town could have used that money?

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center agreed yesterday to award a $7.4 million grant to Organogenesis, Inc. to facilitate a major expansion

Typical bureaucracy... the old "Washington monument" strategy: propose the most conspicuous cut, provoke outrage, and extort more money from the bureaucracy (named after how the Park Service always threatens to close the Washington Monument rather than try and save money). You really think in all of Brookline, with all those people in Brookline Town Hall or otherwise on the Brookline payroll, these 20 firefighters are the only ones that can be cut? Next it will be the music teachers or high school sports. They will never propose to make genuine cuts in the name of streamlining, efficiency and saving money.

That said, why aren't firefighter union officials working today? It's not a holiday for any other working people, as far as I can tell.

As a Brookline resident, I support the decision to cut the fire department. There is no need for duplication of services everytime a medical call is received. At present firefighters, police and EMTs all respond for a 911 medical call with over 10 personnel overwhelming the patient.
Next item should be to examine the Public Works department and consider outsourcing trash and snow removal.
And moving all town employees to the State Employee Health Insurance Plan.
Lets get creative instead of costly overides.

Tacitus-
maybe the other 140 firefighters can stop playing video games and wiffleball and pick up the cut 10% productivity instead of just cutting 10% of the numbers across the board. Or will that cut into their drinking time too much? Cant have that. And whats the big deal about cutting firefighters- they all have another full time job or two to fall back on.

As a town employee I say this is a bad idea. Outsourcing jobs is not the best way to go, case in point Boston outsourced water department jobs and look at all the issues they have had with frozen hydrants at fires. Brookline has had no issues to date. To the tax payers who agree with getting rid of town jobs who are you going to call for water, sewer or trash issues when it is privatized?good luck getting contractors to be here for water main breaks or to come back down your street because you put your trash out late. You are quick to say get rid of our jobs but how many of you are willing to pay more taxes? Sure they send police fire and ems to calls but once the sirens stop and you are sitting at home having a heart attack and it takes 10-12 minutes for an ambulance to arrive do not cry to the police, most are first responders or to the fire department because they could have been there in four minutes. So as you die waiting for help because you cut jobs don't shed a tear.

That is crazy to think that cutting Firefighters are the way to cut back... Brookline has way to many meter maids, crossing guards, and Cops that do nothing but give people a hard time.

In these times, we all have to make difficult choices. As a resident of Brookline, I would rather have cut teaching Mandarin Chinese (ended up only one school opted for that; the others chose Spanish, starting in the elementary grades instead of 7th grade) and not have to let go of firefighters. Safety first, to say nothing of the ramifications on the families of the 20 let-go firefighters.
Residents of towns like Brookline should have a say in the cuts. Would you rather keep firefighters, for example, and not have our homes or apartment buildings burn during a fire, or would we rather our kids learn Chinese or Spanish at an earlier age than in the past? The age of greed -- of wanting it all --- is over. We have to face that and make rock-bottom decisions.