East Cleveland mayor orders firefighters to double as landscapers

[The Straight Story]

East Cleveland mayor orders firefighters to double as landscapers


EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- The mayor has ordered the city's firefighters to cut grass and trim shrubs while on duty to help the service department care for parks and other public areas.

"We have 54 firefighters, and they have a lot of downtime," Mayor Eric Brewer said Thursday. "Instead of sitting around the station, they'll be assisting us as we beautify the city."

The firefighters' union opposes the plan, arguing that noise from city lawnmowers and protective headphones worn by firefighters might prevent them from hearing their radios when an emergency call comes in.

"We're firefighters, not service workers," union vice president Rick Razek said. "It jeopardizes our citizens and will absolutely hinder our response time."

The mayor's plan calls for firefighters to travel in a fire truck to their assigned work site and to keep their firefighting gear with them so they can proceed directly to the scene of a fire if called.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OH_LANDSCAPING_FIREFIGHTERS_OHOL-?SITE=WBNSTV&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[originalpckelly]

1. I guess these assholes who *only* run into burning buildings had better start doing more.

Who do these people think they are anyway?

:sarcasm:

The disregard people in this country have for first responders is never surprising to me anymore.

[sleipnir]

2. Wait, is Mel Brooks the mayor?

That at least would make sense with this idiotic (yet very visually comic) situation.

[The Straight Story]

3. I wanna know if they can put out a fire at my house AND cut my grass

seems reasonable :)

[catnhatnh]

4. Actually,they have limited "downtime"...

For instance the department my brother worked for ran 2 shifts per day-a 7am to 5pm day and a 5pm to 7am night....nights were a "maintenance" deal,with firefighters ONLY doing fire and rescue duties.Days though were given over to fire and rescue as required,training and recertification as possible and fire safety inspections,vehicle and equipment maintenance, plus misc. duties...so unless he expects them to run the lawnmowers in the dark,his ass is sucking wind....

[catnhatnh]

5. And It is worse than I thought...

after reading the full article, I see the mayor actually referring to the fact that they also perform fire safety inspections, fire safety education and other misc. tasks and yet he STILL paints a picture of layabouts sucking off the city-then refers to a law written during WW2 to help with manpower shortages to back his delusional "logic" and closes with a cheap shot about how it "looks like fun" and how he might get out and "cut some grass"...All I can say is one of the two parties (the mayor vs. the firefighters) appears to have too much free time and that that party should do the "beautifying"...

[KT2000]

6. Wow -

I sure hope if Mayor Brewer's house starts on fire, they show up with lawnmowers and weedeaters!

What a jackass.

[TZ]

7. Cleveland is called the "mistake on the lake" for a reason

As someone who has parents who grew up near the East Cleveland area, this doesn't surprise me. If I recall, thats a pretty wealthy area so I bet the snobs who live there probably like the idea really.

[dsc]

9. Your recall is totally false

East Cleveland is an extremely poor city that is virtually all minority. It is just like East St Louis which was famously described by Kozel in his famous book about poverty riven schools.

[AnOhioan]

10. Nice slam against Cleveland there

Dredging up a nickname from 30 years ago. As another poster already noted, East Cleveland is anything but wealthy. Once upon a time, that may have been the case but in the present day, East Cleveland is a very troubled city with nmassive amounts of unemployment and hig poverty levels.

While I disagree with the Mayor Brewster's actions, using this story to tarnish the entire Cleveland metro area is just sad.

[TZ]

11. Sorry I really shouldn't slam the WHOLE city..

but I have some really obnoxious WOO Cleveland family members who are snobs and bigots. I guess I am thinking more of the more suburban areas like Beechwood, Cleveland Heights, etc...but thats STILL the only place I have ever been where I went into a house that had a separate upstairs for the servants (much smaller than the other upstairs) and therefore, yeah I am not overly fond of the city really

Edited to add: I was born in Cincinnati, so not only do I have an inborn bias, but I guess I shouldn't speak ill of Cleveland considering who much worse my home town is:)

[Edweird]

8. That idiot is gonna ruin his fire dept. Maybe he has some other plan and needs

to weaken the force by "culling the herd" or something. Or maybe he's just a dumbass. Either way, if I worked there, I would be haulin' ass outa there.