As we noted previously, a plan is currently on Mayor Bloomberg's desk which includes closing up to 20 fire companies by July 1st, 2010. The city of New York wants to do this in order to save $37 million. They also plan to reduce personnel by about 400 to save $8 million more. Now, we don't know for sure which fire companies will be closed -- but we need to fight and make sure that Engine Companies 293 and 294 are not among them. And with that in mind, a march and a rally was planned for early this morning.
Unfortunately, I was going to be tied up with work -- so Mrs. Project Woodhaven was on her own. It's not easy covering an event like this, making sure you catch it all on video and get good pictures at the same time. But she pulled it off -- I never doubted her :-)
Okay, let's get serious -- the city has no business thinking of closing either one of these firehouses. We have a lot of taxpayers in this neighborhood, and in Richmond Hill -- it would be galling to lose either of these companies. The march started off at Engine Co. 293 (87th Street and 89th Avenue) around 9:30. I dropped the wife off at the destination firehouse around 9:50 -- Engine Company 294 (101st Street and Jamaica Avenue) --and was a little uneasy . . . where was everyone?
Shortly after I drove away the kids, parents and teachers from The Rosa Parks School (PS 254 on 101st Street) came marching down carrying homemade signs. How great is this? This is our future, folks -- and we're teaching them how to rally behind their community. A great teaching moment and, let's face it, it'll look great on NY1 and in the local papers. They probably had lots of fun drawing these signs -- and they had tons of fun chanting and shouting. It makes perfect sense -- get kids to do what they do best -- make a lot of noise :-) Okay -- one last shot of the kids of PS 254 -- many thanks to all of them for coming out in support of their communities. Everyone milled around a bit, practicing their chants, waiting for the marchers to arrive -- it was a chilly morning, but not too bad in the sunlight. As a side note, this is one stretch of the avenue that can be tough to photograph or film -- bright lights and shadows combine to make it tough to see. And here is the head of the march, Sen Addabbo, CM Elizabeth Crowley, and Assemblyman Mike Miller -- It took them a while to get settled -- and the El Train overhead interrupted the proceedings a few times -- And finally, the rally got underway. Elizabeth Crowley -- who chairs the Fire and Criminal Justice Committee -- fired up the crowd, and introduced the other speakers on hand. Here is part one of our video report -- starting with the arrival of PS 254, and ending on a little cliffhanger :-)
I love how Elizabeth Crowley got interrupted by the El train -- and she seemed kind of ticked off at it. And it serves her well, because she's real fired up afterwards! Below, Anthony Weiner waits in the wings to speak while the kids look on. I have to say -- they pulled it off. They had a nice crowd, good and loud -- they got the media there. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Here's is Part 2 of our video report -- with the conclusion of the cliffhanger --
Many thanks to all our elected officials -- and all the civic leaders and residents that came out in support of our communities. If you are looking for ways you can help Woodhaven -- please read this letter from Elizabeth Crowley. And a tip of the hat to Mrs. PW -- a big crowd, tough lighting conditions, handling pictures and video -- and she did a great job! If you have any comments, or would like to suggest other projects, drop us a line at info@projectwoodhaven.com or projectwoodhaven@aol.com .
