Union's selfish desires

Dear Editor:Downey is my home (since 1959) and I have raised my children here. I have also been very active in civic affairs. In addition to this I have a lot of property in Downey. Therefore I have a very strong commitment to the best interests of the city. I literally love Downey.

The excellent Downey Police and Fire Departments are a very strong asset to the community. It is extremely disappointing to see a firemen's union pushing to get the city to give the fire department to Los Angeles County. Obviously they are doing this because the County pays higher wages. Also, none of the firemen live in Downey.

Therefore if Downey was to go to County, they may be able to switch to stations that are closer to their homes. Their interests are selfish and not for the good of the community. I was informed that the firemen's union is spending over $100,000 to accomplish their goal of turning our Downey Fire Department over to Los Angeles County.

Again, Los Angeles County pays higher salaries to its firemen. Therefore the only way Los Angeles County can reduce Downey's costs is to reduce service to Downey. Our very good fire chief, Lonnie Croom, honestly pointed this out to our Downey City Council. Therefore the firemen's union got their membership to give Chief Croom a vote of no confidence.

The current ploy of the firemen's union is to have the Downey citizens vote away their right to vote on keeping the fire department. The union wants the City Council to have the right to turn over the fire department to Los Angeles County. They probably figure that at some time the firemen's union can get three council members to vote to turn over our fine fire department and equipment to the county. Once this is done, we will never get our fire department back. W would have to pay tens of millions to buy back the equipment we gave away . I pray everyone will see through the firemen's union's selfish desire, even though they claim they want this for the best interests of Downey. Ronald Kolar Downey

********** Published: June 27, 2013 - Volume 12 - Issue 11