Wilkes-Barre Fire Fighter Responds

Last week I hit the Wilkes-Barre Fire Fighters hard right in the jejunum. Well, they have responded and the fire is now lit. Get out the hook and ladder, pull hose and get the juices flowing. A fan of The Gripe WBFF88 commented last week with:

When mayor was elected he asked all the city unions to help the city financially in their contracts. the fire union did (concessions = approx 3.5 million dollars over 7 years). Mayor Leighton said "By making (these) substantial concessions, the firefighters' union has agreed to become partners with the city in its revitalization plan" The Fire Fighters Union did their part and who gets cut back?
Nobody hears about that. Leighton lies and steals but the FD gets blamed.


So I asked him this:

WBFF88 - What were the exact concessions that the fire union made? I am interested because if I need to blast Leighton I will. Also, did any other unions chip in to help? And exactly what has Leighton stolen from the city?


Well, here is the response and it is an eye opener. "I believe" the Feds may need to take a long hard look at some of these things. Maybe Skrep will be getting a roommate at The Crowbar Hotel.

Hello Right to Grip (R2G), My name is WBFF88, I am a WB firefighter and I run a Blog 'WB Fire Fighters Thoughts' at http://wbff88.blogspot.com/ Please take a look.

To answer your questions:
This is the list that I like to use for Dictator Leightons screw ups;
1 Screwed up selling the Sterling hotel (costing us $325,000)
2 Bad faith moves (hiding the money from FD)
3 Back room deals (Medic 8 took over from surrounding medic units, no bid)
4 Tried to sell city property for 8 cents on the dollar to a campaign contributor (old river road bakery)
5 Lied to county officials to get tax forgiveness to a campaign contributor (old river road bakery to LAG Towing)
6 Cut our safety to fund HIS pet projects
7 The whole Ice Rink, which was supposed to revitalize W-B HOW?
8 The largely worthless camera system
9 Raised taxes and fees to an all time high.
10 Racked up MASSIVE lawsuit debts (Citywide Towing, Denise Carey + her lawyer fees, fighting the FD when it was a no win situation, Etc.)
11 Violated a contract (Citywide Towing's contract) so he could give it to a campaign contributor (that cost us $225,000) (LAG's owner)
12 Trying to sell W-B property (Tax Free) to a campaign contributor (Known for not paying his own taxes) (old river road bakery to LAG)
13 Outright lies to us (The citizens of Wilkes-Barre)
14 Blaming anyone and everyone for his failures (remember the 'I believe' campaign, "I wouldn't say I oversold it. I think maybe the media did," Mayor Leighton said. (WNEP June 10, 2005) AKA It's not my fault, it's the medias) list at http://wbff88.blogspot.com/2010/07/anyone-elses-fault-pt-2.html
15 Ignoring the Lloyds Study (which states the minimum FD manning per shift is 17) and cutting manning to 12 per shift
16 VIOLATED CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, TWICE !!! (Denise Carey & the Hammonds). That's cost us over $275,000.


As for concessions, pay part of Health care, no raises for a year, lower than raises for 7 years, loss of parity for 7 years, and more (I'm just a union member, not on the executive board).

The other unions DID NOTHING and look (yes present tense) at us like pariahs because we did help.

Thanks for your time,
WBFF88
AKA Don Quixote