It was abundantly clear that every one of those City Islanders, who attended last night Town Hall Meeting strongly opposed Mayor Bloomberg's latest proposal to close down 20 NYFD ladder companies, especially City Island's Ladder #53. This is the fourth year of Bloomberg's budget dance threatening to eliminate funds from the city's fire department operating budget.
The meeting, which was organized by NYC Council member Jimmy Vacca and the civic association was held at St. Mary's auditorium. The event drew some very important persons, including Bronx and Manhattan borough presidents, NYC council members, US and NY lawmaker representatives as well as nearby community leaders, firefighters, other public servants and concerned civic minded individuals.
In a clearly mocking manner, NYC Council member Jimmy Vacca told the couple of hundred attendees, he was so mad, he was going home to down two 20 ounce super-sized drinks. Vacca was clearly referring to Bloomberg's latest attempt at mandating what citizens can and cant do inside his city.
Some of the leaders who spoke made good points, others paid tribute to the memories of past community activists and then there were some who spoke to serve themselves.
The comments raged from City Island's isolation... Our tax dollars should be better spent...
Have a heart Mayor Bloomberg... Stop this budget dance... We will not allow this fire ladder company to go away... We wont have enough fire fighting equipment required... This amounts to civic insanity... It's a death sentence...etc.
However, despite their collective displeasure with Bloomberg's latest threat to eliminate FDNY ladder company funds from his budget, no concrete decisions were made and there were no specific actions were taken by the time the meeting was adjourned.