Report: De Blasio Bringing 911 Overhaul In-House, Cancels NASA Contract
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Mayor de Blasio has canceled NASA's $13 million consulting contract for the city's overhaul of its 911 system, The Daily News reports.
About 20 of the space agency's employees were hired two years ago under the Bloomberg administration, WCBS 880's Jim Smith reported.
The de Blasio administration reportedly wants to bring the work in-house and have city employees do it and save money.
For years, the city has been trying to iron out problems with the emergency call system.
Now years behind schedule and said to be a billion dollars over budget, the latest move comes after de Blasio promised his administration would be conducting a full review.
It took 50 minutes for an ambulance to get to an 89-year-old woman who had fallen and was bleeding from her head in her East End Avenue building's mail room, just across the street from Gracie Mansion on July 15.
Frustrated neighbors and staff placed numerous calls to 911, and the building super eventually ran to Mayor Bill de Blasio's home for help, which only arrived after officers there called the fire department, CBS 2's Steve Langford reported.
"It's not just because it happened so close to Gracie. Any time I hear of a delay in emergency services it's disturbing because I think of it in human terms," de Blasio said. "For any one of us, that could be our parent, our grandparent."
The mayor said he hasn't received an adequate explanation and promised to get to the bottom of the delay, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported.
"I'm looking forward to the results of the investigation. We take this very seriously," he said.
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