If only we had stuff we could just spend money on:
Gary fire officials hope 34 city firefighters who have lost or are losing their jobs are granted a last-minute reprieve.
Four of the firefighters were laid off Dec. 18, and Friday is the last day on the job for the other 30.
Fire Chief Jeff Ward said there still is a chance the department will get a federal grant that would allow the department to bring back the laid-off firefighters, but he isn’t sure when, or if, the grant will materialize.
The layoffs would slash the city’s firefighting force by 20 percent.
Well, really. The last thing you need when temps are low and people are poor and likely lighting candles and using space heaters because they can’t pay their electric and gas bills (nasty fires always happen in the winter) is a ready firefighting crew.
But hey, government can’t create any jobs. This is also probably the union’s fault on some level. Bootstraps!
/sarcasm
ViaChicagoist.
A.