24 November 2024
Engine 102
The Fifteen Minute County
DeMille looked haggard, which he attributed to a digestion issue associated with the new Uyghur place over on the Lee highway in Falls Church. It is in a pretty hot neighborhood now and the east side is a vibrant Vietnamese enclave. He took a swig of coffee from the ceramic mug and winced, saying it had nothing to do with brandy on the patio after the return. The kebabs or the Souzi noodles might have done it.
Or the animated discussion with Splash and the two ladies. The news had been buzzing that Iran had restricted its Government, naming a successor to the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. The Times claims it one of his sons, and may be a signal a younger vibrant man is already in power. Timing was reported as a week ago, so those deliberations must have immediately followed the US election.
More on all that to follow, of course. But with all the Boomers running around in a state of agitation, Melissa waas left esentially attempting to keep things under control within a twenty-minute scooter ride. and Kristina wanted some guidance on how to sort out the local stuff while the Boomers smoked on the deck and yammered about missile ranges and inventory for prolonged conflict between aggrieved parties. And who he nexts ones are likely to be. Like here.
Some of the interesting stuff on the Patio is real estate. It’s going to be huge with the government transition coming up. Melissa was interested in that part, since the idea of how she could actually stay in town in decent digs without a partner was an imposing one. There was life down here, and energy but no place to live except the dorm or the transient nature of the Socotra Enterprise.
She left to look at some of the high and low options on the October sales and see if there was a free lunch at the open houses.
Kristina had the option at the dorm for another three semesters, so the anxiety level was not as high and she got the mutiny in the county first responders. She is new to the invented job of "Local Press influencer" and had no intention of being a reporter, so we call her an “influencer.” She is of the opinion there is a mutiny in the Arlington Fire Department.
Most of the crowd are vets, so we support the AFP. They were the first to the Pentagon on 9/11 and they did a proud job. But there are some issues that reflect some of the other problems.
The IAFF, the International Firefighters Local 2800, took a no-confidence vote against Fire Chief Dave Povlitz. You can see from the picture of the Chief is a rugged masculine guy, which is why Kristina, Rick and Eddie were all interested. It’s a bit of a story because the three agree the Union guy, Brian had a certain rakish charm, a woke sensibility that was kind of attractive in a butch way.
It is at the root of what must be a tough atmosphere in the Fire Houses around the County. This is the second “no confidence” vote in a year, and then there was the Engine 102 publicity drive.
Kristina had not got socked with the portfolio yet, so Melissa had the story but there was some other stuff going on and it was in the Starred file. She gave it to Eddie who was doing some Grub Hub stuff and able to check it out. He zipped by on the scooter he was sharing with Rick and there was Engine 102 parked out on the driveway of the Fire Station with a plaintive sign on the windshield.
Both the no confidence votes were about staffing, administration and pay as well as workplace culture. Last month the Engine 102 thing was a media event with the “Out of Service” sign on Engine 102, the ACFD’s busiest fire engine. The sign said it responded to over 3,400 calls last year. High vacancy rates also impacted medical calls, so the Boomers were interested as well.
Brian Lynch got his moment in the spotlight then and made some fns with the younger crowd while the Boomers preferred the more martial look that Dave sports. DeMille asked Kristina to check the Northside Social Coffee crowd over in Clarendon and see what people thought. Why is there a vacancy list? Is it pay or bad management? With 'special interest group' creds, DeMille thinks she has an advantage in conversation since people will be tempted to not watch what they are saing.
Anyway, that reflects some of the confusion in who is covering which story. The Post had a note about HHS launching a brand new far-reaching personnel program with nine weeks to make it permanent. So, we told Kristina to follow up what it is like to watch an organization attempt to change itself. We will be seeing a lot of it here. You know. Locally.
Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra