Kudos go out to Daniel M. Jimenez and Natalie Neysa Alund for doing some real reporting for a change over there at the Contra Costa Times over the weekend. They reported Saturday on a two-alarm Concord blaze that spread from one home to another early Saturday morning had a slower firefighter response due to staffing reductions at one of Contra Costa’s busiest stations.
Unfortunately, the naysayers over there at the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association are out complaining to whoever will listen that the news story apparently had some editorializing within the article. The reality is the effects of a reduction in staffing levels are very real and have now been exposed in a real life situation as opposed to scare tactics that have been claimed by CoCo Tax. The truth comes out in an article, now CoCo Tax members are attacked attacking the Times for a solid article because it disputes their message!
Keep in mind this is the same newspaper that’s trashed firefighters and public safety for the last few years by repeating Ms. Hunts rhetoric through her buddy Dan Borenstein in the editorial department. This is the same paper that rejected Measure S and now doing the same with Measure Q.
I would encourage CoCo Tax members, specifically Kris Hunt and Wendy Lack to spend less time worrying about the Times and spend more time questioning your President Michael McGill as news came out last week that as a Board Member on the Central Contra Costa County Sanitary District, his District serves as the poster child for pension abuse in Contra Costa County. One did not hear a peep out of either Ms. Hunt or Ms. Lack, instead, it was back to attacking firefighters.
Note, this is the same Wendy Lack who likely received a nice retirement (pension or 401k) from her time as Human Resources Director for the City of Walnut Creek from 1983 to 2006. For the record, I think its great she receives a nice retirement for her service, she just shouldn’t be attacking others in the process.
But lets be honest, Ms. Hunt and Ms. Lack may want to question their president for calling Measure S “Stupid” during a meeting before getting educated immediately after. What is more interesting is the apparently conflict of interest of Mr. McGill serving as a district member of LAFCO while serving as President of CoCo Tax which each have conflicting views of one another–he should be asked to step down from LAFCO.
Instead of attacking firefighters and now apparently the Times, why doesn’t Kris Hunt and Wendy Lack speak with him about his apparent multiple conflicts of interests? They either are playing stupid or trying to protect him and his special district while bringing attention to another special district. Ladies this is what you call a clear double-standard.
As for CoCo Tax, they are also subsidized by one of their members on rent. I have documents that show they are paying far less than market value in Downtown Martinez where the landlord is non-other than Lippow Development Co. In 2009, the document highlights how they paid just $4,600 in 2009 for rent, utilities, and maintenance—or, just $389 per month via their 990 form. In 2008, it was listed as $4,330. To put this in perspective, their 2004 form shows this same line as just $4,376. In a five year period, their rent went up just $300?
Where was Ms. Hunt and Wendy Lack defending their pension club lists that the Contra Costa Times ran with for months from their database–this was their “go-to” argument that has now been ruled a fraud. Now they are silent.
The Times only came out with their updated list and slant after I brought attention to how incorrect their pension club rhetoric was because it wasn’t the rank and file who were on the list, but non-union folks! Now Mr. Peele and Mr. Borenstein have to change their tune and from what I hear, they are unhappy. This of course, was a long battle over many months by many people.
Now back to the article at hand, before I get into the many comments, here is a portion article that CoCo Tax is now attacking which was actually pretty solid.
According to the article
CONCORD — A two-alarm Concord blaze that spread from one home to another early Saturday morning had a slower firefighter response due to staffing reductions at one of Contra Costa’s busiest stations, a fire union official said.
No one was injured in the Concord fire, but flames did spread to a neighboring home, causing moderate damage as it took eight minutes for the first units to arrive, according to dispatch records. The engine closest to the fire had already been dispatched on a medical call.
Firefighters were called at 3:02 a.m. to 1775 Margo Dr., a Contra Costa fire district dispatcher said, and first arrived on scene at 3:10 a.m. Two adults who live in the home that first caught fire managed to escape unharmed.
Ordinarily, the first call would have been sent to Station 6 in downtown Concord. Until recently, that station housed two crews of three people each, but it was reduced to one crew on July 1, said Capt. Vince Wells, president of United Professional Firefighters Local 1230.
With the Station 6 crew out on a medical call, the call went to the next nearest station in North Concord, he said. The domino effect of calls going to stations farther away can increase response times and put crews and residents at risk, Wells said.
“Whenever you take one crew out of the loop, regardless of where it is, it has an impact,” Wells said. “If somebody has a heart attack or a breathing problem … a two- to three-minute delay could be significant.”
While the first units called to the scene may be delayed only a few minutes, the response time can increase much more, depending on how far they are from the incident, Wells said. The station in North Concord would normally be the second engine called to the scene; instead, that call went to a Pleasant Hill station.
Wells noted that larger cuts could be required if voters reject Measure Q, a $75-per-parcel property tax on the November ballot. The funding would keep staffing at current levels, he said; without it, as many as seven of the county’s 28 stations could be closed.
As you can see, this article provided a fair assessment of what transpired because of a change in staffing and service levels. To put this in perspective, when a fire like this occurs in East County, all three of our engines are on one scene meaning the rest of the District is uncovered.
Now onto the fun part, comments from the peanut gallery with myself included.
Wendy McKeever Lack
It’s disappointing when the Times does editorializing in its news stories. Reporting a fire is news. Giving the firefighters’ union a soap box during a heated campaign amounts to an in-kind contribution of free advertising.
Shame on the Times for allowing themselves to be used as tools to advance Local 1230’s pension tax campaign. Next time, try sticking to the news.
Vote NO on Q!
Kris Hunt
For some reason the union does not mention that this tax is needed to pay for their pension mess and that within a couple of years the district will be broke even with this tax.
Mike Burkholder
Wendy, what don’t you get about news??? The other engine was on a call somewhere else, reduced services mean another engine was not available. The Times was truthful in what happened so stop complaining that it didn’t give it the slant you and your CoCO Tax cronies have enjoyed for the past year while the paper bad mouthed Measure S and now Measure Q with your rhetoric.
Wendy, I am disappointed you have not come to the reality this Measure is not about pensions or changing service models at a ballot box. It’s about keeping stations open to protect lives.
Vince Wells
Wendy and Kris
As far as the Times article, it is very interesting that you chastise them now, but praised them during Measure S in East County. I agree that they should be non-opinionated and report the facts. In this case, a Fire Captain that was the first on scene of this incident commented to the news reporter about our budget cuts and the fact that one of the two crews from the busiest fire station in our district was de-staffed due to budget cuts on July 1. They contacted me for comments and reported what I said, I do concur that my quotes are accurate in this article. That is a change, maybe, that is why you have a problem with this particular article.
Kris, the article above was about budget cuts, no questions were asked about pension cost.
On pensions, yes our fire district budget consists of pension cost. We have never disputed that. Due to the market crash and depooling, the cost went up significantly. So have our fuel cost and cost for services and supplies. As with any public service organization, the personnel cost make up most of the budget. We have 265 fire fighters, 15 dispatchers, and 11 fire inspectors, and 3 fire investigators that are represented by Local 1230. This is the majority of the fire district, thus we make up the largest portion of the budget. What has had the most significant impact is the loss of property tax revenue. You refuse to acknowledge this fact on your site and on your blogs. So, with that said, there are multiple causes to the budget woes of the district. The district has reduced spending significantly in response to the “many” factors that have caused their revenue problem. They cut back on programs, supplies, reduced staff, and have reduced many other expenditures as well.
The district is made up of multiple employee groups that make up the over 320 plus employees. We have members of Local 1, Local 21, ASCME 2700, Local 1230, and the United Chief Officers Association, as well as unrepresented employees like the Fire Chief and his two Assistant Chiefs. All of these labor groups have made concessions in medical benefits, pension contributions, furloughs, and pay cuts.
We realize that these concessions are not enough for you. You would rather recommend reducing the service level than recommend the tax to help replace some of the loss revenue, even though many efforts have been done to cut costs.
As far as the fire fighters being the ones who created the pension issue, please blame the fire fighter position and not the fire fighters themselves. 80% of the current force were hired after 2002 and the implementation of the benefit. I hear their complaints all the time about paying 25% of their pay check toward it.
As you may or may not be aware, when you are hired, you don’t have an option as to whether you take the pension plan or not. So as for who is responsible for the unfunded liabilities created by the benefit, its implementation, and, how it was managed in the past, we can point fingers all day. The reality is, it is here and will take time to address.
You are well aware of the legal, IRS rules, and constitutional issues associated with addressing these cost.
A yes or no vote on Measure Q does not address the pension cost, it just assures that fire protection will remain at the level it is or not, while it is worked on. Voting down Measure Q does not lower anyone’s taxes, and it doesn’t eliminate the debt. Taxpayers’ will be paying the same amount of taxes toward the fire district and will be getting a decreased and inadequate service level if Measure Q fails.
Obviously this is acceptable to the Tax Payers Association because you lead based on principal and not community needs. Reform measures have been enacted and will take time.
The Governor’s pension reform plan will have a significant impact on the future of the pension system. It increases our retirement age of eligibility from 50 to 57. It changes the formula from 3%@50 to 2.7% at 57. It places a cap on the amount a person can retire with, and changes to employee employer contribution rate. (For us, we have been doing that). So please allow the bill to get into place, and allow for the actuaries to be done to assess the amount this will reduce pension costs. Avoid future incidents like the one above, and stop blaming fire fighters for filling out their applications, getting hired, and doing their job!
Go after the real cause of this problem and real tax reform rather than going after the public employees that protect the community.
Then we have a post from a fabulous paramedic who is responsible for saving many lives in the District which provides another side to it.
Kristin Morgan Bianco, Paramedic at American Medical Response
We all with together on these types of calls. We need the fire department just like they need the paramedics from the ambulance. The public needs to be educated on how important it is for the fire department to respond to help those of us who are paramedics on the ambulances. Those who do not support the fire department, obviously have never needed them in in a emergency situation.
Vince Wells also provided the following comment prior to any of the silliness going on which is a nice overview of what is transpiring.
Let’s say a person goes into cardiac arrest at a local park. An ambulance arrives (two people), the patient weighs 250 lbs, and is in full arrest (this means he has no pulse and is not breathing, so CPR is necessary. Then what?
Now you have one of the medics doing chest compressions and the other is breathing for the patient. Who is setting up the heart monitor and IV, who is holding the IV bag, who is starting the IV, who is getting information from family or witnesses, who is getting the equipment together. Who is setting up the necessary cardiac drugs that need to be administered?
Meanwhile, the fire station is across the street and the firefighters are in the back washing their engine, and by the way, they are two minutes away and the ambulance took 8 minutes to get there? Who is going to lift the 250lb patient on to the gurney? Do they have to stop CPR? If so, then this is detrimental to a positive outcome. Who will clean up the scene; gather up all the equipment so that the patient can be transported to the hospital in a timely manner? Once the patient is in the back of the ambulance, one of the two ambulance personnel will have to drive to the hospital and the other will be in the back with this critical patient by their self. A patient in this condition requires multiple hands.
I believe that most people who bring this topic up repeatedly are unaware of the capabilities of the fire and ambulance personnel. We no longer just pick patients up and throw them in the back of the ambulance and drive fast to the hospital. We have the ability to bring the Emergency Room to your driveway, to the park, or to your living room floor.Two people are no where near enough for that.
Secondly, the fire fighters that are not directly involved in patient care, are providing scene safety, patient extrication, gathering information, mitigating hazards (vehicle accidents), assisting with clean up, and are performing other miscellaneous duties (locking the patients door and turning out their lights if necessary).
When they say fire fighters go to multiple medicals, remember this includes vehicle accidents, falls, shootings, stabbings, industrial accidents, fire with smoke or burn injuries, heart attacks, diabetics, asthma attacks, etc… They are not all “grandma sitting on the front porch with her purse waiting to go to the hospital”.
Sometimes they are unconscious, upstairs on the bathroom floor. Many of these medical scenes require much more then medical personnel. We are an “all hazard” organization and service.
As with any kind of emergency service, sometimes it is overkill. The purpose of the 911 system is to get the necessary resources to the scene in a timely manner, in order to be able to have a positive outcome.
Going to the scene and then deciding that more is necessary is detrimental to a positive outcome. Time is of the essence in any emergency situation.
We are prepared for the worse.
36 comments
Wow Burk, making friends as usual I see. I think you make some good points that have been ignored regarding Mr. McGill. I’ve met him on a few occasions and he has always been nice to me, but you do raise several red flags as to his conflicts of interests and those should be addressed. The more you write about CoCo Tax, the more i am amazed this group has not found itself extinct yet because they do not have the taxpayers best interest at heart, just their business memberships.
Has anyone asked the question how much their members would stand to save if Measure Q goes down? Looking at the members, Chevron, PG&E, and many others, thats a lot of land that would see a parcel tax increase.
Burk, you should write about that hypathetical of how much CoCo Tax and its members would save if this parcel tax goes down while showing how much revenue it would generate for the County. This association isn’t looking out for everyday citizens best interests, its looking out for the large corporations with lots of land.
I think the comments by Wendy and Kris speak for themselves, they are not very bright to say the least. Great job Vince.
Mike, didn’t you point out last week that the Times failed to even bring up Mike McGill in their reporting of that employee with over 2200 sick hours to bump up his pension? I guess it doesn’t fit with the Times and CoCo Tax message to out their own kind.
Thank you for pointing out this double standard. I didn’t think about the conflict between CoCo Tax President and a member of LAFCO. You would have thought someone would bring this up long ago.
Similar to the chamber article, Burk will be attacked for this one when he is again right. Solid work on bringing these concerns up when no one else will do it.
Nice Mike, you are now in conspiracy land. This site continues to go downhill. Mr. McGill is trying to serve the District the best he can and save taxpayers money, but you refuse to even reach out to him before writing this.
Burk is running on transparency, gotta give him that on this piece which is a real eye opener. More transparency is needed at Ironhouse and hopefully voters will see it. I honestly don’t think Burk cares if he loses as long as the information comes out.
Going after Mike McGill is probably not the best start to your political career Burke, but no one said you were smart anyway. Prepared to get burned in your campaign for Ironhouse. I hope you get last place due to your recklessness on this site.
Jill, you are a CoCo Tax homer, Burk should be applauded for bringing this up since the papers ignored McGills involvement at Central Sans while he attacked another special district. Someone above brought up the money CoCo Tax would save its members if they get voters to reject Measure Q. This article was awesome!
Reading all the articles and links in the article. Central Sanitation is a bunch of crooks. While Mike McGill may be a nice guy, some serious questions need to be asked of him with his conflicts. As I stated earlier, red flags have now been raised, now its time for some answers.
I was hesitant to first applaud Mike on this post, but now he has my full support. CoCo Tax needs to be looked at a hell of a lot closer in terms of their agenda.
Jill, if Burk and his website gives you so much heartache, then a sensible person might ask; “Why do you troll here?”
Your behavior seems a bit narcissistic. It is no wonder that you are a perfect fit with the Taxpayer’s group.
Simple, I want to read what he says next. He unfortunatly has the Howard Stern mentality, people read him to see hwat he gossips about next. The problem is readers get spin and not all the facts so I must correct him. He goes after people for little reason other than to self promote himself in front of Piepho, Glover, Frazier, Romick and others. All crooks! CoCO Tax at least tries to find solutions to these elect officals mistakes.
I don’t see Burk actually providing solutions. I would like to know why I only make 57K a year and my added benefits cost 60K on top of that. I have talked to people in business and they say they have never seen benefits go over 35% of the hourly wage. Who is getting all this extra money? How can get our union to fix the problem? They know about it and do nothing. I need more money on my check not in some third party place that may not be there when I’m eligable to get it. Lots of finger pointing with no real answers and just alot of crap. I think Burk is only on here for himself and the people he answers to.
For the record both Kris Hunt and Mike McGill were annihilated in their separate bids to win election to the Board of Supervisors just a few short years ago. I guess the voters are on to them and have our backs on this one!
Just say NO to Kris Hunt and Mike McGill’s Taxpayers association club.
Losing an election has nothing to do with Kris Hunt and Mike McGills message of fixing the pension and pay problems of the County. Even if Burke wants to claim a conflict of interest that isn’t there for Mike McGill, Burke just created an enemey for no reason. He will suffer the same fate as McGill and Hunt in their elections because he is a loud mouth with little substance.
@ Burk,
I just read the cctimes article and the comments below it. It looks like the big question needs to be asked of Wendy Lack. She recently worked over two decades as a public employee and then actually brags about not being on the public data base?
I know her and her cohorts are hypocrites, but this is begging for an answer. Why wouldn’t she be listed? Her employer is a public agency, and she was a public employee. Since Wendy Lack of the Contra Costa Taxpayer’s club keep pounding her mental fists regarding transparency, she and the rest of her club (including McGill and Hunt) need to practice what the preach.
Hunt needs to come clean about the sweet CCtax rent deal.
McGill needs to come clean about his conflicts and his special district astronomical liabilities.
And Wendy Lack needs to explain why she is absent from a data base that she is so quick to reference.
Hypocrites.
Why don’t you use your real name and ask those same questions. Quit hiding behind a fake handle.
The author sure does have a great imagination much like his chamber story. I almost believed their was a conflict of interest from Mike McGill who has many great accomplishments in the community. What does Burk have? Oh that’s right, being a loud mouth for Frazier and Piepho while he attacks anyone who doesn’t agree with him. I will certainly be campaigning against him to get some real community leaders in office.
What??
So your accomplishments in the community gives one a pass on what is the hottest fiscal topic in government today? How does that work? Central San’s pension issues are close to as large as ConFire’s. How much airplay do you see on it in the Times? Could that have anything to do with Hunt and Borenstein having each other on speed dial? Added to one of their own sitting on the San board? One carries the water for the other. Attacking the messenger because you have no defense for the coocootax people. Not exactly original.
Calling supported statements of fact “great imagination” isn’t using any on your part.
Jill,
There are many reasons for one to use a “fake handle” which is why they are allowed on blogs. Let me educate you; The reason I use one is that is causes people like you to have to focus on the message and does not allow you to attack the messenger (try as you might). It shouldn’t matter to you who I am-even though I know who you are, I don’t focus on that. See how it works?
Now back on message; You replied to my asking why you troll here, “Simple, I want to read what he says next.” And then went on to try say you “must correct him”? Really?
Jill, your assumptions and innuendos correct no one. They only serve to make you look petty, stupid, short sighted, narrow minded and hypocritical.
You wrote; “He goes after people for little reason other than to self promote himself in front of Piepho, Glover, Frazier, Romick and others. All Crooks!” Your statement Jill is a perfect example of assumption and innuendo. Please, for the love of God, if you are going to call people “crooks”, you better back it up with some fact. You talk about bullying, and thug mentality in prior posts, so how can we not see you as a hypocrite? C’mon Jill, this should be easy for someone of your creativity.
Then you go on to say; “CoCO Tax at least tries to find solutions to these elect officials mistakes.” Again, I say really? So please enlighten us by letting us know what solutions (plans) the CCTax club has offered. Beware Jill, that is a rhetorical question because many of us who also read here, attend meetings. We have seen firsthand the politicians, staff and management offer plans and solutions, and have yet to see a single plan from the likes of the Cctax people or their mouthpieces better known as Wendy Lack and Kris Hunt. I have yet to see you at a meeting.
Losing an election has everything to do with Kris Hunt and McGill. It demonstrates that the voters have NO confidence in their individual abilities as they relate to the county! Geeesh, how shallow are you. Let’s not forget that Khunt does not miss an opportunity to remind us all about the failure of the east county fire tax at the ballot box. I guess you don’t like playing by the same rules, or would that just be another example of your hypocritical behavior.
Jill, wake up to reality.
I think it legitimate to question McGill re ConSan pension spiking, but he’ll only point you to the Supervisors and existing contracts that allow this entrenched abuse and a culture that encourages it. Same for fire pension list. Chiefs or Indians, the current fiscal situation is unsustainable. Meanwhile, Mr Wells’ comments and your spinning of the Times piece and reactions to it with the primary theme of “I told you so,” is a sad example of the worst kind of schadenfreude.
@ Worldviewpr,
Go away troll.
What is wrong Billy boy, no one posting over in your cesspool?
You are one of the biggest kook aid drinking freaks in the county, so waste your time serving up your bullshit somewhere else.
Get back to that nasty sandbox “H2C” of yours. What a freaking tool.
Wells is telling you the cold hard truth about what happens if the measure gets defeated. You don’t have to like it.
Meanwhile you and your ilk promote this alternative what-the-hell plan. Just close stations and figure it out later. That’s your “worldview” on parade? Color me unimpressed. Reinventing the fire department with nothing but hate and emotion driving it is stupid. Particularly when it’s attempted with no forethought or plan.
Work on separating your Chiefs from Indians. Wells doesn’t negotiate for the Chiefs. Voting down Measure Q based on that angle tells me you have no real handle on this issue.
Schadenfreude?
My-o-My Mr. “Worldview”, that’s a mighty big word for someone coming over here from the halfway to conc. freakshow. Your minions would be awfully disappointed. Are you lonely or just stupid?
One usually has to frequent a bowling alley to engage with people of your caliber.
Dawn, Mark and B-Wood, thanks for attributing to me not only minions, but an ilk, and a freak show. Your comments are always so classy. Can’t wait for Christmas!
That said, the emoting on the issue of the parcel tax in my view comes from those who believe they are entitled who want to keep their perqs and will use machinery of government and officially backed scare tactics to keep them. Certainly a recipe for bad governance if there ever was one. The budget projections of Chief Louder speak plainly. The district is going to run out of money. The job of forwarding a truly workable plan falls on the Supervisors, not CoCo Tax. SO far, no sensible plan has been produced. In fact the Supes kicked the can down this street for years and now think they can hold a gun to the head of voters. It didn’t work in East County, despite your best efforts. And the parcel tax measure will fail county wide as well.
xoxoxo, BGR
Try again, Bill.
The Chief’s budget projections are solvent in the final year. That would be 3 years after the sunset of the tax. Just like you anti-tax people like to cherry pick 4 year return windows of pension plans. Here you are doing it with the budget projections. The “Supes” as you call them have trimmed the pension issue in half in the last few years. I don’t remember seeing that headline on your “worldview” blog.
I think the copy and past quotes from you down below speak for themselves. I consciously used the word ilk because I’ve seen you use it on your site. Here you are trying to make an issue of it.
Hypocrite does have an “e” on the end, right?
CoCoTax is demanding a defeat of the measure without having a Plan B. Demanding is the proper choice of word here too. It’s not the job of the Supervisors to bow down to heavy handed tactics or be bullied by self-appointed control freaks into formulating such a plan. They did the right thing by putting this on the ballot so the voters get to have their say.
If I recall correctly, it was only a couple of weeks ago that you tried to make hay of a year old memo. You took great issue with the voters getting that chance. Clearly CoCoTax is only interested in their agenda, not my say in the matter, and apparently not the opinion of anyone else in central county who might disagree with them.
You need to get off the gun to the head of the voters junk. It’s a secret ballot and nobody is under duress at any polling place that I have ever witnessed. As a couple of others have noted, the tone here has never dropped this low until you showed yourself. Seems the cesspool atmosphere travels with you.
What sort of mentality does one have to have express glee over the prospect of a ballot measure being defeated, stations having to close and then people dying as a result? Pretty twisted priority list, in my view. But seems to be rampant in your little cult like group.
Solid stuff, Mike. Hope some people are starting to see the twisted web here. I hate the idea voters are being swayed with lies and double speak from the opposition.
@ Wordviewpr, aka; Bill Gram-Reefer,
You are certainly welcome-because you have earned it. Right Bill? I mean someone as narcissistic as you just loves to wallow in his own crap. I presume that’s why you run a website that is full of irrelevant postings by a bunch of bottom feeders. You must know that in the county, your site is regarded as the National Enquirer of blogs-yet in your egotistical world you claim it is the “leading online source for community-driven political news, events, and opinion for Contra Costa County and the San Francisco East Bay.” That is “insanely” funny, and on the other hand a little scary that YOU actually believe it! It is pretty entertaining for a lot of us to see firsthand how twisted minds work. So we thank you for that!
Obviously you cannot see the hypocrisy which you live by. I loved your comments about some of us being so classy…when you yourself host a blog that is filled with poison and vitriol.
I pity you Bill.
Shall we take a quick jog down memory lane together? Let’s see just how classy YOU have been with recent postings such as;
BGRAugust 16, 2012 at 9:43 pm
“Please. See how valuable your punk ass and attitude of entitlement is in San Mateo, homie. There’d be 5,000 applicants for your job willing to take 30% less with an IRA.
I know… you can go patrol the BLM in Lake County with your friend Bubba and Billy Bob. Maybe they have a dental plan since guys whistle so good ’cause you have 7 teeth between ya.”
Or how about this classy little post which YOU allowed, (because we all know how you moderate your own blog).
“Go f*** yourself, scumbag! You and the other scumbag hosers are parasites that ruthlessly suck the financial life out of defenseless taxpayers. Please quit now and leave.
BGR: Please post my message.
”
Yeah Billy Boy, you are a class act! Thanks for setting the bar so high.
As for your view, you need to remove your blinders and your earplugs. The only scare tactics have been presented are by your pal Hunt and the CC Taxpayer’s club.
Because from a seat in the real world, fire stations did close, people have been harmed, and now property is beginning to be lost. I have never seen you at a meeting, nor has anyone else. So how is it exactly that you wish us to buy into your point of view. What is it based on, your good looks? Because from where I sit, it looks like you were smacked over the head with an ugly stick. Apparently you did not listen to the budget projections by Con Fire. They were not delivered by Fire Chief Louder…another detail you overlook. …And they were presented by anb analyst as “worst case scenario” but I see real and factual information doesn’t fit in to your little carnival act. But since you and your minions thrive on hyperbole, assumptions, hypocrisy and slant I guess fiction works for you.
I like that you actually commented; “SO far, no sensible plan has been produced”. That gives us additional insight into your shortcomings. This measure and that in east county, is not about producing plans to re vamp fire delivery models, yet you just can’t get past that. You are stuck on stupid Billy. Ironically a plan has been developed, implemented and explained but since YOU and the company you keep don’t agree with it, you try to dismiss it. The truth be told you really don’t have the qualifications to make your “opinion” significant. It must be frustrating to have diminished your own opinion to the point of being irrelevant.
It is frightening that you actually think having fire stations closed is going to send a message back to the firefighters and the politicians that are actually trying to make ends meet…No scare tactic Billy boy, this Christmas if measure Q fails you are going to get exactly the service that you pay for.
Trying to educate you is like talking to a brick-Although I think the brick is smarter and less abrasive.
You really need help.
Thanks East county reader! You saved me the time of telling Billy boy what an asshat he really is.
Mr. Reeferman, you are WELCOME. Now back to your litterbox.
Relevance is in the eye of the beholder. From Google’s point of view, this site is completely irrelevant, with no credibility or rank. Check it your self at prchecker.info. H2C has a PR of 4. You’ve got a long way to go room before you can honestly talk about irrelevance. As for reality land land, my positions were squarely with the majority that soundly defeated the East County Fire Tax. So I guess all of them are crazy loons and freaks the same as me according to you. Sadly your hatred for anyone who has an opposing viewpoint is off the chart. Good luck with that and get ready to be thumped in November.
Not that I typically will degrade a commenter to my site, but you sir are a complete schmuck! You have been blogging for 8 years and only a “4”. Kudos to you Mr. Professional PR person. This site has been up since July 1 so of course I am not ranked high yet.
Honestly, there is more things to worry about than PR checker which has to do more with ads than anything else. You can worry about PR checker, I’ll worry about content and readers that continues to grow–wordpress has a nice tracker you know. Besides, when it comes to East County Topics, I don’t see you anywhere in the page ranks but I come up on first page on most topics. Once I hit the 90-120 day mark, there will be a more accurate reading from PR Checker. Nice try Billy.
Dude, that is your response? Bwahahahahahaaaaaa!
You should probably Google “loser” instead of prchecker.info I have no doubt that your website places first with a perfect score of 10.0.
You, Bill Gram-Reefer remind me of that 48 year old guy next door that lives with his parents and plays video games all day. Now you are over here trying to pick on Burk? I know it must be tough for you to have a smarter and younger guy reporting on issues, but really…..grow up. I’m probably not the only one that noticed you showing up here while trying to sell us on how well your site does in comparison. Sorry Bill but we don’t drink the purple koolaid here.
I asked around about you. Let’s just say the results gave you a PR score of minus 9.
Go home, mommy’s calling.
I really love a blog where supposedly intelligent adults lower themselves to name calling and foul language. ALL of you should be ashamed of yourselves.
Julio, welcome to the Internet. You might want to put on your big boy pants while reading blogs….. If you check out where this Bill Gram-Reefer guy is coming from (halfway to conc.) then you will certainly know who should be ashamed of themselves.
Some of us are just trying to communicate with him in the only language he understands-sorry if it offends you, but I imagine you will get over it. If not, then blogging may not be for you.
My father taught me never bring a knife to a gun fight.
Thanks for understanding.
Mr. Reefer just proved why his website is not visited by many outside of CoCo Tax, his attitude stinks. He comes on another blog and degrades it based on PRChecker knowing full well the site has only been up a month or so? That is par for the course with Mr. Reefers reporting.
While Burk has his moments (such as posts like this one in attack mode), he is pretty down the middle most of the time and promotes good things in East County and calls foul when needed. I am actually glad burk doesn’t have a thousand links on this site to bump his PR Rank, it makes it less confusing. Kudos for his statement above for not caring.
B-wood. I was raised to believe self- respect was as important as respect for others. Lack of respect for anything and everything including lives is what is wrong with this country. We keep sliding closer and closer to sewer level. Role models are important also but our role models have mostly managed to find the sewer. Wonder why our elected and other high powered people are crooks and think they are above the law? Respect..no one knows what it is anymore.
We could start here.
Julio,
I would like to buy into your comments, but then you went and lost me with a bit of your hypocrisy.
You rail on respect and what it means and then fall right off a cliff by disrespectfully labeling “elected and other high powered people” as “crooks”. Based on my experience bad behavior transgresses far below elected and other high powered people.
Lesson number one; you have to give respect to get respect. The individual that is being lambasted here who is from another website does neither. I appreciate your position, but think you are a bit naive.
Respect me and I will certainly respect you. But if you choose to be disrespectful then expect to get the same.
Now let’s get back on the topic of this thread.
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