Judge Orders Yonkers to Stop Cutting FD Service

Politico's Lose Another One

THE NEW YORK STATE SUPREME COURT has just delivered a one-two punch to the Yonkers City Council and especially the mayor who have been trying to shift spending from the fire department to other agencies.  The Lower Hudson Journal News reported:

State Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Colabella issued a temporary restraining order on Friday that prohibits the city from cutting the department’s EMS response role. It was the second restraining order issued against the city in the past six months. Previously, the court stopped the city from lowering the department’s minimum staffing levels.

The latest restraining order preserves the status quo until Wednesday, when a hearing is scheduled in White Plains.

Mayor Spano  (Newsday)

The duplicitousness of Mayor Mike Spano and his minions toward the firefighters, was exhibited when his spokeswoman Christina Gilmartin responded immediately with a couple of statements that illustrate the animosity that they hold for their firefighters.  She said of all the calls made to 911, the fire department responds to just 42 percent of them. (Ok, so the police get 58% of the 911 calls.  What does that have to do with anything? …ed.)  Barry McGoey, president of the Yonkers firefighters union, disputed Gilmartin’s figures, saying the department responds to 80 percent to 90 percent of 911 calls for a medical emergency.  (Another pathetic attempt by the mayor's office to disparage the FF's by deliberately distorting the statistics…. ed.)

 "If we remove the fire department from a first-responder role, it really wouldn’t affect anything," Gilmartin said.  (A completely illogical deduction which also shows their contempt toward the citizens' intelligence by expecting them to believe that…ed.)

She added that a third of the city’s firefighters have allowed their emergency medical technician certifications to expire.  President McGoey set her straight on that one.  He said certifications have lapsed because the department hasn’t had enough money to pay for training.  (If that is true, then Gilmartin is downright slandering the firefighters by saying that they "allowed" it to happen …. ed.)

Local Pres. Barry McGoey

Read the entire article in the Journal News HERE.

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