Polistina Blasts Mazzeo’s Failure to Support Local Police and Fire Departments

Local small businessman, former Assemblyman and 2nd Legislative District State Senate Candidate Vince Polistina blasted Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo, who chairs the Assembly State and Local Government Committee, for failing to secure critically needed funding for our local police and fire departments.

In recent Facebook posts, the Pleasantville Fire Officers of the International Association
of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 4928 revealed their Fire Department had no choice but to
take one of their fire engines off the street due to budget shortfalls – and it’s now been
out of service for 72 hours.

“Urban communities like Atlantic City and Pleasantville have been especially hard hit by
the Coronavirus Pandemic and they deserve legislators who will fight to ensure they
receive their fair share of desperately needed state resources,” said Polistina. “Like a lot
of Democrats, Vince Mazzeo takes communities like Atlantic City and Pleasantville for
granted. He expects to get their votes in November and clearly doesn’t even think he
needs to put the work in to earn it. When I’m Senator, every single community and
every single person in the 2nd Legislative District will be priority, and not just during
election season.”

Polistina noted that the State of New Jersey recently passed a nearly $45 Billion
budget, the largest in state history, which included hundreds of millions in covid relief
funds intended to avoid situations just like this one in Pleasantville.

“Our hard working middle-class families in Atlantic City and Pleasantville are entitled to
just as much protection as the residents of any other community,” added Polistina. “No
one in Atlantic County should ever have to go to sleep worrying that if, god-forbid, their
home or their neighbors’ caught on fire as to whether their calls for help would ultimately
go unanswered due to budget cuts.”

Polistina’s comments come one week after Mazzeo publicly announced his support for
extending the state takeover in Atlantic City. The state takeover has stripped the city’s
police officers and firefighters of basic civil service protections which continues to
weaken their storied Atlantic City Police and Fire Departments.