Los Angeles Fire Department officials and the United Firefighters of L.A. began collecting signatures to place a new measure on the November ballot, which would increase the sales tax by 0.5%.
Officials said the money is needed because the fire department is staffed as it was in the 1960s, despite the population being much bigger now. They said they need 62 more fire stations and 4,000 more firefighters. And their response time is double what it should be, officials said.
“We are woefully underfunded, woefully understaffed, and it's not fair in the size of this city how long it's taken our response times to get to 911 emergencies,” L.A. Fire Captain Frank Lima told KNX News’ Jon Baird.
He said the measure will be the saving grace the department needs.
L.A. City Council Member Traci Park supports the measure. She represents the Pacific Palisades, where thousands of homes were destroyed in the L.A. Fires just over a year ago.
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“I, for one, cannot let what happened to my Pacific Palisades constituents happen to any other community,” she said.
They need to collect 154,000 valid signatures to have the measure qualify for the November ballot. Union officials said even if the measure makes it to the ballot and it’s passed by voters, it will still take years to get all the equipment they need and until LAFD is fully staffed.
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