It’s been tough keeping up with the news about whether Charlottesville and the Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad have forged a deal to cooperate on charging for emergency service. First it was widely reported that there wasn’t a deal. Then that there was. Then that there wasn’t. What gives? Seth Rosen looks into the state of things for the Progress. There is clearly not a deal at this point; CARS’ Larry Claytor makes that clear. City manager Gary O’Connell has stopped talking to the media, presumably feeling cautious since he was the source of the false news in the first place. Apparently, CARS’ board hasn’t even talked to the city about a deal yet, leaving the rescue squad feeling puzzled about all of the news.
Maybe CARS will want to play ball with the city’s upstart rescue squad, maybe not. But this marks the second time that the city has put their foot in their mouth on this deal, which doesn’t put them in a great position to plead for cooperation.
I thought we were paying for a “City Spokesman” to be the fount of all knowledge as to city affairs.
I understood the “City Spokesman” position was instituted, in part, to assure residents received authentic information.
Is the “Spokesman” on vacation or merely not queried?
Or perhaps I don`t know what is in the job description for that position.
What we have here is a failure in leadership. We have a city that decided to duplicate the services of a rescue squad (services it has been getting for free), a county that wants to build a firestation at Pantops at a cost of $2 million for fire protection service it is getting from the city at a cost of $500,000, and both localities announcing plans to charge for ambulance service without first having discussions with the volunteer rescue squads. Who’s in charge? We need real leadership.
I cannot fathom why everyone in the City is not raising HELL about this million dollar boondoogle in the face of looming budget concerns. Werner’s a political hack. Also, the school system still gets everything they ask for even in the face of dwindling enrollment while still producing a large number of governmentally dependent idiots. Maybe that’s by design…The socialist city leaders need subjects, not citizens.
World Class my ass.
I’m a big fan of accurate, informed postings. Truly Disgusted, can you explain what you mean by “the school system still gets everything they ask for?” Last I heard, the School Board had outlined cuts it will take if it doesn’t get the funding it would like. That doesn’t sound to me like “getting everything they ask for.”
Hyperbole and hysteria, anyone?
What I want to know is this….. if CARS starts charging a fee, and the money goes into city/county coffers, how many volunteers will cotinue to work for CARS? I know I damn well I would not continue to volunteer while the money is directed to pay full time rescue personnel at the fire department. I guess city and county leadership doesn’t want to discuss this, eh?
This is without a doubt the most mis-managed city I have ever lived in. Hey, but at least we put the Tibetan flag in front of city hall. Now, do you really think that helped anything? Last I checked the rioting was in full swing over there…JC
What’s wrong with this statement: “City manager Gary O’Connell has stopped talking to the media?” Since the city depends on the media to communicate with the community, one could just as easily say “City manager Gary O’Connell has stopped talking to the citizens.”
Some real glaring weaknesses are being pointed out in this blog about the city government and how it is run by a bunch of left wing liberal loons who have no clue. Now, if you will only vote accordingly in the next election perhaps things in the city can begin to be righted. As far as the school budget goes they have NEVER cut one red cent from their budget for as far back as I can remember and they are always fully funded….$69.9M this fiscal year for an enrollment of about 3850 students…rediculous, outrageous and a disgrace to taxpayers of the city of charlottesville. This is one of the big reasons your property taxes continue to escalade. Everyone else is doing belt tightening but not the public school system.
If the rescue squad becomes a pay per ride system that means a whole bunch of new bureaucrats…you’ll need folks to bill insurance companies and collect the fees…etc…etc…
To whom it may concern…that crack about the “City Spokesman” wasn’t from me.