Atlanta mayoral candidate Mary Norwood vowed Friday to reopen a fire station closed last year to budget cuts as she accepted the endorsement of a union that represents about 450 city firefighters.
“This station needs to be opened,” Norwood said outside Fire Station 7, located in the West End neighborhood, where the endorsement was announced.
Norwood also said she wanted to see more firefighters on trucks. The candidate said she could not offer a plan on how she would pay for such changes until she is elected, when she’d have a better idea of the city’s finances.
Other candidates, like state Sen. Kasim Reed [D-Atlanta], have also said they will reopen the station.
The Atlanta Professional Fire Fighters Association said it endorsed Norwood, who’s in her eighth year on the City Council, because of her track record of support for more equipment and staff for firefighters.
Lt. Jim Daws, the union’s leader, said the group held a vote Tuesday on which candidate to endorse. About 90 percent of the 30 or so members at the meeting went for Norwood, he said.
The spokeswoman for another candidate, City Council President Lisa Borders, said their campaign was surprised by the endorsement because Norwood didn’t vote in favor of a property tax increase in June that ended furloughs on firefighters and other city workers. Daws called the complaint “sour grapes.”
Norwood also announced she is creating a policy advisory committee of union members and other firefighters to advise her on staffing issues and their ideas about who should be the next fire chief.
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