The West Bank of the Flats already has a reputation for under-policed mayhem. So closing the local fire station—essentially treating the neighborhood like an Afghani mountainside—might not be the best idea. Especially given that the West Bank’s riverfront firehouse, Station #21, houses the only firefighters trained to use Cleveland’s fireboat, the venerable Anthony J. Celebrezze, and given our river’s tendency to catch fire and whatnot But this is Cleveland. …
This article appears in May 21-27, 2008.