popular logistics

When a subcontracting firm - the “John Galt Corporation” - is named for the protagonist in an anti-union, anti-government-regulator novel (Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead) it is to be hoped that at least one decision-maker would have thought it disturbing to put such a firm in charge of safety. (See David W. Dunlap’s “A Literary Footnote to a Fire: John Galt,” on the Times’s City Room Blog.

John Galt Corporation and Bovis Lend-Lease are accused of safety violations which led to the deaths of two firefighters. William K. Rashbaum and Charles V. Bagli, “Bank Tower Contractors Accused of 44 Violations,” The New York Times, February 20th, 2008. Rashbaum and Bagli report that the staff of the New York County District Attorney’s Office have been presentign evidence to a grand jury.

But not since the Eisenhower Administration. Now, 55 years later, Marjorie Bloomberg Tiven - the mayor’s sister and the city’s chief of diplomatic protocol, has persuaded the United Nations to do the right thing:

In January, the city’s Fire Department found 866 violations of the fire code. By October, less than 20 percent of the violations had been addressed. (Because of concerns about possible terrorist attacks, Ms. Tiven will not be more specific about the violations.)

The U.N. took 9 months to allow a fire inspection

In an Oct. 30 letter, drafted by Ms. Tiven’s office and signed by the mayor, the city demanded that the United Nations provide proof of, among other things, a fire safety plan, additional smoke detectors, and resolution of the remainder of the 866 violations by early next year.

“If the United Nations does not adhere to these deadlines,” Mayor Bloomberg said, “the city will be forced to direct the cessation of all public school visits to the United Nations.”

“The mayor has been patient,” Ms. Tiven said, “but he can’t be patient forever. The city is going to do the right thing.”

Firefighters removing dead  from the rubble of a 7th Ave. subway cavein in 1915. The uniforms are clearly pre-Nomex - fire- and-heat-resistant textiles.  The equipment may be better now - perhaps staffing levels as well. They’ve gained some with better resources; but we’ve allowed the city and their jobs -  to become  more dangerous, too.

We don’t know much about the 1915 NYFD; we’ve never met a current NYFD firefighter who failed to impress. We’re not always confident of the decisions made at the political level. The men and the women in New York’s firehouses embody New York’s best qualities: fast, strong, and quick-witted. Not necessarily the best-equipped. We don’t get nearly enough invitations to dinner in firehouses, so we’re not prepared to comment on persistent rumors that certain New York City firehouses serve better meals than some of our better restaurants.

We’re not saying it isn’t true, mind you.

From old-picture.com. Via Gothamist.