Posted December 21st, 2009 5:58 am

Not only is Lexington’s government willing to play Russian roulette with students in substandard rental housing, it is now also willing to endanger all citizens near the fire stations that have had temporary closures adopted. Two weeks ago, when their substandard rental housing heated by space heaters caught fire, the first responders on the scene were from Lexington’s Fourth Street Fire Station—one of the very stations now being targeted for closure.

City officials do not deny that the public protection is compromised, but simply declare that tough times require the endangerment as a difficult choice. Imagine Jim Newberry as Sweeney Todd. Perhaps the solution is making good use of those corpses that will inevitably begin stacking up: Indeed, Mrs. Lovett, desperate times call for desperate measures!

Lexington Vice-Mayor Jim Gray has called a special council meeting for 1 p.m. Tuesday to address the matter. Of course there is a good chance that Jim Gray is pushing it because he’s a mayoral candidate. But Gray has also taken principled stands in the past. Whatever his reason for calling the meeting, it’s a welcome occurrence. Quite simply, there is a real increased chance of loss of lives due to increasing response times for fires in Lexington, and that should be unacceptable.

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