Integrating firefighting and EMS corps key feature of FDNY’s strategic plan
But union leader argues dissolution is a better solution to challenges
BY DUNCAN FREEMAN dfreeman@thechiefleader.com
The FDNY will further integrate its EMS and firefighting services by unifying the administration of both and bringing “critical resources” to beleaguered EMTs, paramedics and EMS officers, according to the department’s 2025 strategic plan. Released last week, the plan lays out the department’s strategy to support the EMS workforce, reduce ambulance and fire engine response times, better prepare for fires across the city’s urban and natural areas, improve first responder health and more. It’s the first strategic plan published by the FDNY under the tenure of Commissioner Robert Tucker, who was appointed by Mayor
Eric Adams last August. The commissioner — unlike his predecessors — has made a point of drawing attention to the challenges facing EMS workers and even warned of the imminent “collapse” of the department’s EMS service if more resources aren’t poured into it.
In a preface to the plan, Tucker, Chief of Department John Esposito and First Deputy Commissioner Mark Guerra wrote that the department intends to bring EMS and firefighting “closer together.”
“Accomplishing this requires critical resources, especially for EMS,” they note. “With an unprecedented rise in call volume, we are taking steps to improve response times, attract candidates to our ranks, and make sure that New Yorkers know which medical emergencies truly require a call to 911. By investing in new technology such as artificial intelligence, we can enhance situational awareness, lower response times, and make our department more efficient.”
The FDNY will work to merge the department’s fire and medical emergency dispatching system, unify radio codes, attempt to create one point of entry for the FDNY workforce, generate a department-wide asset management team and require EMS workers who are promoted to firefighters to maintain their EMT or paramedic certification.
To aid EMS specifically, the department will explore creating a rolling enrollment system to increase the workforce, create an entirely new dispatching system, expand several 911 call response pilot programs and “conduct a comprehensive review” of the FDNY’s vehicle fleet to determine future needs.
The strategic plan also includes proposals to expand the department’s counseling servicing unit and mental health pilot program, as well as update workers’ breathing apparatus and provide more health care screenings.
See EMS, page 2
DC 37 withdraws support of Council members backing city retirees on Medicare issue
Delegates vote to withdraw endorsement, money BY RICHARD KHAVKINE richardk@thechiefleader.com
District Council 37, the city’s largest public-sector union, has once again gone on the offensive against City Council members opposed to switching municipal retirees to a privately administered health plan.
According to minutes of a March 19 meeting, the union’s delegates approved a resolution “after much discussion” stopping donations to Council members who support legislation that would preserve the roughly 250,000 retirees’ current nofee traditional Medicare and supplemental insurance.
The delegates also voted to “unendorse” Brooklyn Council Member Alexa Avilés because of her support for the bill.
When similar legislation was proposed in 2023, DC 37’s executive director, Henry Garrido, threatened to revoke the union’s support from Council candidates backing the bill. “Money, endorsements — everything,” he said during a call with members of the union’s executive board in September of that year. “Field ops, what we do, phone banks, all the stuff that we do for all the electeds is going to have to be questioned.” Garrido has aggressively pressed for the switch, in large part because
the savings derived from moving the retirees to a private plan would replenish the Joint Health Insurance Premium Stabilization Fund, which props up municipal unions’ health and welfare-fund benefits.
First floated during the de Blasio administration, the proposed switch, supported by the majority of municipal unions, is intended to reduce the city’s skyrocketing health care costs. City officials have said a privately administered plan would save the city $600 million annually, although critics dispute the figure. Opponents also note that that amount would account for just over 0.5 percent of the city budget.
The delegates’ meeting minutes say the current bill, known as Intro 1096, introduced by downtown Manhattan Council Member Christopher Marte, “does not identify a single source of funding.”
They also note that the union is opposed to the legislation “because as we see it,” it would have to be funded by premiums paid by active members and pre-Medicare retirees of up to $1,500. “We have enough waste in the system and that needs to be cleaned up,” the minutes say. But Marianne Pizzitola, the president of the Organization of Public Service Retirees, which is spearheading opposition to the proposed switch, disputed those assertions, calling them deliberate fabrications.
CRYSTAL LEWIS clewis@thechiefleader.com
Richard Khavkine/The Chief
Council Member Christopher Marte at
he announced legislation that would preserve municipal retirees’ current health benefits. Delegates from the city’s largest public-sector union, DC 37, voted to withdraw the union’s endorsement of a Council member supporting the bill. At left, is Marianne Pizzitola, the president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees.
FDNY
FDNY personnel responded to an injury at a high-rise building under construction near Rockefeller Center Dec. 19. The Fire Department released its first strategic plan of Commissioner Robert Tucker’s tenure last week.
State budget includes unemployment boost
Airport workers also getting better benefits
BY DUNCAN FREEMAN dfreeman@thechiefleader.com
Unions representing workers in New York celebrated provisions in the state budget that will raise unemployment insurance for New Yorkers and improve working conditions for airport workers across the state.
According to the $254 billion spending plan for Fiscal Year 202526, weekly unemployment insurance for qualifying New Yorkers will increase from $504 a week to a maximum $869 a week by October, and striking workers will now be able to collect unemployment benefits after just two weeks out on strike, down from three weeks.
It’s the first boost to unemployment insurance in six years and will be covered by $8 billion from the New York’s rainy-day fund, which will pay off the state’s outstanding $6.2 billion unemployment insurance debt to the federal government. State law mandates that no changes can be made to unemployment benefits if the state is in debt and the new funding covers that debt and adds to the state’s unemployment benefits trust. There will also be a small increase to the payroll tax that funds the system.
“Every worker in New York deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement on the unem-
‘This helps to avoid strikes and build worker power.’
— Aaron Eisenberg, UAW REGION 9A POLITICAL DIRECTOR
EMS: Plan to integrate
Continued from Page 1
Leaders of unions representing EMS workers and officers have been sounding the alarm for the need for more staffing, better pay and more ambulances since the pandemic. The department has often tried to bring the department’s EMS and firefighting ranks closer together since 1996, the year the city’s EMS service was merged with the FDNY. But since Covid, the amount of emergency medical calls EMS workers are responding to has increased and the average ambulance response time has grown longer. Emergency medical incidents have increased each of the last three years. Response times for ambulances to life threatening emergencies have also gone up.
‘It’s not working’
The department is hoping that it can reduce demand for ambulance transports by relying on several non-ambulance pilot programs and by building a new dispatching system that uses artificial intelligence. Union leaders say that decades of integration into the department have not fixed the underlying issues facing EMS, insisting that increasing the size of the workforce, the number of ambulances and, not least, salaries are the only workable solutions.
But severing EMS from the FDNY and creating a new department would allow EMS to thrive, one union leader said.
“It’s not working,” Lieutenant Paramedic Anthony Almojera said of the FDNY’s integration efforts. “EMS needs to separate from the Fire Department. It’s a failed marriage and it needs to be absolved.” Almojera, the vice president of Local 3621, the EMS officers union, said that the challenge his members face “is not something that can be ignored like they have done for the last 30 years.” Vincent Variale, Local 3621’s president, placed the blame more at the feet of the city than the FDNY for the issues facing EMS, in significant part for not agreeing to labor contracts that give EMS workers the wages and benefits needed to attract and maintain talent. The city and two EMS unions are currently bargaining for a new contract but remain far apart on crucial aspects, such as pay. The two sides will likely enter into arbitration if nothing changes in the coming months.
ployment changes. “Whether you’re
starting your first job, capping off a long successful career or working to make ends meet after a layoff, you deserve fair treatment. This Budget makes meaningful reforms that will ensure our workforce gets the support they need to survive and thrive in the 21st century economy.”
Unions, including the United Auto Workers and the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, pushed for the changes to unemployment. Aaron Eisenberg, UAW Region 9A’s political director, said that the changes would make a “pretty substantial difference” for workers regardless of union status.
“It’s a really strong incentive for a boss to give a great last, best and final offer to avoid a strike,” he said Monday. “This helps to avoid strikes
and build worker power.”
New York State AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento said that the increased level of benefits will better allow out-of-work workers to support themselves and their families.
“Increasing the maximum unemployment insurance benefit and addressing the unemployment trust fund deficit are critical steps toward supporting unemployed workers struggling to make ends meet while providing relief to employers,” he said in a statement. “The maximum benefit, stagnant at $504 per week since 2019, has for too long fallen short of meeting the basic needs of families facing financial hardship.”
Business groups also lobbied lawmakers hard for the changes.
“Businesses across New York State are grateful to finally be re-
lieved of this multi-billion-dollar burden that has served as an added tax on all our employers for the past four years,” Heather Mulligan, the president and CEO of the Business Council of New York State, said in a statement.
Benefit boost
Also included in the budget is a bump in benefits to workers in airports across the state through a change to the Healthy Terminals Act, passed in 2021. In what is the first change since passage of that law, workers’ mandated vacation days will increase from none to between two and five weeks depending on seniority. Workers will also get 10 paid holidays a year, up from one. The act initially also provided
health care benefits to 12,000 airport workers through an employer-paid benefit supplement. The change in this year’s budget will expand the coverage to 15,000 additional ramp, cargo, concessionaire, retail and part-time workers at John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports.
Venitia Rodney, a security officer at JFK, said that the health care benefits she has received from her job since 2021 were “life changing.” Before getting affordable health insurance, she had to skip taking half of her blood pressure medication due to the cost, she said.
“I know it’s been hard for some airport workers who were excluded from the first 2021 law — I’m so glad to know these improvements will extend to all airport workers,” said Rodney, a member of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union.
More than 8,000 SEIU members will now be covered under the Healthy Terminals Act. It’s the second win for airport workers that the union has helped secure in the last year. The changes will be instituted on Jan. 1, 2026.
A six-month lobbying campaign from the union culminated last December with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey raising the minimum wage for workers at JFK, Newark Liberty International and LaGuardia and linking future increases to inflation. It was the first increase since 2018 and mandates that workers’ minimum wage will be at least $25 by 2032.
“This victory will change thousands of lives and help ensure the health and safety of our state’s airports,” Manny Pastreich, 32BJ’s president, said in a statement about the updates to the Healthy Terminals Act. “Securing the health benefit supplement and ensuring paid vacation and holidays will be transformative for our members and all airport workers. By passing this budget the state has recognized the sacrifices of airport workers and allowed them to care for themselves and their families.”
VENDORS: Council considers lifting vendor permit cap
Continued from Page 1
Department of Health officials.
To better meet the demand, Council Member Pierina Sanchez has proposed increasing the number of street vendor licenses for five years and then eliminating the cap altogether. The legislation is among a package of bills that would reform how street vending operates. Another bill, proposed by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, would create a division of street vendor assistance within the Department of Small Business Services to assist and conduct outreach with vendors.
Vendors expressed support for the proposed reforms during a hearing of the Council’s Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection held last week. “I had to rent a permit through the black market as I have never been able to obtain one in my own name,” street vendor Mahmoud Zayed said. “For years, I have been forced to pay thousands of dollars every two years to people who were able to get permits directly from the city while they only pay a small fee, forced to shoulder a huge expense that ultimately is passed on to my customers. The system is unfair and unsustainable to small business owners like me.”
Recent revisions to a report issued in early 2024 by the Independent Budget Office found that issuing permits to vendors on waitlists would also boost the city’s tax revenues by $59 million.
Summonses double in a year
The vendors also spoke of repeatedly contending with fines and having their merchandise confiscated. The city issued 9,376 tickets to street vendors in 2024, more than twice as many issued in 2023 and five times greater than in 2019. So far, the city Department of Sanitation — which has been tasked with enforcing street vending rules since April 2023 — has issued 5,000 summonses in Fiscal Year 2025.
“In less than a week, the police issued three tickets to me. Each ticket is $1,000. It’s not even what we earn,” Luzuru Chima, a street vendor in Brooklyn, said through an interpreter.
Advocates also noted that the surge in vending enforcement is coming at a time when immigrants — who make up 96 percent of vendors — are under increased threat of immigration raids. “As long as the current outdated vending system is in place, this Council is putting street vendors at risk of interactions with law enforcement,” said Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, the deputy director at the Street Vendor Project.
Mohamed Attia, the managing director at the Street Vendor Proj-
ect, expressed support for the legislative package. He noted that the current system “has been set up to fail everyone.”
“We’re not against enforcement. We are against enforcement of a system that doesn’t make any sense to anyone,” he said. “We are against enforcement that a DSNY agent is going to a vendor yelling at them, telling them, ‘Go get a license. It’s cheap.’ And then the vendor goes to DCWP, and they are turned away saying, ‘Sorry, we don’t have a license.’”
He added that the reforms would not only allow vendors to work legally, but also provide training and “make sure that they understand the laws, they are in compliance,
and they are following them. After that, any enforcement action will only be fair.” But Adams administration officials expressed concerns about eliminating the cap on licenses. Carlos Ortiz, the deputy commissioner of external affairs at DCWP, said that although the agency supported expanding the number of licenses, it opposed lifting the cap “due to concerns about the impact on the quality of life for everyday New Yorkers.”
Joshua Goodman, the deputy commissioner of public affairs at the DSNY, also noted that through this fiscal year, DSNY has received 22,000 vending-related complaints, but has just 35 sanitation police
‘We’re not against enforcement. We are against enforcement of a system that doesn’t make any sense to anyone.’
— the Street Vendor Project’s Mohamed Attia
officers who deal with street vending issues. “There is certainly no capacity to do more enforcement with our current staffing level,” he said. Representatives from various business improvement districts and organizations representing small markets and other businesses also oppose lifting the cap. They also urged the Council to add a measure to improve and increase enforcement, citing frequent infractions committed by vendors, such as when their carts block access to storefronts.
Nelson Eusebio, of the National Supermarket Association, called for the city to hire 118 sanitation police — two per community board — and for the establishment of a 50-foot buffer from storefronts, up from 20 feet.
“Overcrowded sidewalks, unregulated vending, inconsistent enforcement have created an unattainable situation for both permitted permit vendors and brick and mortar business,” he said. “With these measures, we believe we can support this bill.”
Council Member Pierina Sanchez
Elected officials and advocates rallied at City Hall ahead of a City Council hearing last week that considered proposed legislation that would, among other changes, lift the cap on street vending licenses.
DIRECTORS
James
Michael
Michael
In
Kenneth
Brian
COMMENTARY COMMENTARY COMMENTARY
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A loose affiliation
To The ediTor:
“Democracy Dies in Darkness” is The Washington Post’s motto. Another truism is that corruption flourishes without transparency and government oversight.
There is waste, fraud and abuse in connection with Medicare Advantage plans.
The elephant in the room is possible corruption or irregularities in the contract procurement process that awarded Aetna the city’s Medicare Advantage contract.
Proof is challenging because there are no paper trails. But consider the red flags.
An arbitrator, Martin Scheinman, issued an “Opinion and Award” selecting Aetna. However, there was no labor dispute to settle.
The city and the Municipal Labor Committee had been trying in unison to force retirees into Medicare Advantage.
The Office of Labor Relations won’t divulge the identities and even the affiliations of evaluators, rejecting a Freedom of Information Law request. Their conflict of interest/nondisclosure form references nebulous “non-city employees” and “professional advisor/consultant(s).”
The MLC itself is exempt from FOIL, compounding the lack of transparency.
The New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees has alleged in a lawsuit (won in two lower courts and under review by the New York State Court of Appeals) that the city “conspired with Aetna to unlawfully restrain competition
with respect to Retiree health insurance.”
The United States Department of Justice has filed a complaint against Aetna, alleging unlawful payments of “more than 80 million dollars in kickbacks” to health insurance brokers, to incentivize enrollments into their Medicare Advantage plans. Where there’s smoke…
The City Council Committee on Oversight and Investigations, the Department of Investigation and Comptroller Brad Lander should all take note. As should voters.
Harry Weiner
Sound the siren on EMS
To The ediTor:
How intractable is the question of parity for the Emergency Medical Services within the FDNY?
It’s been so bad for so long, that four years ago two elected leaders, then-Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Council Member Justin Brannan wrote in an op ed: “The best way to achieve pay parity for EMS workers is to give them their own independent agency, where they are not an afterthought.”
Calls for EMS parity within the FDNY have been blowing in the wind for years. In 2019, they came from the New York Times editorial board and the NYC Council. In 2021, former FDNY Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, who oversaw the merger of EMS into FDNY, summed it up: “We never paid them back for what we promised in the merger would be that they would
become equal.”
When all urging for fairness within the FDNY is ignored, what’s left?
Adams and Brannan answered the question in this way, “Part of responsible governance is acknowledging when something we try simply does not work. We’ve seen enough over the last 25 years to know that the original goals behind merging FDNY and EMS did not materialize. It’s time to undo the merger, and give EMS workers the representation, funding, and professionalism they deserve.”
Helen Northmore
Rubbish
To The ediTor:
Robert Sica asserts (“Rebirth of a nation,” The Chief, May 9) that birthright citizenship does not apply to undocumented immigrants or certain non-citizens. Of course it doesn’t. Immigrants and non-citizens were not born here. But if their children were born here, they are citizens. That subjects them to the jurisdiction of the United States and the state that they reside in.
One problem that many supporters of President Donald Trump have is they often fail to comprehend plain English and facts. There is no vagueness in the 14th Amendment. It can only be interpreted as saying that if you were born in the U.S., you are a citizen of the U.S.
The attempt to deport people born in this country is one of the most heartless of Trump’s policies. Imagine living here all your life and suddenly being forced to a country that you’ve never spent a day in.
Unfortunately, heartlessness is not limited to Republicans (“Transit crews who worked at WTC pile still awaiting disability pension
benefit,” The Chief, May 2). How does the New York State Legislature, controlled by Democrats, justify denying pensions equal to 75 percent of the worker’s final average salary to transit workers sickened from working at the WTC site after the 9/11 attack?
It is claimed that this legislation would not come cheap. Really? $14.1 million annually in a $254.3 billion budget is too expensive? According to who, Ebenezer Scrooge?
This is just another example of why I think that if the Republicans were not so horrific, the Democrats would look like garbage.
Richard Warren
Moderate
To The ediTor:
A moderate political philosophy that eschews extreme passions and partisan stances offers a promising path forward. Moderates communicate with a voice grounded in reason and rationality. They prioritize the overall well-being and endeavor to comprehend any issue without resorting to divisive and confrontational elements.
While politicians are inherently partisan, the approach of asserting that “one’s ideas are superior to others” does not contribute to the greater good. Viewing issues as purely dichotomous is unrealistic, as most topics are intricate and multifaceted. Moderation discards ineffective past approaches and guides moderates by prioritizing reason and relevance.
Moderates, who speak with reason and strive for the overall good in any issue, are a valuable asset to our political landscape. Despite their longstanding presence, moderates often lack the recognition and organization they deserve.
This is an opportune moment to embrace moderate political philosophy. Extremes in politics have caused irreparable harm, and stepping back from the fringes allows us to gain a clear perspective on the issues at hand. This perspective leads to a reasoned consensus that benefits all parties involved. As the Greek dramatist Euripides put it, “Reason can vanquish and subdue terror.”
Robert Sica
Illegitimate
To The ediTor:
Rev. Martin Luther King stated: “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.”
While lynching is different from deporting law-abiding people with green cards and visas and legally living in this country to horrific prisons in El Salvador and Venezuela, aren’t the aggressive attacks on immigrants clear and cruel violations of civil rights? Can even U.S. citizens with full constitutional rights feel safe if they criticize and push back against the denial of civil rights by the Trump administration?
I don’t believe it is unfair to call the authoritarian, neo-nationalist, racist Trump movement a party that supports unconstitutional violations that threaten the health and lives of law-abiding residents.
Contrary to MLK’s belief in the protection of the law, under the Trump presidency the law may not protect legal residents and even American citizens from deportation to horrific prisons in nations with no civil rights protections.
Michael J. Gorman
THE CHIEF welcomes letters from its readers for publication. Correspondents must include their names, addresses and phone numbers. Letters should be submitted with the understanding that all correspondence is subject to the editorial judgment of this newspaper. To submit a letter online, visit thechief.org and click on Letters to the Editor.
Asserting control at Rikers Island jails is imperative
BY MARC BULLARO
Marc Bullaro is a retired NYC DOC assistant deputy warden.
President Harry Truman espoused the motto “The Buck Stops Here,” indicating it was he who was ultimately responsible for his decisions and the outcomes. He displayed those words on his desk on a sign that was made at a federal reformatory.
But at the NYC Correction Department, the buck is launched daily from DOC’s Bulova Building headquarters to Rikers Island jails like a precision guided missile, and it always finds a scapegoat. Passing the buck isn’t effective leadership and doesn’t yield success but it does present a sacrificial offering to the overseers that guarantees accolades and self-survival, at least temporarily.
Still, correction commissioners and the federal monitor, Steve Martin, continue to pass the buck, apparently believing they could discipline their way out of this crisis by holding the uniformed force accountable for policy failures.
It now appears the chief district judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Laura Taylor Swain, who presides over the Nunez consent decree instituted in 2016 to address persistent violence inside the jails, is no longer convinced.
Swain on Monday ordered city jails placed under a receiver, also known as an independent manager, who will have full control of the jails and she issued a deadline of Aug. 29 for city officials and advocates to recommend potential candidates who will have three years to improve conditions, “with safety as the first goal.”
For the last decade it appeared safety was not a priority. Since 2015 there have been about 75 in-custody deaths, more than 12 suicides, 9,000 assaults on staff, 2,200 slashings and stabbings, 100,000 detainee infractions for fight/assault and 60,000 uses of force.
Instead of safety, the priority seemed to be to impose excessive discipline against correction offi-
cers. That quickly became the norm in an agency where some correction commissioners ostensibly tolerated detainee lawlessness and capitulated to violent detainee gangs that are organized and structured under a clear hierarchy. The gangs exerted their control by oppressing and exploiting the incarcerated population and now are the de facto authority in jail.
This dysfunctional marriage between draconian staff punishment and minimal detainee accountability produced two offspring behind bars, named Anarchy and Bedlam. And despite being less than 10 years old, both are uncontrollable, incorrigible and wreak havoc.
Is it a coincidence that this jailhouse nosedive began in 2015 the same year that the federal monitor was appointed by the federal District Court pursuant to the Nunez consent decree and the same year that the first of many Mayday dis-
tress calls issued by correction officers, captains, assistant deputy wardens and jail union officials were disregarded by politicians and DOC commissioners?
City jails are far from reformed. They are the worst they’ve been in 30 years. But the monitor and the monitoring team continue to financially benefit from DOC’s downfall. They have billed NYC taxpayers more than $22 million.
On April 29 the Queens Daily Eagle reported that former Idaho Sheriff Gary Raney, “a jail expert hired by the city [said] that current Department of Correction Commissioner Lynette Maginley-Liddie should remain in charge of the violent jail complex.” Rainey believed that if Swain appointed a receiver to manage Rikers jails, there would be “no faster path to substantial compliance than the leadership structure that is in place now.”
Because Rikers Island is sui gener-
is, I question the relevancy and applicability of Raney’s experience in Idaho as juxtaposed to NYC. Moreover, I question Raney’s “expert” opinion given DOC is nowhere near substantial compliance concerning the curtailing of detainee violence or reductions in uses of force, even though the department is in full compliance regarding increased staff discipline and accountability. Incidentally, curtailing detainee violence would automatically reduce uses of force.
I appeal to Swain to consider meeting with a medley of DOC’s uniformed force who work behind the gates day after day surrounded and overwhelmed by detainee lawlessness and violence while hanging onto a sliver of hope for a breakthrough only for that hope to be immediately lost at the beginning of their next tour. Staff morale has reached its nadir.
In order for a receiver to have a chance at success they must put
safety first while simultaneously eliminating constitutional violations. The receiver cannot double down on the same failures of the last decade. Politicians, policy makers and DOC commissioners were repeatedly warned by uniformed staff and jail unions of the danger posed and like the mayor in the movie “Jaws,” who decided to allow beachgoers in the water, they ignored the danger.
If the receiver doesn’t make safety and regaining control of the jails a priority, when the black box is discovered the cause of DOC’s crash will be confirmed as pilot error attributed to the City Council, the federal monitor, the last four correction commissioners and the receiver. And the results of DOC’s autopsy will conclude the manner of death to be self-inflicted wounds ascribed to policies that were ineffective and counterproductive to safety.
For a decade, the purported solutions to this jail crisis failed because, standing alone, they were mostly theoretical remedies.
The main problem is that DOC lost control of the jails because its authority was diminished and the tools necessary to achieve successful management of the jails were taken away. Now the majority of its resources and efforts are geared to combating detainee lawlessness instead of insuring detainee care. Consequently, to escape from this rabbit hole the receiver must first regain control of the jails by asserting legal authority and implementing policies that are conducive to safety for both detainees and DOC staff, hold detainees accountable for their rule violations and conduct RICO prosecutions against gang members that traffic drugs, commit violence and extort fellow detainees all in furtherance of their criminal enterprise. DOC must inundate the jails with voluntary educational, vocational, spiritual and inner developmental programs. Without DOC in control of the jails, expect anarchy and bedlam to remain and detainee gang violence and assaults on staff to continue. Establish control and the jails will be safer, constitutional violations can be eliminated and reform will become attainable and viable.
Seth Wenig/AP Photo
The federal monitor overseeing conditions on Rikers Island will submit his next report to District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain Thursday. Swain will determine whether to appoint a receiver to manage the jails.
WAKE-UP CALL
COMMENTARY COMMENTARY COMMENTARY
Stats — Stat!
BY RON ISAAC
What do the EMS and firing squads have in common? One dispatches ambulances; the other dispatches people. But now, patients are prisoners also.
They are captives of FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker’s “Computer Aided Dispatch,” which has suspended and subordinated human judgment by requiring that all patients be taken to the nearest hospital in nearly all circumstances, and to ignore patients’ or their family’s contrary choices, even in non-critical situations and for rational and compelling reasons.
When facing a firing squad, we may be given the option of cigarette or e-hookah, and whether to have it before or after being blindfolded. At the end of the day, it won’t make much difference. But that’s not the case for patients who are rushed to a hospital where there may be no medical specialists on staff for their known clinical needs.
Crews have always been mandated to transport patients to the closest hospital in life-threatening situations. They were otherwise given discretion to overrule or honor expressed preferences to be treated elsewhere. But now they have none.
The reason is driven more by optics than medicine. It will neutralize charges of accountability failures. When blame defaults to machines, there can be no human error.
Hypocrisy On Supreme-Court Choice
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It will also create the illusion of greater efficiency, because the duration of time from the call to 911 until reception at the hospital will be reduced, which will distract the public and reduce pressure on city officials to reduce the lengthening initial response time of the EMS, which is due to administrative deficiencies, including misplaced budgetary priorities.
The problem is logical, not logistical. They’re more into saving face than saving lives. Both are elusive goals. The FDNY’s directive is inflexible. It is binding on all EMS crews, regardless of clinical factors and pleas from patients, their doctors and hospitals ideally equipped and thoroughly familiar with their history.
George Herbert Walker Bush had to replace the first African American, Thurgood Marshall. He looked all over the country and the “most-qualified” was Clarence Thomas, also an African-American? Of course not. Clarence Thomas is an African-American conservative and he got the gig. Expect a Top Candidate
If the entire team of a patient’s attending physicians have been successfully coordinating treatment for complex conditions, and they are three minutes distant from the computer-generated destination, which has no suitable specialist on staff, it makes little difference. If the patient has a broken hip and the nearest hospital is pretty much limited to cataract surgeries, the advice is clear: next time you fall down the stairs, make sure it’s in a house more vicinity-friendly.
route. Patients (or legal guardians) who refuse to go to the nearest hospital and are given a document to sign, which lets the City off the hook, and the patient is abandoned in situ.
Voluntary and private ambulances are not affected by the “Computer Aided Dispatch” bull. And as city governance goes, the bull doesn’t stop there.
skeptical of the Council’s narration and even more wary of the moral it assigns to it. Remember their indecorous scheme when they offered the plum of three-term eligibility to former Mayor Bloomberg, which was forbidden fruit for all other past and future mayors.
Built on safety: The lifesaving legacy of New York’s scaffold law
BY MARK I. PARTNOW and SAGAR CHADHA
Mark I. Partnow, a former justice of the Kings County Supreme Court, and Sagar Chadha are senior partners at Liakas Law, a family-run and community-based law firm.
This bill makes as much sense as leaders of enlightened democracies holding military parades on their birthdays or imposing 100 percent tariffs on foreign films and even imported musicians. Will the price of a ticket therefore be double for an orchestra playing Beethoven rather than Gershwin?
Letters to the Editor
Audacity to Criticize Molina
A bill to be introduced in the state legislature would give our City Council the power to remove mayors from office by a three-fourth majority vote. It is unclear what standard of evidence will be required, but if there is any at all, will it likely be subjective and so elastically defined as to deem it verified and irrefutable? Will there be room for manufacturing and deal-making, based on political alliances and calculations? Temptation for status quo? Obfuscations of “good faith”?
To the Editor:
On Feb 19, the NY Daily News published an article entitled, “As NYC Correction Commissioner Molina cleans house, critics worry he’s coddling jail unions.”
Will clashes of opinion be massaged to pass as conflicts with the law? Might there be scope for at least subconscious subversions of due process? The criteria are as fluid as the Pacific Ocean. The governor and a five-person “inability committee” (more poetically called a “star chamber” in the 17th century), already have the authority sought by the bill.
When politicians, especially when on their constituents’ stage, advocate fixing the government, they’re actually fixing on promoting themselves instead. When they exhort us to look into their eyes as they affect sincere solidarity, watch their sleight of hand instead. They want to throw us off our guard as they peddle their self-profiting wares.
The year was 1885. Brooklyn was still its own city, American industry was booming, and buildings in New York were rising rapidly. But there was a major problem — construction workers were dying. Injuries and deaths on construction sites were common. Newspapers regularly reported on incidents caused by defective scaffolds, ladders and other platforms. In response, the New York State legislature passed its first scaffold law, aiming to protect construction workers who were exposed to the dangers of working at heights. This early law introduced the concept of absolute liability: owners and contractors were held strictly responsible if they failed to provide adequate safety devices for workers facing gravity-related risks, such as falls or falling objects. Fast forward to the mid-20th century—New York was experiencing another building boom. Skyscrapers transformed the skyline, but with progress came peril. Once again, workers were suffering and dying from height-related accidents. In 1969, the legislature responded by amending Labor Law § 240(1), shifting the responsibility for site safety squarely onto those best positioned to ensure it: property owners, contractors and their agents.
ly operated to protect workers. Now, in 2025, construction in New York remains a dangerous profession. In 2022, 24 construction workers died on the job — up from 20 in 2021 — despite construction making up only 3.1 percent of all jobs in the city. Yet, it accounted for over a quarter of all occupational fatalities. Across New York State, construction consistently makes up about 20 percent of all job-related deaths, and its fatal injury rate is over three times the state average. Despite lobbying efforts by industry groups to weaken or repeal Labor Law 240(1), the statute remains intact. Absolute liability is still its core principle. If a worker is injured in a gravity-related incident — whether from a fall or being struck by a falling object — and proper safety devices are not in place, the responsible owner or contractor is held strictly liable. New York courts have consistently upheld this interpretation, focusing on the question: were adequate safety devices provided, and did their absence cause the injury?
Advertisers have a similar conjuring trick of persuasion.
A power grab is a power grab, even if it’s bedecked as a public interest initiative.
If a patient who had been participating in a methadone maintenance treatment program at a hospital for recovering addicts has an unrelated emergency, and is stable and in no danger, they will still be transported to a different hospital where, by law, they may not be allowed to dispense a full methadone dosage to the patient, they will suffer and protocol will have been satisfied.
Ambulances go as the crow flies, because they know the shortest
Let’s please stop the nonsense in this country. We have never had an African-American woman on the court. Biden will not be selecting a cashier from Stop-and-Shop or a pilates instructor from the local sports club. He will select a highly educated, highly credentialed woman who attended a top college, top law school, clerked for a Justice, served on the Federal appellate court and all the other “credentials” deemed necessary in this day and age for a Justice. The attacks on this decision should be seen for what they are. They are idiotic political theater from a cohort that sees even a tiny effort at progress as threatening the white male position in society.
Vincent Scala is a former Bronx Assistant District Attorney. He is currently a criminal-defense attorney in New York City and its suburbs.
Whether it’s a newly elected Mayor, Governor or President, every new administration replaces personnel, notwithstanding their work performance. No reason is needed to remove someone in an appointed position within NYC government with the exception of the Commissioner of the Department of Investigation, even though there is more than enough justification to fire all the top managers in DOC.
State Senator Jabari Brisport and Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, both representatives from New York City, hope the Council will be pleased with their “home rule” resolution, which Gale Brewer, chair of the Council’s Committee on Oversight and Investigations, is rhapsodic about.
Top managers likely get their jobs through political connections and serve entirely at the pleasure of the Mayor. Moreover, the personnel that Louis Molina removed were in charge of critical units which they failed to lead effectively.
The City Council should never be trusted or empowered to override the electorate. The mayor is the servant of the people, not the Council. Whatever disciplinary action may be appropriate should be out of the hands of the Council. In cases of gross dysfunction or wrongdoing, a referendum or voter-led recall process may be viable, bearing in mind that continuation in office should not be determined solely by rolling popularity contests and signature collections.
Numbers in the form of passionate petitions can tell a story but be
DOC was on the brink of an implosion as a result of the feckless leadership of Vincent Schiraldi and his coterie. Now Schiraldi, who was the worst DOC commissioner in its 127-year history, is questioning Molina’s personnel decisions.
How is it that Schiraldi, a so-called juvenile-justice reformer and expert, failed so miserably in managing DOC?
THE CHIEF-LEADER welcomes letters from its readers for publication. Correspondents must include their names, addresses and phone numbers. Letters should be submitted with the understanding that all correspondence is subject to the editorial judgment of this newspaper. To submit a letter to the editor online, visit thechiefleader.com and click on Letters to the Editor.
There’s around a half-dozen car insurance companies whose commercials feature the most infantile, non-intimidating adults imaginable with goofy props, including an emu, in cute, whimsical scenarios that have nothing to do with the product they’re selling. That’s to make consumers confuse the charm of the pitch with the putridness of the product.
It plays against your suspecting the truth, which is that they will double your insurance policy cost if you make a claim for damage done to your vehicle while it was legally parked and you were at work, were totally faultless, and never made a prior claim over 40 years.
criminals and probably require arrests, prosecutions and imprisonment?
If the homeless who are removed from the subways refuse to cooperate with programs designed to help them turn their lives around, what are the penalties? Will they be arrested or placed in secure mental facilities where they will be less likely to do harm to others?
And all radio talk-show hosts call their listeners “friends” and “family” and then urge their audiences to transfer their savings and into an investment with their particular sponsor’s gold company, one of many, which in every case not coincidentally happens to be “the only one I trust.”
Take heed of the barks of the integrity watchdogs in the City Council. Their motives are every bit as pristine as National Public Radio is libertarian. Dispatch their bill to the nearest shredder.
Those homeless people who are mentally or emotionally incapable of living safely with others have to be “imprisoned,” either in prisons (if convicted of crimes) or in secure mental institutions. Those who refuse to cooperate with reasonable and necessary treatment from qualified and competent authorities have to be treated the same way—prison or secure mental facilities.
Your first job: tax tips for teens
BY BARRY LISAK
BARRY LISAK
additional deduction because she is 70 years old. Her standard deduction for 2021 is $14,250 ($12,550, the standard deduction for 2021, plus $1,700, the 2021 additional standard deduction for the singles who are over 65 or blind).
AS SCHOOL WINDS DOWN, many students will hit the job market for summer employment. The Internal Revenue Service reminds students that not all the money you earn may make it into your pocket. That’s because your employer must withhold taxes. Here are some things the IRS wants students to be aware of when they start a summer job. The amount of money withheld from each paycheck can come as a surprise to first-time filers. Generally, employers are required to deduct and withhold: Federal and state income taxes, local taxes, payroll taxes, such as Social Security (FICA) and Medicare, which reduce a paycheck by 7.65 percent.
When you first start a new job you must fill out a Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate. This form is used by employers to determine the amount of tax that will be withheld from your paycheck. Additionally, residents working in NYS should complete Form IT-2104.
If you have multiple summer jobs, make sure all your employers are
How is it that Oren Varnai, the head of DOC’s Intelligence Bureau and a “former covert officer in the CIA,” could not stop the scourge of gang violence from dominating and ravaging Rikers? Varnai, at least, must be commended for wishing Molina success, and I must say he has impressive credentials.
Only those homeless who cooperate with those who provide necessary treatment, and can live peacefully with others, should be placed in housing in the neighborhoods in all five boroughs of the city.
MICHAEL J. GORMAN
withholding an adequate amount of taxes to cover your total income-tax liability.
A youngster who is a dependent of another taxpayer generally doesn’t have to file an income-tax return unless the youth makes more than the standard deduction amount for a single filer. For the 2024 tax year, the standard deduction amount is $14,600.
How does Sarena Townsend, the Deputy Commissioner for Investigations and a former prosecutor who preferred departmental charges on thousands of uniformed staff—resulting in scores if not hundreds of correction officers being fired or forced to resign—now cries foul when she gets fired ?
For the 2024 tax year, if your gross income is under $14,600 and is strictly from wages, you can claim “exempt” on your W-4 form. You will not owe any Federal taxes on your income. Be careful, as state tax agencies have much lower thresholds for exempt income.
may receive tips as part of your summer income. All tips you receive are taxable income and therefore subject to Federal and state income tax. Many students do odd jobs over the summer to make extra cash. Earnings you receive from self-employment, including jobs like babysitting and lawn-mowing, are subject to income tax.
This amendment replaced vague earlier language and made clear that owners (with the exception of certain homeowners) and contractors were strictly liable when workers were injured in gravity-related accidents due to inadequate safety measures. It also specified which types of activities were protected — erection, demolition, repairing, painting, cleaning, etc. — and listed safety devices such as scaffolds, hoists, ladders, ropes and pulleys that must be provided and proper-
Construction unions view Labor Law 240(1) as essential for worker protection. Attempts to dilute it by introducing comparative negligence have repeatedly been met with strong resistance from organized labor. Such changes would shift the burden of safety from owners and contractors back to the individual worker — undermining the very reason the law was created in the first place. Critics who push for comparative negligence misunderstand the law’s purpose. Construction workers do not design job sites, choose safety equipment, or create safety plans — owners and contractors do. They are the ones with control over safety standards and should be held accountable when those standards are neglected. Ultimately, Labor Law 240(1) is not just a statute, it’s a life-saving policy. It ensures that construction workers, who face some of the most dangerous conditions in any profession, are afforded the highest level of protection from gravity-related harm.
Example 2 In 2021, Nicole and her spouse are joint filers. Both qualify for an additional standard deduction because they are both over 65. Their Form 1040 standard deduction is $27,800 ($25,100, the 2021 standard deduction for joint filers, plus 2 x $1,350, the 2021 additional standard deduction for married persons who are over 65 or blind). The above examples reflect the benefit of the new standard deduction. Millions of taxpayers won’t be itemizing this year to reduce their Federal income-tax bill.
For example: Nicole, a college student, earned $2,000 working in an ice-cream shop during the summer. They withheld $100 in Federal tax. Nicole must file a tax return to claim refund on the $100 withholding. Obviously, Nicole should have claimed “exempt.” Her employer will deduct Social Security taxes from her wages, as required by law, and these are not refundable.
Whether you are working as a waiter or a camp counselor, you
Schiraldi praises his managers who created a “war room” to redeploy staff on an emergency basis. That “war room” should have also been utilized to generate and implement new policy to stop the devastating inmate violence that inflicted pain and suffering on officers and inmates alike. Further, the now-garrulous Schiraldi was speechless when the unions continuously sounded the alarm regarding chaos, bedlam, lawlessness and gross mismanagement by top bosses. Commissioner Molina is addressing all those issues. Neither Schiraldi, nor any of his senior managers, have the credibility or standing to
If you have net earnings of $400 or more from self-employment, you will also have to pay self-employment tax. This tax pays for your benefits under the Social Security system. The self-employment tax is figured on Form 1040, Schedule SE. If your child has a large amount of investment income, in addition to a job, his tax return can become very complex. It may be a good idea to talk to a tax professional. Finally, remind your child to start a lifetime good habit and file his tax returns on time.
Barry Lisak is an IRS enrolled agent specializing in personal and small business taxes for 30 years. Any questions can be directed to him at 516-829-7283, or mrbarrytax@aol. com.
THE CHIEF-LEADER, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2022 FIVE and by deducunder Act mar(MFJ), separately household spouse 2021 the dollar and and 65 and blind instandard individuals statuses. 2018 2025,
To the Editor: The proposed New York Health Act would provide on a statewide level what Medicare-for-All would provide nationwide. Yet in recent issues, it has been claimed that the reason some unions oppose this is because the medical plans they already have provide benefits that this proposal would not include. Now as a retired transit worker, I have always had good health coverage since I started working for the system in 1979. But one friend who was an excellent Transport Workers Union Local 100 rep had serious health issues before he recently passed away. He had a stroke while he was still working, and had to fight numerous large bills for medical care that was supposed to be covered. I remember him saying, “I have great coverage as long as I don’t get sick.” Under the New York Health Act, patients would not have to worry about fighting bills. They would not
Skeptical of Union ‘Health’
Anthony Behar/Sipa USA via AP Images
FDNY EMTs assisted a patient out of an ambulance outside NYU Langone Health Tisch Hospital on Manhattan’s First Avenue.
Richard Khavkine/The Chief Workers on Reade Street scaffolding.
Overall crime down for 7th straight month, NYPD data shows
Murders nationwide could reach lowest-ever recorded rate
BY RICHARD KHAVKINE richardk@thechiefleader.com
Overall crime citywide dropped for the seventh straight month in April, contributing to a roughly 8-percent drop in index crimes through the first four months of the year compared with 2024, according to NYPD data.
So-called “index crimes” — murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assaults together with the property offenses of burglary, larceny and auto theft — dropped 3 percent overall last month compared with April 2022, with property crimes driving down the decrease.
“Crime is down for the seventh month in a row, and that’s the direct result of the strategies we’ve put in place and the tireless work of the men and women of the
NYPD,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. “But even with that progress, we aren’t satisfied — there is always more we can do to reduce crime and ensure that New Yorkers feel safe. Next week, we’re rolling out our summer violence plan to confront these challenges head-on and continue the work to keep crime down across the city.”
Despite the overall drop in April and while violent crime has dropped noticeably through the first four months of the year, the 28 killings in the city last month were three more than were recorded in April last year.
Notably, though, the 92 murders through the first four months of the year were 24 percent fewer than the 121 recorded through April last year, a figure approaching the generational lows reached in the late 2010s, before the pandemic-era spike in killings and shootings.
And while the 73 shootings last month were 13 more than last April and the 86 shooting victims were 17 more than a year ago, year-to-date
figures — 211 shooting incidents and 248 shooting victims — are also approaching pre-pandemic lows.
The decrease in homicides appears to mirror a national trend that, if the first four months are any indication, could possibly result in the country’s lowest-ever recorded homicide rate, according to one crime analyst.
Using data from several sources, including the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the Gun Violence Archive, a “real-time crime index” maintained by Jeff Asher and his team shows that killings so far this year are down more than 20 percent in the 30 cities that had the most murders in 2023.
Although Asher notes that it’s still relatively early in the year and the so-far notable decline could flatten out, data so far “suggests that a 10 percent or more decline in murder nationally in 2025 would roughly tie 2014 for the lowest murder rate ever recorded,” when according to the FBI the murder rate was 4.45 per 100,000.
Learning on The Job: cops contend with a changed law-enforcement landscape and mandate
BY RICHARD KHAVKINE richardk@thechiefleader.com
Calls to defund, violence in the street, prosecutions, record numbers of retirements and quits, recruitment issues and lingering questions about justice, enforcement and resources.
Police departments — and cops — nationwide have contended with those issues since the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin five years ago this month and the subsequent unrest and riots that followed. As a result, the law enforcement landscape — and the public’s perception of policing — has changed, in some ways profoundly, according to panelists who took part in a discussion titled “Perceptions of Policing in America” Monday hosted by Council on Criminal Justice.
According to a Gallup poll taken last year, Americans’ confidence in the police has rebounded since dipping below 50 percent following Floyd’s killing. Still, while just 51 percent last year said they have a “great deal/quite a lot” of confidence in the police, that figure represented a jump of 8 percent year over year, but still way off the high of 64 percent recorded 20 years before. The bounce, though, was particularly pronounced among people of color, going from 31 percent to 44 percent, and people 18 to 34, whose confidence in cops spiked from 27 percent to 43.
“Americans, pretty much across the board, are trying to strike a balance between effective law enforcement and law enforcement that’s just and constitutional,” said Ron Faucheux, the president of a Washington, D.C.-based research and polling company. He also suggested that decreases in the crime rate nationally have some bearing on confidence in the police.
But Charles Ramsey, a former commissioner of the Philadelphia PD and ex-chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, said that respect for and trust of police depends just as much on cops themselves as on the crime rate.
And, he added, the ubiquity of video means that policing is under the microscope like never before. He cited in particular the fatal beatings by officers of Floyd in Minnesota and of Tyre Nichols by Memphis officers in early 2023, with both incidents becoming viral over social media.
“It’s not that people don’t want police. What they want is good constitutional policing,” said Ramsey, who served as co-chair of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which sought to build trust between police and citizens following the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.
“What happens in one city affects the entire country and it affects policing in the entire country,” Ramsey said in noting that those incidents also create difficulties for officer recruitment.
DeRay Mckesson, a lead organizer of the Black Lives Matter movement who co-founded Campaign Zero, which advocates for public-safety policies that do not involve police, said that for confidence in the police to rise to appreciable levels, officers who violate people’s civil and other rights need to be held liable. He said that while there’s not been a majority of people who said they don’t like the police, “what we have seen a majority of people say is that officers who kill people, there should be accountability.”
“We’ve heard people, the majority of people, say that the police shouldn’t lie to people, that if police officers break laws or rules, they should be held to standards, too,” Mckesson added. But he also questioned the reliability of recent polling numbers reflecting rising confidence in the police since, he said, respondents have only a partial understanding of what he called the “nuances of policing.”
He cited research that he said shows that people across the political spectrum are taken aback
See POLICING, page 10
New
Police Officer Anthony Mezzacappa, EOW 5/14/2024
Captain John Collins, EOW 4/26/2024
Captain Richard Ruiz, EOW 11/18/2023
Police Officer Anthony Varvaro, EOW 9/11/2022
Police Officer David Lee, EOW 7/29/2022
Police Officer Frederick Maley, EOW 7/17/2022
Lieutenant William Doubraski, EOW 11/23/2020
Detective Thomas Inman, EOW 4/12/2020
Lieutenant Robert Jones, EOW 6/15/2019
Police Officer William Leahy, EOW 6/6/2019
Police Officer Michael Teel, EOW 3/21/2019
Lieutenant John Brant, EOW 7/19/2018
Police Officer Mark Meier, EOW 7/31/2017
Police Officer James Kennelly, EOW 6/17/2017
Police Officer Charles Barzydlo, EOW 7/17/2016
Sergeant Lawrence Guarnieri, EOW 11/4/2014
Sergeant Vincent Oliva, EOW 11/27/2013
Police Officer Steven Tursellino, EOW 9/13/2013
Police Officer Pavlos Pallas, EOW 3/14/2011
Police Officer John Cortazzo, EOW 3/14/2009
Police Officer Christopher Amoroso, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Maurice Barry, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Liam Callahan, EOW 9/11/2001
POLICE WEEK 2025
Lieutenant Robert Cirri, Sr., EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Clinton Davis, Sr., EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Donald Foreman, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Gregg Froehner, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Thomas Gorman, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Uhuru Gonja Houston, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer George Howard, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Stephen Huczko, Jr., EOW 9/11/2001
Inspector Anthony Infante, Jr., EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Paul Jurgens, EOW 9/11/2001
Sergeant Robert Kaulfers, EOW 9/11/2011
Police Officer Paul Laszczynski, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer David LeMagne, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer John Lennon, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer John Levi, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer James Lynch, EOW 9/11/2001
Captain Kathy Mazza, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Donald McIntyre, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Walter McNeil, EOW 9/11/2001
Superintendent Fred Morrone, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Joseph Navas, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer James Nelson, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Alfonse Niedermeyer III, EOW 9/11/2001
Frank Conti, President Michael Mollahan, 1st VP
Cesar Morales, 2nd VP
Steve Ekizian, Treasurer
Police Officer James Parham, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Dominick Pezzulo, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Bruce Reynolds, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Antonio Rodrigues, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Richard Rodriguez, EOW 9/11/2001
Chief James Romito, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer John Skala, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Walwyn Stuart, Jr., EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Kenneth Tietjen, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Nathaniel Webb, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Michael Wholey, EOW 9/11/2001
Police Officer Scott Parker, EOW 9/5/1983
Police Officer William Perry, EOW 12/22/1980
Police Officer Henry Koebel, EOW 5/26/1978
Police Officer Arthur Ansert, EOW 10/8/1973
Police Officer Bertram Winkler, EOW 3/21/1972
Police Officer Hitler McLeod, EOW 11/3/1961
Police Officer
Brian Ahern, Fin. Sec.
Shaun
Nick Brucato, Sgt-at-Arms
Kehoe, Rec. Sec.
Tariq Abdool, Trustee Chair
Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
Near the corner of West 113th Street and Lenox Avenue April 23, where two people were shot, among them a 61-year-old woman who was killed. Excenia Mette, who lived nearby, was among the 28 killed in the city last month.
IN
HONOR OF N A T I O N A L 2 0 2 5
P OL ICE WE EK
THE DETECTIVE
S’
END OWMENT ASSOCI ATION
Since 1917, the Detectives’ Endowment Association, Inc. has been proudly representing the Detectives of the New York Police Department. Through every challenge — demoralizing anti-police rhetoric, stifling anti-police legislation, a deadly pandemic, skyrocketing crime — New York City’s police Detectives never falter on the job. Whether we’re bringing the most violent criminals to justice, advocating for and consoling crime victims, fighting international terrorism, making daring rescues by air, land, or sea, solving the most heinous of crimes, protecting the streets and subways of the world’s most complex metropolis, or consoling the families of our own members killed in the line of duty, the Detectives of the NYPD have been keeping New Yorkers safe through three centuries.
We are proud and honored to represent the “Greatest Detectives in the World.”
“ In memory of all those who gave their lives in the line of duty.”
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Scot t Munro President
Jeffrey A . Ward Secretary
Tony Casilla
Borough Director, Manhattan / Bronx / Headquarters
Gilberto Ortiz Sergeant at Arms
Rick Simplicio
Vice President
Nicholas Masi Treasurer
John J. Comer
Borough Director, Brooklyn / Queens/ Staten Island
Gregory W. Silverman
Chairman , Board of Trustees
Joseph R. Tallarine Executive Assistant to the President
Ronald F. Luparello | Gregory W. Silverman TRUSTEES
Daryl Harris | John F. Hourican
Antonio Esposito | Carlos Lozada
Christopher J. Schilling | Brian Meyers
WELFARE OFFICERS
Timothy Quinn | Richard Baboolal
Ryan Johnston | Cristina Reyes
Troy Alden | Raymond L . Wittick
Marisol Bonilla | Nelson G. Fernandez
Ex-NYCHA super gets 18 months on bribe charge
BY CRYSTAL LEWIS clewis@thechiefleader.com
A former superintendent at the city Housing Authority has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for demanding $30,000 in bribes in exchange for granting $400,000 in contracts.
Hector Colon, 47, who worked as a superintendent at several NYCHA developments across Manhattan, was sentenced last week by U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman and ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to two years of supervised release.
Between 2018 and 2022, Colon required vendors seeking no-bid contracts to pay him in order to be awarded the contract. He typically demanded 10 percent of the contract value, which would net him anywhere from $500 to $1,000, according to the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“Hector Colon abused his position at NYCHA to demand bribes from contractors for his personal gain. The women and men of this Office are committed to pursuing those who abuse the public’s trust,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said. Colon, of the Bronx, worked as a superintendent at the Harlem River Houses, Fort Washington Houses and Drew Hamilton Houses. He was among 70 current and former NYCHA superintendents and assistant superintendents charged with bribery and extortion offenses in February 2024 as part of a massive takedown by the U.S. Department of Justice. Colon was suspended without pay following his arrest.
Colon was convicted of federal bribery and extortion counts following a four-day trial in November.
So far, 62 of the 70 NYCHA employees involved in the takedown have pleaded guilty, while three employees, including Colon, have been convicted following trial. The cases of the remaining five accused employees are pending.
Superintendents at NYCHA, the nation’s largest public-housing authority, are able to hire vendors without going through the bidding process as long as the contracts — known as micro-purchases — are under $10,000. NYCHA has increased its use of micro-purchases in order to speed up repairs; as of April, the agency has more than 609,000 open work orders. The city Department of Investigation has made recommendations to improve the micro-purchasing process and safeguard against corruption, several of which have been implemented by NYCHA.
NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF Citilight Management, LLC Application for Authority filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on date: 3/31/2025. Office location: New York County. LLC formed in AK on 11/25/2024. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be serve The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is 215 E. 80th St., Apt. 5G, New York, NY 10075. The principal business address of the LLC is 200 W. 34th Ave., #977, Anchorage, AK 99503. Certificate of LLC filed with Secretary of State of AK located at PO Box 110806, Juneau, AK 99811. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. 050125-3 5/9/25-6/13/25
GARAGEMAN LIEN Auction on 05/25/25 8am at 2018 Hylan Blvd, Staten Island, NY 10306 for a 2004 GMC Savana Box Truck Vin#1GDJG31U041193345 042825-6 5/9/25-5/23/25 PRESENT: HON. ADAM W. SILVERMAN, J.S.C. STATE OF NEW YORK SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF RENSSELAER SUMMONS Index #EF2025-279407 SEVEN TROY, LLC, Plaintiffs, -against- DAVID KIRZNER, CITY OF TROY, NEW YORK, GAIL
DEVIDDIO, and the HEIRS AT LAW OF DOMINICK DEVIDDIO being: THE HEIRS AT LAW OF THE FOLLOWING: FRANCES MARTIN, JACK MARTIN, CATHERINE DEVIDDIO, ANGELINE MARANELLO, and “JOHN
Jewish group files federal claim against legal aid attorneys’ union
Members deny antisemitism claims
BY DUNCAN FREEMAN dfreeman@thechiefleader.com
A union representing lawyers, paralegals and other workers at legal organizations in New York is the target of a new federal complaint alleging it failed in its duty to represent Jewish members. But members of the union at the New York Legal Assistance Group, including Jewish members, deny the charges, saying the union, A Better NYLAG, hasn’t engaged in any antisemitism.
The federal complaint was filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law last week with the NLRB and federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that the Association of Legal Aid Advocates and Attorneys — A Better NYLAG’s parent union — discriminated against its Jewish members.
The complaint is filed on behalf of some workers at NYLAG who support a policy instituted by management last year that banned workers from displaying posters about the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip. Workers at NYLAG put up posters in their workplaces about a variety of political topics, but after receiving complaints from Jewish and pro-Israel workers in early 2024, management banned all materials relating to the “Israel/ Gaza conflict.”
ABN, which represents around 250 workers, has resisted the ban. Its members, including some who are Jewish, have made a coordinated effort to replace the posters each time they’re torn down, insisting that the posters are not antisemitic. The union filed an unfair labor practice charge after management ordered the wholesale removal of “offensive material” last July and held a picket outside their lower Manhattan offices to protest the policy.
But not all NYLAG members were happy with the union’s stance on the poster issue, or how it responded following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 2023, according to the complaint filed last week. The posters “created a toxic environment for NYLAG’s Jewish employees,” the Brandeis Center’s complaint reads, which led one Jewish member to email NYLAG management urging them to “do something” about the posters.
Just two weeks after that email was sent — management received at least three emails from members concerned about ABN’s stance on the conflict — the poster ban was instituted. The unfair labor practice charge the union filed after that ban was expanded in the summer was an action the union took
to “undermine NYLAG’s efforts to protect Jewish employees,” the complaint alleges.
“The ABN’s anti-Israel crusade at NYLAG has never abated, and the ABN has embraced the posters’ violent anti-Semitic rhetoric,” the complaint says. “In fact, the speech conveyed by those posters and imagery has absolutely nothing to do with working conditions at NYLAG; nothing to do with wages, benefits, job security, retirement, workload, discipline, promotion, opportunity for advancement, unequal treatment of employees, or anything that would conceivably improve any aspect of NYLAG’s workplace.”
‘A sign of solidarity’
The posters do not discriminate against Jewish union members, said Maya Adelman Cabral, a NYLAG paralegal, on Monday. She pointed out that many of the employees who have posters up, such as Adelman Cabral, are Jewish.
“Many of us would argue that these posters are not antisemitic,” she said. “These posters are not a statement of bias or prejudice against a group of people; they are a sign of our commitment to solidarity and liberation. The Brandeis Center is weaponizing these claims to undermine the fight for free
speech at our workplace.”
ABN is looking to enshrine free speech protections for union members in their next union contract, currently being negotiated.
The workers’ contract expires in June, and the union is part of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys’ first-ever round of sectoral bargaining with legal service providers. Free speech protections, especially on the issue of Palestine, is one of the central non-economic bargaining tenants that thousands of ALAA members agreed to at their sectoral bargaining convention last year.
Leadership at the Brandeis Center insists that they are standing up for union members uncomfortable with ABN’s stance on Palestine and argue that the union has failed to represent its members.
“Jewish American union members, like all other working people, are entitled to union representation that supports them fairly and equally against toxic environments,” Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center, said in a statement. “In this case, the union made things worse, actively attempting to block management efforts to address a workplace that had been made inhospitable for Jewish workers. This is exactly the opposite of what unions should be doing. We must hold labor unions
accountable when they exacerbate anti-Semitic environments, just as we do with universities, public schools, and other institutions.”
Adrienne Neff, an attorney in NYLAG’s legal health unit, said that the only threats to union members’ rights or representation has come from NYLAG management, which she said has engaged in a “union busting campaign” by cracking down on union members expressing support for Palestinians through posters or other means. Most recently, Neff said that she and more than a dozen other coworkers were disciplined by management after posing for a photo in their office while wearing keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian headdresses. Management barred workers from taking photos or videos in the office after that incident, she said.
A spokesperson for NYLAG did not respond to a request for comment.
Neff argued that union members who supported NYLAG’s poster ban could have voiced their opinions at a union town hall held last summer or through other internal union channels instead of enlisting an outside organization like the Brandeis Center.
“Supporting Palestine does not threaten anyone else’s well-being,” she insisted.
the Complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your Answer or, if the Complaint is not served with this Summons, to serve a notice of appearance on the plaintiff’s attorney within twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service, or
county. The basis of venue is the location of the premises. This action is brought against Frances Martin, Jack Martin, Catherine DeViddio and Angeline Maranello and their heirs at law, if deceased, and all other named defendants herein pursuant to RPAPL Article 15 to compel the determination of any claims adverse to those of the Plaintiff in regard to the premises described in Schedule “A” herein. DATED: April 21, 2025 /s/ Kenneth M. Schwartz Kenneth M. Schwartz, Esq. Sciocchetti Taber, PLLC 800 Troy Schenectady Road Latham, New York 12110 (518) 8673001 SCHEDULE “A” ALL THAT TRACT, PIECE OR PARCEL OF LAND, situate in the 16th Ward of the City of Troy, County of Rensselaer and State of New York (formerly first division of the Village of Lansingburgh), comprising the easterly one-half part of Lot No. 153 and the easterly one-half part of the southerly 5 feet of Lot 154, as designated on a map of said Village made by A.F. Van Schaick, together bounded and described as follows: On the South by 113th Street (formerly Hoosick Street) a distance of sixty (60) feet; on the North by the remainder of Lot 154 a distance of sixty (60) feet; on the East by a 20 foot wide alley a distance of fifty-five (55) feet; and on the West by the remaining portion of Lot No. 153 and southerly 5 feet of Lot 154, fifty-five (55) feet along the same. Intending to convey a parcel 60 feet wide along 113th Steet and 55 feet
050525-2 5/9/25-5/16/25
Notice is hereby given that a Restaurant Wine License, NYS Application ID NA-0240-25-110805 has been applied for by Gastro 145 Inc d/b/a Bagizza to sell beer, wine and cider at retail in a restaurant. For on premises consumption under the ABC law located at 424 Madison Avenue New York NY 10017. 050525-1 5/9/25-5/16/25
NOTICE OF FORMATION OF WithJaz, LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/4/2025. Office location: Bronx County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is 1223 E 233rd St., Unit 136, Bronx, NY 10466. The principal business address of the LLC is 1223 E 233rd St., Unit 136, Bronx, NY 10466. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. 050525-5 5/9/25-6/13/25 FAMILY COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK - COUNTY OF QUEENS. SUMMONS. File No. 222528, Docket No. B-01177-25. In the Matter of AALIYAH EMMA WISE, A dependent child, under the age of 14 years, to the custody of SCO Family of Services, alleged to be a permanently neglected and abandoned child, pursuant to Section 384-b of the Social Services Law. In the Name of the People of the State of New York TO: SHAKEYSHA MAE WISE-SWEAT a/k/a SHAKEYSHA MAE WISE-GREEN and SHANE CHARLES. A verified Petition having been filed in the Court alleging that the above-named child in the care of SCO Family of Services, the petitioner, is a permanently neglected and abandoned child, as defined by Article 6, Part 1 of the Family Court Act and Section 384-b of the Social Services Law; YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to appear before the
Family Court at 151-20 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica, New York, Part 5, on the 8th day of July, 2025, before the Hon. Joan Piccirillo, at 4:00 in the afternoon of said day, or by the following link: https://notify. nycourts.gov/meet/0kws5g, or by phone at: 1-347-378-4143, conference ID: 712321324#, to show cause why the Court should not enter an Order depriving you of all the rights of custody of AALIYAH EMMA WISE, awarding the custody of said child to the petitioning authorized agency as a permanently neglected and abandoned child as provided by law. PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that if said child is adjudged to be a permanently neglected and abandoned child, and if custody is awarded to said authorized agency, said child may be adopted with the consent of said agency and without further notice to you and without your consent. PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that your failure to appear will result in the termination of all your parental rights to the child. PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that your failure to appear shall constitute a denial of interest in the child, which denial may result in the transfer or commitment of the child’s care, custody, guardianship or adoption of the child, all without further notice to the parents of the child. PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that you are entitled to be represented by an attorney and, if you cannot afford to retain an attorney, one will be appointed to represent you by the Court free of charge to you. Dated: January 16, 2025, By Order of the Court, Keisha Kearse, Clerk, Family Court, Queens County. 051225-2 5/16/25 THE ANNUAL RETURN OF Soul Support Foundation for the year ended 12/31/2024 is available at its principal office located at 1624 Treehouse Circle, Unit 121, Sarasota, FL 34231 for inspection during regular business hours by any citizen who requests it within 180 days hereof. The Principal manager of the Foundation is Sharon Strassfeld. 050825-3 5/16/25
NOTICE OF FORMATION OF ISLAND BWOY KITCHEN LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 4/15/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is 15 W 139th Street, Apt. 12R,
any lawful act or activity. 050925-3 5/16/25-6/20/25
Notice of Formation of Ess-A-Bagel 10 Murray Street LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State: 4/24/25. Office location: NY County. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC
050925-1 5/16/25-6/20/25
Notice
050925-2 5/16/25-6/20/25
Notice
Duncan Freeman / The Chief
Union members at New York Legal Assistance Group at a picket line outside of their lower Manhattan office last year. A Jewish civil rights organization has filed a federal complaint against the union representing these workers alleging it has failed to represent Jewish members and discriminated against them.
NLRB alleges Covenant House shelter has engaged in bad-faith bargaining
Claims nonprofit has refused to bargain with 1199
BY CRYSTAL LEWIS clewis@thechiefleader.com
The National Labor Relations Board has filed a petition in a federal court alleging that the nonprofit Covenant House New York has refused to bargain in good faith with employees who unionized nearly three years ago.
In July 2022, about 190 employees at Covenant House, which provides shelter for homeless and runaway youth, voted to join Service Employees International Union’s Local 1199. The union represents social workers, nurse practitioners, medical receptionists and cooks, among dozens of other titles.
The union filed unfair labor practice petitions with the NLRB in 2024 alleging that Covenant House management threatened to suspend employees if they participated in union activities, and that the nonprofit had refused to provide the union with information relevant to collective bargaining since November 2023. The petition filed by NLRB Region 2 on May 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York claims that Covenant House cancelled contract bargaining sessions and refused to make proposals.
The labor board also alleges that Covenant House’s management has refused to negotiate. The last bargaining session between the two parties was held on Feb. 13, 2024, according to the petition.
“The petition speaks to just how egregious Covenant House New York’s union-busting conduct has been; we applaud the NLRB for tak-
ing this step and our members for their courageous testimony in the trial,” Patricia Marthone, executive vice president of 1199SEIU, said in a press release last Thursday announcing the NLRB’s petition. “The staff of Covenant House New York care for many of the most vulnerable young people in New York City, and it is crucial that their rights as workers are respected. It’s time for Covenant House New York to follow the law and negotiate a fair contract without any further delay.”
U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams is overseeing the case.
In an amicus brief filed by 1199SEIU last Friday, the union wrote that Covenant House’s “verbal and written threats of discipline for union participation” and refusal to bargain “have had a devastating impact on the Union-represented employees who are scared to participate in protected concerted activity and feel so hopeless about the collective bargaining process that some have taken steps to seek decertification of the Union.”
The NRLB is seeking a temporary injunction that would require Covenant House to cease refusing to bargain in good faith, to stop threatening employees participating in protected union activities, and to stop refusing to provide information necessary for bargaining.
The labor board also called on the nonprofit to provide bargaining progress reports every 30 days and to hold bargaining sessions at least two days a week that last, at minimum, six hours.
Covenant House did not immediately return a request for comment.
The nonprofit, whose headquarters is in Midtown Manhattan, serves about 2,100 youth annually, according to National Health for the Homeless Council.
“It’s a false narrative,” she said, adding that the bill is in fact funded, simply because the city, according to its charter, is obliged to fund the full cost of health coverage offered to city employees, retirees and their dependents.
“Everything Garrido is saying in those minutes is an absolute lie. And then to be threatening the very people ... who are elected by constituents to choose between union endorsement and support at the expense of retirees is just aborrent,” Pizzitola said. “Unions were supposed to protect employees and retirees. What Henry is doing is literally throwing retirees under the bus to benefit active workers at the expense of their life and their health care.” Donald Nesbit, the vice president of DC 37 Local 372, which represents more than 20,000 Department of Education employees, and who made the motion to unendorse Avilés, did not respond to requests for comment. Garrido and the union also did not reply to a request for comment.
$$$, and organizational clout
Marte’s bill is the second such effort by a Council member to preserve city retirees’ access to their traditional Medicare, which is widely thought to be far superior to privately managed Medicare Advantage plans. Former Council Member Charles Barron’s bill, introduced in June 2023, received little support and died without a hearing.
Through a spokesperson, Marte declined to address the DC 37 delegates’ motions. Aside from Marte and Avilés, another 13 Council members are listed as the bill’s co-sponsors. While that’s several more than backed the legislation when Marte introduced it in October, it remains far short of a majority of Council members and significantly from the 34 members who would be required to override
a near-certain veto from Mayor Eric Adams, who has also pushed for the switch.
None of the Council members backing the bill appear to have received contributions from the union this election cycle. In fact, DC 37 had made few contributions to candidates running for Council through the mid-March filing period. (The filing deadline to disclose contributions made and received from March 14 through May 19 is May 23.)
What DC 37, as the city’s largest municipal union, can provide candidates is organizational clout, with its get-out-the-vote effort a potentially significant advantage for those backed by the union.
Among those who hope to benefit is Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who last month received top billing in the union’s three-person, ranked-choice endorsement for mayor, despite her relatively late entry into the contest. Adams, who wields considerable influence in setting the Council’s agenda, resisted efforts to calendar either Barron’s or Marte’s bills.
Along with their mayoral endorsements, DC 37 also released a list of endorsements for City Council. That list did not include any of the 13 candidates who support Marte’s bill.
Avilés, who is facing a primary challenge from Ling Ye, a former staffer for Representatives Dan Goldman and Nydia Velazquez, did not respond to requests for comment sent to her press representative.
Avilés received 40 percent of the vote in the first of five rounds of ranked-choice voting in the 2023 Democratic primary, eventually prevailing with 65 percent of the vote in the final round. She took 80 percent of the vote in the general election. Tiffany Cabán, who is not listed as a supporter of Marte’s legislation, is the only one among 18 Council members who supported Barron’s bill to receive DC 37’s endorsement this year.
The National Labor Relations Board is seeking a temporary injunction to stop nonprofit shelter Covenant House NY from allegedly refusing to bargain in good faith with 1199SEIU, which represents 190 staffers. Above, Covenant House New York’s headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. ACovEditor via Wikimedia Commons
Citing ‘unprecedented’ violence, judge strips city of full authority over Rikers
COBA’s Boscio: city jails ‘cannot operate without us’ BY
New York City will no longer fully control its jail system, including the long-troubled Rikers Island complex, after a federal judge found the city had failed to stem spiraling dysfunction and brutality against those in custody.
Instead, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain said she would appoint an outside manager to “take all necessary steps” toward restoring order inside the jails and bringing the city into compliance with previous court orders.
The official, known as a “remediation manager,” will report directly to the court. While the city’s corrections commissioner will remain responsible for much of the day-to-day operations of the jail system, the remediation manager will have broad powers to address long-standing safety problems, including authority over hiring and promotions, staff deployment and disciplinary action regarding the use of force.
Swain’s order, while not unexpected, drew a surprisingly muted response from the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, whose president, Benny Boscio, has long argued that a receivership would compromise his members’ collective bargaining rights and also Department of Correction officers’ ability to run a jail that they know best.
“From day one, we have made very clear that our members’ employment rights, as civil servants, are protected under New York Civil Service law and today’s ruling reinforces that fact. While interpretations of today’s ruling may vary, it’s important to note that COBA’s arguments concerning our members’ rights to representation and collective bargaining were reflected in the Judge’s order,” Boscio said in a statement.
“We are willing to work productively with whomever is ultimately appointed the Remediation Manager, while maintaining our fierce advocacy for the preservation of our members’ employ-
ment rights and improving their working conditions.
Adams puzzled
The extraordinary intervention, outlined Tuesday by Swain in a 77-page order, comes nearly a decade after the city’s jail system was placed under federal oversight as part of a class-action lawsuit brought by detainees.
In the years since, rates of violence have continued to increase, creating a “grave and immediate threat” that violates the constitutional rights of those in custody, according to Swain.
“Worse still, the unsafe and dangerous conditions in the jails, which are characterized by unprecedented rates of use of force and violence, have become normalized despite the fact that they are clearly abnormal and unacceptable,” Swain wrote Tuesday.
The New York Civil Liberties Union’s interim legal director, Molly Biklen, called the impending appointment of the outside manager “a significant victory in the long, overdue saga to end the abuse, lawlessness, and violence that define Rikers Island.”
Biklen cited the deaths of Kalief Browder and Layleen Polanco inside of Rikers, and alluded
to what she said was the Adams administration’s failure to openly discuss and document the endemic disorder inside “one of the deadliest jails in the country.”
“Once the remediation manager is appointed and begins their work, transparency must be a top priority,” she said, adding that closing the island jail “must remain the ultimate goal.”
Last November, Swain found the city in contempt for failing to comply with 18 separate provisions of court orders pertaining to security, staffing, supervision, use of force and the safety of young detainees.
The contempt ruling opened the door to a federal receivership of Rikers Island, a remedy long supported by detainee advocates, strongly opposed by Mayor Eric Adams and correction unions and characterized by the court as an option of last resort.
In her order, Swain said the remedial manager would have “broad authority” similar to a federal receiver, but would be expected to work closely with the city-appointed commissioner of the Department of Correction to implement a reform plan.
At a press conference, Adams said the city would follow the judge’s order, while also suggest-
ing the appointment of an outside manager was not necessary.
“Remediation manager? I don’t know the definition of that,” he said Tuesday. “We have this oversight and that oversight. How much oversight are you going to do before you realize there are systemic problems?”
Boscio, the COBA president, underlined the continuing challenges facing his members as they struggled since the pandemic to oversee the jails even as their ranks were decimated by illness and eventual mass resignations.
“No other workforce in this city has had to endure the unprecedented challenges that we have faced in the last five years, from significant staffing shortages, resulting in a reduction of nearly 40% of our workforce to increased assaults, including sexual assaults against our members,” he said. “The city’s jails cannot operate without us and no matter what the new management of our jails looks like, the path towards a safer jail system begins with supporting the essential men and women who help run the jails every day.”
The Chief’s Richard Khavkine contributed.
Continued from Page 6
by the protections afforded to police through their collective bargaining agreements as well as the implicit trust granted cops by judges when, for instance, they seek no-knock search warrants.
“Some of what I think people read as confidence is actually people just not understanding some of how the system works,” he said. “So that’s how I think about the confidence numbers. I think they’ve always been high…. But the more the community members understand the details of situations, the more that we see higher numbers for accountability.”
Policing reconceptualized?
What can’t be disputed is that there’s been a high turnover within the profession since Floyd’s killing. Legions of older cops, whether exhausted by public criticism and, in some places, the sharper legal and legislative focus on the profession, have left for other jobs or retired altogether. “And that certainly created some opportunity to really inject fresh blood, so to speak, into the policing agencies,” said Sean Smoot, the director of the Police Benevolent & Protective Association of Illinois and the affiliated Police Benevolent Labor Committee. He noted that nearly half the cops working today became officers after Floyd was killed. And while that relatively new blood can’t in those few short years replace the aggregate experience of those cops with 10, 15 or even 20 years with their departments who have left the profession, it has given police departments, at least in larger cities, an opportunity to inject new thinking and protocols into the job, he said. Officers in the rank of lieutenant or above, for instance, have, as part of their prep for promotion, read through materials that arose out of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which, Smoot said, includes discussions on “procedurally just” policing.
“That’s a seminal part of the police psyche now,” said Smoot, a consultant to several state and local law enforcement agencies. “So we have a whole different, I think, kind of foundation coming into the profession. And I think we’re seeing some rewards for that in terms of not only public perception improving, but also in real significant reductions in violent crime and other crime.”
Importantly, he added, it’s helped give impetus and resources in helping people involved in the justice system reintegrate into their communities.
Just as the public’s perception of the police has changed, so, in some ways, has the job.
President Joe Puleo
First Vice President
Marvin Robbins
Vice Presidents
Thomas DiNardo
Victor Shannon
Ralph Baselice
Secretary-Treasurer Marlena Giga
Recording Secretary
First
Executive Board
Farris Coley
Michael Gorga
Celia Joseph
Vincent Gismundi
Robert Aponte José Padilla
Trustees
Van Scatiffe
Jessica Torres
Donald Chapman Sargeant-At-Arms Sylvester Ervin
Ted Shaffrey/AP Photo
The Rikers Island jail complex in May 2024.
Wildland firefighting crews short-staffed
Forest and
park
service worker cuts
BY MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press
Trump administration funding cuts and a loss of federal workers who help support wildland firefighting continues to make planning for the upcoming wildfire season a challenge, according to forest and fire officials in Washington State and Oregon.
The biggest issue they’re facing is a lack of communication from the federal government as the West faces “a pretty significant wildland fire season,” Washington State Forester George Geissler said earlier this month during a press conference hosted by Democratic Senators Patty Murray of Washington and Jeff Merkley of Oregon.
“This is the time when we make certain that we have the aviation we need, when we have the personnel we need and that all of our systems check out and are ready to go when the alarm bell rings,” he said.
“Without knowing what our part-
ners are doing or not having a clear understanding of what actions are being taken, we struggle with missing the third leg of the stool that we have.”
The Forest Service workforce was cut in February during Elon Musk’s push to reduce federal spending, and at least 1,000 National Park Service workers were let go. A court order to rehire fired workers, along with a public outcry brought many workers back to their jobs, but Murray and fire officials say it wasn’t enough. Plus, the loss of experienced, trained workers set the process back.
“We’re hearing that don’t worry, we are going to hire frontline people,” Murray said. “You just let a whole bunch of frontline people go.”
A spokesperson with the Department of Interior, which oversees National Parks and other public lands, said “funding is not in jeopardy.” Fire Chief Leonard Johnson, with the McLane Black Fire Department in Washington state, said they may line up aviation support and heavy equipment, but it takes trained fire-
fighters to put the fires out.
“We have a high reliance on that workforce out there,” he said. “Not only at the local level, at the state level, but at the federal level to make our wildfire season successful to deal with those large fires. People are the critical component in all of this.”
Merkley said Trump’s budget proposal cuts forest and watershed management programs that improve forest conditions, eliminates a collaborative forest landscape restoration program and slashes 2,000 National Forest positions, on top of the thousands who left through early retirement, buyouts and layoffs.
Most of those workers may not have the title “firefighter” but they all hold Red Cards, which shows they have special training to provide essential frontline support to firefighting crews, Murray said.
“We are here today to pull the fire alarm, and we’re gonna set off some sirens,” she said. “We’re going to keep focused on this, and we are gonna keep pushing back. There is just too much at stake to do anything less.”
As it responds to cuts in federal programs, the arts community
reels
A landscape transformed
BY HILLEL ITALIE Associated Press
Poet Marie Howe, one of this year’s winners of the Pulitzer Prize, says being a writer is often less a career than a vocation. You rely on teaching and other outside work and seek support from foundations or from a government agency, like the National Endowment for the Arts.
“Everybody applies for an NEA grant, year after after year, and if you get it, it’s like wow — it’s huge,” says Howe, a Pulitzer winner for “New and Selected Poems” and a former NEA creative writing fellow.
“It’s not just the money. It’s also deep encouragement. I just felt so grateful. It made a big, big difference. It gives you courage. It says to
you, ‘Go on, keep doing it.’”
Behind so many award-winning careers, high-profile productions, beloved institutions and in-depth research projects there is often a quieter story of early support from the government — the grants from the NEA or National Endowment for the Humanities that enable a writer to complete a book, a community theater to stage a play, a scholar to access archival documents or a museum to organize an exhibit.
For decades, there has been a nationwide artistic and cultural infrastructure receiving bipartisan support, including through the first administration of Donald Trump.
Now that is changing — and drastically.
The new administration is taking a hard line
Since returning to office in January, the president has alleged that
federal agencies and institutions such as the NEA, NEH, PBS, the Kennedy Center and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) were advancing a “woke agenda” that undermined traditional values.
Trump has ousted leaders, cut or eliminated programs and dramatically shifted priorities: At the same time the NEH and NEA were forcing out staff members and canceling grants, they announced a multimillion-dollar initiative to support statues for Trump’s proposed “National Garden of American Heroes,” from George Washington to Shirley Temple.
“All future awards will, among other things, be merit-based, awarded to projects that do not promote extreme ideologies based upon race or gender, and that help to instill an understanding of the founding prin-
ciples and ideals that make America an exceptional country,” reads a statement on the NEH website.
Individuals and organizations across the country, and across virtually every art form, now find themselves without money they had budgeted for or even spent, anticipating they would be reimbursed.
Electric Literature, McSweeney’s and n+1 are among dozens of literary publications that received notices their grants have been rescinded.
Philadelphia’s Rosenbach Museum & Library had to halt a project to create an online catalog after losing a near-$250,000 grant from the IMLS.
The Stuttering Association for the Young, which manages a summer music camp, has a $35,000 gap.
“Our fundraising allows kids to attend our summer camp at a greatly reduced cost so the lost funds make it harder to fulfill that com-
mitment,” says the association’s director, Russell Krumnow, who added that “we planned our programming and made decisions with those funds in mind.”
Arts advocates contend that, like other forms of federal aid, the importance of an NEA or NEH grant isn’t just the initial money, but the “ripple” or “mutliplier” effect. Government backing often carries the kind of prestige that makes a given organization more desirable to private donors.
The millions of dollars channeled through state arts and humanities councils in turn support local projects. Funding for a theater production helps generate jobs for the cast and crew, brings in business for neighboring restaurants and bars and parking garages and spending money for the babysitter hired by parents having a night out.
Cecilio Ricardo/USDA Forest Service
Charlie Sanchez, a senior firefighter with Blue Ridge Hotshots, cut down a dangerously burning tree during the Dixie Fire in California’s Lassen National Forest in September 2021.
LABOR AROUND THE WORLD LABOR AROUND THE WORLD LABOR AROUND THE WORLD
New bill would remove some protections for temporary workers in New Jersey
Would also apply to those who take jobs in other states
BY SOPHIE NIETO-MUNOZ newjerseymonitor.com
The sponsor of 2023 legislation that created new workplace protections for temporary workers is blasting a new bill that would remove many of those safeguards. “I believe in equal pay. I believe in equal benefits for equal work,” State Senator Joe Cryan (D-Union) told the Senate Labor Committee Monday.
The new bill, which the committee discussed but did not vote on Monday, comes less than two years after the law known as the “Temp Workers Bill of Rights” went into effect. That law requires employers to provide basic information on jobs in workers’ native language and guarantees a minimum wage to an estimated 127,000 temporary workers, staffed mostly in warehouses and factories.
State Senator Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), sponsor of the new bill, had voted in support of the earlier law, which passed after a years-long push by labor advocates who said the state’s temporary workers were victims of exploitative job conditions and wage theft. Sarlo’s bill seeks to make several key changes to the temp worker law.
The current law requires staffing agencies to pay temp workers the same pay and benefits given to fulltime workers performing the same work. Sarlo’s bill would revise that to remove the benefits provision and leaving only equal pay. Under the bill, equal pay would mean the agency is required to pay the equivalent of a client’s entry-level pay rate for a worker with minimum qualifications.
A provision of the law requiring staffing agencies to disclose pay rates would also change under Sarlo’s bill, which would reverse that requirement.
The law also applies to New Jersey temp workers who take jobs in other states. Sarlo’s bill would ax that provision, saying it is “causing third-party clients in other states to reduce their use of temporary laborers from New Jersey.”
Mike Nolfo, a franchisee for Express Employment Professionals, said his company employs nearly 2,000 temporary workers daily at 300 local businesses. Nolfo supports the new bill, and said it’s an opportunity to help mom-and-pop shops that are struggling because of the new law. He agreed that Pennsylvania companies aren’t using New Jersey agencies because of state laws.
“We lost virtually all of our clients in East Stroudsburg because of this law, because they just don’t want to comply with it,” he said. “There’s a lot of pieces to it. We’re not saying the whole thing. Some of it doesn’t make sense.”
The temp worker law passed out of the Legislature in February 2023 with the minimum number of yes votes a bill needs to pass the Senate, 21. It went into full effect that summer. Staffing agencies and business groups sued over the law, claiming it is unconstitutionally vague and makes New Jersey less competitive. Cryan noted the plaintiffs have lost all their legal challenges.
Cryan said supporters of the new bill say it’s aimed at cleaning up mistakes in the law, but he called the measure “far from that.”
Opponents of the bill said weakening the protections of temporary workers only hurts vulnerable people who are abused and exploited in the workplace. Nedia Morsy, executive director of immigrant advocacy group Make the Road New Jersey, said it’s “stunning that in a climate of federal attacks on workers, on immigrants, and on the institutions that protect both, that a bill like this would even see the light of day.”
The New Jersey Monitor is an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan news site. https://newjerseymonitor.com/
Disabled workers have faced bias. Now they face DOGE firings
Trump administration dismantles federal protections
BY KENYA HUNTER and FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press
Spencer Goidel, a 33-year-old federal worker in Boca Raton, Florida, with autism, knew what he could be losing when he got laid off from his job as an equal employment opportunity specialist at the IRS.
Because of his autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, Goidel had been able to secure his spot as one of more than 500,000 disabled workers in the federal government under Schedule A, which allows federal agencies to bypass the traditional hiring process and pick a qualified candidate from a pool of people with certain disabilities.
His job, he said, was accommodating and enriching, and he wonders if he’ll ever get another one like that in the private sector.
“A lot of people who are disabled, they came to the federal government because it was a model employer for disabled individuals, and now they have nowhere else to go,” he told The Associated Press.
The irony, he says, is that his job was to help resolve workers’ harassment claims before they escalated into full-blown lawsuits against the government. So much for reducing waste, he says.
For decades, the federal government has positioned itself as being committed to inclusive hiring and long-term retention across agencies. But as mass layoffs ripple through the federal workforce under President Donald Trump’s Republican administration, disabled employees are among those being let go.
Amid the firings, rollbacks of accommodation guidance for businesses and skepticism of disability inclusion practices, advocates and experts wonder if the government’s status as a “model employ-
er” will hold true.
Trump has said he ended diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the government because people should be hired based on work quality and merit alone.
However, under Schedule A, candidates already have to be qualified for the position with or without an accommodation. They don’t get a job solely because they have a disability.
Disability advocates point to a slew of statements from Trump administration officials that indicate they view disabled workers as a liability to the government.
How will private sector respond?
Kelly McCullough, legal director at Disability Law Colorado, said the messaging from the Trump administration could affect how seriously the private sector takes on disability inclusion efforts. Recently, she said, the nonprofit has received an uptick in disability discrimination complaints.
“It does make me wonder, if the federal government is setting this example, challenging these
ideas of inclusion that have (had) long-standing support from the government … is that trickling down?” she said. “Is that messaging getting to employers in other contexts?”
Trump also rescinded a Bidenera executive order that required federal agencies to create action plans to hire more diverse staff, including those with disabilities. The order calls diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, or DEIA, efforts “illegal” and says they “violate the text and spirit” of civil rights.
Katy Neas, CEO of The Arc of the United States, which advocates for people with physical and intellectual disabilities, said she is concerned about the impact the massive reductions in the federal workforce will have on government services for all Americans as well as the loss of opportunities for workers with disabilities.
“I’m really worried — where are these folks going to go? Who’s going to hire them?” she asked.
Employment gaps for disabled people have been an issue across
the federal and private sectors for years. When the Labor Department began recording disability status in its employment trends in the Current Population Survey in 2009, just 30 percent of disabled people between ages 16 and 64 were working at least part time. That’s compared with 71 percent of people without a disability.
Last year, employment rates for disabled people hit a record high of 38 percent, but the decades-old disparities still persisted: 75 percent of people without disabilities were employed that year.
Disability hiring in the federal government became a prominent effort in the 1970s, shortly after the passing of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits disability discrimination in federal agencies. Expectations to hire disabled people expanded from there.
In 2014, Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration began requiring that federal contractors meet specific goals related to hiring disabled people.
Three years later, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updated rules under the Rehabilitation Act. The new rules required federal agencies to set hiring goals for people with disabilities and create plans to help them get jobs and promotions.
Anupa Iyer Geevarghese worked as a disability policy adviser at the EEOC when officials updated the regulations. She said it increased progress in ensuring that disabled people had equitable opportunities in the federal workforce. She now worries that progress will be undone as the Trump administration shows little interest in continuing inclusion efforts.
“I think, unfortunately, there are still perceptions about the knowledge, skill and abilities of people with disabilities,” she said. “As a whole, we’re still, as a community, still perceived as people who can’t do their jobs, are unqualified, who are uneducated and are incapable … we thought we had combated it, but we are still fighting that fight.”
Rights groups say migrant workers are dying on Saudi World Cup job sites
Scores killed as kingdom prepares for 2034 tournament
BY GABE LEVIN Associated Press
Scores of laborers from countries including India, Bangladesh and Nepal have faced preventable deaths from electrocution, road accidents, falling from heights, and more while working in Saudi Arabia, according to a report Wednesday by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch and another rights group, FairSquare, released separate investigations Wednesday detailing preventable deaths of migrant workers from job-site accidents and work-related illnesses.
The reports accuse Saudi authorities of often misreporting such deaths and failing to investigate, preventing families from receiving compensation from the kingdom that they are entitled to and knowing how their loved ones died.
As Saudi Arabia pushes ahead with hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure and development initiatives — including the 2034 men’s soccer World Cup and the futuristic city Neom — rights groups warn of thousands more avoidable deaths in the coming years.
In one case, Human Rights Watch said a Bangladeshi worker was electrocuted on the job. But his employer allegedly withheld the body, telling the family they would be compensated only if they agreed to a local burial.
Another family reported waiting nearly 15 years before they were compensated by the Saudi government.
“It’s very urgent that the Saudi authorities and FIFA put in place basic labor rights protections,”
Minky Worden, Human Rights Watch’s director of global initiatives, told The Associated Press, referring to soccer’s world governing body.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia did not respond to a request for comment.
FairSquare, which looked into the deaths of 17 Nepali contractors in Saudi Arabia over the last 18 months, warned in its report that without accountability, “thousands of unexplained deaths” of low-paid foreign workers are likely to follow.
“In some cases, you have families being pursued by money lenders for the loans that their (dead) husband or father took out in order to migrate to the Gulf,” said James Lynch, who co-directs FairSquare.
Saudi Arabia has long faced allegations of labor abuses and wage theft tied to its Vision 2030 project, a big-money effort to diversify its economy beyond dependence on oil.
FIFA shared with the AP a letter
it sent Human Rights Watch last month defending the selection of Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 World Cup.
The letter cited the Saudis’ commitments to establishing “a workers’ welfare system” and enhancing “country-wide labor protections including through a strengthened collaboration” with the United Nations’ International Labor Organization.
The kingdom is not the only Gulf Arab state to be accused of abusing migrant laborers in the run-up to a World Cup. Rights groups also criticized Qatar, which hosted the competition in 2022, saying they tallied thousands of unexplained worker deaths.
But this time has the potential to be even worse for foreign workers, Worden said, noting that the 2034
World Cup has plans to require more stadiums and infrastructure with more teams competing.
Qatar established an oversight board called the Supreme Committee, which monitored FIFA construction sites and took reports of unsafe work conditions.
“There’s no such committee like that in Saudi Arabia,” Worden said, adding, “In the end, Qatar did have concrete policies like life insurance and heat protection. Those aren’t in place now” in Saudi Arabia.
The details of the investigations from Human Rights Watch and FairSquare come a day after FIFA President Gianni
U.S. President Donald Trump
Infantino joined
on his official visit to Saudi Arabia, where Trump met with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Daniel Kozin/AP Photo
Spencer Goidel, an equal employment opportunity specialist with the IRS who was notified his job would be eliminated as part of the government’s efficiency cuts, outside his home in Boca Raton, Fla., in April.
Jaap Arriens/Sipa USA via AP Images
A migrant worker at a construction site near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in March 2024.
UPCOMING EXAMS LEADING TO JOBS
Below is a roundup of New York City and State exams leading to public-service positions. Most of the jobs listed are located in the New York Metropolitan area and upstate.
There are residency requirements for many New York City jobs and for state law-enforcement positions.
Prospective applicants are advised to write or call the appropriate office to make sure they meet the qualifications needed to apply for an exam. For jobs for which no written tests are given, candidates will be rated on education and experience, or by oral tests or performance exams.
DCAS Computer-based Testing and Application Centers (CTACs) have re-opened to the public. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, walk-ins are no longer accepted and appointments must be scheduled online through OASys for eligible list or examination related inquiries.
All examination and eligible list related notifications will be sent by email only, you will no longer receive notifications via the US mail.
All new hires must be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, unless they have been granted a reasonable accommodation for religion or disability. If you are offered city employment, this requirement must be met by your date of hire, unless a reasonable accommodation for exemption is received and approved by the hiring agency.
For further information about where to apply to civil service exams and jobs, visit the thechief.org/exams.
The Federal Government has decentralized its personnel operations and holds few exams on a national or regional basis. Most Federal vacancies are filled by individual agencies based on education-and-experience evaluations. For information, contact the U.S. Office of Personnel Management or individual agencies, or see www.usajobs.gov.
EXAMS
JOB
➤ OPEN CONTINUOUSLY
7078 CR(D) Cytotechnologist I $43,863$91,243
7094 CR(D) Cytotechnologist II $52,099$108,383
7095 CR(D) Cytotechnologist III $66,357$132,168
61-639 CR Librarian I $43,000-$61,333
60-180 CR Librarian I, Bilingual (Spanish Speaking) 5263 CR(D) Medical Technologist I $31,963-$74,978
5002 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Acute Care) $59,507-$108,383
5003 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Adult Health) $59,507-$108,383
The helpers, under direct supervision, assist in the maintenance, installation, inspection, testing, alteration and repair of bus and other automotive electro-mechanical equipment. They clean and lubricate bus parts; move bus parts and equipment using forklifts, hi-los, hoists, hand-trucks and conveyors; remove and replace worn bearing races; measure tire pressure and change flat tires; check and maintain fluid levels of engine oil, batteries, radiator and windshield-washer reservoirs; fuel buses; drain waste oil; sandblast parts; drive buses and trucks; and perform related work. The tasks involve working outdoors in all weather conditions; walking on slippery surfaces while washing parts; reading gauges in dimly lit areas; climbing and descending ladders; wearing goggles, gloves or a face mask while using sandblasting equipment; using both hands to work overhead for extended periods of time; responding to audible signals, such as alarms, bells, horns and whistles; responding to visual signals, including distinguishing colored lights; and lift-
ing heavy equipment and moving it manually.
QUALIFICATIONS
To qualify, candidates need either 1) Four years of satisfactory full-time experience as a helper or trainee assisting in the performance of inspection, installation, alteration, maintenance, testing or repair of bus, truck, automotive or aircraft electro-mechanical components, such as bodies, engines, transmissions, brakes, electrical or air-conditioning systems, or related components or systems; or 2) Graduation from a vocational high school with a major course of study in automotive maintenance, or a closely related field; or 3) Graduation from a recognized trade school or technical school with a major course of study in auto mechanics, or a closely related field, totaling at least 600 hours; or 4) An associate degree or higher from an accredited college or university in auto mechanics or a closely related field; or 5) A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent, plus three years of full-time experience as described in “1” above. The experience requirements must be met by June 15 this year,
and the education requirements by June 15 of next year.
Appointees must have a driver’s license valid in New York State. Within 14 days of appointment, they must obtain a learner’s permit for a Class B commercial driver’s license valid in New York State with a passenger endorsement and no airbrake restrictions, or any other disqualifying restrictions. The Class B CDL must be obtained within 120 days of appointment. Failure to do so could result in termination. City residency is not required.
THE TEST
Qualifying applicants will be given a multiple-choice test that measures their knowledge, skills and abilities in the following and related areas: Automotive theory, inductive reasoning, information ordering, meter usage, mechanical aptitude. A score of at least 65 percent is required to pass this test. Scores on this test determine places on the eligible list.
For complete information on the post, including all qualifications, the exam and on how to apply, go to https://www.mta.info/document/171596.
