DUmmies Discuss 911 Service

[GOBUCKS]

DUmmy AllentownJake, everyone's favorite pet socialist moron, sounds more and more like the suicidally depressed TwixVoy, but will never move high in the Top DUmmy rankings because he's simply a jerk:

AllentownJake  (1000+ posts)        Mon Feb-22-10 11:14 PM
Original message
911 has just become worthless
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1991-911-Ju...

There's stupid, and then there's really stupid.

This fits into the second category:

http://techdirt.com/articles/20100219/1238398241.shtml

Apparently, the town of Tracy, California (a bit east of the Bay Area) has decided to turn 911 emergency calls into a profit center. Karl Bode points us to the news that the town now wants people to pay $300 for every 911 call. Of course, if you think you might be a frequent 911 caller, they've got a plan for that. For the low, low, low price of just $48 per year, you can call 911 as many times as you want. Yes, that's right folks, there's a special deal for those of you who regularly have emergencies. Make sure to order now!

There is an update on this - apparently it will only apply if the fire department has to respond to medical emergencies.

You know, like, for example, if you're driving down the road and see a horrible single-car wreck happen in front of you?
The 911 system has just become worthless folks.

I won't dial any more when traveling, and I've phoned in a couple of really bad single-vehicle accidents that I happened upon "first." I have no idea if my doing so saved lives or not, but it is reasonable to assume that it might have.

Those people may now die, because unless I can be assured that I won't get hit with a $300 bill for calling in an accident everywhere in this nation I'm not going to do it, and this sort of idiocy has a way of spreading - rapidly.

Thanks to the people of Tracy, California, which believes that raping its citizens is the most important aspect of things, I can no longer use my cell phone to call in auto accidents without the risk of being charged $300 for being a good Samaritan.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wonder what anti-government idiot Tea Bagger came up with this idea. We were jokingly protesting fire departments in the spring to protest "socialism."
Total Societal Breakdown.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7774191
In every locale I'm aware of, 911 is a local service, supported by local taxes, not state. Whenever it goes onto the ballot, it is supported overwhelmingly, and the resulting tax is very reasonable. 911 is one of those rare things that govenment does well, and usually at a very reasonable price.

AllentownJake  (1000+ posts)        Mon Feb-22-10 11:22 PM
Original message
Cash strapped town
State aide cut, Republicans in charge.

We'll just have to charge for 911, we can't raise taxes.
Of course a $300 charge for a phone call to a 911 center, is a ****ing tax.

 
Well, it's $48, moron, not $300, and virtually everyone will sign up and pay. Guaranteed.

havocmom  (1000+ posts)        Mon Feb-22-10 11:31 PM
Response to Original message
10. I am so old, I remember California BEFORE Reagan
Nice place, decent schools, lost of promise.

Then came the Republican Contract on America Test Phase known as Reagan. County governments suddenly saddled with cost of services the state used to help with. Mental health patients were SOL and many were out of hospitals. Evidently more than a few took to politics.
The rest is history.

My recollection is that moonbat democrats forced the shutdown of mental hospitals, to give hopeless nuts more "dignity". So now, nearly everyone who is "homeless" who isn't a wino bum, is one of these unfortunate people who were tossed onto the streets by moonbat democrats. I may be wrong, but I'm not aware of any state that ever paid for local 911 service.

AllentownJake  (1000+ posts)        Mon Feb-22-10 11:28 PM
Response to Reply #2
8. It's Califronia
The entire state is broke, and they culturally can't raise taxes.

Those of us lucky enough to live in red state hell, with no state income tax, no city income tax, and very low property taxes, were not aware of California's status as a low tax state. I'll be damned. I always thought California was #1 in AIDS, and near #1 in high taxes. California's problem is not insufficient tax revenue, it's voluntarily providing services for uncounted millions of illegal Mexicans, in hopes of having ACORN convert them into democrat votes.


This anonymous, faceless, nameless DUmmy makes a weak attempt at a bouncy:

Art_from_Ark (1000+ posts)      Mon Feb-22-10 11:22 PM
Response to Original message
4. Wow, that sounds like the kind of situation
I discussed with some guy at a rest stop in Indiana once. The discussion got a little heated. He was heading for a job with the Cato Institute and was advocating for a society where everyone has to pay up front to get basic municipal services. If they can't pay, they don't get any services. Maybe that guy ended up getting a job in Tracy.

On second thought, this may not be a total bouncy. Democrat men spend a lot of time in rest stop mens' rooms. But the discussion was not about tax policy.

KingFlorez (1000+ posts)        Mon Feb-22-10 11:27 PM
Response to Original message
6. This is a recipe for trouble
People are struggling as it is, even in good economic times, the average person cannot afford $300 to call 911 in an emergency. I know California is cash strapped and it's hurt the cities, but emergency services should be protected at all costs.

Why do they insist on calling 911 a state issue?

havocmom  (1000+ posts)        Mon Feb-22-10 11:34 PM
Response to Reply #6
12. yep. Neighbor's house on fire? Someone being beaten to death within earshot
La la la la la ....
anarchy coming right up, nobody calling for help for nuttin.

Swell way to save on cost of first responders. But I think insurance companies will probably raise bloody hell on this one, and THEY always seem to get THEIR calls answered.

Oh, no! No more red lights, blink, blink, blink, blink? No more red truck gleaming? Well, actually, the kind of dirtball who would not pay $48 for 911 service would not call to help someone anyway.
 

[The Village Idiot]

I actually proposed that fire departments and libraries go the subscription route, remember?

Who knew?

[DefiantSix]

I would probably need to read the city ordinance in order to be doing more than talking out of my ass, but is seems to me that the City of Tracy isn't likely to be slapping $300 phone bills on good samaratans with cell phones, as the DUmbass seems to be insinuating.  What seems far more likely is for the city to slap a $300 fee on the DUmbass who runs the stop sign and causes the accident during the course of adjudicating the incident.  It also seems to be aimed at those DUmbasses who get a heart flutter taking a hit from a bad rock, and use the 911 system as their own personal "take me to the front of the line in the Emergency Room" pass.

I'd guess it'll also put a dent in the number of dumb trailer hoes who get liquored up, set off their boyfriend du jour, call 911 when he's beating the crap out of 'er, and then refuses to press charges when the cops show up, because "she loves him"    If she prosecutes, then the $300 charge goes on his bill, along with the court costs, etc...  If she doesn't prosecute, it falls back on her phone bill.

[AllosaursRus]

I actually proposed that fire departments and libraries go the subscription route, remember?

Who knew?

That's exactly what it used to be! You bought into the idea you would pay the local FD a fee every year. They would then post a plaque on your building. If there was a fire, you had the right plaque, they would put out the fire or protect your property. From what I understand, it was how insurance companies got there start.

Sounds reasonable to me! Ass, gas, or grass, nobody rides for free!

[JohnnyReb]

Charge what you want for 911 service, the Obama voters aren't going to pay squat.

The Obama voters here use 911 and the whambulance like a free taxi service.... the gummint pays for it, it's sposed to be free, I knows my rights.

[Carl]

As always there is more to the story and it took only a few clicks to find it.

Council chooses paramedic fee collector
by Cassie Tomlin/ TP staff
Feb 16, 2010 | 3560 views | 85  | 16  |  | 
The City Council on Tuesday voted to approve a contract with a company that will later this year bill residents when the fire department responds to medical emergencies and car accidents.

In June, the council decided to charge people when the Tracy Fire Department responds to non-fire incidents within the city limits. Since ambulances aren’t always the first to arrive at the scene of a medical emergency, the city’s fire department goes out on emergency calls, too.

The new fees are a way for the city to make extra money while it suffers a $9 million budget deficit this fiscal year.

On Tuesday, the council approved via a 4-1 vote (with Councilman Steve Abercrombie dissenting) a contract with ADPI-Intermedix, based in Oakland, to send the bills. The city expects to have a billing system ready next month, but doesn’t yet know when it will actually start charging.

Residents will pay $300 for every fire department response to a medical emergency. Non-residents can expect to pay $400. There is no set cost for a fire department visit to a car accident.

The city is working out an option so that households can pay an annual membership fee of $48, which would cover the cost of any emergency aid given during the course of a year, said David Bramell, who is acting as fire chief while Chief Chris Bosch is on administrative leave.

Bramell said ADPI-Intermedix will keep about 15 percent of all the fees the city will charge.

Councilwoman Evelyn Tolbert requested that the city get an update of the program toward the end of this year, at least six months after the city has started charging for the fire department responses. The update will include how much the billing system costs compared to how much the city makes in fees.

Councilwoman Suzanne Tucker said residents are concerned about the new charges because they’re already paying taxes for city services. She said only some insurance companies will pick up the extra costs, and residents are worried how they’ll pay.

Tucker said one person joked if her husband has a heart attack, she’ll be tempted to light the kitchen table on fire to dodge the fees.

http://www.tracypress.com/view/full_story/6376328/article-Council-chooses-paramedic-fee-collector?instance=home_news_lead_story

The original blog post the DUmmy op linked to took it from a local news channel and had to admit after comments and this link were provided that the story wasn`t accurate.

It may be a money grab by a mis managed local government,it may be a way to offset a state mandate that isn`t funded,it may be a bloated government trying to stay bloated,I have no idea but it isn`t anything close to what the DUmmy suggests.

[ChuckJ]

As always there is more to the story and it took only a few clicks to find it.

The original blog post the DUmmy op linked to took it from a local news channel and had to admit after comments and this link were provided that the story wasn`t accurate.

It may be a money grab by a mis managed local government,it may be a way to offset a state mandate that isn`t funded,it may be a bloated government trying to stay bloated,I have no idea but it isn`t anything close to what the DUmmy suggests.

Here's another article that gives some more details: Contra Costa Times

[Carl]

Here's another article that gives some more details: Contra Costa Times

To me the key quote from that article..

Tracy, like many cities statewide, is facing financial hard times, Churchill said. Property tax revenue dropped 18 percent in two years.

The City Council had to decide either to kill the fire department's medical services or to keep it going by charging, Mayor Brent Ives said.

It doesn`t sound like a mandate but a local service so it is in the hands of the community to weigh in on it if they support it in function and costs.
Of course to a DUmmy all government service should be free (to them) so none will grasp that part.

[ChuckJ]

To me the key quote from that article..

It doesn`t sound like a mandate but a local service so it is in the hands of the community to weigh in on it if they support it in function and costs.
Of course to a DUmmy all government service should be free (to them) so none will grasp that part.

But shouldn't a "progressive" be more than willing to give $300 to the government in order to take care of someone in need?

Oops. Silly me. A "progressive" is someone who is more than willing to give someone else's $300 to the government.

[Carl]

I read the entire thread and not a one could be bothered to make a quick investigation of the story to see that the OP was bogus either mistakenly or intentionally.

I think this quote from dandi here should be posted somewhere as a constant reference...

Moonbats, and DUmbasses in particular, have never been averse to just making shit up out of whole cloth in an effort to create internet memes. They all fail, of course, like the whole juvenile "Glenn Beck is a child molester" thing, the "Trig Palin is not Sarah's baby" thing, and on and on, ad nauseam. One of the rare few they were able to push outside the Batshit Crazy blogosphere, the "Bush AWOL" thing, blew up in their faces and resulted in the canning of one of their icons, Dan Blather. The rumor automatically became radioactive in the MSM and soon died an ignominious death.

It is difficult to determine whether they actually hope against hope that the fables will catch on or if they are just self-drawn hentai porn for them to fwap to. What is interesting, from a psychological point of view, is the way so many of them in lemming-like fashion seem to swallow it whole. I don't mean the "Yeah, this is a good slander. Let's promote it" group, but the people who actually believe it simply because it was stated and even in the face of all evidence to the the contrary. One can distinguish the easily led True Believers because they begin to use the meme as "fact" in their arguments or in relating points of history in a discussion, even with other moonbats who know better.

Yes, Beth Lamborghini is stupid, but she is also cunning. She's in the group that knows it's bullshit but puts it out there anyway. She knows how to play the other lemmings to the hilt. She's a master of the circular argument, the appeal to emotion, and how to wield the most potent weapon in the DU poster's arsenal: The dishonest implication that her detractor is "defending the freepers" if anyone takes issue with her flights of fancy. She's just an all-around, world-class *******.

http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,40864.15.html

No doubt Jake has seen this and is figuring that tact is his ride to DUmp stardom.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

AllentownJake  (1000+ posts)        Mon Feb-22-10 11:22 PM
Original message
Cash strapped town
State aide cut, Republicans in charge.

We'll just have to charge for 911, we can't raise taxes.
Of course a $300 charge for a phone call to a 911 center, is a ****ing tax.

Lemme guess: you scoured the budget and just couldn't bring yourselves to cut $9 million worth of funding for condom distribution or extra admin assistants for teachers or art classes for convicts or medicaid for illegals or non-union labor for city projects or...

 

[The Village Idiot]

Lemme guess: you scoured the budget and just couldn't bring yourselves to cut $9 million worth of funding for condom distribution or extra admin assistants for teachers or art classes for convicts or medicaid for illegals or non-union labor for city projects or...

 

Like I said, I have no problem with fees for fire department and library users as long as it not being used to prop up stupid bloated government. Does Tracy CA not have a gay library or Cowgirl Museum or ethnic community centers they can shut down or assistants to the assistants they can lay off?

[Karin]

Good points, all.  Especially dandi's re quoted analysis. 

The last two communities I've lived in, in CT and NY, you were expected to donate to the local fire dept.  A generally expected amount was $75-$100 per year.  If you didn't mail it in, you could expect to have some clean-cut, in-uniform, respectful young man from the department pay you a friendly visit.  (That sounds more sinister than it is.)  I've never resented this. 

I'd like to highlight this:

I won't dial any more when traveling, and I've phoned in a couple of really bad single-vehicle accidents that I happened upon "first." I have no idea if my doing so saved lives or not, but it is reasonable to assume that it might have.

Those people may now die, because unless I can be assured that I won't get hit with a $300 bill for calling in an accident everywhere in this nation I'm not going to do it

We have here elements of bouncy, of self-aggrandizement, of drama-queenery, and childish petulance all in two short paragraphs.  Classic DUmp.  Nice. 

[The Village Idiot]

  If you didn't mail it in, you could expect to have some clean-cut, in-uniform, respectful young man from the department pay you a friendly visit.  (That sounds more sinister than it is.)  I've never resented this. 

Union thugs! "We have ways of making you support the uh.. widow and orphans fund, ya bum!"

[Carl]

The city budget is available online...downloading to take a look at now.


On edit...

Gave up,taking forever.

[NHSparky]

It's getting pretty sad when even the union goons admit that the "stimulus" only went to the public sector employment, and didn't do jack shit for the private sector.  Wonder what they're gonna do when they have to cut those cush state jobs?

[DumbAss Tanker]

Oh, no! No more red lights, blink, blink, blink, blink? No more red truck gleaming? Well, actually, the kind of dirtball who would not pay $48 for 911 service would not call to help someone anyway.

 

Lines which will live in infamy!

 

[BadCat]

The City of Tracy is run by Republicans?

The city council voted for the 911 fees by a 4-1 margin, with this guy being the only "No" vote...

http://www.ci.tracy.ca.us/city_council/abercrombie/

He doesn't sound like a moonbat to me.

This woman...

http://www.ci.tracy.ca.us/city_council/tolbert/

voted for it, and she is a Dimocrat.

[Mike220]

DUmbasses should be happy. Maybe people won't call anymore and there won't be any more cops jumping out of bushes.

[djones520]

My mom's neighbors call 911 at least once a week for nothing at all.  I bet Manistee County would like something like this.

[jukin]

Typical liberal/democrat/socialist ploy. Scream the sky is falling and cut the basic services while welfare and social services stay fat with taxpayer money.  Same thing here in my SoCal county. We are short $40 million and the items up for cutting are:

Fire
Police
Teachers
But not ONE single social service agency. Not one single planning department cut. Not one single Judicial department cut.

[The Village Idiot]

Typical liberal/democrat/socialist ploy. Scream the sky is falling and cut the basic services while welfare and social services stay fat with taxpayer money.  Same thing here in my SoCal county. We are short $40 million and the items up for cutting are:

Fire
Police
Teachers
But not ONE single social service agency. Not one single planning department cut. Not one single Judicial department cut.

not one paper pusher, desk jockey, chair warmer, ethnic community center, gay library or pocket park either?

[debk]

We've been paying for fire department and ambulance ...as county residents.....since I moved here in 1983.

If you live inside the city limits....you pay city taxes and county taxes. Both are based on the value of your home, and are almost equal in amount.

If your house catches on fire, the city fire department, puts it out.

If you live outside of the city limits....you donot pay city taxes...you only pay county taxes.

However, you may purchase a fire protection policy from Rural Metro. The amount is based on the tax value of your home....but the land value is not included. It is a significant amount of money. And is paid in full once a year.

If you donot have a policy....and a little sticker on your mailbox....you will be billed the cost of Rural Metro coming to your home to put out the fire.

If you live in the county, you may also purchase an ambulance call policy through Rural Metro. I have never purchased that because it was covered either homeowner's policy or auto insurance policy. If you don't have coverage, you must pay for an ambulance unless you live inside the city limits.

It's a racket....but it is about half the cost of city taxes. But if you live in the county you also have to pay for garbage pickup. You end up saving about 25% by living in the county, but the most notable way of noticing the difference is in the mortgage payment, as Rural Metro costs and/or garbage pickup is not escrowed as both are voluntary.

Rural Metro is really hurting here, because so many people have dropped their coverage in the last 5 years.

There is no volunteer fire department for this county....though there are many counties around us that have them.

[The Village Idiot]

I lived in the country for a short while. I looked in the phone book for trash pick up and found a around 6 or 8 cmopanies offering service. One of them, I called and asked, was around $30 a month for weekly pickup; up to 20 bags.

That's not too bad.

But we burned the trash instead. Polluted the crap out of the stuff. heh

[debk]

I lived in the country for a short while. I looked in the phone book for trash pick up and found a around 6 or 8 cmopanies offering service. One of them, I called and asked, was around $30 a month for weekly pickup; up to 20 bags.

That's not too bad.

But we burned the trash instead. Polluted the crap out of the stuff. heh

When we quit our once a week service about 3 years ago, it was $180 a quarter, for them to come down our driveway and pick up. $60 for curb service.

I think it must have gone up a lot more the first of the year, as I have noticed that several of the neighbors are now putting their bins at the curb. They have driveways as long as ours, but they are on top of the hills, so it's a downhill trip with full bins.....we are one of the few who have drives that go uphill.

M takes ours to the dump....it's free. He said he's noticed that a lot more people are bringing their trash than there were a couple of years ago.....