Proposed Safety Town Building
By: Sharon Aron Baron
The city invites residents for a Public Safety Open House to tour the facilities that need replacing and ask questions before they vote on a $12.45 million bond referendum on November 4.
The General Obligation Bond on the ballot goes towards improving the public safety communications system, replacing Fire Stations 43 and 95, renovating the Crime Scene Investigation facility, and building a permanent Safety Town building. To pay off the bond, residents would see an additional tax of $19 for the average home valued at $233,000.
Safety Town, a comprehensive early childhood, hands-on safety education program designed to introduce all types of safety situations to children between the ages of 4½ and 6½ is still being operated out of a trailer that has been patched with plywood since Hurricane Wilma. It is estimated that thousands of children have graduated from the summer Safety Town programs. Each year, nearly 3,000 kindergarten children benefit from the Safety Town for Kindergartners program sponsored by the Coral Springs Police Department and is now available to every elementary school in Coral Springs and Parkland on an annual basis.
The Public Safety Open House will be held on Saturday, October 18 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to tour the facilities and ask questions regarding the proposed Public Safety General Obligation Bonds.
The following sites will be available to tour during those times:
Public Safety
2801 Coral Springs Drive
Fire Station 43
4550 Rock Island Road
Fire Station 95
300 Coral Ridge Drive
Safety Town at Kiwanis Park
520 Ramblewood Drive
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9 comments
I have what I think is a relevant question:
Will City Commissioners be at any of these facilities during these hours, in an effort to “educate” us on how to vote? Or campaign us to support it?
If so, that’s pretty ridiculous. In addition, do Coral Springers have access to the whys and wheres and what-will-come from this spending IN WRITING? Why it’s needed?
This Commission spends money like Lucy buying a new hat behind Ricky’s back, and this public touring reeks of being nothing more than a cheap PR stunt, devoid of any real substance for people to make an intelligent decision. Not to mention the fact of how many people do they expect to actually show up in the FIRST place? They KNOW no one is going to come, but they “asked.”
Gee–sound familiar? The same crap they pulled with a new $28 million city hall, but this one HAS to go on the ballot.
Twelve million for this? What the hell are they using for materials–titanium and gold?
I for one will not vote for this bond primarily because of the 5 and a half million to replace the 911 Dispatch system, which if we went along with Broward County we wouldn’t have to do at all especially because we will be paying for it anyway. Money spent for beautification doesn’t bother me as much as this nonsense. Fire houses I have always felt could be renovated instead of a total rebuild for a much cheaper price tag. If safety town was by itself I would vote for that in a heartbeat, although it boggles the mind how it could cost anywhere close to a million dollars.
I don’t care if the commissioners are at these events or not. They probably should be if they feel strongly about the bond to explain their reasoning behind it.
Wow. I am so tired of all the negativity I find here lately. This used to be one of my favorite local websites to come to for information but lately all I find is hate, half truths, outright lies and essentially adult bullying. 90% of this comes from Ira. You must be a really sad, lonely person if all you do is sit here waiting for almost anyone to make a post so you can say something completely negative or irrelevant (I’m sorry if that comes across as name calling but it’s just my impression from what I read). As a Coral Springs resident who cares about the city and wanting to read different points of view (difference between facts, opinions and pure BS) I’d like to ask you Ira to PLEASE only post when you have something of value to say. I, and I’m sure many other residents are tired of spending time reading through absolutely crap. Yea, yea, first amendment and all that and you are entitled to say what you want but again, please, if you have supportable facts or even just opinion please share but enough of the hate already. If you think the current commissioners are that bad, great, tell us facts about why so people can see it and we can replace them but we don’t need this baloney and hatred. Uninformed emotional articles like this really make it near impossible to put credibility to anything you say.
In that spirit I will answer your question. I have no idea if commissioners will be at the facilities, but do CS residents have information IN WRITING? The answer if yes and if you take a breath from spewing hate and do some looking around, you will find it. Just go to http://www.coralsprings.org/cityclerk/election/GoBondsandCharter.cfm and view the presentation that city EMPLOYEES, not commissioners presented and have been presenting to any city committee or public group that wants to see it. If you can’t believe in or trust our city employees and Public Safety Chiefs then we have bigger problems.
If you actually even live in the city and care half as much as I do then please let’s have constructive discussions about the things that affect our lives and families and not try to rip apart everything you see or touch even if you have a different opinion.
My personal opinion based on this presentation and the fact that I have used our public safety systems in the past with very favorable admiration of the job they do, these things are important and I am more than willing to reach in my pocket for an additional $20ish a year to have these benefits (now rather than later) for all of our safety, including the thousands of kids that go through safety town. That’s basically one trip to a fast food restaurant A YEAR I will give up for the daily benefit we should get. I think thats a good deal.
Yeah and last year it was a trip to the restaurant and the year before and the year before that. For others it is not about a trip to a fast food restaurant. Everything has gone up except salaries. Already cut TV service, going to Magic Jack for my phone, raised my thermostat, got rid of the lawn and pool services. Got rid of the second car and am drinking more water. The next person who says its ONLY $20 bucks a year I am going to scream at. :)
I’m sure you’ll excuse me if I choose to reply from home tonight (yes, it’s in Coral Springs!), because I’m on the iPhone now!
And I positively promise you it will positively address your questions about my positivity!
What I said is the beautification doesn’t bother me as much. Did we overspend on it? Absolutely. Should safety town been done instead, yup. As far as the 911 system, I think we should have gone with the county. Every time a new system is put into place there are going to be growing pains, that is not a reason to spend millions of dollars every year so we can be in charge of our own. We had growing pains when we went from volunteer to paid, some of their own making, but we got through it. We didn’t not do it because of the problems that would be incurred by new firefighters not knowing the neighborhoods and best routes etc. Honestly how would we know if there are time lapses with our own system when we are pretty much self monitored.
I don’t think we spend millions a year to maintain our own system but I don’t have those facts. Just remember the communications/dispatch center is an ongoing operational expense different than the radios as a capital expense. This bond is addressing the capital expense to upgrade the radio system. Right now the city I believe is actually buying parts off eBay to keep it working since parts are not available from the manufacturer. The decision to go to county was already made so we are left with the question can we continue to put band aids on the current radio without jeopardizing our officers or citizens? And everything is computerized so all calls, response times, etc. is captured. I believe there are required audits and if something serious were to happen the records could be subpoenaed all of which would make it difficult to brush things under the rug even maintaining our own system.
The other question out there that is unknown is the county is also still using an old analog system per the article listed above. At some point the county will need to upgrade their radios, likely to digital. as well. Where is that money going to come from? IS that going to be passed on as a capital expense to the users of the county system? If so even in the county system we would be paying for radios anyway? It would certainly be interesting to have that data as it is a curiosity. Thanks for sharing your opinion Barb!
Just adding my 2 cents, all county taxpayers will pay for the county system either way so whether Coral Springs residents use a city run or county run dispatch system, they will still pay for the county system.
Additionally, there has never been, nor has there been a need for a ladder truck at Station 43, so the fact that one will not fit is completely irrelevant.
Yes, you mainly speak the truth. Yes, unfortunately Springs will be forced to pay a share of the County system whether they use it or not. But, I think many believe it is still the right way to go. You can’t put a price on lives and it is a fact that CS dispatch, at this point in time is far superior to the County system. I’d be willing to bet the perps in the recent homicide would be long gone if we were on County. Even a delay of 30 sec or a min would have allowed them to get away. There are many performance examples. Public Safety is one area I do not want to see sacrificed.
As for the fire stations, you are also right that 43 never had a ladder truck. I mentioned it because Chief Babinec mentioned it in his presentation. There are many other reasons to want to update the stations. 43 was opened in 1988 when the dept was volunteer and the station at 5100 sq ft was designed and built as a training facility and not to house full time paid firefighters. The stations need work like Roof, A/C, new bay doors, etc. They are also not up to hurricane code. And forgetting the ladder, there is only 8″ of clearance from the mirrors to the wall at 43 so even a slightly wider engine may not fit.