Lay off first responders and install expensive art

Ann Arbor Michigan is laying off firefighters.
No big surprise there; it is happening all over (partly as a political) tactic.
The ugly surprise is that they are funding an $850K piece of water sculpture at the same time.
One reason things like this happen is the rigid way government funding is controlled.
If money is allocated for pink flamingos, you can't spend it on paving roads unless you go through a difficult process.
Lack of flexibility is exactly why we don't want government health care.
This is the kind of thinking you get when the government caters to an elite, rather than the people.
They are more than willing to guilt us into raising our taxes by threatening first responders and teachers (the teachers thing doesn't work as well these days).

Gotta Love Unions

Flint Michigan had to lay off firefighters due to budget cuts. Politicians seem to pick on first responders, the elderly, and children when they need to cut the fat. Is it that they feel they have more leverage by picking on these groups, or is it that they would never cut their own numbers or get rid of the faceless bureaucrats that can really gum up the gears if they are upset about their job security?

Thanks to American Thinker, I found that Eric at Classical Values puts the stories covering the suspicious results of the firefighter layoffs here: http://www.classicalvalues.com/archives/2010/04/the_statement_h.html

Will they will catch the arsonists and make them pay for hurting firefighters?