Publication Date: Friday, May 20, 2005
The hills are concerned
The hills are concerned
(May 20, 2005) Neighbors in Palo Alto Hills worry about proposed fire department budget cut
by Bill D'Agostino
eighbors with homes in the hills above Palo Alto are concerned a potential cut to the city's Fire Department budget would leave them more susceptible to a large-scale conflagration.
"Nobody's especially happy about it, but we really don't know what we can do except complain," said Vicki Dempsey, the president of the Palo Alto Hills Neighborhood Association.
Instead of staffing Fire Station 8 -- located in Foothills Park -- for 120 days in the summer months, the city has proposed staffing it only during "high fire alert days." The department expects there will be approximately 20 of those per summer.
In addition, rather than staffing the station with three firefighters on a wildland truck, the department would only have two firefighters with a patrol truck, rendering them unable to fight blazes by themselves until help arrives.
Fire Chief Nick Marinaro admitted there was a risk in the proposal, but said the department was required to contribute to the city's budget cuts. The proposed change is estimated to save $60,000 a year.
The city is facing a projected $5.2 million deficit for 2005-06. Numerous city services are on the chopping block and 18 workers could be laid off.
In recent years, Marinaro also noted, there has only been an average of 34 calls per year for service from Station 8 during the 120 days it was open.
Earlier this month, the Finance Committee unanimously recommended the Fire Department's budget. The City Council is scheduled to review and approve the entire city budget on June 20.
In past years, Station 8 has been staffed using firefighters working overtime. Two years ago, a proposal to staff it using on-duty firefighters pulled temporarily from other stations drew a strong political protest from the firefighters' union. Its members handed out fliers in affected neighborhoods and spoke at city meetings.
Thus far this year, there has been little public uproar about the new proposal.
At a neighborhood meeting with the chief on May 9, some neighbors questioned why they were being put at risk while other "fluffy" city services were being kept intact.
"We're being left out, which is often the case up here," Dempsey said. "We're kind of the stepchild of the city as far as services go."
Staff Writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com.
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