Protesters Cross Bridge to Oppose Plan to Shut Firehouses

June 3, 2011, 3:41 pm

Protesters Cross Bridge to Oppose Plan to Shut Firehouses

By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ

Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesFirefighters march across Brooklyn Bridge to protest Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to close 20 fire companies in New York City.

The battle over a plan to cut 20 of the city’s firehouses escalated on Friday as more than 1,000 protesters marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to harshly criticize the man who has proposed the cuts, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

The protesters, many of them firefighters, politicians and union officials, compared the mayor to the grim reaper and shouted: “Save lives! Stop Bloomberg!” Some called for his resignation; others suggested that he find other ways to balance the city’s budget.

“It’s meshugganah, crazy,” Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, said to a roaring crowd gathered near City Hall. “Twenty proposed closed, eight in Brooklyn. Are you ready? Fuggedaboutit!” Read more…