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Thousands Of Firefighters Protest Cuts At City Hall
By
Rachel Pincus
Published Jun 3, 2011
Modified Jun 3, 2011
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By
Rachel Pincus
Published Jun 3, 2011
Modified Jun 3, 2011
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Following their rally last week in their home turf of Brooklyn Heights (warning: video on autoplay), which featured an appearance from the "camera-shy" Steve Buscemi, the firefighters of Engine 205 and others took to the streets again today, speaking against the potential shuttering of 20 newly endangered firehouses around NYC. The protest started with a march, which began at Engine 205 itself and proceeded across the Brooklyn Bridge, culminating in front of City Hall. The subsequent rally wasn't too shabby either: by half an hour past noon, it stretched from City Hall back to Chambers street. Dozens of people made brief but powerful speeches, including International Association of Fire Fighters President Harold A. Schaitberger, who said the crowd was over 15,000 strong—though ABC puts the figure closer to 6,000.
Firefighters had been discussing the potential cuts in their workplaces and communities, and at the rally there was a strong consensus on where the city was squandering its money. "I just think that there's a lot of waste in the budget, especially with the CityTime disaster, which also has to do with the way we get paid," said a member of Engine 75 who identified himself as Shawn. "They're talking about new fish tanks for the New York Aquarium, $20 million for pruning trees."
The supposed plan to spend $46 million on the Aquarium was frequently mentioned at the rally, generating irate and sarcastic commentary from the crowd. "Let me hear more about that!" shouted one protester after the figure was mentioned at the podium. "I love fishes!" Amid all the eyebrow-singeing rhetoric and signs produced by the Uniformed Firefighters Association (Local 94), which depicted Mayor Bloomberg in grim reaper garb, there was no doubt as to what really mattered—keeping response times down, and saving lives. "When you save a life, you save an entire world," said Brad Lander of Engine 220 (Park Slope) at the podium.
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