The Grinch

Well, 11 of our best are now wondering what they are going to tell their children on Christmas. That's right, 11 fire fighters have been laid off. Not 1 person in any other department has to worry. Not the second lawyer (The charter only calls for one) that makes $48,247.00. Not Leighton's boy puppet, Drew, who makes $38,682.00. Not one of the city hall people that do NOTHING to save lives.
Oh, and how did the unfortunate Firefighters find out?
The Line Chief had to deliver the letters. Here what they got.

That's it. After the 'King' negotiated a contract extension with us then three weeks later he started screaming that the city had no money. Now MONTHS later, just in time to put pressure on us, lay offs. But ONLY for us. Then he LIED, AGAIN, to the press, "we cannot continue to finance all government services and employee costs without cooperation from the city's unions." After he walked out on them while they made an offer! And this while STILL not giving us any kind of numbers to work with!

To quote another Firefighter, "I haven't felt like this since 9/11 and I saw the towers go down."

Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote

Wake Up Wilkes-Barre

If you go to Wake Up Wilkes-Barre you can see the true base salaries of W-B City employees.

Dan Emplit WBFD

A letter from the Fire Dept Union President

Good morning,

I am writing today because recent quotes from the administration are basically laying the whole cost of $2,000,000 budget shortfall on the WBFD.

"Police, public works and other departments also would be affected as the city struggles to make up for an estimated $2 million revenue shortfall this year and reduce the 31 percent property tax increase proposed in the mayor’s $45.8 million balanced budget for 2013."

Leighton said he is “always looking to increase revenue for the city.” He said there are “15 to 20 firefighters worried about their jobs,”

Twenty firefighters amount to over $1.7 million of the $2 million dollar budget deficit.

We have two main questions. The first one, that we have been asking for weeks is, what is the true number the city is looking to layoff? The second is has anyone truly looked into the fire budget as a whole?

The 2013 budget as presented has some major flaws in the public safety portion of the fire budget. Currently the city has budgeted for 61 firefighters for fire suppression, 8 firefighters for uniformed ambulance service, and 3 for administration which includes the fire inspector, training officer, and Chief of the department.

That amounts to a budget that reflects 72 firefighters on the WBFD, which is incorrect. Currently we are down to 64 firefighters. Logic would dictate that if you remove the extra 8 firefighters from the budget, that would take care of $700,000 of the 2013 budget shortfall.

Another question that we are inquiring about is $456,414 for the cities contribution into the new fire pension. In past audits, since our pension was solvent , the cities' contribution to the new fire pension was $0, and state money was the only monies added to our plan. Currently we do not have the 2011-2012 audit to check on contributions, but it should be due out shortly.

Just a note, the pension numbers and the three administrative firefighters positions cannot be found online. There is a page missing between pages 36 and 37 which details the cost of fire administration total on page 37.

Just to summarize, if the manning numbers are reworked and it is found the cities MMO for the new fire pension is still at $0, you can close more than half of the budget deficit without laying off a single firefighter from our already depleted force.

Throughout the years, we the Wilkes-Barre City Firefighters have always stepped up to help out the city in time of need, and now we are reduced by 24 firefighters ,and are threatened with the loss of 20 more.

At this moment, we are weighing our options as to how to keep the minute number of 64 on the job, when as all the studies show we should be at 88 firefighters at a minimum.

Just yesterday both of our Engine companies and both ambulances were tied up on calls when a dispatch came in for a car fire. An engine company pulled out of an operation to respond to the car fire but it took precious time. I shudder to think what the outcome would have been if it had been a structure fire.

At this time I am asking the administration and city council to look into the other city department budgets and maybe some other savings can be found.

Mike Bilski
President IAFF L-104

The BIG lie

I went to tonight's council meeting. Actually I've made 4 of the last 5 (I think, they get a little mind numbing.)

I get why my union officers have to play nice with our dictator, I really do, They have to negotiate with him and his cronies. I however am NOT a union officer and I DON'T GOTTA.

Tonight Leighton told a BIG LIE. He said,"The firefighter's union has been very good to the city (We have, that's not the lie), and the city has been very good to the firefighters." WHAT!!!!!
List time!
Since the dictator has assumed what he thinks is a throne, 26 Firefighters have retired. They were replaced with FIVE.

We had 16 firemen per shift, now 11. Don't forget the Lloyds study said 17 is the minimum for public safety. But don't worry the dictator still has the security system that the public bought. AND WHAT THE HELL IS IT MADE OF PLATINUM?!!!

We had 5 engine houses. Gained one, lost 2 and remember that South Station's Engine is only manned about one eighth the time. Oh and before he makes noise about closing it, IT IS THE ONLY FIREHOUSE THAT IS NOT IN THE FLOODPLAIN!!

We got new Engines. That the dictator took credit for them, when it was a generous anonymous donation.

We had 5 Engines and now we have 2 and the part time Engine 3.

He put's our salaries out to the press, but doesn't tell them that the numbers are artificially inflated by judgments that he illegally hid money that was rightfully ours for years (honestly, when he became mayor, if he had asked for this money, We would have given it to him) or that it included overtime THAT HE CREATED by not having enough firefighters to cover the shifts.
He has demonized us at almost every turn and blames anyone else for the mess he has created.

When the mayor was elected he asked all the city unions to help the city financially in their contracts. Only the fire union did (concessions = approx 4.5 million dollars over 9 years). Mayor Leighton said "By making (these) substantial concessions, the firefighters' union has agreed to become partners with the city in its revitalization plan"
We've done OUR part. HE hasn't done his. And now he will risk our lives and yours, because of his pet projects and friends (JJ and the whole $300 an hour). But he thinks we ,the taxpayers, owe him. Proof? Why hasn't he payed us back for the security system? Why hasn't he taken a pay cut? He's the fourth highest salaried mayor in the state. And that doesn't include the fuel he helped himself to.

Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote

God Bless and Protect our men and women in uniform.

Dan Emplit WBFD
USN 1986 - 1992

"I paid for my newspaper subscription with it."

You're probably wondering what the title of this post has to do with... well anything. It's a quote from tonight's council meeting.
Let me start at the beginning. The vast majority of tonight's speakers were fed up with the idea of more taxes. Really fed up. They should have been even MORE fed up with Leighton texting the whole meeting instead of listening.
Dale Harris of 'Harris Muffler' pointed out that since "Leighton became mayor taxes have increased 240%"!
Linda Urban told of a man who's vehicle had been towed by LAG. He needed his tools out of it for work. Allegedly Leo Glodzik told him he could only get his tools if he,"paid $100 and turned over his title." That seems shady to me, but honestly I don't know the legalities.
What I do know, and was witness to was a minor confrontation between Mrs. Urban and Mr. Glozdik.
Linda Urban: What did you do with his $100?
Leo Glozdik: I paid for my newspaper subscription with it!
More than anything, This (and the smirk on his face) tells me and everyone else exactly what kind of person Leo is. You remember the person Leighton vouches for.

Near the end Karen Ceppa-Hirko pointed out various major inconsistencies in the preliminary proposed budget.
And finally when Leighton tried to turn the meeting into 'city workers bad' tirade He was meet with, first, someone saying we could save money if he didn't "take gas" and then someone else (could've been me) mentioned "Or payed his buddy $300 an hour."

Honestly, there was a lot of applause for NOT getting services cut and for Leighton, council and most of city hall taking the cuts before doing anything. Specifically Leighton taking a $40,000 cut.


Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote

2012 Final Presidential Debate

I've got to say that a comment made during the debate on Monday annoyed me.




the exact transcript:
Romney: Our Navy is old -- excuse me, our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917. The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We're now at under 285. We're headed down to the low 200's if we go through a sequestration. That's unacceptable to me.

I want to make sure that we have the ships that are required by our Navy. Our Air Force is older and smaller than at any time since it was founded in 1947. We've changed for the first time since FDR -- since FDR we had the -- we've always had the strategy of saying we could fight in two conflicts at once. Now we're changing to one conflict. Look, this, in my view, is the highest responsibility of the President of the United States, which is to maintain the safety of the American people. . .

OBAMA: Bob, I just need to comment on this. First of all, the sequester is not something that I've proposed. It is something that Congress has proposed. It will not happen. The budget that we are talking about is not reducing our military spending. It is maintaining it.

But I think Governor Romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.

And so the question is not a game of Battleship, where we're counting slips. It's what are our capabilities. And so when I sit down with the Secretary of the Navy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, we determine how are we going to be best able to meet all of our defense needs in a way that also keeps faith with our troops, that also makes sure that our veterans have the kind of support that they need when they come home.

The comment that annoyed me, of course, is:
"Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines."

The condescending nature and tone of the comment was VERY un-Presidential, and wrong to boot.
First off, I know that the Marines, at least, are still taught how to fight with bayonets.

"Bayonet charges have been critical events in modern warfare. Gettysburg, and thus the Civil War, turned on a bayonet charge down little Round Top. In the Korean War, the defense of Chip Yong Ni likewise saw a famous bayonet charge, that one by the outnumbered French Foreign Legionnaires. That same war saw a platoon of U.S. Infantry take out machine gun positions with a bayonet charge on a piece of terrain that became known as “Bayonet Hill.” In both Iraq and Afghanistan, British Army units have executed bayonet charges to overcome resistance, most famously in the 2004 “Battle of Danny Boy” at Al Amara, Iraq."

Second, Aircraft carriers have been around since 1918. The USS Langley (CV-1) was in service on March 20, 1922. The Lexington class was commissioned in 1927. Nuclear submarines have been in service since the USS Nautilus was launched in 1954. To act like Governor Romney couldn't grasp the fundamentals of this is nothing but an arrogant ass looking to demean his opponent.

There is a MINIMUM number of naval vessels NEEDED to do the job that they are tasked with. If experts tell you that a certain number is the minimum, what makes him a better judge than the experts? I mean they ARE THE EXPERTS!

AND Obama is gutting not only what we have, but what we would have!
"In citing high technology, Obama gave us a display of brazen hypocrisy at its finest. On his watch, the Department of Defense has been cutting procurement programs such as the F-22 and the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. In both cases, our military personnel must now make do with aging alternatives (the F-15C and AAV-7 family of vehicles). The F-15 entered service in 1976, the AAV-7 in 1972. By the 2016 election, both of these systems will be 40 years old, and expected to still be in service for as much as a decade. So much for relying on new technology — Obama has halted production of the high-tech replacements."

As for our Navy, "The Obama administration’s neglect of the Navy can be typified by the early retirement of the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) and its plans to decommission other naval assets. In August of this year, I outlined on NRO why the Enterprise should remain in service, but the Big E is only the most prominent asset slated for premature retirement. The administration also plans to decommission and scrap six Ticonderoga-class cruisers, although the vessels have as many as 15 years of service life left (even without further overhauls). Maintaining freedom of the seas requires hulls in the water — and the Navy hasn’t even started building the replacements for these cruisers."

"None of our carriers or submarines — no matter how high-tech they are — are capable of covering the Persian Gulf and South China Sea at the same time, or the Mediterranean Sea and the Korean peninsula simultaneously."

"What they fail to mention is the fact that China’s defense budget has at least quadrupled since 2000. China is becoming more aggressive around the Senkaku Islands and the South China Sea, in disputes with American allies such as Japan and the Philippines, and it has just commissioned its first aircraft carrier."

"In World War II, when the United States built a navy second to none, our military had a running start with the Naval Expansion Act of 1938 and the Two-Ocean Navy Act of July 1940 — bills passed long before the attack on Pearl Harbor. But even with that running start, most of those ships did not arrive on the front lines until mid-1943 or later, and many sailors and Marines paid the price in blood for America’s failure to prepare. Who will pay the price today, in the event of military conflict?"

Dan Emplit WBFD
USN 1986 - 1992