A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words
The Ladder Truck Literally Forces Our Pedestrians Into Oncoming TrafficSubmitted by Rumford Citizen
At the last selectmen's meeting there was a dispute as to how far the Rumford Fire Department vehicles actually do park out into Congress Street. This picture clearly shows one truck is out beyond the parking spot in the foreground. That parking spot is eight feet wide; that puts the truck close to ten feet out into the road.
In this picture, the trucks are simply parked there for display. The Union wants everyone to see their trucks and it wants to remind taxpayers just how valuable the Union is to the town. The Union is not concerned about the fact that this display requires pedestrians to walk out into oncoming traffic to get around the Fire Trucks.
In fact, the Rumford Fire Department cares so little for the safety of others that it devised a plan to do away with your right to walk in front of the fire station. That's right; if you just crossed from Rite Aid over to Franklin Savings Bank and you want to continue down the sidewalk to the Post Office, the Rumford Fire Department wants to put in a crosswalk from Franklin Savings Bank over to Dunkin Doughnuts to get you over to that side of the street so that you can then cross Dunkin Doughnut's driveway, come down the sidewalk and use the existing crosswalk to get back over to the other side of street to use the Post Office.
Does that sound stupid to you? Well now go back through that sequence and picture being in a wheelchair, or on crutches, or with a walker, or with a cane. You see it's not about "Life Safety Issues"; it's all about the Union and job security. It's not about the American's with Disabilities Act; it's all about the Union. And it's not about the rules set by the Maine Department of Transportation; it's all about the Union. In fact the Union runs the Rumford Fire Department.
Landlord's are having to evict tenants because of Life Safety Code violations yet the Board of Selectmen can't stop firefighters from sleeping on the second floor of the fire station which currently has major Life Safety Code violations because the Union won't allow it! Of course sleeping in the station allows them to collect money for nothing and accrue overtime as well. Why can't they get them out? Because it's all about the Union.
A picture can indeed say a thousand words. This picture says, "The Rumford Fire Union no longer serves the public, the public serves the Fire Union."
