MOFD board power play negatively impacts safety
The MOFD employees' union launched a final power play a few days before they lost control of our fire department's $30 million of annual tax revenue.
The three directors elected four years ago with $30,000 of union funding, at the last board meeting of their term, voted to hire six more union members at a cost of over $2 million a year; money that should be used for wildfire prevention.
The claim that an extra response team will increase our safety is ridiculous. We are already served by six paramedic response units answering 1,900 medical emergencies annually. That is less than one call per unit per day.
The claim that putting two response units in Orinda's station 45, instead of one, would reduce response times is unfounded. It will take just as long to drive to the top of Orinda Downs or El Toyonal as ever. What these neighborhoods need is brush clearing, not a superfluous medical response unit sitting around most of the day.
Shame on these directors. Thankfully they lost control of MOFD and cooler heads can reconsider how to maximize the community's safety.
Steve Cohn
Orinda
The MOFD employees' union launched a final power play a few days before they lost control of our fire department's $30 million of annual tax revenue.
The three directors elected four years ago with $30,000 of union funding, at the last board meeting of their term, voted to hire six more union members at a cost of over $2 million a year; money that should be used for wildfire prevention.
The claim that an extra response team will increase our safety is ridiculous. We are already served by six paramedic response units answering 1,900 medical emergencies annually. That is less than one call per unit per day.
The claim that putting two response units in Orinda's station 45, instead of one, would reduce response times is unfounded. It will take just as long to drive to the top of Orinda Downs or El Toyonal as ever. What these neighborhoods need is brush clearing, not a superfluous medical response unit sitting around most of the day.
Shame on these directors. Thankfully they lost control of MOFD and cooler heads can reconsider how to maximize the community's safety.
Steve Cohn
Orinda
Reach the reporter at:
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA