After reading the recent article on the Bakersfield Fire Department’s new ladder truck I was incredulous.  The Bakersfield Police Department has $7 million (10%) slashed from its already sadly underfunded $70 million dollar budget, and more cuts are on the way.  Meanwhile, the fire department’s budget remains virtually untouched (- 1%).  Really?!  The police department is already 25 officers down, with an indefinite hiring freeze in place, and has no money to hire new officers, let alone purchase badly needed new equipment.  Really?!  A $740,000 ladder truck, the city’s 4^th one! in a city that is sprawling outward not upward.  Really?!               

Now don’t get me wrong, everyone loves a fireman, but it appears the reporter missed the real story.  With crime on the rise, cops and citizens getting shot at by criminals more than ever, and the state about to release thousands of prisoners to our streets in an effort to balance a budget, the writing for the Bakersfield citizenry is on the wall.  Is anybody reading it?  It’s not graffiti.  After all, how many people in Bakersfield were victims of crimes last year compared to being victims of fire?  Really!

Todd Dickson