Subject: [NEXTEL-1] BLOOMBERG TAKES UP CALL TO AX ALL STREET FIREBOXES

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 05 Jan 2003 14:09:50 -0500

BLOOMBERG TAKES UP CALL TO AX ALL STREET FIREBOXES

By DAVID SEIFMAN City Hall Bureau Chief

January 4, 2003 -- Mayor Bloomberg wants to sound the
last bell for more than 14,000 remaining fire alarm boxes
on city streets.

On his weekly WABC radio show yesterday, Bloomberg
said "virtually" all the 50,000 false alarms that come into the
Fire Department each year are transmitted from street
boxes.

"To jeopardize the lives of the men and women of the Fire
Department and the lives of the public in responding to
false alarms is unconscionable," the mayor said.

"We have to do something about it," the mayor added,
without elaborating.

David Rosensweig, president of the fire-alarm dispatchers'
union, responded that New Yorkers would die if the boxes
were yanked.

"Every single day, fire alarm boxes save people's lives," he
said.

"The new mayor hasn't eliminated enough of the old people
[from the prior administration] yet, because they keep
spewing false statistics in regard to the emergency call
system on the streets of New York City."

Rosensweig insisted that most false alarms come in by
phone.

In 1995, Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his police commissioner,
Howard Safir, hoped removing fire boxes would save the
city more than $5 million yearly.

Giuliani and Safir acted despite opposition from unions,
community groups and the City Council.

They deactivated about 2,000 call boxes before a federal
judge ordered him to stop.

Bloomberg would need court permission before he could
act.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/52540.htm

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