By Maeve Reston
LATimes
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Flanked by members of the firefighters’ union, Los Angeles mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel is criticizing a new firefighter deployment plan, arguing her opponent, Eric Garcetti, has not done enough to restore the fire resources that were cut in the midst of the city’s fiscal crisis.
When Greuel and Garcetti were on the City Council in 2009, they both supported a budget plan that called for reductions in every city agency, including the Fire Department. When the plan came up for consideration a second time, Greuel had already moved over to the city controller’s office.
Outside a fire station in Venice on Monday, Greuel faulted the “leadership of the city, including my opponent,” for cutting the Fire Department budget by $89 million between 2009 and 2012 -- which she said had “decimated” its resources and amounted to the loss of more than 318 firefighters.
Full story: L.A. mayor’s race: Greuel slams firefighter deployment plan