Politics on the Hudson

The 2010 Senate Appropriations bill includes $1 million in federal funds for Mount Vernon to renovate an existing fire station as an emergency operations center. The center would be a base to coordinate multi-agency response in case of flood, fire, crime or other emergency.

Currently, the City of Mount Vernon does not have an operations center for managing emergency situations. In these scenarios, the city can use the Mount Vernon Police Department’s Field Command Center vehicle, but officials said this can hamper police operations and the ability to respond to incidents.

The federal funds for the center were secured by U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand in the appropriations bill. The bill was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee and will be sent to the full Senate for a vote.