By BILL BRUNS and SUE PASCOE L.A. Fire Chief Millage Peaks and City Councilman Bill Rosendahl will attend next Thursday’s Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting to defend the chief’s proposed closure of the four-man engine company at Station 69 (Sunset at Carey). The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the small gym at the Palisades Recreation Center, in anticipation of an unusually large audience turnout. ’I have also booked Pat McOsker, president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City,’ said Council Chair Janet Turner. ’All sides of the issue will be represented and we hope to have an intelligent conservation.’ She urged residents to write comments on the Community Council’s new blogspot (pp90272.blogspot.com), noting that these opinions will be presented to Councilman Rosendahl. Last Sunday morning, about 150 residents gathered for a rare (in Pacific Palisades) protest rally and press conference next to Station 69 that was covered by Channel 34, ABC and NBC. Protestors were responding to a redeployment plan that will cut $54 million from the upcoming L.A. Fire Department budget by closing 18 fire companies (engines) and four ambulances citywide on July 5. Peaks announced two weeks ago that his plan would mean reassignment of 12 firefighters from Station 69 to other stations within the LAFD and the loss of an active engine, bringing the station down to eight firefighters and paramedics every 24-hour shift. However, the engine itself (a water-pumping truck) would remain at Station 69 for use in emergencies, especially during dangerous fire conditions, and the station would receive a second ambulance and an additional paramedic within the eight-man crew so that two paramedic teams are always available. Councilman Bill Rosendahl assured residents in last week’s Palisadian-Post (‘Rosendahl Defends Station 69 Changes’) that ‘the new plan will not reduce response times and that the engine will be available at a moment’s notice.’ Flo Elfant, disaster preparedness advisor for the Community Council and the Chamber of Commerce, argued that the town’s geographical isolation makes this area a special case. ‘This is not a place for the City to cut fire and emergency services. If Sunset and PCH are blocked by a landslide or flooding, or if a major brush fire suddenly breaks out, our safety is at stake.’ Her concerns were reiterated by Jay Handal, chairman of the Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates, a group formed by Mayor Villaragosa to make recommendations. ’Our group strongly opposes the cuts,’ said. ‘The city should fully fund all core essential services; it has not been a good steward of the citizens’ money and every citizen needs to know the truth about why they’re losing services.’ Said 12-year resident Carmen Lynch, ‘I am strongly opposed to the closure of Engine 69. I feel that there should be some other place to balance the budget without losing this critical resource.’ Resident Daphne Gronich started a petition at the press conference, hoping to eventually gather ‘at least 1,000 signatures. ‘I think it’s critical that the proposed closure of Engine 69 be rejected by the City Council and that alternatives that safeguard our community are adopted.’ Visit: www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Save-Pacific-Palisades-Engine-69/. Another resident, Lisa Robins, noted that Chief Peaks had drawn on computer research of the records at all 106 stations in the LAFD. The statistics showed that Station 69 had a total of 3.4 incidents per 24 hours’for a 91st ranking. But, she argued, ‘Safety issues are too important to be decided by computer statistical analysis, without considering the specific circumstances of affected communities. The public safety of taxpayers should not be compromised to solve the City’s fiscal crisis.’ She added, ‘The breadth of Engine 69’s coverage area (and the nature of the local terrain and combustible vegetation), and the distance from back-up units during times of increased traffic’particularly given limited access routes’have not been adequately considered.’
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