Parkers strike out at Citifield

From CBS New York:

Ronnie from Danbury, Conn., says it took him three hours to drive to Queens for the New York Mets’ season opener on Monday.

But that was only the beginning. Ronnie told WFAN’s “Boomer & Carton” show on Tuesday that the parking situation at Citi Field was so bad that he never even made it to the gates.

“Yesterday was a freakin’ ridiculous fiasco,” he said. “When we got there, the entire road around Citi Field was a parking lot. Nobody could get into the stadium, and that’s why there was nobody there (for first pitch).”

“By the time we could have maybe parked at the tennis center and bused in, it was already the fourth inning,” he added.

With Cirque du Soleil occupying part of their parking lot, the Mets were urging fans to take mass transit to Monday’s game against the Washington Nationals. Citi Field didn’t appear to be holding anywhere near the announced crowd of 42,442 by the time the game started at 1:10 p.m.

Linda from Flushing said she left her house at noon for the short trip to the ballpark. It took her about 15 minutes and then she snaked around the stadium “for an hour and a half, only to wind up parking by Home Depot.”

See the attached Mets press release (web content), which indicates that there would be NO Cirque du Soleil performance on Monday "to accommodate as many fans as possible". When there's a mall there instead of the circus, will the mall be shut down just as the circus was, "to accommodate as many fans as possible"? These angry Mets fans have to understand that circumstances will be much worse after a mall is operating there.

Bloomberg orders firehouse closed for elephant-washing photo op

From Eyewitness News:

When Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus came to Coney Island, they enlisted the help of firefighters from Engine Company 245.

It was a playful photo-op with a firefighter washing down an elephant.

But it bothered the Uniformed Firefighters Association's leadership.

They say it compromised safety. They claim the firehouse shut down for 30 minutes on Wednesday while four firefighters and an officer went to scrub Suzie at the press event.

UFA President Steve Cassidy, says someone at City hall made the decision.

"It's clear a mistake was made initially. Initially, the local company was asked to participate. It went right up the chain of command. He was overruled by someone at city hall," Cassidy said.

When we asked the Mayor's office about the UFA's allegations, they referred us to the FDNY.

A spokesman there dismissed the UFA's claims, saying City Hall had nothing to do with the situation.

While at the same time, the spokesman acknowledged the mistake, saying "They should have stayed in service & it was not a malicious thing."

The UFA isn't backing down.

"It compromised public safety and firefighter's safety for public relations," Cassidy said.

The Fire Department says firefighters were only supposed to spray the animal when it walked by the firehouse, and were not ordered to close down. The department says closing the firehouse was a mistake.