With the Fire Department of New York once again under fire for its lack of minority firefighters-the department is 92 percent white, 4.7 percent Hispanic and 3 percent black-the agency is facing a lawsuit filed by the Vulcan Society, a group of black firefighters. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta assured everyone that the department’s recruitment efforts Read More
That new anti-terrorist face- (or is it fingerprint?) recognition technology in use at airports might also come in handy at Manhattan pickup bars to help screen one’s potential companions, if a couple of recent incidents are any indication.
On Jan. 1, a 43-year-old gentleman was drinking at Scores, the upscale strip joint at 333 East Read More
Last week in this space, retired firefighter John Finucane put forward a proposal for a separate memorial at Ground Zero for the firefighters who died on Sept. 11. Perhaps not surprisingly, the idea is winning support from a good many firefighters and their families … and their survivors. The sacrifice of the FDNY on that Read More
The idea has been circulating, quietly, for several months now, and soon it’s likely to find its way into the public debate over the future of Ground Zero: a separate memorial for the 343 members of the Fire Department of New York killed in the line of duty on Sept. 11, 2001.
One of those Read More
The Fire Department’s memorial ceremony at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 12 was appropriately solemn. The speakers-Mayor Bloomberg, former Mayor Giuliani, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and others-were uniformly eloquent. Politicians in the crowd knew enough to remain in the background. None of them was introduced, save for the Mayor and ex-Mayor. The music was well-chosen Read More
In a small room at Fire Department headquarters in downtown Brooklyn, the floor plan of Madison Square Garden is balanced on an easel. It has been marked up with purple, turquoise and green highlighters. These colors represent where the families of the 343 firefighters killed on Sept. 11 will sit during the FDNY’s Memorial Day Read More
As a newly promoted officer in the Fire Department of New York, Lieutenant Bob Bohack moved around a lot, covering for other lieutenants who were out sick, injured or on vacation. On the morning of Sept. 11, Lt. Bohack was filling in for a lieutenant in Engine Company 5 on East 14th Street. He left Read More
Chief Peter Hayden brought me to the roof of the three-story firehouse that serves as quarters for Ladder 10 and Engine 10 on Liberty Street, across from Ground Zero. At the time we talked, a couple of weeks ago, Ground Zero looked no more threatening than a large construction site. Not threatening, that is, if Read More
Maybe there is another watchword for the present moment besides “Let’s roll,” and that is “Watch out.”
After so much stink and destruction, there are just certain things, as Winston Churchill said, up with which we will not put. In days of yore they got the furrowed brow, the hectoring op-ed piece, the solemn palaver. Read More
There’s a small plaque outside the pharmacy at 6
East 23rd Street. It is a modest affair, barely
visible from the sidewalk. Even the drugstore’s customers don’t see it, though
it’s at eye level and to your right as you enter the store. Engraved on the
plaque are the names of 12 firefighters, victims of Read More
