Fire Chief Confirms Watering Will Stop through Drought

According to Fire Chief Douglas Forsman the City will stop watering at all fire stations through the end of the drought. Champaign Liberty has really made a difference. You have made a difference.

In a personal e-mail he sent to Champaign Liberty Friday afternoon Forsman stated, "Todd, we had a discussion at City Hall today and your points are well taken.  In addition, it appears that with rare exceptions, our efforts to save landscaped lawns were failing.  I have just issued an order to our staff to cease watering any lawns at our 6 fire stations (a couple were never doing so).  We will continue to hand water the shrubs as needed.  Thanks for your input and patience."

So it is possible to enact change in your local community. Unfortunately, the City of Champaign has so much more that needs to be done but this is a good first step.

It was good that Chief Foresman confirmed this. I had heard that claiming that we had won this common sense argument but it is good that he came out and acknowledged it. It meant a lot.

Unfortunately, I have not heard from any of my communications with City Manager Steve Carter and Mayor Don Gerard or the City Council on this matter. They could use to learn a lesson from Chief Forsman. I may have been critical of some of his decisions in the past month or so but I respect the fact that he was adult enough to stand up and have a reasonable debate on the subjects and admit when a change in policy is warranted.

I encourage Chief Foresman, Mayor Gerard and Manager Carter to start to look at ways they can have water friendly landscapes. It is likely that the sod is not going to make it and it may not come back. Sod was a bad idea and of course money has been wasted on it. Lets challenge these leaders to come up with something better that will not fritter away water which is our most valuable resource next to oxygen. To go back to the same old sod, really isn't going to solve anything. We need bold new ideas in this avenue and the city should be leading by example in this situation. Only time will tell if lessons have been learned or not. This may not be a one year problem.

If you have some ideas or information on what needs to be changed in the Champaign area, let me know by e-mailing me at champaignliberty@gmail.com. All communication is anonymous unless you let me know you want your information submitted.