Three years ago, almost to the day, I went on the radio for the first time in my life.
I wasn’t a politician.
I wasn’t media-trained.
I wasn’t trying to score points.
I was just a firefighter who believed, honestly, that if we put the facts on the table, the City would respond in good faith.
I was the one who asked that the Mayor be invited onto the show with me. I thought: this is how you resolve things, you talk them through, publicly, honestly.
What happened instead still sticks with me.
In about twelve minutes, we heard more misdirection, half-truths, and flat-out false claims than most people hear in an entire presidential election cycle.
At the time, I didn’t fully understand it. I assumed there must be context I was missing. I assumed the City had no other choice. I assumed that if something this drastic was done, it must have been unavoidable.
We were naïve.
What we now know, what the record shows, is that the City did not have to take the pension away. They lied to us, they lied to all of us. A mysterious IRS letter that they refuse to show anyone that supposedly says something that it doesn’t say – if it exists at all.
- It wasn’t inevitable.
- It wasn’t forced.
- It wasn’t the only option.
And that realization changes everything.
Because when people ask today, “Why don’t firefighters trust the City?”
This is why.
Not because of one decision.
Not because of one policy.
But because of the gap between what was said publicly… and what turned out to be true.
Trust doesn’t break when people disagree. It breaks when people later learn they were misled, especially about something as serious as their future.
Looking back at that interview now isn’t about relitigating the past. It’s about understanding the present.
It explains why people hesitate.
Why promises are questioned.
Why “just trust us” no longer works.
Trust, once broken, doesn’t come back with reassurance. It comes back with accountability, and proof that the ground won’t shift again.
For anyone who wants to hear it for themselves, the interview is here: https://thegreatvoice.com/Episode/ethan-baker-edward-ross-the-guy-gordon-show/16482 More at: