NEW YORK (AP) — Neighbors locked elbows with politicians Sunday in an attempt to keep the city from closing one of its oldest firehouses.
The demonstrators did not stop the shuttering of Engine Co. 204 when the clock struck 9 a.m. The two-story, red brick firehouse was one of six shut down Sunday to help shrink the city's $3.8 billion deficit.
City officials have justified the closings, expected to save $7 million a year, by saying population shifts have made the firehouses unnecessary and that emergency response times, measured in seconds, will not be slowed.