Friday, May 15, 2009

Great news from the Bloomberg administration, part 8

From the Daily News:

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta testified before the City Council Tuesday about the impending closure of four FDNY companies - and warned that 12 more may go dark by the end of the year.

Over protests from several Council members, Scoppetta said the city's budget crisis made it impossible to save the four companies, including the only ladder company on City Island in the Bronx. They will close July 1.

Scoppetta said the additional dozen companies - which have not been selected - could be saved with concessions from the fire unions.


They could also be saved if we didn't spend millions on boondoggle development projects and collected more taxes from developers. But let's not get into that...

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is BS from the Commish. Would they ever close a police precinct? No, because there would be outrage. Let them announce that the 104 being closed. Then see what happens.

This is outrageous, and Scoppetta is part of the problem; he does not advocate for his team he is Bloomie's lapdog.Dereliction of duty; write him up!

The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg said...

An echo from the past:

"BURN, BABY, BURN"!

Anonymous said...

Unions are killing this city.

Anonymous said...

Unions are killing this city.

Yes... "Unions" are killing this city. Hmm. Let me ponder that. Perhaps it's rabid otters that are killing this city, or greedy bastidges who don't mind gutting NY of the middle and working classes.

Please explain your position, o wise one, and its relevance to this thread.

Queens Crapper said...

Sounds like he/she is taking the position of the Bloomberg administration.... Ex: "Scoppetta said the additional dozen companies - which have not been selected - could be saved with concessions from the fire unions."

Anonymous said...

You don't see fire houses closed in the East Side, Brooklyn Heights, or Queens West, all landmarked districts where the developers (and Blumturd's minions) live.

Anonymous said...

You don't see fire houses closed in the East Side, Brooklyn Heights, or Queens West, all landmarked districts where the developers (and Blumturd's minions) live.

Amen! But MV Maspeth, Elmhust all recently over-developed an icreased populations as a result will surely see firehouse service cuts and service curtailment.

Taxpayer said...

Back in January, at a council hearing on the same subject, Councilman Tony Avella asked Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, why he failed to resign and make a commotion rather than obey his masters command to close firehouses everywhere except where his master lives. (I admit to taking some liberty with the wording of Tony's question, but the essence is accurate.)

Scoppetta had no useful reply.

Why won't this weasel resign and make a commotion rather than obey his master's dangerous commands?

Hey, Scoppetta, why not? No backbone?

Dump Commissar Death and Taxes on November 3 or the only firehouse left will be the one near the Commissar's house.

The way to dump the Commissar is to vote FOR Tony Avella!

Anonymous said...

First : Unions gave you "the weekend", overtime and healthcare . Not all unions are bad. The firefighters union haas for decades fought to keep companies open. There have been about twenty companies closed in the last 20 years . From the Lower East side, Astoria and Williamsburg, all under whatever mayor was in power. All have done it. The best way to try to keep a company open in your community is the protest the closing.

Anonymous said...

Stop with Tony. I haven't even seem him do any press about him running. IS he? Until I see it , it's just a rumor.

Anonymous said...

Excessive benefits, pensions after only 20 years of work, restrictive work rules . . .

Anonymous said...

Stop with Tony. I haven't even seem him do any press about him running.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2008/03/31/2008-03-31_queen_city_councilman_tony_avella_launch.html

Anonymous said...

Getting rid of firehouses, ambulances makes sense. After all not saving two Hospitals means less work for FDNY as medical responders, because in an emergency a resident with a severe medical condition or trauma can no long get to the nearest hospital - now 10 minutes further away than before. Why bother - the individual won't make it - save money ; drop this service. As far as the FDNY is concerned they now have blinders ingnoring all the illegally certified and occupied SRO setups in 1 family homes. Since they would never go into these death traps - what the point of remaining in service - close down the firehouses. Add firehouses where they are desperately needed - did you ever see a firehouse located on Park Ave or Fifth Ave?

Anonymous said...

Scopetta is the worst type of bureaucrat.He was the commissoner of Of bcw,the bureau of child welfare.He screwed that up so badly,they had to start over and renameit,acs.How do you make someone the fire commissioner when all he knows about firefighting is that the trucks are red!?!?!?!? Retire old man and get a life!

RC said...

Excessive benefits, pensions after only 20 years of work, restrictive work rules . . .

--------------------------

Fair compensation for hazardous work.

Firefighters suffer from significantly higher rates of cancer and consequently shorter life expectancies (i.e. less time to collect on those pensions) due to exposure to highly toxic environments.

September 11th recovery operations robbed firemen of 12 years of lung capacity on average and created the wave of of FDNY disability retirements that the NY Post loves to report about (while downplaying the 9/11 connection, of course.)

And regarding the 20-and-out pension: think about it... Do you really want a 50 or 60 year-old firefighter to try to pull you out of a burning apartment after hauling 100 lbs. of gear up 7 flights of stairs (a typical scenario)? It is and should be a young person's job.