THIS SOB EMANUEL HAS COMPLETELY CANNIBALIZED OUR MOST ESSENTIAL CITY SERVICES-FIRST RESPONDERS! THE POLICE HAVE NO BACKUPS AND WORK 1 MAN CARS ON ALL SHIFTS, WONDER WHY THEY'RE ATTACKED AND SHOT AT SO MUCH? THE BANGERS KNOW IT! NOW HE WANTS TO FURTHER ENDANGER THE CITY WITH THIS ? EMANUEL AND HIS "YES MEN" HAVE TO GO NOW BEFORE THIS ENTIRE CITY GOES UP IN FLAMES AND GUNFIRE!

the Mayor needs to leave the fire department alone.why are we asking them to cut staffing structures or salaries. This is a shortsighted foolish game. How can we think that disabling our safety net of first responders is a good idea? i think this may be a ploy...just like the libraries. It'll get alot of attention and then he'll back down. in the meantime they'll be doing something else that we miss.

cut aldermen first,and then we can talk about cutting firehouses!

Career politicians want to have sacrifices of our hereos, and attack them. FIRE/ POLICE who actually serve the people of this fine city, unlike the career politicians whom only serve themselves and there agendas. WHY NOT have the career politicians step up to the plate and make sacrifices first lets start with limits on political pensions, career politicians that hold multiple offices, only get to collect ONE of there pensions & term limits !!!!!!

how about redoing the back-loaded principle/interest deal on the soldier field remodel that richie daley made.no city workers would have to give up anything

keep stocking up as the revolution is on its way, look out you corrupt bastards

What's with these 'New Democrats' and beating down organized labor? If Rahm Emanuel is so concerned about the budget, why not institute a tiny transaction tax on the Mercantile Exchange and the Board of Trade? It's those casino capitalists who've caused the lion's share of our nation's fiscal woes-- and they're still at it-- so why not make them cough it up? Even a tiny slice of the legalized theft carried on in those places would close our budget gap in a blink.

A likely answer is that our neoliberal mayor cares a ton more about the tender feelings of his obscenely wealthy friends (his millionaire campaign donors) than he does about the health and safety of the working folks of Chicago. He has round-the-clock, taxpayer-funded security outside his home, so why should he worry about police cutbacks while his neighbors just across the tracks are having their front doors kicked in and guns shot past their ears? His kids get chauffeured to a swank private school on the South Side-- even though there's a good public school right across the street, and another one a few blocks away-- so why should he worry about busting the teachers' union and throwing our kids out of the frying pan so he can line his investor pals' pockets (i.e. through the charter school privatization scam)?

Yes, our mayor isn't like most of the rest of us. He's part of the 1%, the deserving few, and that's the class he's looking out for. He'll maintain good fire protection for his home, no matter how 'slow' his local fire companies are determined to be. The cuts will come from neighborhoods where the working folks can't afford to attend fundraising cocktail parties and hand out fat envelopes.

I am one of the strikers who got us the manpower, if the Mayor wants to cut it...cut it in his neighborhood. The taxpayers are paying for fire protection, give it to them. We did not go on strike for money...we went on strike for manpower. In 1979 I was a relief lieutenant on T-55. We had me and a driver and a tiller man. The Engine had an acting Lt. an Engineer and a FF on the back step. So when the cook went shopping we had 5 men in the house. I guess that the neighborhood did not need need fire protection. But they paid a lot more taxes than the ghetto people did.

Have you ever noticed that firetrucks are sent along with calls for emergency ambulances? I spoke with one emergency medical responder who said that was true. Could the city not save money by sending firefighters to fight mostly fires and not heart attacks?

I am so tired of misinformation on this program! For heavens sake, why can't the moderator come informed and challenge some of the allegations made by guests on this program TIME and AGAIN about teachers and pensions? I only WISH I didn't have to pay for medical benefits! I would almost $500.00 dollars richer each month as a retired teacher! Also, YOU didn't pay for my pension contributions-- I did-- each year I contributed thousands of dollars to MY OWN pension! What's with this program where guests can say anything they want and it is accepted as fact? Sorry. I have been a staunch supporter of WTTW but no longer.