Public Employee Press

Park named for 9/11 hero Carlos Lillo

Paramedic Carlos Lillo was one of three DC 37 members who lost their lives responding to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. On Oct. 2, the city opened the new Carlos Lillo Park in honor of the deceased Local 2507 member.

The park, in the Astoria, Queens, neighborhood where Lillo worked, replaced a dumping ground at 76th Street and 21st Avenue that had been a neighborhood eyesore.

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Assembly member Michael Gianaris, City Council member Peter Vallone Jr. and members of Lillo’s family attended the ceremony, where they unveiled a plaque bearing Lillo’s name that will be mounted at the park entrance.

Lillo worked out of Battalion 49 in Astoria and lived in North Babylon with his wife Cecelia, who worked for the Port Authority at the World Trade Center. He went into the stricken building to rescue others and find Cecelia, who had made it to safety. “He was my hero, because I was in there and he was trying to save me,” she said.

Local 2507 President Patrick Bahken had a special connection with Lillo: “Before I became president he was my partner,” he said. “My life is richer for having had Carlos as a partner.”

In addition to the new park, a scholarship fund and a golf tournament that raises money for the scholarships have been established in Lillo’s name, and a street in the neighborhood has been renamed Carlos Lillo Way.