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Mayor Jerry Sanders took bows last week from adoring San Diegans and a fawning press that refused to ask tough questions. The mayor should have been asked about a study two years ago by the Center on Policy Initiatives. It pointed out that the number of firefighters per 1,000 residents of San Diego was lowest among large California cities. San Diego's per capita spending on fire protection was third lowest. At that time, San Diego was short 22 fire stations and hundreds of firefighters. Donald Cohen, president of the research organization, points out that this spring, Sanders refused to give firefighters a pay raise while giving all other city employees cost of living increases. The result was low morale and an exodus. Once again, I point out: the main thing city, county, state and federal governments learned from the 2003 fires was how to seize the public relations initiative and hoodwink the public and press into thinking what a great job governments had done. But that is simply not so.
Mayor Jerry Sanders took bows last week from adoring San Diegans and a fawning press that refused to ask tough questions. The mayor should have been asked about a study two years ago by the Center on Policy Initiatives. It pointed out that the number of firefighters per 1,000 residents of San Diego was lowest among large California cities. San Diego's per capita spending on fire protection was third lowest. At that time, San Diego was short 22 fire stations and hundreds of firefighters. Donald Cohen, president of the research organization, points out that this spring, Sanders refused to give firefighters a pay raise while giving all other city employees cost of living increases. The result was low morale and an exodus. Once again, I point out: the main thing city, county, state and federal governments learned from the 2003 fires was how to seize the public relations initiative and hoodwink the public and press into thinking what a great job governments had done. But that is simply not so.