HOPE versus the city over 9-1-1 ads

So early this morning I got a press release from HOPE about a radio ad they plan to run that highlights issues with the Houston Emergency Center (HEC).

Houston public employees are calling on the city to fix long-standing problems at Houston's 9-1-1 call center in radio ads starting Tuesday morning on five local stations. To hear the ad and read about the sources behind it visit: www.HoustonWeHaveAProblem.com/news (The ad is running on Sunny 99.1 FM, KILT 100.3 FM, Majic 102.1 FM, K-Hits 107.5 FM and NewsTalk 740 AM.)

"Three independent reports have told the city the time has come to fix serious problems at the Houston Emergency Center," said Jere Talley, a civilian employee of the Houston Police Department and a member of the Houston Organization of Public Employees (HOPE). "Instead of paying these critical workers a competitive wage, the city has tried to fill holes with part-time high school students."

Starting pay for Houston's 9-1-1 call takers is 25 percent less than for emergency dispatchers at the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Houston's call takers have a turnover rate 35 percent higher than the national average.

HOPE is seeking to raise the substandard pay of HEC employees and other city workers in ongoing contract talks with the city. A recent City of Houston study showed that Houston public employees have the second-worst pay among eight Texas governments surveyed.

A transcript of the ad is here, and there's a link to listen to it as well. You may as well click over and check it out, because later in the day, I got this release:

City of Houston officials are trying to quash radio ads that highlight long-standing problems at the city's 9-1-1 call center.

This afternoon high-ranking city officials called the Houston Organization of Public Employees (HOPE), which produced the ads, demanding that it stop running the spots. The ads note that the Houston Emergency Center (HEC) is using high school students to fill staffing holes on its 9-1-1 lines.

"This kind of censorship would threaten public safety and we won't let that happen," said Norm Yen, president of HOPE. "Instead of dealing with this critical problem, the city is trying to cover it up. But we're going to fight and make sure that Houston's citizens have emergency services they can count on."

This is all a bit strange, since as yet another HOPE email pointed out, the fact that high schoolers take 9-1-1 calls is not exactly a secret. I don't know whose idea it was to try to quash the ads, but that sort of thing never works. I'll be surprised if there isn't some kind of public disavowal of that. Stace has more.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 27, 2007 to Local politics