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Michigan City Laying Off Entire Fire Department

16 comments

The Movie Deal Fell Through

THE CITY OF ALLEN PARK, MICHIGAN, CITY COUNCIL voted last night (Tuesday) to lay off its entire 27-man fire department effective in 30 days.  The cash-strapped Detroit suburb of 29,000 pop. will be issuing the layoff notices today.  The status of the police department is in doubt as well.

The city council fell for a movie producer’s empty promise to establish a major film studio in the city if they would provide his company with a site to place his studios.  The city then sold $25 million of bonds and used it to purchase a vacant building and land that was worth only $14 million for their use.  However, Jimmy Lifton, president of Unity Studios, Oracle Post and Lifton Institute for Media Skills, did not have the financial backing that he had led them to believe was available and backed out of the deal.

The lights never came on in the new studios.

The mayor had convinced the city council that great economic growth would arrive with the movie industry and their budget was planned with the phantom revenues.  Faced now with the obligation to pay off the bond indebtedness, the city is forced to take drastic measures immediately.  However, they say that they might be able to avoid the layoffs if the firefighters would (ready for it?….) be willing to renegotiate their contract with the city.

WXYZ-TV covered the council meeting last night and filed this report from the chambers:

 

Allen Park Fire Department WEBPAGE.

From City of Allen Park website.

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Posted by on February 23, 2011 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, labor, Videos • Tagged: , , ,
  • stopcrimenow

    Fear is the angle they are working.

  • Wvhotboiff

    im a wv fire fighter and i agree lay off the mayer not fire fighters

  • Jsalvat1

    So because of the elected officials screwup (nothing new) 27 people will be out on the streets.
    Instead of laying off First Responders, why dont the elected officials man up and pay for their screw up out of their own pockets

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  • http://www.facebook.com/Medic106 Mark Baker

    Call their bluff! Do they think they can contract out an entire city for less? CITIZENS SHOULD BE OUTRAGED!

  • Dfyreman

    Wait a stinkin’ minute! You mean these guys were dumb enough to follow a low budget “film studio” (those that make fiction seem so real) and get talked into buying a 24 million dollar building for a loss of… well… 24 million and have the audacity to want to lay off the fire fighters and police officers?! That is called misappropriation of public funds and is illegal not to mention unconstitutional! Lay off the city council, jail the mayor and sell the building. Not rocket science here folks!

  • Kenster

    You can’t fix stupid!!!!

  • Xtremeb_tch

    hey, I like Dfyre’s idea. lay off the council. this is outrageous. I feel bad for the firefighters that are affected by this. no excuse. sold the bonds for this its BS. miappropriations is right !

  • Jingman

    The elected officials screw up & the firefighters & citizens suffer? Lets lay off City Council!!!

  • Jingman

    Vote them OUT!!!

  • FireBoss

    Visit the Citys website http://www.cityofallenpark.org/government-mayor.php and read the pre fiasco blurb from the Mayor.

  • Dalmatian90

    I think this is one I’d honestly support reneging on the bonds. Give the bondholders the property and say, “You know, you really should do due diligence and not buy bonds bought on a hair brained idiotic scheme that even P.T. Barnum would’ve shook his head at just how stupid people can be.”

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  • Dustymedic

    The people there need to wake & start an immediate recall of all of them. Who checked to see if this guy had or would get the money he needed to operate and would decided they should buy an empty building for 160% of its value?

  • Rio Fire Chief

    As a Fire Chief here in the Midwest I am stunned! I have to believe that as soon as one of the council members’ homes catch fire or one of their spouses or children are involved in a horrific auto accident that requires extrication, their tunes will change real fast. BUT, then it will be too late! I also question whether or not each of those council members and the Mayor offered up their stipend or salaries as “representatives of the people” (cough cough)?

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