THE ABC'S OF BUDGET CUTS SHOULD NOT INCLUDE FDNY

I attended the rally today as Staten Islanders tried to convince the mayor to save Engine 161 which is vital to the safety of the residents of South Beach and the surrounding areas.

I listened to each speaker give their reasons for keeping the firehouse open.

One after the other they stated one good reason after another.

On the other hand the only reason for closing it according to the Mayor was that the budget could not afford it.

The fact of the matter is that there are a myriad of agencies that should be cut long before we hit the FDNY or the NYPD.

The problem is these services are staffed by hard working New Yorkers while the other agencies are top heavy with politically appointed executives drawing six figure salaries.

God help us if they should lose their jobs.

The bottom line is when it comes to the ABC’s of cost cutting it always appears that the FDNY and the NYPD are the first hit.

How about looking at the rest of the alphabet?

You can start with the LMDC.

This agency created by the city and the state to distribute $3 Billion in federal aid to develop Lower Manhattan

Well one only has to look at the great job they have done at Ground Zero to see how well that went.

And even after the money was distributed and they created another alphabetic agency (the LMDCC) to manage the work which is also being managed by the PA which continues to pay Silverstein $300,000 a day in fines because they keep missing their deadlines the LMDC still exists.

And what is even worse is that we are paying the LMDC salaries to the tune of $4.2 million a year and that doesn’t even include what we are paying for the LMDCC.

Over $4 million a year to an agency that has spent nearly a billion dollars on the dismantling of the Deutsche Bank Building and it still stands and has taken the lives of 2 brave firefighters in the process.

Lets not stop at the LMDC we can go to the TBA which can spend millions on changing names of bridges or the MTA which totally mismanages its operations and investments and comes back to the tax payers to foot the bill.

The list goes on and on.

Does anyone remember the great job they did with OTB? But that’s another story.

When asked why these execs get paid so much we are told that they need to be to pull qualified people from corporate America.

Well there are a lot more execs from corporate America looking for work right now.

Shut down the LMDC, cut the city and state agencies at the executive level and pay the auditors more to eliminate the slush funds and corruption inherent in the system.

That’s where the mayor and governor should start.

Not with Engine 161 because the last time I looked when these agencies don’t do their jobs it costs us money.

When firefighters and police officers can’t do their jobs it costs lives.

It’s as simple as ABC.

Dennis


Please Sign On


Petition to Keep Engine 161 Operational 24 Hours a Day 7 Days a Week


http://www.petitiononline.com/Save161/petition.html