Two firefighter unions are taking the MTA to activity over congestion pricing, charging that failure to implement exceptions for its members will result in 911 delays.
Photograph by Dean Moses
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Two firefighter unions took the MTA to activity over congestion pricing after its Jan. 5 launch, charging {that a} lack of exemptions for its members will result in 911 delays.
Uniformed Firefighters Affiliation (UFA) President Andrew Ansbro and Uniformed Fireplace Officers Affiliation (UFOA) President Jim Brosi didn’t pull any punches, taking goal on the MTA and the state of the subway system on Sunday as they fumed over the newly applied $9 congestion reduction zone in Manhattan.
They tore into transit leaders and elected officers for beginning this system whereas the town battles crime within the transit system — which, whereas diminished over the previous yr (based on NYPD statistics), continues to see high-profile incidents from stabbings to folks being shoved into the paths of trains.
“The fact that last week we saw a video of a murder, and that was the third crime you saw in that video — the first two were the turnstile jumpers, and they can’t manage that, and they celebrate that,” Ansbro mentioned. “They’re taxing New Yorkers to use their streets, and they’re using our streets to do the taxing. They’re a disgrace. They can’t manage themselves, and they do not appreciate the work that is done by New York City civil servants.”
Visitors zooms by congestion pricing cameras on the Higher East Aspect. Photograph by Dean Moses
The firefighters’ unions are steaming over an absence of exemptions for the private autos of New York Metropolis’s Bravest, which are sometimes used to move colleagues and tools from firehouse to firehouse throughout emergencies.
Based on Ansbro, simply as drivers started being tolled that morning, some 30 firefighters wanted to be moved in Decrease Manhattan alone however had been stranded. Although this can be a frequent incidence, he famous, such maneuvers will now include an added value to on-duty firefighters pressed into service with their very own autos.
With heavy tools and first responders needing to be transferred at a second’s discover, relying on no matter state of affairs could come up, the FDNY reps argue that New Yorkers in want may endure.
“This is going to cause a serious problem in response times, it’s going to be dangerous in New York City, all because the city, the state and the MTA could not come to an agreement on what to do for the FDNY,” Ansbro mentioned.
“This is going to cause a serious problem in response times, it’s going to be dangerous in New York City, all because the city, the state and the MTA could not come to an agreement on what to do for the FDNY,” Ansbro mentioned. Photograph by Dean Moses
But MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber pushed again throughout a press convention later that afternoon, believing that response occasions will lower since there can be fewer autos on the street. Nonetheless, when it got here to the argument over the private autos, Lieber informed the firefighters to take it up with the division’s bosses.
“Those folks properly can raise that issue with their employer. If your employer is requiring you to drive instead of take mass transit, and requiring you to use the car to move in during your job, that’s a legitimate question to raise with your employer,” Lieber mentioned.
Ansbro didn’t take this mendacity down, mentioning that when a passenger or an worker wants help within the bowels of the subway, it’s the FDNY they name.
“We are the ones that respond to the fires in the subway system on the tracks, and unfortunately, at times of the actual riders, the FDNY response firefighters respond, Ansbro said. “And the fact that they could not appreciate the work that the New York City firefighters do both inside and outside the zone, and not grant us an exemption when they rely on us 100% to protect every inch of the stations and the tracks is particularly appalling.”
