FDNY Claims it Needs $1.2 Million to Renovate Firehouse Kitchens, City Council Members say Taxpayers are being Scammed

By Yehudit Garmaise

When the FDNY requested that the City Council provide $1.2 million each to renovate a handful of their firehouses, Councilman Kalman Yeger and other NYC members at a Friday budget hearing said the spending was “outrageous” and “excessive.”

“That has to be a typo,” said Councilman Kalman Yeger, who added that the FDNY’s overly-generous budgeting reminded him of when the Parks Department burned through $2 million to build a bathroom at Gravesend Park, at 18th and 19th Avenues.

Councilmember Joann Arioa, the chairwoman of the committee that oversees the FDNY/Emergency Services, told the New York Post that the owner of a large restaurant in her district reported that $100,000, or approximately only 8% of the $1.2 million for which the FDNY is asking, should be enough to contrast and outfit a new industrial kitchen that serves many more people than the five to 11 firefighters who need to be fed in a firehouse.

Councilmember Arioa said the FDNY’s claims that it needed $1.2 million per firehouse were “outrageous” and an example of “excessive spending.”

FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh and her top aides defended the hefty renovation costs by saying that the typical firehouse is 92 years old and would need many upgrades. 

“[The firehouses] are a little different than what you would put up in homes, and these costs involve equipment and labor,” Kavanagh told the skeptical legislators. “[A firehouse kitchen] is much more akin to an industrial kitchen you see in a restaurant or factory. It’s meant to last for a long time.” 

“I want to do everything I can for New York’s bravest,” said Queens Councilman Robert Holden. “We certainly want our firefighters to have what they need, but we’re tired of being hosed. If the city is saying these kitchens cost $1.2 million each, their pants are on fire.”