Right now the oldest fire station in operation is Station 1 on Holleman. Station 2 was torn down and re-built several years ago. That said, parts of Station 1 have been redone since it originally opened.

Y'all are killing me. I suppose next we will be complaining here on mybcs.com that those dang people who teach our kids don't deserve all that summer vacation, that them there po-lice shouldn't be wastin' our tax dollars on Kevlar, and nurses should go back to getting doctors their coffee for minimum wage.

Clearly some have never needed fire department services. If today's date was 9/12/01 instead of 6/20/12, I bet we wouldn't be complaining about "wasting money" on everyday heroes.

All of you know that if they had built a big brown box, for the sake of saving money in this tight economy, right smack on University Drive, people would be winning and griping just as much if not more. No matter what is done, there will be something to gripe about.

beefly95, sadly we have had threads severely bashing our local teachers. The white-hot disdain and contempt for public employees around here is borderline pathological. Until, of course, they are needed...

I'm glad they're getting a nice big building.

Hopefully, the next time bond issuances are coming up, people scrutinize the projects being considered. Usually, whatever projects are proposed through without a hitch. They sure did in 2008.

God Bless,

Jess Fields
CS Council, Pl. 2
979.571.6724

The new fire station is not a Taj Mahal. There were several reasons a new station was built and the old station not rebuilt. One of the reasons was the ability of the fire trucks to have a safer access to University to respond to calls. The university location was chosen because the trucks would have mulit-directional access to travel North, South East and West and begin those journeys in a safe manner. The old location on Texas Ave. has more traffic as the trucks exit the station and the trucks had to always travel north and the turn around to go south. This exercise exposed the trucks to additional cross traffic and wasted precious time when responding to an emergency. This decision was not made in a vacuum. Several city council meetings covered this item and the voters of CS approved the bond package. I do not recall the price for the new facility being extravagant or overpriced. As the equipment and methods of fighting fires and responding to emergencies changes old facilities may no longer serve the fire department needs as efficiently. Just because firefighters are public servants does not mean they should have to work in substandard facilities. The need to build a new facility is not caused by any budgetary excesses. If the fire department had enough excess money to build a new facility they would not have needed to pass a bond package.

Blue star Mon Dow.

Got to admit a nice fire station is better than a "Taj MaCity Hall." Much greater opportunity for waste in a huge luxurious city hall building than in one fire station.

The left hand turn off from Texas Avenue is indeed crazy difficult, and it's a less-bad scenario than that fire station that was on the frontage road (ouch)

With the fire station moving, what's gonna happen to the old one? I think a renovation and expansion of the city hall is in order.

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The left hand turn off from Texas Avenue is indeed crazy difficult, and it's a less-bad scenario than that fire station that was on the frontage road

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The frontage road was two way at the time and the emergency vehicles could travel north or south.

PS3D, nothing is moving. The fire station on Texas Ave. has not been used as a fire station in quite some time. It was replaced by the station on Holleman which will remain open. The Texas Ave. location is currently being used by different city departments. Station 6 (Univ. Dr.) is an addition, not a replacement.

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Hopefully, the next time bond issuances are coming up, people scrutinize the projects being considered

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How to say this without my rudeness showing....Jess, these projects were scrutinized as much as city council wanted them to be scrutunuzed. A citizen committee, appointed by the council, reviewed the options for the bond. There were a few voices of reason in the crowd but they were drowned out by the "It's not my money so let's go shopping crowd" right from the start. Projects were grouped in such a way as it was impossible to carve out the projects that made less sense and leave in the ones that needed to move forward to voters.

The sitting council selected committee members that would push their pet projects through. It worked out just the way city council desired.

edit to clarify: Jess Fields was NOT a council member at the time the committee members were appointed.

[This message has been edited by 1.618 (edited 6/20/2012 10:17p).]

Truths:

You need a fire house on that corner.
It needs to look nice and be in line with the area.
It needs to have easy access on a 7 lane highway.

Fudgamatons:
It does not need to cost so much. Even if you get a bond approval passed.
That style is more in line with a Dr.s office or a professional building.

Bryan built a really nice structure on W Villa Maria for a lot less than this one cost. How?

I was fully aware that the frontage road was two way until circa 2004-2005.

What I didn't realize that the fire station on Texas had been replaced a while back. It would certainly explain why Holleman has #1. When did the new #1 open?

Right, so there's
#1: Holleman Dr. E, near the ice rink
#2: Near Rio Grande and Harvey Mitchell (has been there for a long time, maybe rebuilt--mid-1970s originally, maybe?)
#3: Barron Road (formerly on the frontage road--late 1980s originally, maybe?)
#4: George Bush Dr. (at the very end of it, next to the airport)
#5: William D. Fitch (opened about 2006 or so)
#6: University and Tarrow (you know, what this thread is about)

You people amaze me.

I previously lived on the coast in a smallish town. The town built a fire station similar to what CSFD is getting now, while the school district built two new intermediate schools at the same time.

The fire station and one of the schools were often referred to as "Taj Mahals" in the Letters to the Editor of the local paper. Glad to see the people here have the same short-sighted mentality.

This is not a Lord Crompton pet project to plant $100,000 worth of trees in the green belt by the highway. This is a functional building that will house men and women that put their lives on the line for us and are ready to do so day and night.

This building has to last for years. It needs to look nice as it is located on one of the two busiest roads in the city. Would you rather call Morton Buildings and have a four-sided corrugated metal building with a couple of big garage doors and a gravel parking lot? You people act like all we need is the same model as the South Brazos County fire stations in Wellborn or Millican.

"Let's just put up a barn in the middle of the city, if it's good enough for (insert name of podunk one-flashing-light town here), then it should be good enough for us!"

God forbid we have something that looks nice and lasts for years. Any time there is mention of an upgrade (Taj Mah City Hall??) to a building, you people go nuts.

Would you build your own home on the cheap? Do you want to live in some structure that is way below the standards of other structures on the same street? Would you feel good about living in the dumpiest house on the street?

No, you wouldn't. And if you would, then T&P for your family when they see you on an episode of "Hoarders".

The firefighters deserve a place to house themselves and their equipment well, and the city needs a station that will look good for years to come, and right down the road from multiple new developments for housing and retail.

I swear, some of you would be happy if they made double-wide mobile homes large enough to house a fire truck so we could just put a couple of those on that lot and be done with it. Maybe the old fire trucks could be put up on blocks in the yard and allowed to have trees grow up through them.

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I DON'T CARE THAT IT WAS VOTED ON AND APPROVED, AND THAT I PROBABLY VOTED FOR IT WITHOUT EVEN RESEARCHING THE ISSUES THAT YEAR, I JUST WANT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT SOMETHING I HAVE DECIDED TO NO LONGER AGREE WITH!

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I still do not buy the location argument. I think this problem will cause more problems than solutions.

It would be nice if a fire fighter would explain to folks if they think the new facility and the location will improve the operation of the FD and the effect on response time.

Well said, FNG.

I am willing to wager that most of you beeching on here did not even get out and vote on this bond.

maybe it can be the p david romei fire house. reminds me of his art on every corner campaign

I asked Nancy Berry this and the reply I got was CODE says it has to be so much brick with so much decorative rock, like any other business, they have to do the same.

I agree it is way to expensive since we are having deficits to overcome.

Mon Dow 2000,

Do you seriously expect a fire fighter to post on this mood swinging board of idiots in some sort of official capacity, just to fail to satisfy the self important desires of a bunch of bored soccer moms and bitter mid-life crises suffering fathers? What possible thing would he or she have to gain from risking their job by representing the city without authorization on an issue that is entirely moot?

It is already being built and the funds were allocated long ago. And, don't take this as too much of a shocking revelation, but other than the firefighting city-code-writing architects on this board, yall aren't exactly a bunch of experts. Neither am I...however...I do know that It. Was. Passed. By. Votes.

If you don't like it, don't vote for it. If you think it's not properly known during voting, then campaign. If you think it should never have been introduced, vote for different city council members. If you don't think any of them are good enough, then run yourself. That's how a government like ours works, period.

This entire country, but especially this town and even more so this board, has become a collection of selfish and arrogant jerks who like to throw stones at anything and everything that doesn't amuse them or that they don't understand.

Now, some of yall get it, notably on this page FNG, Aggiephil, and Baseball32 among others. And I know there are others on this thread and board who are not as obtuse to interject themselves in every issue without any due diligence, but the loud majority/minority who do grab that megaphone of ignorance sure are loud...


That was quite a rant, but I certainly feel better, and perhaps a point or two were made somewhere in there. Yall have good day.

[This message has been edited by XI XI (edited 6/21/2012 7:28a).]

That picture looks like a real fire truck had puppies and someone decided to snap a pic of the runt of the litter! Seriously, that thing's not much bigger than an F-350, so that little cracker box station fits it perfectly.

The new fire station will have REAL fire engines, not wind-up toys, so I have no problem with it.

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What's wrong with something like this?

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That would work just fine if CS was a small town with a population around 11,000, and everyone drove on the left side of the road.

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This entire country, but especially this town and even more so this board, has become a collection of selfish and arrogant jerks who like to throw stones at anything and everything that doesn't amuse them or that they don't understand.

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You sir, with all due respect are out of line with this statement.

I could quote the HWY 6 goes both ways moniker, but I am sure you are familiar with it.

All things being equal this thread was intense, but civil. We don't need sticks and stones to talk about an overpriced, very cool looking firehouse.

I hope the sticks and stones didn't bruise you up, Hammerheadjim, but it's my opinion on the issue. And, yes, I understand the fact that if I'm unhappy with something means I can leave town (always thought that was a very narrow minded saying), but didn't this entire thread start with someone who is unhappy? Merely adding my opinion to the pile.

People want things their way on their time table, and that's just not how life and especially government works. This message board* operates anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 years behind the times, full of people complaining about initiatives, political races, you name it all after the time to act has come and gone. Yet no one* ever acts; it's the same posters making the same complaints about some new thing that rustles their jimmies. But do those posters make an effort to actually change policy or enact measures of their own? Hell no.

Government is a giant machine, there's no doubt about it. And machines, by sheer laws of physics, are inefficient and resistant to change. Yet people sit there and ***** about the machine, demanding that it change, without taking any effort to actually steer it. The same people stand by and complain that the machine isn't going anywhere because they refuse to fork over the time and cash to fuel it. They're unrealistic and in the end only serve to get in the way and make the experience worse for everyone else.

Kinda like this thread, what in the hell was it supposed to accomplish? Was the city going to tear the building down and start over, costing even more money? Were they going to change the plans and materials half way through, bringing on a whole new set of negotiations, inspections, and labor contracts?

The internet is a beautiful thing, because it hands a megaphone to anyone with a keyboard and a shaky grasp of the english language. Sometimes great things come of this, sometimes not so great. I fully accept this, but that doesn't mean we can't shout back at the idiots.

Rant #2 complete.


*Again, I know I'm speaking in sweeping generalizations

[This message has been edited by XI XI (edited 6/21/2012 9:53a).]

Actually Xi Xi I found your posts to be anything but rant-like in this context. Blue star for you.

I'm a big fan of the Barron Rd. fire station and have gone to a couple of meetings there. Were the building not on a large lot and set back from the road, it would overwhelm the nearby houses. I'm also fine with seeing my tax dollars go to making College Station a nicer place to live, which includes building and maintaining attractive public facilities.

I agree with Jim

I was told they have a real pole to slide down at the new one!! Just like the good ole days! Next - maybe they will get RED fire trucks!

The Risk Mgmt office will veto that...

The "It was voted on, therefore you have no right to complain" is a pretty weak argument, unless the people who voted for it are having buyer's regret. Then it's still okay. Do you honestly think there are NO people who regretted their vote for President?

Don't like the design, but then I'm not a fan of mixing stone and brick. I thought the sloped canopies at the top of the building were for solar panels. Guess not. Maybe they're just intended to attract winds of a tornado. They sure don't look stable in a high wind.

And, was this station designed by committee? Appears so.