Keeping it real...in Deerfield Beach regarding our Fire Department

I hope everyone has had a chance to read the Sun-Sentinels article about the Utility Tax http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/deerfield/fl-deerfield-utility-tax-20110518,0,5483222.story
Someone posted the following in the comments:
keepingitreal2 at 12:11 PM May 24, 2011

Hey myperspectiveis are you the idiot that runs a day care and was arguing that you'd like sex offenders and criminals to get a second chance with mentoring children at the commision meeting? If you'd like we can pull up the video and discuss this further or got to Chad Stevens site he made a nice video of you. BTW genius an EMT is about 2 semester in college a paramedic is about 7 (about two years at BCC about the same as a nursing degree). Most departments in Broward county are over 90% Paramedics , Deerfield is 98%+. Also on average a payed paramedic in a separate fire/paramedic city/county system makes more than their fire counterparts so are you saying they should be payed more? They do 2 jobs here it's an adaptable system instead of having 100+ firefighters and 100+ paramedics you have 120.Only 35 or so at a time for a city of 80000.BTW I'm not referring to useless private ambulance service that are cut throat only care about money and hire anyone. Those would be mostly EMTs some aren't even that and can't render any care they just drive. That's how they save money and put the rest in their pockets and their investors pockets, is that what you want? So go back to smoking the Ganya and solving the worlds problem in your head. BTW I will be forwarding your video to DCF so you can explain you child day care and sexofender stance.

Now, if you haven't surmised by now.  I will no longer engage in childish back and back forth banter with people who disagree with me or post negative and false comments about me.  I will just slap them in the face with some facts, figures, and links that either prove my point or support it.  With that being said, I replied to the above with the following:

myperspectiveis at 4:01 PM May 25, 2011

@keepingitreal2 it's obvious from your rant that you are possibly a firefighter, so I forgive you.  However, it's also obvious that you know nothing about "keeping it real".  Keeping it real the City of Deerfield Beach FIre Department handles about 9% fire and about 81% emergency medical services, so keeping it real do we really need (per your number) 120 dually trained firefighter/paramedics, I think not!  If our City was really interested in looking at all viable cost saving(s) ideas then they would look at all the models and all the possibilities.  Our City does not and have not done that.  

Look at the City of Plantation, who has about 84,955 residents over 22.8 sq miles compared to Deerfield Beach 75, 018 over 14.9 sq. miles (of which 1.5 is covered with water). Plantation has a full volunteer fire department of about 150 firefighters (many with over 25 years of experience) and they have a City rescue service comprised of about 52 fully trained paid paramedics on three man crews.(as of a 2000 report  http://www.psd.plantation.org/Fire/docs/AnnRpt4.pdf) Their stats are comparable to Deerfields, so it can be done cheaper. Plantation $7,585,223/ Deerfield $20,000,000+ ??

Our City is trying to make a gold watch by chopping at and melting down our silver plated services and departments (like Public works and parks n recs) when they have a golden calf in the fire department.  

I appreciate the chance to discuss this further with this individual and others who share that opinion.  Ask Ben Preston, he and I have had a couple of indepth discussions on this very issue and I hold to my view that in Deerfield it can be done cheaper.  It may not be in this exact format, but if we truly look at the possibilities with this as a model and example I am sure we will find a solution that would make all the residents happy (since it is the residents that have to come out of pocket to pay for this service) because they will still get the service they have come to expect, with the added bonus of not having to dig to deep in their pockets to afford it. Especially, since Deerfield Firefighter emergency service handles many calls from seniors who are living on a fixed income, such as social security.  As we all know social security recipients did not receive a "cost of living" increase in the last couple of years, so every little bit counts for them and that extra money saved could be used so that they may actually live.  

If "keepitreal2" and others have their way those same seniors will have to decide between spending their savings to really live or on emergency services that could possibly save their life.  That's a decision, I for one, wish they wouldn't have to make.

Now, that's keeping it real.