Sept 11 Remembrance

Elmsford's September 11th Remembrance

September 11th Reflection

The summer has unofficially come to an end. Labor Day barbecues have ended. Summer homes are being shuttered. And to some, a new school year has begun. But sadly, that's not all. Next week will mark the 15th Anniversary of the attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001. Politicians will make every attempt to get some “9-11 exposure”, traveling in haste to different ceremonies making speeches and shaking hands. For those who responded on that awful day, well, they will be introspective, pray silently, hug love ones and yes, also go to the 9-11 ceremonies.

Many have consistently said, “We must never forget,” these attacks made upon all Americans on that fateful day. We must never forget those who were killed. The emergency services personnel who fought so valiantly to go in to “do their jobs” did so knowing it could always be their last alarm. For many, this time turned out to be just that. Yet, they went in anyway. Critics have continued to find fault. The command center should not have been where it was; the building could have been fireproofed so it wouldn’t burn: President Bush didn’t react quickly and so on. But, as they sat in the comfort of their easy chair, the naysayers have proved one thing: actions do speak louder than words and on this day their words are not welcome.

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, killed 2,996 people immediately. This number includes the 2,977 victims and the 19 hijackers who perpetrated the attacks. 246 people died on the airliners that flew into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania. The attack on the Pentagon claimed 125 lives, and the attacks on the World Trade Center claimed 2,606. Victims at the World Trade Center included workers in the building, emergency first responders and people fleeing in the streets. The attacks have also claimed the lives of a number of people who helped clear the wreckage afterward, as cancer and other conditions caused by toxic smoke have begun to emerge. Those heroes continue to struggle every day with the 9-11 attacks.

At 8:46 AM the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11 struck the north tower. One hundred and two minutes later, the tower collapsed. Of course, we all know that the south tower was also struck and it too collapsed, only in forty-six minutes. The naysayers who complained that the buildings should have been better constructed allowing people in there to escape, need to give pause and realize what they are saying. The buildings were just that, buildings. They were not conceived, designed or built to be a landing area for jumbo jets traveling at hundreds of miles per hour. More remarkable however, was the fact that these buildings remained standing for as long as they did with jumbo jets inside both of them.

In 2004, three years after the attacks, The Victims Compensation Fund finished its work processing death and injury claims from families and relatives of September 11 victims. Families of those killed had until December 22, 2003, to apply for compensation. Families who agreed to get compensation from the federal fund agreed not to sue the airlines. In 2007, New York City’s Chief Medical Examiner ruled numerous deaths were due to toxic dust exposure and for the next few years continues to make more of the same diagnosis.

The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund operated from 2001 to 2003 and received 7,408 applications for both death claims and personal injury claims. The fund made awards in 5,560 of those cases. After much public outcry, President Obama signed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010, reopening and expanding the scope of the Victim Compensation Fund because so many other responders continue to be sick and suffer ailments caused by the attacks.

Beyond helping our first responders, the estimated costs of 9-11 is huge:
• $500,000 - Estimated amount of money it cost to plan and execute the 9/11 attacks.
• $123 billion - Estimated economic loss during the first 2-4 weeks after the World Trade Center towers collapsed in New York City, as well as decline in airline travel over next few years
• $60 billion - Estimated cost of the WTC site damage, including damage to surrounding buildings, infrastructure and subway facilities.
• $40 billion - Value of the emergency anti-terrorism package approved by the US Congress on September 14, 2001.
• $15 billion - Aid package passed by Congress to bail out the airlines.
• $9.3 billion - Insurance claims arising from the 9/11 attacks.

It isn’t or shouldn’t be about the money. It should be about our heroes, our loved ones, friends and relatives who responded. It should be about those who perished in those buildings. Many were reminded of the 1993 bombing and escaped when they felt their respective buildings shudder after the first plane crashed into the tower. No one knew why the attacks took place, but they knew they must respond. They proved why our first responders are referred to as The Bravest and The Finest.

There will be many September 11th ceremonies in upcoming days. We urge you to find and participate in any one of them. We also urge you to reflect on those we have lost and give thanks to those in uniform, any uniform and let them know their efforts are appreciated, respected and a valued part of our communities.

Memorial’s Disrepair Requires Overhaul

We understand Mr Feiner's proclivity towards grandstanding and hype. We also understand that after 22-years in office he has nurtured and become his own brand, developing a cult-like following and an ability to circumvent and/or ignore any opposition. Yet, to follow the traditional media's take on him, he can do no wrong. Not so, and we expose his illegal and unethical actions every chance we can.

We have continually followed and high-lighted the "other side of the story," often taking on issues that others prefer to ignore while Mr Feiner bloviates attention away from them and those with a critical eye. The Town employees, no doubt under orders from Mr Feiner, routinely obfuscate, delay and out and out refuse to supply information requested under the Freedom Of Information Law (FOIL).

Just ask Dorinne Livson, the President of the Worthington Woodlands Civic Association. She and her Civic Association are still waiting for a copy of the supposed Game On 365 contract after being given the run-around from Town Hall. ABG believes it is because there never was a contract and the Town is simply stalling in hopes of not being caught violating the law (again). By the way, when she asked Town Attorney Tim Lewis when she could expect the results of the FOIL request in 2013, he said rather matter-of-factly, "Sometime in 2015." 2015 is almost over and still no contract. Shameful.

With press releases galore, regurgitated in every printed and online source seeking to move his agenda, Mr Feiner is now claiming that the Memorial Wall at Webb Field/Richard Presser Park on Central Avenue, is in need of repair yet again. Several years after the original Memorial Wall was constructed through the generosity of an Arts Westchester, the Rotary Club and Walmart's Sam's Club, the tiles originally mounted began falling off. Subsequently, 1,686 cataloged tiles were cleaned, repaired and numbered and finally transported back to the Wall for reinstallation.

At the time of it's construction, many favored a different and more accessible location to have a Memorial built. But since this is where Mr Feiner wanted the monument, that was where it was to be built. Now, as we have learned through Mr Feiner's media deflection, the Wall is once again in need of having the tiles repaired because they are again falling off. ABG is critical because like so many patches that are made to our infrastructure, they are not designed to last. Could this be intentional on Mr Feiner's part so as to set up his next media campaign, soliciting sympathy, empathy, and more importantly, votes? We believe so.

So now he has offered several solutions with which he “hopes” to involve the public. We’re convinced he doesn't really care, but he can get more publicity from this. Most people won't even realize he's using this issue to campaign for re-election. His options are listed below in italics.
 
Options we have: Tear down the existing wall.

Preserve the tiles.

Replace the large wall with a new design.

Place the murals on the new memorial design.

Fix the wall.

The problem is that we tried to repair the wall in 2011, and it did not work. Some people believe that the climate changes contribute to the deterioration of the wall. I prefer a lasting memorial, not a memorial that will look bad every few years. Our goal is to maintain a beautiful 9/11 mural at Richard Presser Park.

Here is ABG's suggestion for the Wall:

Contact all of the high schools within the Town to assist in taking the existing tiles off the Wall, cataloging them and packing them up. This would qualify as Community Service hours for the students. Convicted criminals, Mr Feiner included, sentenced to community service could also participate. Then the Town should tear down the existing Wall and return the property to its original state. Have the tiles in need of repair get the necessary repairs to make them usable again. Map out the dimensions for the existing Wall and replace it on the Greenburgh Library's Wall near the main entrance and traffic circle area of the Library. This would avail everyone who uses the Library an opportunity to view the Memorial and it would be under constant scrutiny by everyone who sees it and works there, enabling better maintenance. It was also suggested to put the tiles on the handicap ramp from the bus stop at Route 119 toward the top, culminating at the top by the Library.

Mr Feiner decided how and where to put the Memorial Wall. It was under his direction that the repairs were made. The qualifications of those involved were never vetted, similar to what we see when Mr Feiner and the Town Board are the lead agency for a project. There are numerous examples of lead agency failures, such as the failed geothermal heating system at the Library, as well as their inadequate heating and air conditioning systems. We're not going to list them but suffice to say the list is long. If the Library is chosen as the new Memorial location, the brick siding would need to be properly prepped so we don't have to repair it again in five years after another installation. Besides prepping the wall, we'd suggest using a track system to accommodate expansion and contraction due to climate fluctuations. Similar, if you will, to the way vinyl siding is installed to accommodate the shift due to weather.
 
We want to see the victims of the horrific September 11, 2001 attacks honored. Since this Memorial Wall has had a sketchy past, perhaps this administration can finally do justice to the memory of those lost on that fateful day. Only then will we have A Better Greenburgh.

Remembering September 11th

September 11th has a heart-wrenching connotation for most New Yorkers and in fact, Americans. Sadly, beyond the deaths suffered on that day, there is a feeling of life-altering change. There were also births on that day and birthdays that missed celebration everywhere across America and in New York specifically. Most adults understood the somber effect the day had on everyone, but children would have been hard-pressed to know why their parties were cancelled. Now, fourteen years later, they might understand.

Several ABG staffers responded to the 9-11 attacks mid-day as members of the fire service. One of them should have been celebrating his birthday that day. The other would normally be helping him celebrate. Friends since high school, they now found themselves downtown on this fateful day. Another friend who worked in the area was able to escape and is now dogged with a life of respiratory illness. Still another, who experienced the attacks in 1993, was getting into an elevator when she felt the building shutter, reminding her of the previous attack and just ran. It saved her life.

Once dispatched, the two friends were directed to a firehouse in the Bronx to respond in place of the regular staff. They were also there to respond for hazardous materials alarms, as most of FDNY's hazardous materials responders were either killed or busy from the attacks. One memory that remains is the smell from the towers that permeated the City. The obvious feelings of sadness, disgust, anger, fear, and so many others hung over us. Many tasks needed to be done that day, some as simple as assisting the directing of traffic as people drove frantically to exit the city. But even at a distance there was the smell. It would become the smell of death.

Actions and responses taken that day have been exhaustively critiqued, picked apart, analyzed, criticized, over-analyzed, studied, written about, talked about and dissected thousands of different ways. Those actions have altered security measures at airports. They have been changed in hopes of increasing safety and decreasing another attack such as this. But are we any safer? That seems to always be the question raised immediately after that discussion is broached. Emergency responders now have new protocols to follow when they respond. They no longer leave emergency vehicles open and unattended whether at an alarm or not. Locks are used where there had never been any. Now they must be concerned for terrorists stealing emergency vehicles to use to breach security. And still the smell lingers.

Many firefighters and other first responders quickly learn to identify the smells associated with fires, much like many recognize the smell of burning leaves in the fall. And, things we take for granted were missing that day. The sounds of sirens throughout the city were missing after the initial responses. Crime seemed to stop that day. The sky, a picture perfect blue, was bereft of airplanes and sound, except for the occasional Air Force jet and AWAC now on patrol. It was an eery feeling on top of an already surreal day. Everyone there was on edge. Dark humor that serves first responders well was conspicuously absent. What wasn't absent was the smell. Many responses to fires even today bring back that smell. But on that day, no matter where we found ourselves, the smell always found us.

Some say we should make September 11th a national holiday. Perhaps. But along with a national holiday will be the retail community making it another "Sale" day. Look at what has happened with Memorial Day and how it has become more about barbecues, shopping and going to the beach rather than honoring those who have sacrificed for us. We'll leave that discussion for another day. Today, as we remember those who perished, we wish our friend and colleague a Happy Birthday, as well as all those born on September 11th.

Some said, "Let's roll." Others, including us, say, "Let's remember!" And of course, we can never forget.

Award Made in Fairview Discrimination Lawsuit

Several years ago, David Hecht, 46, a Fairview Volunteer Firefighter, took the Westchester County fire test to try to become a paid firefighter, hopefully with the Fairview Fire Department. Hecht, an Elmsford resident, claimed he lived in the Town of Greenburgh proper and was not an Elmsford resident. Compounding his residency issue, which can only be verified by the District upon an offer from the Fire District, he also claimed he had been discriminated against due to his age. He subsequently filed a Federal age discrimination lawsuit against the Fire District. 

His lawsuit asserted that he had been discriminated against by then Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice, who has since retired due to health reasons contracted working at Ground Zero after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. LoGiudice may have had input in the process as Chief but was not the decision maker as to which candidate would be offered a firefighter position. The Board of Fire Commissioners determine who to hire or not hire.

ABG was told earlier that during the interview process, Hecht impressed many on the Board as not being a team player. While this may or may not be a reason to disqualify a person for the position, firefighting finds the need for firefighters to be forced to rely on their colleagues in life-threatening situations and is a consideration of note. And, given there were other applicants to choose from, the decision was made to offer the position to another firefighter. 

It was also disclosed that to hire a younger firefighter over Hecht would offer the Fire District long term benefits of a younger person with fewer physical issues during the main portion of their career. No doubt, firefighting is better suited for a younger person. Also, Hecht’s lawsuit came just before he would be considered too old to be hired. Some say this was his last grandstanding play to get hired.

As to the discrimination lawsuit and settlement of $250,000 to Hecht, he claims he will continue to volunteer with the department. At this point, no one from the Fairview Fire District was available to comment on their decision to settle. While Hecht believes this to be a fair settlement, his goal of becoming a paid firefighter seems to have gone up in smoke.