Councilmen Take On Mayor
Rally Against Firehouse Sale

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

Backed by community activists and union leaders representing firefighters, two City Council Members last week vowed to do everything possible to block the Mayor's plan to sell five shuttered firehouses to the highest bidder.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang 'SECONDS COUNT': UFOA President Peter L. Gorman Oct. 18 urges Mayor Bloomberg to rethink plans to auction off five closed firehouses to private developers, saying that in the near future, the affected communities will likely need them.

Speaking at a press conference Oct. 18 on the steps of City Hall, Councilman Tony Avella said that selling the properties now would tie the hands of future Mayors.

'I'd Reopen Them'

"As someone who would like to be Mayor someday," said Mr. Avella, who indicated he'd be running for the spot in 2009, "[if elected], I'm gonna open those firehouses."

Mayor Bloomberg, citing budgetary reasons, closed six firehouses in 2003 despite widespread opposition from the affected communities, fire unions and many elected officials. Three of them have officially been declared "surplus property" by the Fire Department - Engine Companies 212, 36 and 204. Pending City Council approval, they'll be sold to private developers. Also included in that proposal are Engine Co. 15 and Ladder 18 in lower Manhattan. Those firehouses were so badly deteriorated that the FDNY closed them down several years ago.

STEPHEN J. CASSIDY: 'Wrong time to sell.'

Of the remaining three firehouses closed by Mayor Bloomberg in 2003, Engine Co. 261 and Engine Co. 209 were double firehouses and still have ladder companies operating from them. The third, Engine 278, is empty but will be used to relocate another company from a nearby firehouse undergoing a gut rehab, according to an FDNY official.

Says Response Times Up

Philip DePaolo, from the People's Firehouse community advocacy group in Williamsburg, which held a sit-in to oppose the loss of Engine Co. 212 on Whyte Ave, said response times in some of the affected neighborhoods have increased as a result of the closures.

He quoted FDNY statistics showing that average response times to structural fires in Williamsburg and Greenpoint rose 49 seconds after Engine Co. 212 ceased to operate.

DAVID YASSKY: Will oppose Mayor's move.

During the same time period, he said, average response times in Harlem, which lost Engine 36, rose by 30 seconds, and times in Cobble Hill, which lost Engine 204, rose by 28 seconds. Tony Sclafani, a Fire Department spokesman, said the department "has always monitored response times and continues to carefully monitor response times. The increase in these particular areas can't be attributed solely to these closures."

But Uniformed Firefighters' Association President Stephen J. Cassidy noted that residential growth in Harlem and Brooklyn was booming - with Williamsburg projected to have an additional 60,000 housing units in the next 10 years.

'Shouldn't Sell Now'

"We should not sell these firehouses now. These and other communities need more fire protection, not less," he stated. "We are downsizing departmental resources at a time when we should be upsizing."

The union president wasn't surprised that response times shot up in the affected communities. Closing firehouses "strains the entire web of services" provided to residents throughout the city, he said.

An FDNY official who spoke on condition of anonymity suggested, however, that some slowed response times could be linked to last year's public feud between Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and the fire union leaders. The source claimed that the unions had instituted a rule-book slowdown by strictly enforcing FDNY driving regulations in the wake of a 2004 accident involving a speeding fire truck and a passenger vehicle that killed one civilian.

Uniformed Fire Officers' Association President Peter L. Gorman said he was offended by the comment. He denied calling for a job action and said the union's position was to have members drive safely and responsibly.

'Questions Our Dedication'

"That questions our integrity and our dedication to duty, which is unfair," he asserted. "We put our lives on the line for the public and other firefighters and we know that seconds count."

Mr. Cassidy called the assertion an outrageous lie and a smokescreen.

"The truth is that the FDNY closed six fire companies, closes another 20-25 daily for training, and in 2005 our firefighters responded to more fires and emergencies than in any years in the department's history," he charged. Mr. Avella and Brooklyn Councilman David Yassky have already vowed to campaign for a no vote on the Mayor's plans among their City Council colleagues.

The City Council reviews land-use applications from the city as part of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. Its decisions are generally considered final unless the Mayor elects to veto the ruling within five days of the final vote.

The City Council, however, can override the veto with a two-thirds vote in favor of its original decision.

Mr. Yassky expressed the hope that the Mayor would abandon the plan to put the firehouses on the chopping block in the face of City Council opposition.

'Why the Fire Sale?'

"When you sell in a rush, it's called a fire sale, and that's what we have here," he commented. "Future generations, future leaders, may need those resources and once sold, we can't get them back. What's the hurry?"

His remarks were applauded by community activists from Harlem, Brooklyn and Manhattan, as well as the union leaders who have never stopped questioning the wisdom of downsizing firehouses in a city experiencing record-high population growth.

Mr. Gorman said "it was insanity to close the firehouses and it's insanity to sell them."

He noted that Engine 44, which services the Upper East Side, had been the firstdue company at the 72nd St. fire that broke out when Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle's plane crashed into an apartment building Oct. 11.

"Firefighters were on that scene in an instant and they had just seconds to control the fire that was moving through those apartments," said Mr. Gorman. "You ask the people living in there if seconds don't matter when you're putting out flames."

Mayor Bloomberg had initially earmarked Engine 44 for closing in 2003, but changed his mind after outraged residents launched a letter-writing campaign.