July 1, 2005

BALANCING THE BUDGET

Seven firefighter jobs, two fire apparatus saved as more
than $60 million cut to balance budget

S.J. mayor, council to provide seven-day library service at all branches

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

The jobs of seven firefighters and two pieces of key firefighting apparatus were saved June 21 as well as many other critical programs residents begged San Jose city officials to save.

District 6 City Councilmember Ken Yeager joins firefighters at Station 6 during a recent day shift. The fire fighters Captain Wade Katsuyoshi (far left), fire fighter Pedro Corona, Yeager, Fire Engineer Julie La Blanc, firefighter James Williams and Fire Engineer Jeff Mushock were all effusive in their praise for both Yeager and Susan Espinoza. “She did a lot,” said Katsuyoshi. “with her passion and love for the fire service.” Espinoza collected more than 200 signatures from members of the Willow Glen community asking to ensure the staffing and hose wagon were not cut.

It was a standing-room-only audience on Monday, June 20, during the last budget public hearing at San Jose City Hall. Many attendees held signs asking for their respective programs to be spared.

San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and members of the San Jose City Council listened to pleas from impassioned residents at the public meeting. The next day, they somehow juggled money from various pots, making cuts to other less critical programs—street lighting and maintenance—unanimously approving a balanced $745 million operating budget for 2005-06 fiscal year.

The cuts closed a $60 million deficit faced by the city due to less sales tax revenue, a declining economy and money being taken from the state government.

“One last thank you to our friends in Sacramento who took $10 million from us this year to make this a lot harder on top of the $30 million from previous years, just in case anyone forgot,” said District 4 San Jose City Councilman Chuck Reed, sarcastically.

Pleas from fire fighters
The council and mayor listened as more than 60 people at the public meeting spoke against the cuts amid the presence of more than 50 firefighters who donned blue T-shirts. The firefighters were accompanied by San Jose Fire Chief Jeff Clett and Randy Sekany and Mark Skeen, president and vice president, respectively, of the San Jose Fire
Fighters Local 230.

They crowded the back wall of the council chambers and lined up to speak at the podium to beg the Council not to further stress an already understaffed department. They presented a collection of nearly 200 signatures of firefighters who were working during the meeting.

Many residents, including seniors, parents and children, a large percentage from the Willow Glen and Alum Rock communities, supported the firefighters’ demonstration as Fire Station 6 and Fire Station 2 were being targeted for reductions. Saved were the popular “hose wagon” and the “water tender” truck used to irrigate areas with no fire hydrants.

The cuts would have meant, for example, that three firemen from Station 6 would have been cut or reassigned to another location. That meant there would not be enough personnel at Station 6 to handle emergency calls and fires at the same time, for example.

The firefighters pleaded with the Council against the cuts stressing that they’re challenged by high housing densities and community service increases. Others warned that Mount Hamilton and the East foothills are naturally prone to wildfires and other fires caused by backyard barbecues, Independence Day celebrations and New Year’s celebrations.

“Our station is not fat with excesses and manpower or equipment,” said one Mount Hamilton resident.

Firefighter Richard Constantine explained that in some city areas it takes more than eight minutes for the first fire apparatus to arrive, four dangerous minutes over what county fire prevention standards allow.

He said a fire doubles in size for every minute it burns and in case of a person having a stroke, heart attack or another medical emergency, added response time is the difference between life and death. He also indicated that while San Jose will soon become the 10th largest city in the nation, the fire department is considered one of the worst in the nation when it comes to staffing.

Cruz Tapia, a firefighter for 30 years, blasted the Council for wanting to eliminate the hazardous Materials Incident Team, which covers 220 square miles. He said with the threat of terrorism, it was even more important to preserve it.

Susan Espinoza of Willow Glen, whose son’s life has been saved many times by the firefighters of Station 6, begged the council to continue to make public safety a top priority. “That (safety priority) can’t happen in Willow Glen if you eliminate the hose wagon from Station 6,” she warned, adding that it would take eight to 10 minutes longer to respond to emergencies without the engine.

“We should be talking about how to expand this department, not reduce it,” Constantine said. “If you cut the staffing level of the fire department you’ll be putting firefighters’ and citizens’ lives at risk.”

At the end of the budget hearing Tuesday, Gonzales said it was difficult to make cuts. “These budgets are tough…. These have not been pleasant times,” he noted. “We don’t want to do any of this (cuts). We do not get into a career of service to reduce public services.”

Councilman Ken Yeager said the budget also spared the Young People’s Theater Company program, which is run from the Kirk Community Center on Foxworthy Avenue. Raising fees, adding different activities and continuing volunteer support saved the program. “I’m very heartened that we were able to restore full staffing of our fire stations,” Yeager said. “Certainly for Willow Glen residents this was a top priority and we will be able to have the same coverage as we always have.”

They also said it’s not necessary for the program to become a part of a nonprofit entity at this time and that under a proposal supported by parents and the city’s Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Department, the program would achieve 102 percent cost recovery and would require parents to provide a more than three thousand hours of volunteer participation.

In the end, with a friendly amendment that Gonzales voted against, the council voted for the mayor’s budget released June 8, by dipping into so called “tier-two” or contingency cuts recommended by the city’s senior staff.

After considering San Jose City Manager Del Borgsdorf’s proposed budget in May, holding several study sessions to study his document and then reviewing Gonzales’ June budget message, the council wholeheartedly went with the mayor’s recommendations as it complied with most of the council members’ budget requests.

Also preserved were crime prevention programs such as Neighborhood Watch and Neighborhood Action programs to continue to provide crime statistics and educate neighborhoods on identifying and reporting problems.

To read the mayor’s June budget message log onto www.sjmayor.org.