Bloomberg's Latest Firehouse Fire Sale

How's this for a third-term campaign slogan for Michael Bloomberg?: The New York City mayor who closed down the most firehouses!

Bloomberg's already shut down enough firehouses to earn the enduring enmity of the city, but now he's at it again. He's decided to close four more: Engine Company 271 near the Ridgewood-Brooklyn border will shut permanently on July 1 due to budget cuts; also closing will be Engine 4 in Manhattan, Engine 161 in Staten Island and Engine 73 in the Bronx—by July 1.

The FDNY was ordered by City Hall to reduce its expenses by $95 million. The department also plans closures of 16 other FDNY units by Jan. 1, 2010. Hm. I wonder how long those firehouses could be kept open if provided with the millions Bloomberg plans to spend on his third-term campaign to be Mayor of the city he says he loves so much that he just has to be the leader of it for four more years.

Oh, by the way, I've decided that Bloomberg is, at this point, so contemptible a figure that he no long deserves photographic images of himself. From here on in, he will be depicted on Lost City solely by crudely drawn, homemade caricatures.