There is a Threat in the Breenze…

Our Eyes are telling us Fire Chief Breen has been riding the wind around town.  Apparently, Breen has been going to the different fire stations around the City threatening the rank and file.  Breen has told the fire guys and gals if their Union does not do what they are told; they will pay for it.

Breen has told the fire guys and ladies their hours and shifts will be changed if the Union does not comply with Berry’s desires.  Currently, the Fire Department field personnel work two days on with four days off.  Breen threatened the field personnel he would make them pay if the Union did not succumb to what Berry wants, by placing the field personnel on a one day on and two day off schedule.  One of our Eyes told us Deputy Chief Dave Downy also went to a fire station and echoed the same threats as Breen.

Yes, politics is politics but now because Berry’s bullish mentality, the public will pay the final price.  Fire fighters have hundreds of unused compensation hours, vacation and sick leave that they have not used.  Why; because of understaffing.  They cannot take off and come in sick to ensure there are personnel on duty.  This threat from Berry will lead to people taking more leave which will lead to understaffing at the fire stations; thus, there will not be enough personnel to respond to emergencies.  In addition to threatening personnel at the fire stations we are hearing from our Eyes inside the Fire Department Administration that marching orders are coming down from Perry and Berry to start writing up the fire guys and gals for everything and anything.

This is not a coincidence; Perry was out vocally threatening fire fighters and other City employees who were peacefully holding up signs for their mayoral candidate during the mayoral race. Perry made statements to the effect, “I can’t wait till this shit is over tomorrow; you people will pay for this!” And to answer your question, yes documentation does exist about this incident.

Let’s not kid ourselves; Berry and Perry know exactly what they are doing and have things planned and mapped out. Look at the facts, Berry spent $900,000.00 to win election for a job that will only pay $400,000.00 over four years.  Berry is reelected and gives the check book to Perry, which resulted in a whopping $30,000.00 per year pay increase for Perry.  This places Perry at $180,000.00 a year.

Speaking of worthless leaders, our local APS Superintendent, Winston Brooks (who sent nasty and hateful tweets to the New Mexico  Secretary of Education) makes close to $300,000.00 per year for what? Being an 80 year old child sending inappropriate messages to women? A failing school system?  An astronomical dropout rate?  A failed graduation rate?  Not to worry, Brooks received a three day suspension for his foul tweets.  But keep in mind, three days’ pay comes out to around $3,000.00. That comes out to 1% of Brooks $300,000.00 a year salary.  If you did the same thing; you would be looking for another job.

The message is clear; our leaders such as Berry, Perry, Breen and Brooks believe bulling is acceptable and there are no consequences for their actions and they get paid big bucks to abuse people…

RJ Berry, Rob Perry and AFD Chief Breen are Killing AFD Firefighters

Does the title shock you? It shouldn’t, and you shouldn’t be surprised by the inept Berry’s administration. And yes, you read it correctly.  The Albuquerque Fire Department is poisoning nearly every AFD firefighter on a daily basis with highly toxic and poisonous carcinogens.  AFD Chief Breen is fully aware of this outrageous and dangerous situation as are RJ Berry and Rob Perry and evidently none of them care or are concerned.

What is shocking is firefighters have already died and others are dying at this very moment as a result of this inexcusable and disgusting safety violation.  The Berry administration knows about the violations and continues to allow it to occur. 

There are multiple national safety regulations that require fire stations to have extraction systems to remove the highly toxic and carcinogenic diesel fumes emitted by firefighting apparatuses from the environment that firefighters work and live in. Extraction systems redirect the exhaust fumes which are highly toxic outside where they will not poison the firefighters inside the station.  Ninety percent of these mandated extraction systems in all AFD stations are non-functioning and have been non-functioning during the entire Berry administration.  Top level personnel such as Rob Perry and Chief Breen have also been made aware of the situation but have refused to take any action to correct the problem.

Chief Breen’s administration is acutely aware of this intolerable situation and has failed to have AFD’s extraction systems repaired or even maintained. AFD currently has a firefighter suffering from a serious and potentially fatal health conditions which are directly attributed to the non-functioning extractor systems.  These same firefighters have repeatedly filed “exposer reports” to the AFD’s administration to no avail.

In this story you will see pictures of the non-functional extraction systems currently in the Albuquerque Fire Department stations. These systems have been in this non-functional state for the ENTIRE RJ Berry Administration, while Breen has been chief. We keep stressing this because Berry and Breen have known about this problem and have done nothing to address the problem or fix it. This situation is so egregious that new AFD units are not equipped with a magnetic puck.  The cost of a puck is around ten-dollars.  The pucks are required for the extraction hoses to connect to the units. The pictures are hard facts and proof of this assertion. 

Berry and Breen are no better than the Syrian government.  Knowingly and willing, “gassing” the firefighters on a daily basis with known toxic carcinogens, amounts to crimes against humanity. This is what Hitler did to the Jewish population. Yet, neither Berry nor Breen care.  

The toxic pollution from the AFD trucks enters the living and sleeping quarters of our firefighters. At Station #6, the exhaust from one of AFD trucks literally enters directly through the door of the firefighters’ bunk room. That is where the firefighters sleep.  Below you will see pictures of an AFD station that is not equipped with an extraction system at all.  Question is who wrote the extraction system out of the budget? At least the other stations have a non-functioning one. 

We here at the Eye can provide an unlimited amount of Albuquerque Firefighters who will provide testimonials as to the truth of all assertions made in this story.  What is shameful is everything stated in this story is common knowledge at AFD.  RJ Berry and Chief Breen have proven that they do not care about the men and women; the same men and women who risk their lives every day to serve the citizens of Albuquerque. 

This is not an argument about salaries or benefits; this is about our public servants becoming ill and going home to their families because of the negligence of RJ Berry and Chief Breen. Their refusal to adhere to mandated safety standards is literally killing Albuquerque Firefighters. 

Below are some links to stories about a couple of the AFD firefighter swho have fallen as victims of this outrage and hideous practice.  These links also will provide related information about the required extraction systems for fire stations. 

firefighters-welcome-home-a-special-brother 

Albuquerque/Firefighter-fights-second-brain-tumor

Albuquerque/Firefighter-dying-of-cancer-hopes-to-take-family-to-Disneyland

diesel-fumes-definitely-cause-cancer-should-we-be-worried

 

http://www.ffcancer.org/?zone=/unionactive/view_page.cfm&page=Diesel20Exhaust202620More 

Please call RJ Berry and your City Councilor and AFD Chief Breen and demand that they immediately address this criminally negligent situation. 

RJ Berry

http://www.cabq.gov/mayor/contact-us 

City Councilors

http://www.cabq.gov/council/councilors 

AFD Chief Breen

505-768-9300

The following are current pictures of the non-functioning extraction systems at the AFD stations:

 

 

 

 This is a brand new AFD truck (below) that is not equipped with a ten-dollar puck required to attach to an extraction hose.

 

 

 

 

This is diesel soot (smoke debris) on the wall (pictured below) of one of AFD’s stations.  Can you imagine what the firefighters lungs look like? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an AFD station (pictured below) that is not equipped with an extraction system at all.

 

 

Here is what is truly disheartening; this Thursday, September 5, 2013, public safety (police and fire) are jointly holding a Mayoral forum. Mayoral Candidates, Paul Heh and Pete Dinelli have agreed to participate; Mayor Berry has refused.  What does this tell you about the current mayor?  We here at the Eye On Albuquerque completely agree with Mr. Heh: Mayor Berry, we call “Bullshit” on you! This is absolutely unacceptable and is appalling.  Berry should be in handcuffs; he is ultimately responsible for this entire disaster.  

SIDEBAR

 

The APOA has decided not to endorse any mayoral candidate which we find pusillanimous.  The good part of this is the APOA is supporting the IAFF Local 244 and participating.  Fortunately, 244 had the esprit de corps to be united and the camaraderie to step up to the plate and take action. 

END SIDEBAR

We hope some of our true city leaders step up to the plate and champion for our firefighter personnel.  The entire city council should be 100% behind fixing this heinous violation against our firefighters. If there is any person on the council who opposes correcting this problem immediately; they should be admonished and resign! Sorry Brad Winter, Trudy Jones, Janice Arnold-Jones, Don Harris, Roxanna Meyers and Dan Lewis; you will not be able to hold your party lines loyalty to your chosen God; Republican Berry.

This is unequivocal proof Berry is anti-public safety.  Berry’s lack of action on such an important issue strongly suggests he is anti-American. Berry could care less about the citizens, let alone, our firefighters who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of us citizens; each and every day. 

Fire Department is "Burning" Ken Sanchez

Below is an open email to the Eye On Albuquerque. At the request of the author, this email content is being posted.

"Since 2008 Ken Sanchez has been pushing for a new fire station and west side ladder. His wish finally was coming true until the Fire Chief decided to change the plans after the council approved the new fire station, which is currently under construction and being built for a ladder company, and now wants to place the ladder at Fire Station 17 which is near Coors and Sequoia. The new ladder truck was to better serve the near Westside and SW area as there is already a ladder by Cibola High School. It is true that a temporary ladder is going to be located at Station 17 from July 1st until Fire Station 7 is complete but Chief Breen sold the public on the fact that he needed a new 2+ million dollar fire station to house a Westside ladder company How is it that these public officials can ask for millions of dollars for stations, staffing and apparatus and then change their mind with no recourse?"

Sanchez had shown some promise to succeed our current discombobulated Mayor, but that promise has been washed away by a shy introverted Councilman. The citizens of Albuquerque deserve better. Sanchez talks a tough talk (sometimes) but doesn't back it up. Kudos to Chief Breen for exerting control (burning Sanchez). By the same token, shame on Ken Sanchez who has fizzled out before the mayoral race has even begun.

Breen Loses; Girlfriend Wins

Albuquerque’s Fire Chief, Breen, was slammed late today by the IAFF Local 244. The Union stomped on Breen and gave a hard hitting vote of “No Confidence.” Ironically, while Breen was being trampled on by the Union his girlfriend, Kimberly Swift, walked on her DRUNK DRIVING car crash case (see it here).

Swift told officers to call Darren White to the scene when she crashed, this was reported by the Eye in a prior posting (read it here). A Craigslist posting claimed that Swift told officers that Breen and White could get her out of it. Too bad at the time Darren White was busy; otherwise, Swift would have been the first alleged drunk driver to be driven away from a crash scene (next would be Kathy White).

Breen spent this past weekend “buttering up” his employees at the Albuquerque Convention Center in an attempt to avoid a vote of “No Confidence.” Apparently the Fire Union employees did not like the “butter job” they received.

Maybe White can get his old job back as a cabbie. He could then give out his card to everyone in the Berry Administration. This way when they crash and are intoxicated he can rescue them from the scene.

The Union carries a wallop! The last vote of “No Confidence” was given to Darren White, who left the City skidding on his keister. Maybe Breen needs to purchase some keister pads, right away? Our Eyes told us that Breen was called into the Mayor’s Office and was told he was a “liability.” Maybe Breen can hitch a ride with White? Maybe not…

Breen Speaks the Truth While Berry’s Administration Continues to Lie

Our Eyes tell us AFD’s Chief Breen told fire personnel the truth concerning IAFF Local 244’s President Diego Arencon’s removal from handling union affairs on duty. Breen stated he thinks Berry's decision to remove Mr. Diego Arencón, the President of IAFF Local 244, from his 40 hour a week union business schedule is illegal. Breen stated he thinks the order itself is unlawful yet he carried out the order. The Eye can see within a week there will be a headline on the front page of the Journal saying "Fire Chief says Mayor's Order Illegal."

The Eye is not a doctor but we would recommend that Chief Breen take some Imodium to stop or at least slow down some of his issues.

Is AFD’s Fire Chief Breen, using AFD Funds for his own Benefit?

Our Eyes are telling us that Fire Chief Breen used AFD funding to rent space at the Albuquerque Convention Center starting Friday, July 22, 2011, till Monday, July 25, 2011. The reason for this huge expensive rental is to have open “forums” to defend himself against the up-coming vote of “No Confidence” the local AFD Union 244 is planning. Plus, late Thursday, Breen issued order# 149 which states that Breen will allow up to eight out of district units and all in district units to attend his Gala Event.

At odds, the Mayor’s Office recently created a policy that no city time can be used for union business. Breen is allowing twenty four on-duty units to attend his meeting. The memo speaks about, "recent labor dealings." The entire reason Breen is having these meetings is because of 244’s decision to have a vote of “No Confidence.” All of AFD is 100% in the local Union 244. Why is it okay for Breen to allow one-third of the entire on duty Fire Department to attend his meeting after the Mayor’s Office stated that this is prohibited?

If this is true; it is completely wrong and unacceptable. Fleecing public monies and public services for ones’ own personal benefit is corrupt.

Does anyone think it is an appropriate use tax payer dollars for the AFD Chief’s personal benefit? Here are a few ideas. First, AFD owns a brand new academy Breen could use for free. Breen could use the APD Roger Hoisington Academy or the City/County Chambers. There are many appropriate places the City owns throughout Albuquerque that could be used for free. Second, the Fire Chief could go to each station without cutting services to the public. Here’s a crazy idea, go out and ride, take a few calls with your personnel.

It appears Breen is picking up where White left off. This type of behavior will not sit well with the rank and file in AFD nor the citizens of Albuquerque who will be missing one-third of the on duty fire personnel.

Breen should be a model of good stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Wastes like this should not be tolerated by the Berry Administration. Oops, The Eye forgot, “One Term Berry” allows liars and bad behavior to thrive.

If Breen wants to get his name out of the headlines, he will need to burn down the barn or trump up some charges on someone else. Maybe poor Judge Murdoch was playing with matches while the prostitute was videotaping. This administration is a farce…

DWI Arrest of Fiancée leaves AFD Chief Breen Speechless

Our Eyes tell us that Chief's Breen’s fiancée was charged with AGGRAVATED DWI last month. She apparently was involved in a crash and attempted to leave the scene of the crash. This entire case has been "hush hush." Our Eyes also tell us that this defendant was name dropping and stating that she could get away with the DWI.

Chief Breen has been heavy handed with his staff when it comes to DWI. Since the crash, Breen has been silent following the Berry Administrations’ policy on being a hypocrite. If anything defines the Berry Administration it's hypocrisy. “Saying one thing and doing another.” The City claims fiscal responsibility while creating and re-creating “cushy” jobs. The most recent farce was for a “misery case” of TJ Wilham, who favors the movie star, Kathy Bates from the movie “Misery.” A little bit of Eye humor.

Our eyes told us about this situation involving Breen hypocrisy which started with a March 2, 2011, posting on the local news site of Craigslist that stated the following:

"Kimberly Swift , Fire Chief Jim Breen's fiancée arrested for leaving the scene of an accident and aggravated DWI on 2-19-11. Case no. 110015191. Repeatedly said Jim Breen and Darren White will get her off.

Let's see if Darren gets away with another one."


Some of our Eyes confirmed that Chief Breen is engaged to a Kimberly Swift.
The only case that our staff could locate was a Kimberly Swift with a pending Metro DWI crash court case. The case number for Metro Court is DW 67911 (see here). The Kimberly Swift in question was arrested Sunday morning, February 19, 2011, at 12:07 AM at 3000 Central N.E. and charged with “Aggravated DWI and Leaving the Scene of an Accident Involving Death or Personal Injury.” Swift ask the policemen to call Jim Breen, the Fire Chief, or to call Darren White. What is even more worrisome than a cover up is the victim of this crash; they will want justice, just like you or the Eye would.

After publicly firing and humiliating city employees for lesser charges, Breen's fiancée being treated "hush hush" and much less publicly is another one of the Berry Administration hypocrisy’s. The Eye anticipates some type of courtroom shenanigans’. If this case involved a regular city employee or their significant other, it would be a headline on the paper or the breaking news story on TV. Why does this case get the “VIP treatment?” No more secrets, no more lies Berry; we mean White (Darren White runs the City, Berry is just a bobbing head).

The Eye will continue to provide information that comes our way and the Eye always welcomes your input.

Below is an excerpt from a letter that the Eye received. The Eye thanks all for their patronage.

Eye,

“…This situation has been frustrating to many AFD and APD personnel familiar to the situation because it appears there is a concentrated effort to sweep this under the carpet and get Ms. Swift off the hook from some very serious criminal charges…The only person in a position to stop that and ensure justice is you. Please let people know what's going on. If you ask for more information and ask people to contact you like I am, they will step forward.”

Thank you and God bless.