MF YYC Politics - there, I mega did it

[chedder]

Originally Posted by edslunch

They get called out to lots of things that they really shouldn’t be. My wife had a medical emergency when our son was born (not in a hospital) and the first responders were six guys in big jackets and boots. They were able to take her blood pressure but what she needed was to get to the hospital ASAP. Hire more paramedics.

Agree and guess what? Surrounding municipalities' fire departments have tried to get the ability to transport patients and AHS won't permit it. So they won't improve response time or allow municipalities the tools to do it.

AHS just doesn't want to admit there's a problem.

[TorqueDog]

CFD is going to bring marshmallows to CliffFletcher's house if it ever catches fire.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Slava

Is the issue really a name change that we need though? Like any time there are hazardous materials involved, or water rescues or that sort of thing, flooding, and who knows what else the fire department is responsible. It's fine that they're not actually putting out fires a lot of time, but those are obviously needed services.

It’s more than a name change, though. If we created a new service to deal with the public health and safety needs of 2021, it wouldn’t look much like the fire departments we have in how we train, equip, and fund it.

And this isn’t just a City of Calgary or Alberta government problem. It’s a problem right across North America of community needs and resources changing, but entrenched perceptions and interests being very slow to change with them.

Calgary’s finances are still in decent shape, but many municipalities and counties in North America are sliding into financial crisis owing to unsustainable costs of police and fire services which make up the lion’s share of public spending in those communities. Meanwhile, there’s a critical shortage of EMS drivers and forest fire fighters, who get paid much less than firefighters. It’s an egregious misallocation of resources and funding.

Honestly, just read the article.

It’s depressing that this kind of important issue so often devolves into appeals to emotion and the usual partisan finger-pointing. This is what our politics should be about - making tough decisions on how to allocate finite resources and deal with looming structural crisis. But we won’t even acknowledge these sorts of structural problems even when the data couldn’t possibly me more clear.

[Fuzz]

According to this, it looks like Calgary does a pretty good job...





https://www.calgary.ca/content/dam/w...ual-report.pdf

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Slava

Honestly, CFD is where the funding should go. They get called out to every single thing (it seems), whether it's fire-related or otherwise.

Running the number from here, fires account for about 3.5% of their responses. If you add in false alarms (possible fires at the time) and explosions etc. it is about 20%., The remaining 80-95% of their calls are not files. Which is pretty eye opening.

https://maps.calgary.ca/Fire/

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

According to this, it looks like Calgary does a pretty good job...





https://www.calgary.ca/content/dam/w...ual-report.pdf

Is there some reason we think assessed value is a good denominator for this? I'd think population and land area would both be better. Is there any reason areas with higher land value should cost more for fire services?

[timun]

Population and land area correlate pretty strongly with property values anyway. Higher property values ≈ more densely populated ≈ more "work" for firefighters.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

It’s more than a name change, though. If we created a new service to deal with the public health and safety needs of 2021, it wouldn’t look much like the fire departments we have in how we train, equip, and fund it.

And this isn’t just a City of Calgary or Alberta government problem. It’s a problem right across North America of community needs and resources changing, but entrenched perceptions and interests being very slow to change with them.

Calgary’s finances are still in decent shape, but many municipalities and counties in North America are sliding into financial crisis owing to unsustainable costs of police and fire services which make up the lion’s share of public spending in those communities. Meanwhile, there’s a critical shortage of EMS drivers and forest fire fighters, who get paid much less than firefighters. It’s an egregious misallocation of resources and funding.

Honestly, just read the article.

It’s depressing that this kind of important issue so often devolves into appeals to emotion and the usual partisan finger-pointing. This is what our politics should be about - making tough decisions on how to allocate finite resources and deal with looming structural crisis. But we won’t even acknowledge these sorts of structural problems even when the data couldn’t possibly me more clear.

Couldn't agree more with the bolded. I think we'd really need 2 forces with multi-disciplinary teams:

Crime and Social Problems
- you'd retain a lot of the current structure for detectives, SWAT, bomb squad, etc. but 'beat work' could be more partnerships between fully-trained police and social workers (with additional weapons/defence/conflict deflation training)
- perhaps empowering bylaw and peace officers a bit more

Health and Accident Response
- fire and EMS seem to respond to the same calls anyways...we probably need more ambulances and fewer firetrucks
- given the upstream issues at the hospital, do we really need two fully trained paramedics and an ambulance tied up until an ER can accept a patient? There are issues with liability and transfer of care, but we shouldn't let that be such a big barrier
- overall more flexibility for deployment...more firefighters in vans/SUVs who could almost serve as chauffeurs - pick up the single paramedic who stayed at the hospital with the patient while their partner drove away in the ambulance...pick up the social worker who stayed with a domestic victim while their cop partner took away the perp, etc.

[calgarygeologist]

This hit the news about the city offer a loan program for homeowners to upgrade in order to become more energy efficient. https://globalnews.ca/news/8429188/e...ogram-calgary/

Calgary homeowners looking to get some help retrofitting their home to be more energy efficient will soon be able to get that help from their property taxes.

Approved by city council on Monday, the Clean Energy Improvement Program covers up to $50,000 for those renos, to be repaid on the property tax bill over a period of up to 25 years at the same interest rate the city would pay on loans funding the program.

I am interested in potentially getting some solar panels and also doing some other upgrades to HVAC and our water tank. I was actually just asking about water tanks a few weeks ago as our tank will need a replacement soon.

I don't think the details are out for this program yet but does anyone have any early thoughts? I recall seeing a piece on these types of program on Last Week Tonight about how they could end up being predatory. What are the benefits/costs to doing retrofits with a government funded loan program vs a traditional HELOC?

[woob]

I think I heard on CBC radio last night, that the interest rate on this will be super low (1.5 percent range) and over a period of potentially 15 years. They're still working out their approved contractors, etc. so it'll be awhile before they have everything in place.

Also, anyone have any guesses who the sole opposing vote was?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by woob

I think I heard on CBC radio last night, that the interest rate on this will be super low (1.5 percent range) and over a period of potentially 15 years. They're still working out their approved contractors, etc. so it'll be awhile before they have everything in place.

Also, anyone have any guesses who the sole opposing vote was?

That seems like a harder question. I mean naturally the inclination is to say Chu. But then again with Dan McLean and Terry Wong there, it's not really a slam dunk!

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Slava

That seems like a harder question. I mean naturally the inclination is to say Chu. But then again with Dan McLean and Terry Wong there, it's not really a slam dunk!

Yeah, I'm really curious which 2 of them didn't show up to the meeting.

[Nufy]

Sweet idea...borrow money for upgrades to increase the value of the home...

Tag it to the property tax...

Sell and collect profit and let the next homeowner pay for it...

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Nufy

Sweet idea...borrow money for upgrades to increase the value of the home...

Tag it to the property tax...

Sell and collect profit and let the next homeowner pay for it...

If this goes through, any realtor that doesn't immediately ask about it, or look at/for any extras on a tax bill is doing a terrible job.

It's not tough to figure that stuff out, when I bought my old house my realtor made sure to let me know that I was paying an extra $130/year on my property taxes for the next xx years because the block got new sidewalks a few years prior.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Slava

That seems like a harder question. I mean naturally the inclination is to say Chu. But then again with Dan McLean and Terry Wong there, it's not really a slam dunk!

yep. go with your instincts. lol

City council approved the program on a 14-1 vote, with Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu as the sole opponent.

I don't know if he said why he opposed the program.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

yep. go with your instincts. lol

City council approved the program on a 14-1 vote, with Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu as the sole opponent.

I don't know if he said why he opposed the program.

Because he's an idiot.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Because he's an idiot.

Doesnt he represent your riding?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Locke

Doesnt he represent your riding?

Yes, and he's an idiot, and everyone who voted for him(pre-sexual assault allegations) is also an idiot. I don't know how you look at years of that idiot and say "ya, I'll take more of that please". Idiots, the lot of them.

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

If this goes through, any realtor that doesn't immediately ask about it, or look at/for any extras on a tax bill is doing a terrible job.

It's not tough to figure that stuff out, when I bought my old house my realtor made sure to let me know that I was paying an extra $130/year on my property taxes for the next xx years because the block got new sidewalks a few years prior.

I'm pretty sure the sellor/selling realtor would have a duty to disclose this as well no?

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

yep. go with your instincts. lol

City council approved the program on a 14-1 vote, with Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu as the sole opponent.

I don't know if he said why he opposed the program.

If you oppose a motion you should say why.