By Nathan Duke
A bevy of western Queens elected officials called on the city not to close Astoria’s Engine 262 Ladder or other Queens firehouses amid Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s budgetary proposal to eliminate four sites in the borough.
Astoria leaders said the closure of the firehouse, at 30-89 21st St., would slow down response times not only in the community but throughout the borough.
“Down the street is a senior center,” U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria) said. “We’re close to a Boys & Girls Club and there is a high school nearby. You can only imagine what would happen if a fire happened and this engine ladder wasn’t here. Every second counts. The city shouldn’t make cuts to New York’s Bravest, our first line of defense.”
A group of neighborhood seniors marched in a circle in front of the firehouse Friday with signs protesting the proposed cuts.
City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) said response times in Queens were the slowest in the city and that firefighters often reach their destinations one minute later than they do in other boroughs due to past city budget cuts.
“In this tough economy, our No. 1 priority has to be keeping the city safe,” he said.
He said firefighters would have to travel from Long Island City or Woodside to put out a fire in Astoria should Engine 262 Ladder be closed. But he said the firehouse was not among 20 citywide that faced the chopping block in the mayor’s proposed 2011 fiscal year budget.
But four of the houses would be in Queens.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) said she disagreed with Bloomberg’s recent comment that the city would “wait and see” how much money it could get from Albany before deciding which firehouses to close.
“Fires don’t care about budgets, not anywhere in the city of New York,” she said.
Steve Cassidy, president of the city’s Uniformed Firefighters Association, said the FDNY responds to 500,000 calls per year.
“We’re asked to do more and we’re happy to do it,” he said. “But we can’t with closed firehouses.”
Cassidy said the city’s emergency response system was currently hanging on by a thread.
Aravella Simotas, a Community Board 1 member and state Assembly candidate, said her father went into diabetic shock and the FDNY made it to the scene 15 minutes before paramedics.
“Astoria is a growing, thriving community,” Democratic District Leader Costa Constantinides said. “To cut one of our essential services is a travesty.”
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at nduke@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
