Memphis
Fire Stations: The Next Damsels in
Distress?
By Lee
Harris, Memphis City Council
North
Memphis, Frayser, Uptown & Mud Island
A few
short weeks ago, l learned about cuts to fire services across the city, cuts
that would have a direct impact on communities in North Memphis and the
Downtown core. Since that time, l have been one of the major critics of these
cuts.
However,
long before I joined the Council, the plan to ''realign'' (as the cuts have
been called) Fire Services was already out of the gate. As l understand it, the
process to realign and cut Fire Services began at least a couple of years ago,
prior to my arrival on the City Council.
Nonetheless,
I have fought hard to try to stop the realignment from affecting our
neighborhoods or at least to slow the process down. I have visited several of
the affected fire stations. I have talked at length with firefighters at Station
28 (1510 Chelsea Avenue), Station 19 (2248 Chelsea Avenue), and Station 11
(1826 Union Avenue).
I called
for a special City Council meeting to discuss the realignment. I also scheduled
time for the Council to discuss restoring funding to the libraries that were
slated to close.
At that
meeting, the Council approved a plan to restore funding to the libraries, When
the discussion turned to Fire Services, the director of Fire Services assured
me and the rest of the Council that public safety would not be compromised by
these changes. As the plan had been in place for a couple of years, no changes
were made by the Council. However, I was still worried about this realignment
process.
My next
move was to try to restore funding for Fire Services in the budget. My hope was
that if I restored money in the budget for Fire Services, we could at least
save the ladder truck at Station 28 on Chelsea.
I talked
with the Mayor's Chief Financial Officer, Roland McElrath, to figure out how
much money we would need to fund that ladder truck. I then worked with
Councilwoman Fullilove, among other members of the Council, on a proposal to
restore $150,000 in funding to Fire Services so that Station 28 could keep its
ladder truck in service.
That
proposal that I drafted to restore $150,000 to Fire Services to maintain that
ladder truck was amended at a Council meeting and, ultimately, it was
unsuccessful.
Again, I
am against the Fire Services cuts that affect North Memphis and the Downtown
core. After pretty extensive investigation, I am not convinced these service
cuts are the right move for the city and I have worked hard to try to slow down
these cuts.
The
communities in these areas have a high number of historic homes that can create
a real fire hazard in the case of an emergency. These communities are dense,
with homes built closer together, which means that a fire can spread quickly
from home to home.
Our
communities also have a high number of elderly residents who rely on fire
services. For these reasons, l think we
need fully equipped fire stations and I will continue to do what I can.
Lee Harris
Memphis
City Council-North Memphis,
Frayser,
Uptown & Mud Island
www.leeharrisformemphis.com
