UPDATE: FDNY DEUTSCHE BANK FIRE DOUBLE LODD

Today a Manhattan jury cleared foreman Salvatore DePaola of charges that he should have known a crucial water standpipe was damaged in the former Deutsche Bank building at Ground Zero which caught fire in August 2007, killing 2 firefighters in the Line of Duty.

The jury was still deliberating the case of Jeffrey Melofchik, the building site safety manager, who like DePaola was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the blaze.

Also charged are the building's toxin cleanup director Mitchell Alvo and the Galt Corp., the subcontractor that employed Alvo and DePaola. They have chosen to have Judge Rena Uviller, not the jury, rule on their cases and the judge has not yet ruled. The jury found DePaola not guilty of all charges.

Firefighters Robert Beddia, 53, and Joseph Graffagnino, 33, died in the Line of Duty of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning when they became trapped in the nine-floor fire.

The defense argued that the construction managers removing asbestos could not have anticipated the circumstances that led to the firefighters' deaths.

They had argued that if local government inspectors had repeatedly failed to identify a damaged water pipe in the basement, it was unreasonable to expect construction supervisors with less expertise to recognize the potential danger. The defense argued that the conditions were caused not by a lack of water but by a fan system that pulled smoke downward, leaving firefighters blind and disoriented.

Source: The Secret List 6-28-11 / 2147 Hours
www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com

New York lawmakers ask Obama to rehire 9/11 health czar

by Associated Press Monday February 23, 2009, 4:21 PM

NEW YORK — New York lawmakers and Sept. 11 health advocates urged President Obama on Monday to rehire a World Trade Center health czar who was let go last year by the Bush administration.

John Howard's six-year term as director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health expired last July and he was not asked to stay on.

Since 2006, Howard had become the government's point person for post-Sept. 11 illness. He often found himself at odds with the Bush administration in his advocacy for a federal program to monitor and treat thousands who said they were sickened by exposure to toxic trade center dust.

Sept. 11 health advocates had said his departure could jeopardize future funding.

"The Bush administration made a good decision in appointing Dr. Howard and a typically bad move in letting him go," U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney said Monday at a news conference at ground zero.

The White House didn't immediately comment Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention named an acting director to take over for Howard, while Howard took another job at the CDC.

An e-mail to Howard wasn't immediately returned Monday.

The government last year halted its plan for a national monitoring program, saying it was too costly. Several members of New York's congressional delegation reintroduced a bill to create the program earlier this month.

Source: AP - Link

Fred "Scumbag" Parisi faked letter from priest

Prosecutor: Alleged 9/11 con man faked priest letter

A letter from a priest to the Morris County Prosecutor's Office last month heaped praise on a Jefferson man now under investigation for allegedly defrauding people who donated money to his 9/11 charity.

In the letter, "Archbishop" Stephen Petrovich called Fred Parisi a Sept. 11 hero who is being unfairly treated by Jefferson police and wrote that the police department needed to be investigated, not Parisi.

But Petrovich never wrote that letter, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi said.

Petrovich said Parisi wrote the letter. And Petrovich added in an interview that he is a priest, but not an archbishop.

"He called me and told me he wrote it last month after he sent it," Petrovich said. "I told him he can't do that. That's not right."

Bianchi said the matter remains under investigation.

Parisi, 40, was arrested March 29 and remains at the Morris County jail in lieu of $250,000. He is charged with theft and failure to allow his business partner to access company money -- some $235,000.

Those charges are unrelated to Parisi's charity, the 9/11 Rescue Workers Foundation. But because of his arrest, his 9/11 fundraising activities are now being reviewed.

Although he claims he was a New York City police officer who rescued thousands from Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001, authorities said Parisi was a police recruit training miles away in Brooklyn on that day.

Petrovich, a 57-year-old retired Ukrainian Orthodox priest who lives in Ohio, met Parisi by phone three months ago when the priest was calling 9/11 groups to find volunteer mental health workers to assist a friend providing counseling to rescue workers who moved to Florida.

9-11 rescue workers abandoned by White house

Bush Administration avoiding hearing on aid for out-of-state 9/11 responders

The White House is ducking Tuesday's hearing on why it scrapped a plan to help ailing 9/11 responders who live outside New York.

The decision to skip the hearing is angering critics who say the Bush administration has all but abandoned the generous souls who raced to New York after 9/11.

"Responders rushed from all over the country to help New York on 9/11. But [the U.S. Health and Human Services Department] couldn't find one person in the building to come to New York?" said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan, Queens).

"They don't fight for 9/11 health programs. Instead, they fight to stop them."

A spokeswoman who returned a call to the Health and Human Services Department said officials would answer questions at another time.

That's not good enough for Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-Brooklyn), who leads the House oversight subcommittee on government management, organization and procurement.

"If I must issue subpoenas, that is what I will do," Towns vowed. "The administration's handling of 9/11 health care is one of the worst-managed programs I have ever seen."

The nationwide 9/11 health program would have offered pharmacy benefits to sick responders and processed medical reimbursements, a key step in setting up regional clinics.

Many ailing responders are still forced to travel to New York for care. Federal officials have said the program was canceled because bidders were confused and cost estimates had ballooned.

9/11 'HERO' CHARGED IN 40G SCAM

July 15, 2007 -- A self-proclaimed Ground Zero hero who says he and his golden retriever rescued victims from the World Trade Center rubble has been charged with fraud for allegedly ripping off $40,000 in federal relief funds.

Scott Shields could face up to 35 years in jail after a Manhattan grand jury indicted him and his sister last month for allegedly swiping rental-assistance money from FEMA and other agencies.

Shields showed up in the days after the attack, accompanied by Bear, his cancer-stricken canine, but the dog was too sick to do any real work, and the two were on hand only for "a couple of days," according to a former NYPD officer.

"There's something wrong with the guy," said Lt. Dan Denadio, who as head of the NYPD's K-9 unit spent nine months at Ground Zero. "I don't know how he got so far."

Shields claims he and Bear "made the only live finds" at the site.

"Nonsense," Denadio said.

After his brief stint on the pile, Shields, who had resided in Greenwich, Conn., moved into an apartment across from the site - a swanky $3,182-a-month pad on Rector Place - and got one check for $16,443.50 from FEMA to pay for it, records show.

Shields collected thousands in additional rental assistance, the indictment says.

Firefighter worked around clock at Ground Zero Murdered

Firefighter worked around clock at Ground Zero:

Firefighter worked around clock at Ground Zero

Associated Press

May. 26, 2007 11:59 AM

NEW YORK - Firefighter Salvatore Princiotta worked around the clock at the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11 attacks: Family members say he helped put out fires, led injured people out of the area, and spent a week digging through the smoking rubble for his uncle, a deputy fire chief.

He eventually got sick with lung problems, retired from the fire department and recently moved to Arizona, hoping the abundance of sun and fresh air would be just what his ailing body needed.

But on May 14 - five years to the day after the remains of his uncle, Chief Raymond Downey, were found at ground zero - Princiotta was found dead in his Arizona apartment. Police said there were bullet wounds in his decomposing body.

On Friday, the suspect in the slaying committed suicide after police cornered him in California, authorities said.

Police are saying little about the suspect and nothing about why he killed Princiotta, only adding to the mystery surrounding the former firefighter's final days.

But one thing is for sure - Princiotta is one of hundreds of first responders who got sick after Sept. 11 and now blame their health woes on the toxic fumes and dust at ground zero.

In January, Princiotta moved from his Manhattan apartment to Arizona because he was having trouble breathing. After several hospitalizations, he retired from the FDNY four years ago.

"He was brokenhearted," said his brother, Joseph Princiotta of Deer Park, a Long Island community where family members have lived in six houses along Oak Street for decades.

"You could say Sal was a victim of 9/11," the brother said. "He would never have moved to Arizona if 9/11 hadn't happened."

Hundreds of miles from the haunting memories, in Scottsdale, Ariz., the 43-year-old retired firefighter hoped for a new life in a near-perfect, sunny climate. He was getting disability pay - three-quarters of his firefighter salary - supplemented by income from day-trading stocks.

Photography was his pastime and passion and he planned to use his new home as a base to keep traveling the world. His photos - posted on his Web site - are from Turkey, the Czech Republic, Italy, Mexico, Greece. In the clear Arizona air, he could ride his new bike.

Three months after the terror attacks, the image of Princiotta atop a road bike was seen across the country when he and five other firefighters cycled 3,000 miles from New York to California - to say thank you to fellow Americans, especially firefighters and police in other states, for coming to New York's rescue in its hour of need.

Princiotta and his group of FDNY firefighters raised $29,000 for the Uniformed Firefighters Association Widows' & Children's Fund. His firehouse - Ladder Co. 9, Engine Co. 33 in lower Manhattan - had lost 10 of its men on Sept. 11.

Princiotta, a muscled, tattoed man friends called "Sally Boy," would donate gifts to orphaned children each Christmas, but didn't want anyone to know, said his best friend in New York, Gus Thomas.

During his almost 15 years with the FDNY, Princiotta received two citations for bravery; in one instance, he walked into a burning house to pull out a trapped firefighter.

An online guestbook with comments from friends, relatives and strangers includes an entry from the firefighter Princiotta saved, Hank Porcaro, now retired in Las Vegas.

"Sal saved my life at the very moment I was dying. Out of air, lost, and tied up in fallen cables, I knew I was breathing out my last breath," he writes, adding that the flames were blowing over his head and he was losing consciousness.

"Then I heard my miracle. A big strong voice telling me I got you, brother' sounded to me like an angel. I felt his strong arms pull my tied up body and I knew I would be OK."

Just outside Princiotta's old firehouse, a makeshift memorial still sits on a windowsill by the sidewalk - a wooden box with a glass lid that holds photos of him both in uniform and in casual attire, always in the company of his firefighter buddies.

In New York, he remains a hero, a friend, a beloved son, brother, uncle and decorated former firefighter. He was also "a consummate bachelor, outgoing and gregarious," his brother said with a chuckle.

In Arizona, the New York hero has become a victim in a murder mystery.

The suspect killed himself Friday night at a motel in San Bernardino, Calif., said Sgt. Mark Clark, a Scottsdale police spokesman.

When approached by police, the suspect fled on foot. After a short chase, he pulled out a gun and committed suicide, Clark said. The name of the 56-year-old man was being withheld until relatives could be notified, Clark said.

The question now is: What was the motive for Princiotta's slaying?

His nephew, also named Salvatore Princiotta, discovered his uncle's body on May 14, Joseph Princiotta said. Family members had been trying to reach Princiotta for about a week, after not hearing from him for a while. A niece got no reply to cell phone text messages and e-mails.

Finally, the nephew, a student at a nearby college, went to check on his uncle, using his own key to enter the condominium in his gated, low-crime community.

It appeared Princiotta had been dead for days, police said. There was no evidence of a break-in.

Thomas visited Princiotta about a month ago. He remembers answering several calls from a man named "Jeff" who would abruptly hang up when told Princiotta was still asleep. Princiotta said the man lived in California and had sold Princiotta a safe to store his coin collection after the two met in Las Vegas.

"I told him, you don't buy a safe from a stranger!" Thomas said.

The Manhattan restaurant owner said he was pleased that police found a suspect, but still sad about the loss.

"I haven't slept in weeks since he died," he said.

At first, his family in New York believed Princiotta might have died of the post-Sept. 11 lung complications. On Tuesday, a day after he was buried on Long Island, police in Arizona announced they were conducting a homicide investigation.

Princiotta was flown home to New York from Phoenix, where his coffin rode atop a fire engine to the airport. When the plane landed at New York's LaGuardia Airport, 60 firefighters saluted as the flag-draped casket emerged from the aircraft.

He was buried Monday at the St. Charles Cemetery in Pine Lawn, Long Island, near his childhood home.

Ground Zero hero loses cancer fight

---

Detective sued city to change pensions after 9/11

BY ALISON GENDAR, ERNIE NASPRETTO and JORDAN LITE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Monday, May 14th 2007, 4:00 AM

---

NYPD Detective Robert Williamson shows photo of himself at The Pile.

---

A retired NYPD street detective who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after toiling at Ground Zero died of the disease yesterday, his wife and the detectives' union president said.

Robert Williamson, 46, died at his Nanuet, Rockland County, home four years after his March 2003 diagnosis, said Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association.

Beginning the day of the 9/11 attacks and for three months after, Williamson spent 16-hour days performing rescue and recovery operations at the World Trade Center site, his sergeant, Michael Kelley, said yesterday.

"He was down on The Pile every single day" for the first two months after the twin towers' collapse, and then five days a week in the third month, Kelley said.

"Some guys took breaks; he was down there digging," Kelley said. "It didn't faze him a bit."

Williamson was among more than 1,700 cops and firefighters who sued the city to change the pension system after the disaster, Palladino said, adding that the married father of three worked "well beyond the required 40 hours at Ground Zero to qualify for a disability pension."

"He is one of the first officers who was deemed disabled as a result of his assignment on 9/11, and now that disability has claimed his life," Palladino said.

Sounding sad but stoic, Williamson's widow said the Emergency Service Unit cops never forgot her husband, even though he retired in 2002. The couple's children are 10, 12 and 15.

"They provided transportation to and from the hospital and brought oxygen tanks and a hospice to the house," Maureen Williamson said. NYPD Supervising Chief Surgeon Eli Kleinman would not comment specifically on Williamson's death.

"As far as we know, there are no particular cancers in the medical literature related to 9/11," Kleinman said. "We're following it very closely."

Williamson's attorney Michael Barasch said Williamson and other Ground Zero workers were "as much victims of the disaster as the 343 firefighters and 2,700-odd people who died" on 9/11. But before he died, Williamson said he would have worked at the site again.

"Did I know the air was not safe? Yes. Would I go down there again today knowing that? Yes. A lot of people made sacrifices," Williamson told the Daily News in 2004. "I might be a casualty of 9/11, but at least I had a few more years with my family."

A funeral is planned for Wednesday.

“If the bones are still there,” Ms. Mattei said, “why do we assume that the asbestos and the lead are not?”

E.P.A. Is Urged to Widen Focus on 9/11 Health Effects - New York Times:

"Speaking at a Congressional hearing held in Brooklyn Borough Hall, they said that with the recent focus on the deaths and illnesses of people who worked at the World Trade Center disaster site, effects on those farther from ground zero were being overlooked.

Several experts presented evidence that they had gathered in recent years of increased asthma rates and widespread home contamination in Brooklyn, and urged more research to at least determine the extent of the problems.

Representative Jerrold L. Nadler, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan, said that having already misled ground zero workers that the air they breathed was safe, the E.P.A. was now engaged in a “second cover-up.”

“This,” Mr. Nadler said, “is that the people in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Jersey City and Queens are still being poisoned daily.”

The hearing was conducted by a subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform and was presided over by Representative Edolphus Towns, a Democrat of Brooklyn.

In the hours and days after the attacks on the World Trade Center, aerial photographs showed the main plume of smoke and dust blanketing a northwest-to-southeast swath of Brooklyn.

The E.P.A. paid for apartment cleaning in some of the Manhattan neighborhoods closest to ground zero, and in 2005 it proposed expanding its clean-up zone to affected areas of western Brooklyn and farther north in Manhattan. But it dropped the plan after an independent panel rejected the agency’s proposed criteria for determining contamination.

At yesterday’s hearing, an official in the State Department of Health’s Office of Managed Care cited a study, which his office helped conduct in the summer of 2002, of Medicaid recipients with pre-existing asthma. The survey found that asthma sufferers in western Brooklyn were 2.4 times more likely to complain of worsened asthma after 9/11 than asthma sufferers in the rest of the city — more likely even than asthma sufferers in Lower Manhattan.

The survey also found that asthma sufferers in western Brooklyn were 1.5 times more likely to have visited a hospital for asthma complaints than those in the rest of the city, the health official, Patrick J. Roohan, said.

Yvonne J. Graham, the deputy borough president in Brooklyn, said that of the $140 million that the federal Department of Health and Human Services gave to health care organizations after the attacks, only $5.5 million went to Brooklyn, $4 million less than the Bronx, which was not in the path of the main plume.

Kwa-Cheung Chan, a former assistant inspector general at the E.P.A., said that in a 2003 survey conducted by his office, about a quarter of Brooklyn respondents said that their homes had been contaminated with dust or debris from 9/11. A survey by the Sierra Club in neighborhoods southeast of the Brooklyn Bridge, including Red Hook, Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope, found similar results, said Suzanne Y. Mattei, the club’s New York City executive.

“This is only preliminary information meant to indicate where further testing needs to be done,” Ms. Mattei said, “but it sure does follow the dust cloud.”

Representative Anthony D. Wiener, a Democrat from southern Brooklyn, recalled watching scraps of paper settling on the terrace of his office near the waterfront in Sheepshead Bay, nearly 10 miles from ground zero.

Bonnie Bellow, a spokeswoman for the E.P.A. in New York, said by telephone yesterday, “While we had a wide range of various kinds of data to indicate there certainly was some dust that went to Brooklyn, we have focused our program closest to ground zero.” The agency, she said, was “prioritizing the testing and the necessary cleanups” there.

Ms. Bellow said the agency had not been invited to attend yesterday’s hearing.

Mr. Chan said that five years down the road, it made more sense to examine people than their homes.

“It’s like when you dirty the water, a few years later you start to see mercury in the fish,” he said. “Why don’t we look at the fish rather than the water?”

But Ms. Mattei said that even at this late date, a cleanup could prevent health damage.

“There’s no World Trade Center dust left on the kitchen table,” Ms. Mattei said. “But what about the carpet, the curtains? I’m more concerned for young children and toddlers.”

She noted that even five years after what she said was an exhaustive effort to locate the remains of those who died on 9/11, they are still turning up on building rooftops and elsewhere.

“If the bones are still there,” Ms. Mattei said, “why do we assume that the asbestos and the lead are not?”

Correction: April 28, 2007

An article on Tuesday about a Congressional hearing in Brooklyn at which speakers urged the Environmental Protection Agency to address contamination and medical problems in areas outside Lower Manhattan resulting from the Sept. 11 attack included incorrect information about the hearing from a spokeswoman for the E.P.A. Although the agency itself was not invited to testify, the agency’s inspector general, who operates independently, was. (He declined the invitation.)

Original story at NY Times link

9/11 FIREFIGHTER LUNG AILMENTS ON THE RISE

By SUSAN EDELMAN - NY POST

April 22, 2007 -- Twenty-six firefighters who toiled at Ground Zero came down with sarcoidosis, an inflammatory illness that often attacks the lungs, in the five years after 9/11 - a significant increase, a new study has found.

The study has angered the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, which complains that the NYPD has refused to acknowledge that 9/11 caused sarcoidosis in cops.

Half the firefighter cases were diagnosed in the first year after 9/11 - a rate six times higher than the average for the Bravest in the 15 years before 9/11, according to a paper to be published in CHEST, a medical journal.

The results "strongly argue for improved respiratory protection" at future fires, disasters and toxic sites, says the report, whose authors include FDNY top doctors David Prezant and Kerry Kelly.

The PBA, which has its own registry of ailing WTC responders, counts 19 cops with sarcoidosis.

Unlike the FDNY, the NYPD has been reluctant to link the disease to 9/11.

The NYPD has also rejected some cops' medical bills for sarcoidosis.

"First they denied any connection between the WTC and sarcoidosis. Now that there's scientific evidence, they refuse to accept it," PBA president Patrick Lynch told The Post.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Commissioner Ray Kelly welcomed line-of-duty death benefits recently given the daughter of detective James Zadroga, 34, a 9/11 responder who died of respiratory illness.

"The department hasn't refused to acknowledge a link. The medical division is reviewing the cases," Browne said.

Rudy-Giuliani
9/11 Presents Challenges for Giuliani - Yahoo! News:

9/11 Presents Challenges for Giuliani

By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 30, 11:07 AM ET

NEW YORK - Rudy Giuliani's White House aspirations are inescapably tied to Sept. 11, 2001 — for better and for worse.

While the former mayor of the nation's largest city was widely lionized for his post-9/11 leadership — "Churchillian" was one adjective, "America's mayor" was

"While the former mayor of the nation's largest city was widely lionized for his post-9/11 leadership — "Churchillian" was one adjective, "America's mayor" was Oprah Winfrey's assessment — city firefighters and their families are renewing their attacks on him for his performance before and after the terrorist attack.

Oprah Winfrey's assessment — city firefighters and their families are renewing their attacks on him for his performance before and after the terrorist attack.

"If Rudolph Giuliani was running on anything but 9/11, I would not speak out," said Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son was among the 343 FDNY members killed in the terrorist attack. "If he ran on cleaning up Times Square, getting rid of squeegee men, lowering crime — that's indisputable.

"But when he runs on 9/11, I want the American people to know he was part of the problem."

Such comments contradict Giuliani's post-Sept. 11 profile as a hero and symbol of the city's resilience — the steadfast leader who calmed the nerves of a rattled nation. But as the presidential campaign intensifies, criticisms of his 2001 performance are resurfacing.

Giuliani, the leader in polls of Republican voters for his party's nomination, has been faulted on two major issues:

• His administration's failure to provide the World Trade Center's first responders with adequate radios, a long-standing complaint from relatives of the firefighters killed when the twin towers collapsed. The Sept. 11 Commission noted the firefighters at the World Trade Center were using the same ineffective radios employed by the first responders to the 1993 terrorist attack on the trade center.

Regenhard, at a 2004 commission hearing in Manhattan, screamed at Giuliani, "My son was murdered because of your incompetence!" The hearing was a perfect example of the 9/11 duality: Commission members universally praised Giuliani at the same event.

• A November 2001 decision to step up removal of the massive rubble pile at ground zero. The firefighters were angered when the then-mayor reduced their numbers among the group searching for remains of their lost "brothers," focusing instead on what they derided as a "scoop and dump" approach. Giuliani agreed to increase the number of firefighters at ground zero just days after ordering the cutback.

More than 5 1/2 years later, body parts are still turning up in the trade center site.

"We want America to know what this guy meant to New York City firefighters," said Peter Gorman, head of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association. "In our experiences with this man, he disrespected us in the most horrific way."

The two-term mayor, in his appearance before the Sept. 11 Commission, said the blame for the death and destruction of Sept. 11 belonged solely with the terrorists. "There was not a problem of coordination on Sept. 11," he testified.

Giuliani was also criticized for locating the city's emergency center in 7 World Trade Center, a building that contained thousands of gallons of diesel fuel when it collapsed after the terrorist attack.

The lingering ill will between Giuliani and firefighters was resurrected when the International Association of Fire Fighters initially decided not to invite the former mayor to its March 14 candidates forum in Washington. Other prominent presidential hopefuls, including Republican John McCain and Democrats Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, addressed the nation's largest firefighters union.

According to the Giuliani camp, the contretemps with the union dates to tough contract negotiations in his second term as mayor. His critics deny any political motivation.

The IAFF drafted a membership letter — it was never sent — that excoriated Giuliani and promised to tell "the real story" about his role in handling the terrorist attack.

The then-mayor's decision to change policy on the ground zero recovery effort was "an offensive and personal attack" on firefighters, the letter said, going on to say that Giuliani's "disrespect ... has not been forgotten or forgiven."

Giuliani countered the attacks by releasing an open letter of support from retired firefighter Lee Ielpi, whose firefighter son was among the 2,749 victims on Sept. 11. "Firefighters have no greater friend and supporter than Rudy Giuliani," Ielpi said.

A contingent of nearly 100 South Carolina firefighters also expressed their support for Giuliani and his White House hopes.

Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran political consultant, predicted the 9/11 criticisms could resonate beyond New York during the presidential campaign.

"These are very emotional people who will touch a responsive chord with a lot of the electorate," he said. "The things that the 9/11 families say will wind up in television commercials used against Rudy Giuliani."

The issues also have forced Giuliani to try to strike a balance to avoid the perception that he's exploiting the attacks for his own personal gain. President Bush" President Bush faced the same challenge in 2004 when he invoked the attacks to portray himself as a strong and steady leader in the face of terrorism. Some victims' relatives criticized Bush for using the ruins of the World Trade Center in his campaign commercials, while others defended him.

NYC mayor asks Congress: Reopen 9/11 fund

REOPEN FUND FOR ALL THE RESCUE AND RECOVERY WORKERS AND VOLUNTEERS NOT JUST THE PAID UNIFORMS!

By Devlin Barrett

ASSOCIATED PRESS

1:21 p.m. March 21, 2007

WASHINGTON – The mayor of New York City asked Congress on Wednesday to reopen the government fund for victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks – and spare his city the prospect of losing billions of dollars in related lawsuits.

The fund closed in December 2003, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a Senate panel that federal help is needed for those sickened years after the attacks.

“The mere fact that their injuries and illnesses have been slower to emerge should not disqualify them from getting the help that they need,” Bloomberg said.

Congress created the $7 billion September 11th Victim Compensation Fund soon after the attacks, and it immediately became the subject of intense debate among victims' family members and politicians for the rules by which it distributed money.

Bloomberg appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where Democrats have pledged to do more for sick ground zero workers than the Republican-controlled Congress did in past years.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has long sought more federal aid for ground zero workers, said after the hearing that she is considering, but not committed to, reopening the fund.

The New York Democrat, who is also running for president, said Congress had no answers yet on exactly how such a fund would work or how much it would cost.

“We're looking at all of this,” she said. “Our goal is to try to get help to as many people as possible.”

The original federal aid package created a $1 billion insurance fund to cover injury claims by city workers and construction workers at the World Trade Center site, which was cak"

The Raw Story | Giuliani slammed by NYC firefighters for 'lack of respect'

The Raw Story | Giuliani slammed by NYC firefighters for 'lack of respect'

Giuliani slammed by NYC firefighters for 'lack of respect'

Michael Roston Published: Friday March 9, 2007
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A recently revealed letter drafted by a group of New York City firefighters slams Rudy Giuliani for "a disgraceful lack of respect." The letter, reported yesterday at Roll Call pointed to growing "enmity" between the presidential hopeful and former New York City mayor and the heroes of 9/11 who have played such an important part in his legacy.

Josh Kurtz today revealed a a letter drafted, but never sent, by four New York City firefighters and the President of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Harold Schaitberger. The group is hosting a presidential candidates' forum and almost declined to invite Giuliani, who appears to have decided not to attend.

According to Kurtz, the letter said the former mayor had a "disgraceful lack of respect" for the New York firefighters who died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. They particularly assailed Giuliani for deciding to "scoop and dump" debris from the World Trade Center towers, moving it to a landfill.

"Mayor Giuliani’s actions meant that firefighters and citizens who perished would either remain buried at Ground Zero forever, with no closure for families, or be removed like garbage and deposited at the Fresh Kills Landfill," Kurtz quotes the letter as saying.

The full Roll Call article can be accessed by subscribers at the paper's website.

The full draft letter to Giuliani, obtained by Fox News, is provided below.

#

DRAFT LETTER

February 28, 2007

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On March 14, 2007, the IAFF will host the first bi-partisan Presidential Forum of the 2008 election cycle. No other union — and very few organizations — has the credibility and respect to attract top-tier candidates from both political parties. The lineup of speakers who have agreed to participate in our Forum is truly a testament to our great union and the reputation we have built as a powerful political force and a coveted endorsement.

John Edwards, John McCain, Barack Obama, Chuck Hagel, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Duncan Hunter and seven other candidates will make their case before the 1,000 delegates who will be attending the Forum and to our entire membership via same-day broadcast on our web site.

Early on, the IAFF made a decision to invite all serious candidates from both political parties — except one: former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

We made this decision after considerable soul-searching and close consultation with our two New York City affiliates, the Uniformed Firefighters Association Local 94 and the Uniformed Fire Officers Association Local 854, as well as our former Local 94 President and current IAFF 1st District Vice President covering New York.

The IAFF recognizes that Mayor Giuliani generally enjoys a favorable reputation as a result of his actions immediately after the tragedy of 9/11. As such, we want our affiliates and every one of our members to clearly understand the reason and rationale behind this very serious and sober decision.

Many people consider Rudy Giuliani "America's Mayor," and many of our members who don't yet know the real story, may also have a positive view of him. This letter is intended to make all of our members aware of the egregious acts Mayor Giuliani committed against our members, our fallen on 9/11, and our New York City union officers following that horrific day.

Rest assured, our exclusion of Mayor Giuliani is not about any particular contractual or policy issue or disagreement, nor is it based on his unfriendly relationship with our New York City affiliates prior to 9/11 — which we will document and explain in additional correspondence later on during the campaign. In fact, we invited several candidates with whom we have had substantial disagreement on policy issues because we feel very strongly that our members have the right to hear from all candidates, not just those who tow the IAFF line.

Regrettably, the situation with former Mayor Giuliani is very different. His actions post 9/11 rise to such an offensive and personal attack on our brother and sisterhood — and directly on our union — that the IAFF does not feel Rudy Giuliani deserves an audience of IAFF leaders and members at our own Presidential Forum.

The disrespect that he exhibited to our 343 fallen FDNY brothers, their families and our New York City IAFF leadership in the wake of that tragic day has not been forgiven or forgotten.

In November 2001, our members were continuing the painful, but necessary, task of searching Ground Zero for the remains of our fallen brothers and the thousands of innocent citizens that were killed, because precious few of those who died in the terrorist attacks had been recovered at that point.

Prior to November 2001, 101 bodies or remains of fire fighters had been recovered. And those on the horrible pile at Ground Zero believed they had just found a spot in the rubble where they would find countless more that could be given proper burial.

Nevertheless, Giuliani, with the full support of his Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, decided on November 2, 2001, to sharply reduce the number of those who could search for remains at any one time. There had been as many as 300 fire fighters at a time involved in search and recovery, but Giuliani cut that number to no more than 25 who could be there at once.

In conjunction with the cut in fire fighters allowed to search, Giuliani also made a conscious decision to institute a "scoop-and-dump" operation to expedite the clean-up of Ground Zero in lieu of the more time-consuming, but respectful, process of removing debris piece by piece in hope of uncovering more remains.

Mayor Giuliani's actions meant that fire fighters and citizens who perished would either remain buried at Ground Zero forever, with no closure for families, or be removed like garbage and deposited at the Fresh Kills Landfill.

Our Local presidents at the time attempted to meet with the Mayor to stop this despicable treatment of those who perished, but he refused to even see them face-to-face.

The scoop-and-dump continued. And when hundreds of family members of the fallen joined with our affiliate leadership and members to protest Giuliani's decision, he ordered senior officers of the New York Police Department to arrest 15 of our FDNY brothers, including a number of local elected IAFF leaders.

Giuliani modified his policy after the protest because public opinion was so strongly with our members. Ultimately, he was forced to put the fire fighters back on the pile. Our protests were later proven justified as more bodies were ultimately recovered and those families given a chance for some closure and a decent burial.

Giuliani argued that the change was for our own safety, but his argument was empty and without substance. Fire fighters had been on that pile since minutes after the twin towers fell — why all of a sudden, after nearly two months working on the pile, was Giuliani concerned about fire fighter safety?

In our view, he wasn't really concerned. The fact is that the Mayor's switch to a scoop-and-dump coincided with the final removal of tens of millions of dollars of gold, silver and other assets of the Bank of Nova Scotia that were buried beneath what was once the towers. Once the money was out, Giuliani sided with the developers that opposed a lengthy recovery effort, and ordered the scoop-and-dump operation so they could proceed with redevelopment.

In the first few days immediately after the disaster, Giuliani had said he was committed to the recovery of those lost "right down to the last brick." We believed him at the time. But, what he proved with his actions is that he really meant the "last gold brick."

Giuliani crucified fire fighters after our protest and publicly stated that our members were essentially acting like babies, that they didn't have the market cornered on grief. His insensitive statements demonstrated his inability to grasp what members of the FDNY were experiencing.

What Giuliani showed is a disgraceful lack of respect for the fallen and those brothers still searching for them. He exposed our members and leaders to arrest. He valued the money and gold and wanted the site cleared before he left office at the end of 2001 more than he valued the lives and memories of those lost.

Our members deserved the right to continue with a full search for their lost brothers and other innocent victims. Proudly, as you know, the fire service has a code similar to the military, where we leave no one behind. Recovering even a piece of a turnout coat or helmet gave our FDNY brothers and sisters and the families of the fallen some small semblance of peace, something to honor. But hundreds remained entombed in Ground Zero when Giuliani gave up on them.

The fundamental lack of respect that Giuliani showed our FDNY members is unforgivable - and that's why he was not invited. Our disdain for him is not about issues or a disputed contract, it is about a visceral, personal affront to the fallen, to our union and, indeed, to every one of us who has ever risked our lives by going into a burning building to save lives and property.

We have heard from some affiliates that Giuliani's campaign is beginning to reach out to our locals, looking to build support. If you are contacted by Giuliani, Von Essen, or a representative of the Giuliani campaign, we hope you will say not just, "No," but, "Hell no." And please let the IAFF Political Affairs Department know about it by calling (202) 824-1582.

Please share this correspondence with your membership. Thank you.

Fraternally and Sincerely,

Harold A. Schaitberger, General President

Vincent J. Bollon, General Secretary-Treasurer and Past President, UFOA of NYC, Local 854

Kevin Gallagher, IAFF 1st District Vice President and Past President, UFA of NYC, Local 94

Stephen Cassidy, President, UFA of NYC, Local 94

Peter Gorman, President, UFOA of NYC, Local 854

NYU Co-Opens Health Center To Treat 9/11 Diseases

February 9, 2007

New York - The New York University School of Medicine has teamed up with Bellevue Hospital to open a health center in response to a 60-percent rise in Sept. 11-related illnesses. The center will treat those who were exposed to the debris following the World Trade Center collapse.

The World Trade Center Environmental Health Center will provide screenings, evaluations and treatments for potential medical and mental health patients -- including those who may be uninsured or undocumented, said Alan Aviles, president of Health and Hospitals Corp., which runs the project.

It plans to offer most of its services for free. "(Health and Hospitals) is playing an integral role in the city's plans to address critical gaps and further assist New Yorkers suffering from World Trade Center-related health conditions," Aviles said. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York City have pledged $16 million over a period of five years to treat 6,000 additional patients.

These patients include downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn residents, office workers, volunteers, and others exposed to the Sept. 11 debris. Health advocacy groups, such as the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, have criticized the city for not responding proactively enough to the air contamination in downtown Manhattan after the terrorist attacks.

"Despite the fact that hundreds of firefighters became ill on the first day following the attack, the city never made a serious, energetic effort to provide respiratory protection," said Jonathan Bennett, director of public affairs for the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.

Government agencies invited people to return to lower Manhattan immediately to speed up the recovery process and reopen Wall Street as soon as possible, Bennett said. He cited incomplete reports by the Environmental Protection Agency following the attack: The reports ignored traces of carcinogens and other toxins in the air.

The center currently has more than 800 patients with conditions like asthma, sinusitis and shortness of breath, said clinic director Joan Reibman in an interview with the New York Post. Center officials declined to comment for this story. The clinic plans to hire more bilingual staff to provide assistance for non-English-speaking patients. "We will never abandon those who gave heroically during those difficult days," Bloomberg said in a press release.

Written by U-WIRE

Courtesy of © 2007, YellowBrix, Inc.

Federal Funding for 9/11 Responders

For the first time, federal funds will be allocated for the treatment of injured or sick 9/11 responders. The federal budget for fiscal year 2008, which was proposed last week, includes $25 million for treatment.

“I see this as recognition from the President – for the first time – that regular 9/11 health funding is an absolute necessity,” said Manhattan Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (pictured with Congressman Vito Fossella and Sentor Hillary Clinton) in a press release.

- Heather Corcoran
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer