Harmony Fire Station - Letters to Osceola County Commissioners

The following letter was sent to each Osceola County Commissioner this
morning:


Hello,

I am a long standing resident of Harmony. I spoke at
the recent commission meeting during which the possible
closing of the new Harmony fire station was discussed
(station 54). I just wanted to reinforce that closing
station 54 is unacceptable.

Here is a message posted online 4 years ago about the
Harmony fire station:

http://tinyurl.com/2uan4my

The Harmony fire station was #1 on the list of verbal
promises made by the developer of Harmony early on, a
promise that dates back to 2003.

This fire station just opened last year. To have it
closed now, after Harmony residents waited so long for
it to open would be quite a blow. I sincerely hope that
you can understand this.

Please keep in mind that, unlike other areas of eastern
Osceola County, Harmony has row after row of
zero-lot-line homes. This means that a fire in one home
will likely quickly spread to many homes in Harmony
with the potential for considerable loss of life and
property.

While other areas of eastern Osceola County may
withstand the addition of 10 or more minutes of "burn
time", Harmony likely will not.

Please reassure us that you will do everything possible
to keep fire station 54 open. I am willing to pay the
fire assessment that I recently received in the mail
from the county to help make this possible. I have no
doubt that most of my neighbors are in agreement on
this.

Will you vote to keep fire station 54 open?

Sincerely,
George Schiro

Ps. FYI, as of today, a google search of the term:

Harmony, FL

finds the Harmony Wikipedia entry as #3 in the search
results.

An open newsgroup about Harmony can be easily reached
from there. That is also where this email and your
response (or non-response) will be posted. Please make
it a good one.


The above letter was sent to the following people individually:

Osceola County Commissioners

Fred Hawkins, Jr.
Chairman, Commissioner District 5
fhaw_AT_SIGN_osceola.org

Michael E. Harford
Commissioner District 1
michael.harford_AT_SIGN_osceola.org

John "Q" Quiñones
Commissioner District 2
johnq_AT_SIGN_osceola.org

Brandon Arrington
Vice Chairman, Commissioner District 3
barr_AT_SIGN_osceola.org

Ken Smith
Commissioner District 4
ken.smith_AT_SIGN_osceola.org


Note: Replace "_AT_SIGN_" with "@" in each email address above.

I received no reply from the following commissioners:
I guess that since Harmony is in Fred Hawkins' district, these other
commissioners don't feel the need to be responsive to us. This is
pretty sad since these guys are all equally responsible for spending
our tax dollars. Simple courtesy suggests that a "Thank you for your
concerns." would have been the decent minimal response as
acknowledgment of the communication.

I am also guessing that these folks have no plans to ever run for
higher office. Good choice.

I received the following reply from Brandon Arrington. Click "- Show
quoted text -" below.


-----Original Message-----
From: Brandon Arrington [mailto:ba...@OSCEOLA.ORG]
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 2:55 PM
To: 'George Schiro'
Subject: RE: Harmony Fire Station


George thank you for the information and will take it into
consideration as we move forward.
Brandon Arrington


-----Original Message-----
From: George Schiro [mailto:98462010h...@schiro.name]
Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 10:21 AM
To: Brandon Arrington
Subject: Harmony Fire Station

Hello Mr. Arrington,
Will you vote to keep fire station 54 open Mr. Arrington?
Please Note: Florida has a very broad Public Records Law. E-mails to
this entity or its employees may be considered a public record. Your
e-mail communication, including your email address may be disclosed to
the public and media at any time.

I received the following replies from Fred Hawkins. Click "- Show
Community meetings and meeting with the citizens is the
best part of the job

Fred Hawkins, Jr.
District 5
Chairman Osceola County Commission

________________________________________
From: George Schiro [98462010h...@schiro.name]
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 5:19 PM
To: Fred Hawkins Jr.
I look forward to seeing you in Harmony. Thanks again.
They are planning on getting me to one of the next harmony
meetings. I look forward to it. The county manager and I
have actually found even more than just their salary for
cuts.

Fred Hawkins, Jr.
District 5
Chairman Osceola County Commission

________________________________________
From: George Schiro [98462010h...@schiro.name]
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 8:51 AM
To: Fred Hawkins Jr.
I know that Steve Berube is not happy with your choice
Fred, but I do understand your need to support small
businesses in Osceola County. As long as there is no
possibility that the Harmony Fire Station will close, I am
sure that most of us will remain flexible. Tough choices in
tough times.

Did you mention the firefighter's cumulative pay increase
during the boom years at the meeting last night?

Thank you for the follow-up.
Not the option I wanted but at least we all were in
agreement to keep the services and the stations open.

Fred Hawkins, Jr.
District 5
Chairman Osceola County Commission

________________________________________
From: George Schiro [98462010h...@schiro.name]
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 5:22 PM
To: Fred Hawkins Jr.
A harder sell, but most including me will still support
you. Good luck!
Just go the percentage we discussed. Since 2002 it is a
little over 8% increase

Fred Hawkins, Jr.
County Commissioner, District 5
Fred,

Thank you for your time on the phone. I hope that you can
determine the cumulative percentage pay increase, if any,
of the Osceola firefighters during the boom years of 2002
to 2007 before today's meeting, as we discussed. If you can
show that this number is at least 10%, then I am sure the
public at large will agree that a 3% pay cut at this time
is not unreasonable.

Since the previous email I have learned that while the fire
station opening announcement page was removed recently from
the Osceola.org website, it was not removed today. It looks
like it was done last week some time and just by
coincidence during a system change (hopefully not an omen).

Good luck at tonight's meeting.

'Geo
321-234-xxxx

Please know that I will be posting a summary of our
conversation online.


-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Hawkins Jr. [mailto:fh...@OSCEOLA.ORG]
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 3:30 PM
To: '98462010h...@schiro.name'
Subject: Re: Harmony Fire Station


What is your phone number and I will call you to explain.
Mr. Hawkins,

Thank you for your prompt attention to this important
matter.

When you say that you were not in office when fire station
54 was built, does this mean that you were also not in
office when it was completed and opened? I may be confused.
I ask because I just noticed something a little disturbing
on the Osceola.org website.

Here is a link to the press release announcing the opening
last year of the Harmony Fire Station (station 54). This
page was available on the Osceola.org website just a few
days ago:

http://tinyurl.com/payfys

As you can see, it is no longer there.

Sadly, it would appear that this page announcing the
opening of the Harmony Fire Station was removed from your
website today (see the attached page - page 2 - from the
Google cache as well as the attached snapshot of the
HarmonyFL.com page - bottom right of page 1 - pointing to
the same press release that is no longer there).

According to the press release, you were very proud to help
open the Harmony fire station and you had this to say at
the time:

"My fellow County Commissioners and I recognize the
importance of the safety of our citizens and visitors, and
we’re committed that their safety will remain our top
priority."

I sincerely hope that our safety is still your top priority
Mr. Hawkins, but I am sure that you can understand why we
might be a little worried now.

Why was this press release removed today? Should we
interpret this as a bad omen about the future of our fire
station?

Thank you again for all your help with this very important
matter.

Sincerely,
George Schiro
Thank you for the email. While I was not in office when
the station was built or placed in the budget I do
understand the importance to the harmony area. It is not I
that have proposed the closing of the station. In fact I
cannot agree with the cuts as they only effect the District
5 area. I am not sure what the outcome will be tonight. I
think everyone is willing to pay more but I am not sure
that the cuts will still not go through. Take care and God
Bless

Fred Hawkins, Jr.
County Commissioner, District 5
Hello Mr. Hawkins,
Will you vote to keep fire station 54 open Mr. Hawkins?