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More HFD Layoffs Yesterday While The Mayor Touts New Taxpayer Funded Poet

Yesterday while the city sent out layoff notices to more than 200 firefighters, Mayor Turner’s office sent out a press release announcing the city has selected it’s 4th official “Poet Laureate”.

The city’s poet laureate receives $20,000 for the two year term through tax money collected through the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax dedicated to the arts.

According to the press release, the Mayor says “Contreras Schwartz will work closely with the Houston Public Library and the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs to carry out her community outreach project focusing on outreach to people with mental illness and mental health workers. She will also conduct eight workshops in partnership with Houston Public Library and mentor the Houston Youth Poet Laureate.”



Turner says “the appointment speaks to the great work that this poet has done and will do as an ambassador of the City though poetry.”

News of the city’s latest poet laureate came as more than 200 Houston Firefighters received layoff notices.

ABC 13 spoke to one of the firefighters who received a layoff notice, telling them “it's a gut punch." They report that the military vet and father of a young family moved to Houston to be a part of what he called "the best fire department in the country."

That firefighter hits Mayor Turner for his behavior, saying “he's going to double down and give us the worst deal possible.And he's going to make everyone suffer for not bending a knee to him."

Turner claims the city cannot balance the budget without these layoffs yet we’ve got an official City of Houston Poet Laureates being hired at taxpayer expense.How many other wasteful items, programs and people could we eliminate instead of Firefighters.

In a written statement, firefighter union president Marty Lancton wrote, "From the city's founding to the Great Depression, to two world wars and deep downturns of the energy industry, no fire chief had taken this course of action until today. Chief Peña now is alone among all Houston fire chiefs in that dubious distinction... The fire chief is carrying out Sylvester Turner's slash-and-burn plan for HFD."

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Originally posted by Rightwire:
I have a very strong opinion on this topic.

There are only a few services that a city MUST provide it's citizens
- Police Protection
- Fire Protection
- City works (streets, water, lighting etc)
- Finance (to collect and distribute money for above)
- Leadership (to guide city resources)

That is it. Parks, social programs, beautification, community outreach are nice, but luxuries. If the basic 5 services noted fail, the rest is just icing on a shit cupcake.

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Originally posted by Angus the Kid:
It's more complicated than you think. The firefighters union as turned down pay raises in the past just to generate "negative" press. They even killed a mediation a few years ago because they could tell it was not going their way and wanted to exit before a public ruling was made.

The firefighter's union does not have clean hands in the fight at all. They have refused to work with the City Of Houston at all levels for years.

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Originally posted by hbabler:
The modern American fire service is highly skilled, highly trained, well educated, and responds to and mitigates all hazards from Haz Mat, to technical rescue,to EMS, to community paramedic one, to arson, to EOD, to fire prevention, to childhood fire education, to hydrant maintenance, to equipment maintenance, to welfare checks, to changing tires for citizens, to swift water rescue, to extrication...

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Originally posted by gearhounds:
None of this will matter to the libtard residents of Houston until the number of typical firefighter calls start to outweigh manpower and houses start burning and cats stay stuck in trees. Until then, they’ll applaud their nice shiny parks filled with illegals and homeless people.

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Originally posted by Angus the Kid:
It's more complicated than you think. The firefighters union as turned down pay raises in the past just to generate "negative" press. They even killed a mediation a few years ago because they could tell it was not going their way and wanted to exit before a public ruling was made.

The firefighter's union does not have clean hands in the fight at all. They have refused to work with the City Of Houston at all levels for years.

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Originally posted by gearhounds:
None of this will matter to the libtard residents of Houston until the number of typical firefighter calls start to outweigh manpower and houses start burning and cats stay stuck in trees. Until then, they’ll applaud their nice shiny parks filled with illegals and homeless people.