Sociology, history, gender studies, political science classes, and the freshman honors program at the University of Massachusetts Lowell spent several weeks learning about the 1912 Lawrence, Mass., textile strike.
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Then it was that books began to happen to me, and I began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language, not in monosyllables, as we did in Kansas.
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Langston Hughes, his time spent as a youth in the Lawrence, Kansas Public Library, one of the only integrated public buildings in the city at that time The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor 2/1/11 Happy Birthday, Blues Writer of the Harlem Renaissance. |
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Isn’t the Lawrence Fire Department too big to fail, or is it wrapped in a Somebody Else’s Problem field? I predicted that Lawrence’s inability to provide adequate public safety would increase its reliance on other municipalities. This is a regional problem: we all live downwind.
Yesterday, the department had a total of 15 firefighters working, which is less than half the number on duty per shift several years ago, Marsh said.
Since the layoffs, calling on neighboring fire departments for additional support — once a backup option — has become the norm, he said.
“We’ll respond to Lowell three, four times a year — it’s a system that’s never supposed to be abused,’’ Marsh said. “Now we’re abusing it. Right now, we rely on them three, four times this week.’’
When the layoffs were announced, Acting Chief Brian J. Murphy told the Globe the budget cuts pose an “imminent danger’’ to the safety of the city’s 70,000 residents.
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Of course, the only modest proposal is to privatize the fire department in Lawrence, MA. As the response to the natural disaster in the Gulf of Mexico proves, market forces are best poised to respond to disasters. Further expanding public firefighting is creeping socialism. I have no personal financial interest in the matter, my father having retired from firefighting years ago. Critics should heed my impeccable Swiftian logic. Along these lines,I also think residents of my town can safely ignore this manufactured “state of emergency” next door, because the market will respond.
July 9, 2010
By Mark E. Voglermvogler@eagletribune.com
LAWRENCE — Citing this week’s layoffs of 23 Lawrence firefighters, the Boston-based Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts is calling for Gov. Deval Patrick to declare “a public safety state of emergency” in the city.
“Without immediate state and federal financial resources, the Lawrence firefighters will be playing a game of ‘Russian roulette’ with each call and/or emergency that they respond to,” Robert B. McCarthy, president of the statewide organization, said in an emailed statement last night.
“When a fire happens, seconds not minutes, can be the difference between life and death,” he said.
The group, which represents 12,000 union firefighters across the state, planned to rally at the Statehouse this afternoon to urge the governor to call the emergency so the city can receive state and federal money to help restore the jobs eliminated by Mayor William Lantigua to balance the city’s budget.
“I urge the Governor to declare a “STATE OF EMERGENCY” so that the City of Lawrence can avert a further public safety crisis,” McCarthy said.
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