I was actually reading his commentary with an open mind until this:
“Except for police and fire, which remain bloated with carefully engineered overtime, city departments are as under-resourced as any sweatshop. Guess where all the money that should be spent on the department’s work goes?”
Then I realized it was just one man’s opinion, and a bitter man at that.
And “gravy coalition” is a cynical, bitter term as well. Few people are hired as firefighters at twenty. It’s a hard job to get, and it takes a lot of time, and a lot of failure before scoring high enough on the list to be considered. The average age of hire in Providence is twenty-eight, higher if you factor out the minority hires that generally get hired on their first try. Most firefighters work 25-30 years before retiring in their early to mid fifties, not because they want to, rather because the realization that the job has taken its toll hits you like a brick. There is little room for “desk work.” Most firefighters stay on the truck, working the fires and rescues. And there are plenty of those, you just never hear about them.
A second career at fifty starts at the bottom. When you spend twenty or thirty years doing a job that has no market value once you retire there aren’t many places to go.

Now, Bob, was that necessary? Not everybody has such a low opinion of their fellow man. I work with 430 people. Believe me or not, I honestly don’t care, but there is no overtime scam. There is minimum manning which ensures the same number of firefighters or police are working every shift. In Providence it’s 92, I think. No scam, no BS, just constancy which is essential for crew safety.
When the city hires more firefighters there will be no more overtime. My first ten years on the job I think I worked a total of five OT shifts.

The end game in RI is inevitable and quite simple, really. There are four players at the table: taxpayers, public sector employees, the poverty/social program industry (“clients” and those who “serve” them, including the not-for-profits who survive via payments from government), and investors in bonds issued by RI governments. Clearly, not everyone has the same interest. And some alliances are clear: the public sector employees have, since private sector union membership declined in RI, been in an uneasy partnership with the poverty industry to extract as much as possible from the taxpayers to keep the gravy train heading down the tracks.
But what happens when they can’t soak the taxpayers any longer? My guess is that they’ll try to force some type of “restructuring” (an effective default) onto the bondholders, to buy themselves a few more miles of track.
Then it gets really interesting, as, with income, property, and sales taxpayers unable and/or unwilling to pay more (or with fewer of them to be found within RI’s borders), we will get to see the final showdown between the public sector unions and the poverty industry. Personally, I can’t wait to hear what the likes of Bob Walsh and other “progressive” union leaders have to say as their “allies” in the poverty industry spare no effort to throw them under the bus.
But that’s what lies ahead, and its no use pretending that isn’t the case.

I’ve been a Providence Firefighter for 19 years. I’m 48. I don’t know a single person who retired at 40 from this job. Not one.
The truth is the truth, but don’t let that get in the way of a good rant.

If I had started my business in my twenties I wouldn’t need the pension. I’d most likely be far better off that way. But who knows, I may have failed. I have no regrets, I try to take things one day at a time.
I wouldn’t call being fifty and starting a business much of an advantage. People in the private sector retire with their savings and severance packages do exactly what I’m doing. I may have beat them by five or ten years, but in the big scheme of things, does it really matter? Some study somewhere claims that firefighters live ten fewer years than non firefighters. After doing this for twenty years, I’m inclined to believe it.
In my opinion, one that I understand isn’t shared by most, I’ve earned my healthcare benefits and then some. That is definitely an advantage, no doubt about it. But I won’t be surprised when The Affordable Healthcare Act recently signed into law by the President and Congress puts everybody back to equal,health insurance wise, whether we like it or not.
Then, there will be no advantage at all.

And I still haven’t seen a firefighter retire at 40 (except for a few legitimate disabilities) during my nineteen years. And the truth is still the truth.
Try Todd Brien, the perennial unsuccessful progressive candidate for Woonsockett mayor:
Started at 19
Retired at 39.
Then there’s the “disability” pensions like Gianquitti, Cipriano and the Mr. Rhode Island weightlifter from Johnston. Many of them in their 20’s-all legitimate of course!
If cops and fireman all were honorable like you AND were required to work till 55-like most of the country does-AND were hired on appropriate staffing per capita ratios none of us would have a problem with the pension system.

Tommy Cranston & BobN, You guys are just ranting foolishness… ” Michael’s objection is, as usual, pure BS. There is indeed a coalition of union members working the system to maximize overtime and benefits. You would have to be blind and deaf not to see it rampant in nearly every department. ” ” 43? That is new hires only. They retire at 40 with their “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” pensions, lifetime COLA’s, free health care, etc. What, carpenters don’t get that deal? LOL Coalition of the greedy-public “workers”, cronies, illegal aliens and welfare leeches. All aided and abetted by the Millionaire Marxists-the “progressives”, the toilet scum like Jerzyk, Segal, Handy, De Ramel, etc. ” As Michael stated…there are very few eligible for retirement at 40…and of those very few almost all continue to work into their mid fifties. You guys take the “minimum” and make statements that this is the norm. Ridiculous. As for me, I’m 55. Next week will be my 30th anniversary of joining the department. My body, my lungs and my spirit is almost completely shot. I’ve been working around the yard today to secure evrything for the weather tomorrow and I’m beat. But…tomorrow I’ll be on the truck for at least 34 hours straight to assist those Providence residents and visitors who are in peril…leaving my wife home alone to cope with everything on her own. I would much rather stay here with her through the storm but my “duty” (which I take very seriously) dictates that I be in work. I will retire (God willing) at 58. I am given no “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” pension. I’ve earned everything that I will recieeve…and I guarantee that I’ll never make more in retirement than when I was working. That is something that… Read more »

Mr. Cranston,
I WILL state “that is NOT the case with most cops and fireman (in Providence)”. I add that caveat because unlike you I never post about issues or circumstances that I have no personal knowledge. I guess that makes me a rare species of blogger.

Hey Tom, I was out doing the boot thing on Friday, middle of South Providence. Renewed my faith in people and their appreciation for the job we do. It truly felt great to mingle with the real people, and see how they respond rather than the cyber punks.
Stay safe, Brother. And keep the faith!