October 26, 200618 yr What an intriguing experiment. I can't wait to see how this pans out within the next 5 to 10 years.
October 30, 200618 yr From the 10/19/06 Warren Tribune Chronicle: Speaker: Regionalization is future By JENNIFER KOVACS Tribune Chronicle LIBERTY — State and local officials met Wednesday morning in a summit to discuss how regionalization is evolving from being a good idea to something that’s necessary for the future of northeast Ohio. ‘‘The world has changed, and quite frankly, the government has to change with it,’’ Warren Mayor Michael J. O’Brien said. More at http://tribune-chronicle.com/articles.asp?articleID=10123
November 1, 200618 yr What a turn-around from the story posted above from Sept. 29! This is the best news I've read for weeks. Let's hope city councils adopt it. Suburbs talk of sharing income taxes Mayors group OKs cities splitting revenue when company relocates Friday, October 27, 2006 Thomas Ott Plain Dealer Reporter Turf-minded Cleveland suburbs are poised to do what seemed impossible: Share income taxes when a company pulls up stakes in one community and sets them down in another. The Cuyahoga County Mayors and City Managers Association overwhelmingly agreed Thursday to have winning and losing communities split the taxes of transplanted workers for up to five years. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com
November 1, 200618 yr I also applaud them. Congratulations mayors for an excellent step. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 10, 200718 yr This is a very interesting development. Can you imagine the impact this may have on future development away from the urban core? Agency plans first regional impact study Saturday, February 10, 2007 Sarah Hollander Plain Dealer Reporter A proposed highway interchange in Avon will become a test case for the area's growing concerns about sprawl and hopes for regionalism. The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency's board unanimously agreed Friday to look beyond typical traffic details when considering a new Interstate 90 interchange at Nagel Road in the growing suburb. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com
February 11, 200718 yr Awesome! I wonder, of course, what the methodology will be and if the findings of the study will have any impact on the decision making. It is also significant that it is the Bay Village Mayor who is asking for this study, and not Cleveland or a more recognized inner ring suburb. This definitely represents a broadening of the constituency for conservation of existing communities.
February 13, 200718 yr Thought that this might be of some relevance in the Regionalism thread as she was one of the more important players in both the OfficeMax and UH proposals. Shaker Hts. mayor won't seek re-election Tuesday, February 13, 2007 Michael O'Malley Plain Dealer Reporter Shaker Heights -- Mayor Judy Rawson announced Monday that she will not seek re-election when her four-year term expires at the end of the year.
February 15, 200718 yr In regard to the NOACA article posted above, I don't know if I was more surprised to find out that they didn't plan based on regional impacts already or that they were going to start doing so. The combination of this "revelation" and the new leadership at ODOT should give good ol' urbanism a much fairer shot in forthcoming transportation developments.
March 30, 200718 yr Yesterday's PD: Unified government is region's only hope, Sam Miller says Thursday, March 29, 2007 Joe Guillen Plain Dealer Reporter Cleveland and Northeast Ohio are doomed by the poor performances of business and political leaders, and the only way the region can survive is with a unified government, says longtime civic booster Sam Miller, a philanthropist and co- chair man of Forest City Enterprises. Miller hopes his strong words and cash jolt civic leaders to ac tion. He pledged to provide money for two years for "a com munitywide process to look at the way we are governed." More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com
March 30, 200718 yr "Simply put, if you people in Gates Mills and Pepper Pike and Beachwood and Westlake and Bay Village want to turn your back on the problem, then figure out how you are going to maintain good school systems and get a good price for your house. "You are not. You will get caught in the same decline that is overtaking Cleveland now." Amen to that....
March 30, 200718 yr ^Yep take away the 82 square miles that is Cleveland proper and their (suburban) home values plummet tremendously.
March 30, 200718 yr Hudson's mayor touting tax sharing He sees the region as everyone's future Friday, March 30, 2007 Thomas Ott Plain Dealer Reporter Hudson - Why would the mayor of a wealthy community like Hudson call for cities to share taxes? Mayor William A. Currin believes the answer is simple: Hudson's prosperity depends on the region's fortunes, and the region's prospects are so dismal that leaders need to consider radical ideas - like sharing taxes. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com
March 31, 200718 yr Currin is my hero. I love politicians who stick their necks out to reach goals that can't be reached any other way. Too bad they're such a rare breed. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 1, 200718 yr Think regional, just like in 1964 Sunday, April 01, 2007 Dick Feagler Plain Dealer Columnist When I got out of the Army and went to work for the Cleveland Press, an editor sent me to talk to a big-shot politician about the city's future. I don't even remember who he was anymore. But I remember what he said. "Regional government," he said. "That's Cleveland's only salvation." More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com
April 1, 200718 yr PD Editorial: Come together Cuyahoga County's economic ills and grim trends prompt a new effort toward unifying government Sunday, April 01, 2007 "If you people out in Gates Mills and Pep per Pike and Beachwood and Westlake and Bay Village want to turn your back on this problem, then figure out how you are going to maintain good school systems and get a good price for your house. You are not. You will get caught in the same decline that is overtaking Cleveland now." - Sam Miller The call for a unified government in Cuyahoga County has begun in earnest, as a result of comments by civic leader and Forest City Enterprises executive Sam Miller. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com
April 1, 200718 yr I often don't agree with Dick Feagler's comments because they are too narrow-minded, IMHO. And while he addressed one narrow issue - race - in that column, it's a significant enough issue that deserves a whole column. A lot of columns, in fact. And that's part of the problem. I'm glad Feagler is discussing an issue a lot of whites won't discuss publicly. It's the issue that deserves the most discussion, yet seems to be discussed the least. This region needs race therapy, not burying unresolved emotions and un-treated wounds from race-related calamaties of decades past (Hough/Glenville riots, busing, etc) and ongoing calamaties (sprawl, crime/drugs, etc). If we can calm our fears, we'll be able to accomplish so much more. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 1, 200718 yr I often don't agree with Dick Feagler's comments because they are too narrow-minded, IMHO. And while he addressed one narrow issue - race - in that column, it's a significant enough issue that deserves a whole column. A lot of columns, in fact. And that's part of the problem. I'm glad Feagler is discussing an issue a lot of whites won't discuss publicly. It's the issue that deserves the most discussion, yet seems to be discussed the least. This region needs race therapy, not burying unresolved emotions and un-treated wounds from race-related calamaties of decades past (Hough/Glenville riots, busing, etc) and ongoing calamaties (sprawl, crime/drugs, etc). If we can calm our fears, we'll be able to accomplish so much more. I think he has come around in his old age. He has changed his mind on any issues including sexual orientation. Before you know it, he'll be moving downtown. I also think that race is not the big issue people make it out to be. Sure there are individuals who are racially ignorant, but the bigger issues dividing people are more class and economic standing then race
April 2, 200718 yr Jackson appoints regional development chief Posted by Olivera Perkins April 02, 2007 12:10PM Categories: Breaking News Mayor Frank Jackson this morning appointed Chris Warren, president of ShoreBank Enterprise Group and a former city economic development director, as his new chief of regional development. Warren, who also served as community development director during 12 years at City Hall, will in his new post work to develop a "regional approach that will help build the economy in the region and ensure the future of the City of Cleveland," a Jackson statement said. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com
April 4, 200718 yr Interesting interview with Sam Miller by Tom Beres from WKYC. Miller makes very valid points. http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=65390
April 5, 200718 yr Miller sounds passionate about this!! I'm glad that he noted that silver bullets will not save the town. I think it's good that he's jumped in on this.
April 10, 200718 yr Regional action plan unveiled By JAY MILLER 1:59 pm, March 30, 2007 The long-awaited economic development agenda for the region was rolled out this morning for more than 200 of the region’s civic leaders, including Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. The action plan, called “Advance Northeast Ohio,” has been nearly two years in the making. It embraces a number of efforts already under way and calls for a series of regionwide actions to improve the economy of Northeast Ohio. Goals include greater cooperation among regional governments and improved programs to train the work force of the future. More at crainscleveland.com http://www.crainscleveland.com
April 11, 200718 yr An updated article with a little more information... Jackson appoints city's first-ever chief of regional development BY OLIVERA PERKINS | [email protected] April 3, 2007 CLEVELAND - Chris Warren, who used to head Cleveland's community development and economic development departments, will become the city's first-ever chief of regional development. As regional czar, Warren will be asked to coordinate development with suburbs that he once competed against to bring employers to the city. But in announcing the appointment Monday, Mayor Frank Jackson said he is confident Warren will bring a cooperative approach to the job. More at http://www.cleveland.com/community/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1175589243262090.xml&coll=2
April 11, 200718 yr why would he be in charge of the airport. Smith doesn't need another "layer" of management to improve the airport. :?
April 11, 200718 yr Hopefully, Smith will be left alone for the most part. He seems very capable. I do know that Warren is very highly regarded in Cleveland.
April 13, 200718 yr Good article from the Beacon Journal... Regionally, e pluribus without the unum Merging government services could reap big savings By Steve Hoffman, Beacon Journal editorial writer When the services that local government provided were simpler and times more prosperous, nobody devoted much thought to the proliferation of political subdivisions in Northeast Ohio. Even in recent years, with costs rising and tax dollars strained, most discussion about operating more efficiently is framed within the confines of particular school districts, cities, villages and townships. At that local governmental unit level, officials often muster convincing evidence that they are doing everything possible to control expenses and still provide the number and quality of services to which voters have become accustomed. More at http://www.ohio.com
April 25, 200718 yr Not as sexy as a new downtown development, but much more important to our region's future. It's great to see the regionalism movement building momentum. Mayors see government cooperation as salvation They're promoting new roles for county Tuesday, April 24, 2007 Thomas Ott Plain Dealer Reporter Fearing that the region is on the brink of disaster, nine suburban mayors will push for a new form of Cuyahoga County government that they say could save money and respond faster to the county's economic problems. The mayors' plans are short on detail but include forming a countywide economic development agency to distribute federal, state and county money. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com
April 25, 200718 yr I'm glad the regionalism is finally getting the shine it deserves. Alot of the public officials seem to understand its importance, but if a poll were taken on how many CC RESIDENTS realize how important regionalism is, I wonder how many would be for the merging of County services.
April 25, 200718 yr ^^I'm glad too, however I'm not a fan of the mayors leaving the school districts out of the discussion (just as the PD did when it first brought up the idea of consolidated county government). It would seem that the schools would have much to gain through regionalism, in my opinion. I just don't understand why the schools are always left out.
April 25, 200718 yr I'm guessing because the Bay's, Stongsville's, Solon's, Oranges and Beachwood's don't want to be "braught down" by lagging districts throughout the county. People probably automatically assume school quality would go down if all CC was merged when infact with all the resources that would be available academics could see a boost as schools have to spend less money worrying about non academic issues and can push more resources into the students.
April 25, 200718 yr ^^Not only that, but if CC were to merge Cleveland could push for school funding to change state wide with the extra added clout.
April 26, 200718 yr I think it could be a really good idea...however...I also think that the school districts should stay the same. If my kid (if I had one) were to go to school in the Strongsville school district, I would not want to see them suddenly bused to Lakewood, Beachwood, or Collinwood. Busing didn't really work when it first was instituted...and I doubt it would go over big now. What makes a neighborhood a true neighborhood is knowing who lives there, the children who grow up there, the schools, civic pride, etc etc...Those things make it a livable place. I think what would scare most people is that would somehow all be broken up and the kids would be scattered throughout the city(county). If there would be some sort of definite districting..it may be easier to sell this idea. If not, I doubt many people would be on board for a county regionalization.
April 26, 200718 yr I also think the schools should stay the same or only merge like districts that have the same state grade.
April 26, 200718 yr The main benefit of merging school districts that I can think of would be to save money on purchasing costs through consolidation of spend. This however could be accomplished without merging school districts. Instead, a central, county-wide (or region-wide for that matter) purchasing office could be set up that could consolidate all spend from school districts and negotiate better pricing with school supplies distributors, textbook manufacturers, utility companies, construction companies, etc. etc. etc. I think the county has already set up a similar office titled NEOSO that does this very thing for public agencies (not sure if that includes) school districts. It's not rocket-science -- every large, well-run decentralized company in the US does the same thing. What would be some of the other benefits of merging school districts? Frankly, I know little about this issue.
April 26, 200718 yr What would be some of the other benefits of merging school districts? Frankly, I know little about this issue. They could develop and share more specialized facilities and curricula.
April 26, 200718 yr Next week (May 3), Sun Newspapers will have a large spread in each of its 25 papers on regionalizing fire department services. I wrote an article on what Cleveland is doing (probably will run only in the two Cleveland papers, and possibly some of the inner-ring burbs). I also overheard what other reporters discovered in the communities they cover. Pretty interesting stuff. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 26, 200718 yr What would be some of the other benefits of merging school districts? Frankly, I know little about this issue. They could develop and share more specialized facilities and curricula. ^That's interesting idea re: facilities. I think it would be an interesting analysis if someone would look at capacity & utilization of all schools in the county. Let's just say that most schools are in the 80-90% utilization range. Well that 10-20% of spare capacity probably adds up to multiple schools that could be consolidated if a county-wide system was put in place and capacity was managed across the network of schools (more schools would be kept at 95%-100% utilization). Less building with underutilized capacity = lots of $$$ saved due to reduced maintenance costs and potentially lots of money saved if/when schools need to be renovated. And you could also look at using the freed-up buildings for other uses or as specialized facilities.
April 29, 200718 yr Well, looks like Sam Miller officially stirred the regionalism discussion back up. Let's act on it this time. Reacting with lip service -- and lead feet Sunday, April 29, 2007 Thomas Ott and Tom Breckenridge Plain Dealer Reporters Northeast Ohio is warming to regionalism. But if your furnace took this long to heat up, you would call a repairman. Three years ago, The Plain Dealer began publishing "A Region Divided," a series exploring how Cuyahoga County and its 59 communities might benefit by eliminating duplicated services, sharing taxes across political boundaries and planning with a regional view. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com
April 29, 200718 yr New series aims to stir interest in tackling area's parochialism Sunday, April 29, 2007 Doug Clifton Plain Dealer Columnist Three years ago, The Plain Dealer launched a series of stories we called "A Region Divided." As the name implies, the series documented the fragmentary system of government that defines Northeast Ohio. While the series drew no conclusions, it did ask questions, big ones and small. For example, do neighboring villages each need a $600,000 ladder truck? More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com
April 29, 200718 yr Charts and graphs... http://www.cleveland.com/region/images/economicimpact.jpg http://www.cleveland.com/region/images/mighthavebeen.jpg http://www.cleveland.com/region/images/ripening.jpg http://www.cleveland.com/region/images/regiondivided.jpg Interactive maps... http://www.cleveland.com/pdgraphics/interactive/ohiomigration/map/m10000.html http://www.cleveland.com/pdgraphics/interactive/neoohiomigration/map/m10000.html
April 29, 200718 yr The regionalization of Ohio school districts has many potential benefits - the population of Northeast Ohio is not growing, but gradually shifting outward to the suburbs - so as Parma, Brooklyn, Maple Hts, etc lose students, other districts in Lorain and Medina counties are struggling to build schools fast enough to meet the demand. Small school districts cannot utilize their buildings to the fullest extent, with changes in enrollment from year to year. There is tremendous duplication of efforts among smaller districts to come up with individual education plans for everything from gifted students to severely behaviorally challenged ones. It would seem that smaller districts especially would benefit from consolidating special ed services, etc. as a first step. Ohio as a whole has too many districts, leading to too many superintendents and administrators, etc. Lorain County alone has 14 school districts, plus parts of Vermilion, Olmsted Falls, Strongsville, Black River, Mapleton, and New London districts within its borders. The whole state of Nevada has 17, with one district covering the Las Vegas/Clark County area.
April 29, 200718 yr Excellent article from the PD. I for one especially love the idea of Cuy. cty changing their government to an executive-style like Summit cty. That would bring more oversight and likely more efficient and smooth governance with a County Council overseeing and approving legislation.
May 6, 200718 yr Here's my contribution to Sun's special section on regionalism. We had some photos and graphics to go with this, too. Sometimes the subjects for articles are interesting to research. This was one of them. _______________ http://www.cleveland.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-0/1178210659247860.xml&coll=3 City forging partnerships Cleveland works with inner-ring suburbs Thursday, May 03, 2007 By Ken Prendergast Cleveland safety officials already are lighting a fire under the idea of regionalism. Agreements are being sought to share fire services, manpower and equipment with its neighboring suburbs, while also trying to consolidate what they consider to be duplicate, disconnected safety services within Cleveland. Both are intended to save money, increase coordination, make more first responders available and improve response times. Cleveland Safety Director Martin Flask said the city's fire division is seeking agreements with fire departments in eight inner-ring suburbs for mutual response protocols a more involved version of mutual aid. With mutual aid, safety forces from two or more cities typically are present at an emergency. Mutual response addresses communications, tactics, supervision and equipment so one city can respond to an emergency when firefighters or paramedics in another city cannot. Cleveland also provides more specialized equipment and trained personnel in dealing with hazardous materials, high-angle rescues as well as deep-trench rescues. "If they need our support, we would provide it and the support also goes the other way," Flask said. "I would fully expect to have all the agreements in place by the end of the year. It's our goal to have formalized agreements with all the inner-ring suburbs." Cleveland's first mutual response agreement was reached with Brooklyn; its text was used as a model for discussions with other suburbs. Most recently, agreements were approved by city councils in East Cleveland, Parma and Brook Park. Discussions are continuing with Brooklyn Heights, Euclid, Warrensville Heights and Walton Hills. The latter doesn't have its own fire service. Brooklyn is seeking its own mutual response agreements with other suburbs. Brooklyn Fire Chief Paul Duchoslav said he supports the idea of regionalization. "I think its a great idea," he said. "I think it would be a giant step in the right direction. It makes for much more efficient service." Baldwin-Wallace College is doing a study on regionalizing fire services among seven communities, including Brooklyn, Parma and Parma Heights. Duchoslav said it would be easier and quicker if the departments were regionalized because they would all have the same equipment and protocols. Problems from it, he said, would be dealing with each local of the International Association of Fire Fighters and to stem a desire to cut manpower just because the departments are regionalized. Duchoslav said that could compromise safety and service. An example of how regionalism would help was seen in a recent emergency. Brooklyn had three rescue squad calls at the same time. It had to call on Parma for the third call. Because Parma's paramedics weren't familiar with the area, a Brooklyn police officer had to guide them to the scene of the emergency, costing valuable time. Duchoslav said regionalization would create districts were all the departments are familiar with the area and can respond to calls more quickly and efficiently. "All of this is a big departure from just a few years ago," Flask said. "There's lots of opportunities to consolidate to become more efficient and improve our quality of service. We feel very strongly about that." Cleveland's Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell, chairman of council's Public Safety Committee, said purchasing and procurement represents 57 percent of the city's Safety Department budget. Conwell announced that he will propose creating joint inventories of supplies and equipment for safety forces in conjunction with surrounding suburbs. "If we could work with other suburbs, we could keep our inventory down," Conwell said. "That's the good thing with regionalism economies of scale. Capital goods might be stored in Cleveland or surrounding communities." However, he said he's not yet ready to embrace the idea of combined fire departments and fire stations. "We have to get out of the politics," Conwell said. "People love their fire stations and the unions will have to fight for them as well. But if they realize that it's for the good of the whole, then that's a good thing." Bob Fisher, president of Local 93 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, did not return a phone call prior to deadline for this article. However, in past interviews, he opposed any efforts by Cleveland to take firefighters away from street duties. In fact, a proposal by Mayor Frank Jackson's administration to create a consolidated safety communications center for police, fire and Emergency Medical Service dispatchers met resistance by IAFF Local 93. Fisher said he wasn't opposed to the concept of the consolidated center. Rather, he didn't support having a mostly civilian staff take over fire dispatching duties, as was already done for police and EMS. The union wants more firefighters hired and put on the street. Flask said the consolidated communications center would do just that. City officials said there are 31 qualified firefighters working as dispatchers who instead should be staffing fire trucks. "We have three dispatch centers, three budgets and three command staffs," Flask said. "There are 201 employees at our existing center (at East 21st Street and Payne Avenue). There are 17 job descriptions, seven unions, differing technologies and three training curriculums to provide dispatching all at the same building. They're even on the same floor and they can see each other." That and other consolidations are being sought this year. In the early 1990s, there were serious discussions about merging the fire division and EMS. While that isn't on the table, other cost savings are, such as merging purchasing contracts for equipment and supplies, coordinating training, as well co-locating fire and EMS vehicles in the same buildings throughout the city, Flask said. Leana Donofrio contributed to this article. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 6, 200718 yr ^ That article is a complete joke.....I wish some of the real truths were told, but they never are when covered by the media. I work in the field and I SEE what goes on everytime I put the uniform on...the city wastes a TON of money but won't remedy it for pure political reasons. What a shame.....
May 6, 200718 yr ^ That article is a complete joke.....I wish some of the real truths were told, but they never are when covered by the media. I work in the field and I SEE what goes on everytime I put the uniform on...the city wastes a TON of money but won't remedy it for pure political reasons. What a shame..... What going on, lets hear it old man :wink:
May 6, 200718 yr Well...MTS, you whippersnapper.....here goes... I am only speaking on safety services, and how they are run. I will try to be as unbiased as I can about this. I believe the city made a big mistake by having police, fire, and EMS dispatch centers all in one building on one floor. It may seem to make sense to the average person, but after 9/11, things changed. National standards advise against this practice because if a terrorist action wanted to completely disrupt the whole city of Cleveland's safety services, it could be done in one shot by taking out that center. Okay, with that said, I realize the article states that the city could save money by civilianizing the dispatch center but I think that is a mistake as well. It would save money, but I believe that the people behind the radio (for each service) needs to have true street knowledge of what is going on at the other end. There is a new CAD (computer aided dispatch) system in place now, but unfortunately it was outdated before it was even purchased (typical of the city to save a buck). Many times what the computer deems the "proper" units to be dispatched to an incident (speaking from fire/EMS standpoint) are NOT the proper units. Luckily, when some of the dispatchers that have spent time on the streets see this, they THINK to change the assignment. Unfortunately the civilian dispatchers aren't aware of the mistakes, and follow the assignments as posted. This can sometimes cause GREAT delays for people in need. Example: The head on collision by the drunk driver not too long ago on I-71. The CAD sent station 42 from Pearl and Biddoulph...instead of the station (which the 42's passed en route) which was right at the entrance to the freeway and only 2 minutes away from the incident (station 20). On top of that, the computer did not send a CFD heavy rescue to the scene on the initial call. Heavy rescues carry the proper equipment for special rescues and extrication. The man in that car was DOA, but the point is, what if he was not..what if those precious minutes would have made the difference? On to the next issue. Recently EMS has tried to save money by changing the work shifts from 12 hour shifts to 8 hour shift, claiming that the city will save $500k by doing so. Hearing from friends at EMS, they have told me all this has done was make morale even lower and has actually caused more OT than before. Where is the savings? The biggest savings the city could see would be a merger of Fire and EMS. Many EMS workers in the past have cringed at the idea because they have been told they would lose their jobs. This is simply NOT true. The only jobs that would be lost would be through attrition, but in doing so, it would make the service more streamlined, efficient, and cost effective. Currently CFD has roughly 905 members total from Chief on down, EMS has roughly 350. CFD has roughly 150 paramedics, with the rest of the members being EMT basics. EMS is composed of mostly paramedics with the rest being EMT basics. The fire department responds to many medical calls as a "first responder" to provide basic care until an ambulance arrives. Many times a CFD heavy rescue is sent on medical calls because they have the capability to transport and are staffed by cross trained firefighter that are paramedics as well (me being one of them). There are many times that an EMS ambulance is sent as well as a heavy rescue. My question is why? This seems to be a duplication of service and a waste of money. You are in essence sending two paramedic units to one call, when there could possibly be another emergency that could have a delayed response because two units are tied up on the same run. Another cost saving measure that could be taken would be the vehicles that the city chooses to buy for EMS. Currently the city uses a type-III heavy duty extended cab chassis ambulance. This vehicle is cost ineffective, has maneuverability issues, and is overkill for a unit staffed by two people that carry only medical equipment. There are three classes of ambulances...type-I (pickup style cab with box on the back) type-II (van style ambulance) and type-III (which can have either a van style cab, heavy duty cab, or in Cleveland's case a heavy duty extended cab with box on the back). MANY major cities, with the same weather conditions, use either the typeI, II, or III with the van chassis. These are anywhere to 2/3 to 1/2 the cost per vehicle, just as effective, and easier to work on. I know this because I was in the fire service before being employed by Cleveland and have been involved with specifications of purchasing emergency vehicles. You take the savings of one ambulance then multiply it by an entire fleet, the savings is substantial. Finally, the idea of a merger. The CFD has proposed a plan to merge EMS/into the fire department, only to be shot down everytime. The plan (in a nutshell) would call for a merger of personell AND bosses with no loss of employment, only a restructure of the service. Job reduction would come with attrition. Current EMS employees would remain paramedics and work 12 hour shifts. They would also be offered to be cross trained as firefighters with preference when more firefighter hirings would be needed. Those who do not want to be firefighters, could remain medic only status. The firefighters who are already paramedics would also staff ambulance units for half of the 24 hour shift and staff a fire unit the other 12. This would save on overtime and you would get double duty from a single service. As people retire or leave the job, new hires would be required to be firefighter/paramedics. *Currently the paramedics on CFD have voluntarily become so, not a requirement* Through time, you would need less people to do two jobs. Which in turn means less higher ranking officers (which make more pay). Basically now with two services, we have too many chiefs for the Indians!! The merged service seems to work well in Columbus, Cincinnati, Seattle, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, NYC, D.C....the list goes on. Why is it that Cleveland won't do it, even though studies have PROVEN it is cost effective and a more reliable service? CFD has even offered to start "paramedic pumpers" ...meaning having every fire truck staffed with a paramedic so they could offer the citizens a higher level (IV's, medication, advanced airway procedures, etc) of care until an ambulance arrives for transport, but the city denied that request. Every minute that advanced life support is delayed in an emergency can be detrimental, so why would the city not strive to make things better for a lower cost? I am in NO WAY bashing EMS medics, I think there are fine medics that work there. I AM bashing the city for not moving into the 21st century when it comes to safety, care, and cost effective services for the tax payers and residents. I AM asking what the agenda is behind all of this. Is it somehow our city officials seem to know more than all of the aforementioned cites? Is it political? Are there personal agendas? I really don't think these reasons should be put above qualityservices for the tax payers and residents of Cleveland. How can one expect Cleveland to regionalize when it can't even do it within it's own borders? Ok, enough of my boring rant!! lol I know I don't contribute much to this board, but this is one topic I am more than happy to chime in on because I know about it first hand. If there are any question..please feel free to ask. :)
May 6, 200718 yr ^Interesting stuff JDD941. I know next to nothing about safety services, so that was very informative. And it seems you have some good ideas.
May 6, 200718 yr ^Interesting stuff JDD941. I know next to nothing about safety services, so that was very informative. And it seems you have some good ideas. Ditto. Thats is why its good to have JDD here. My ex is on the CPD and would complain about certain things, like JDD and would often say its the union grand standing causing the city council to balk therefore only hurting the citizens of Cleveland.
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