Author Archives: Jon

United Nations headquarters complied with New York fire code – during Eisenhower Administration

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.”

Continue reading →

DOJ reverses position that emergency response is “routine;” had attempted to deny death benefits to firefighter’s widow

“Firefighter’s Widow to Get Death Benefits,” The New York Times, November 23rd:

Since her firefighter husband died of a heart attack nearly four years ago after responding to an emergency, Kathleen Shea has not received any death benefits, despite a 2003 federal law that indicated she was entitled to them.

But this week she learned that in a reversal, the Department of Justice had determined that she was entitled to benefits under the Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act. The law extends federal benefits to the survivors of firefighters, police officers and other first responders who die of heart attacks or strokes while on duty.

Ms. Shea lives in Elsmere, N.Y., southwest of Albany, where her husband served as the volunteer fire chief.

The Department of Justice had denied benefits to Ms. Shea and scores of other families around the country, arguing that language in the law indicated they were ineligible because their family members died during routine activities.

But Senator Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat who sponsored the original legislation introduced by Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, helped Ms. Shea and other families appeal the decisions because he said responding to an emergency was “inherently nonroutine.”

So far, all four appeals have resulted in benefits for families, but nearly 40 more families still have to go through the process.

David Leonhart on the costs of reduced alcohol taxes

David Leonhart argues in the Times

that alcohol taxes have, in effect, been dropping, and that the principal benefits of alcohol taxes – reductions in use (and the consequent harms), and offsetting the costs of alcohol use. From “Let’s Raise a Glass to Fairness,

” published on December 26th:

Since the early 1990s, the federal tax on wine — $1.07 a gallon — hasn’t budged. The taxes on beer and liquor haven’t changed either, which means that, in inflation-adjusted terms, alcohol taxes have been steadily falling. Each of the three taxes is now effectively 33 percent lower than it was in 1992. Since 1970, the federal beer tax has plummeted 63 percent. Many states taxes have also been falling. At first blush, this sounds like good news: who likes to pay taxes, right? But taxes serve a purpose beyond merely raising general government revenue.

Jonathan Gruber: “taxes are way too low on alcohol” ff

Taxes on a given activity are also supposed to pay the costs that activity imposes on society. And for all that is wonderful about wine, beer and liquor, they clearly bring some heavy costs. Right now, the patchwork of alcohol taxes isn’t coming close to covering those costs — the costs of drunken-driving checkpoints, of hospital bills for alcohol-related accidents and child abuse, and of the economic loss caused by death and injury. Last year, some 17,000 Americans, or almost 50 a day, died in alcohol-related car accidents. An additional 65,000 people a year die from other accidents, assaults or illnesses in which alcohol plays a major role. Mr. Cook, besides being a wine lover, has been thinking about the costs and benefits of alcohol for much of his career, and he has come up with a blunt way of describing the problem. “Do you think we should be subsidizing alcohol?” he asks. “Because that’s what we’re doing.”

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Military leaders conclude simpler technology less failure-prone, more reliable.

Not actual military leaders. The fictional military leadership of the re-imagined series Battlestar Galactica. 

The tech/gadget blog DVice – published by the Sci Fi Network, which airs BSG, points out the low-tech nature of the show’s fictional universe – which includes sound-powered telephone, a technology we’ve flogged here and in other forums – points this out in 9 Awesome Gadgets from Battlestar Galactica

Solid-State Tactical Planning Tools

Forget your holographic models or your CGI simulations, this is the way to plan a war: with not-to-scale models on a big table. Best of all, if you run out of pieces for something important, like Vipers, you can just substitute spare change or something.

Read the rest of 9 Awesome Gadgets from Battlestar Galactica – funny, yes, but a reminder that good emergency planning uses lots of redundancy and lots of simplicity – especially when tools are going to be used by people with little or no training.

from Ideo at Cooper-Hewitt (Smithsonian Museum): Vernaid bandage

This bandage – in a shape designed to be useful in more than one configuration – was covered with language-free instructions for use. From the amazing (and amazingly wide-ranging) “Ideo Selects ” exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt

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[singlepic=219,320,240,,left] If you’re in or going to be visiting New York, the Cooper-Hewitt is at 2 East 91st Street – that’s at Fifth Avenue on the East side (just east of Central Park). Their number is 212.849.8400 – hours and directions here. To be candid – I love the Cooper-Hewitt – but I’m not sure why – as part of the Smithsonian, a publicly funded museum, it charges admission. But one suspects this is more a legislative/executive branch decision – the Smithsonian museum system, alas, not described in the constitution as a coequal branch (but it might be an improvement).

For our readers concerned with disaster preparedness, there are (at least) four other items in the Ideo show that are worth a look, and in at least one case, of substantial historical significance:

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When A Disaster Occurs to One Person At a Time – Is it still a Disaster?

If terrorists had invaded the Upper East Side and done this to several thousand people at once, perhaps we’d have a government fund – like the 9/11 fund, say – try to reduce the bureaucratic load, and make things run smoothly.

However, when it only happens to one person at a time – it doesn’t seem to elicit the same response.

For those not persuaded that the United States needs not only national health insurance – but also disability insurance – consider the case of Susan Barron. If you have any illusions about the weakness of New York’s crime victims compensation system – read this. From Jim Dwyer‘s piece on the front page of the Times of December 22nd, “In an Instant, a Life of Helping Becomes One in Need of Help“:

This was life, until Susan Barron crossed Second Avenue on a Saturday morning two and a half months ago: an apartment on the East Side of Manhattan, where she has lived for decades. A fat Scottish terrier that she doted on. A psychology practice treating people with physical disabilities, offering “scholarships” to patients who could not pay full fees.

And she was a fixer — the friend who hunted down a kidney for someone in need of a transplant, mentor to a man starting his own therapy practice, regular volunteer on winter coat drives and at holiday soup kitchens. “That Jimmy Stewart character in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ had nothing on her,” said one friend, a self-described cynic.

Then came the morning of Oct. 6. A few minutes before 11, a deranged man stole five knives from a restaurant on Second Avenue, stabbed the cook, then ran into the street. Ms. Barron, on a walk with the dog, happened into his path at 35th Street.

Screaming at her, the man chopped, hacked and stabbed her head and arms, straddling her after she fell to the street, picking up a new knife when he lost one from the force of his blows. The man, identified as Lee Coleman, was stopped only when an off-duty police officer shot him.

To those who witnessed it, the violence seemed to be a crime of toxic passion; they could not fathom the truth, that one total stranger had simply and suddenly set upon killing another.

They also could not imagine that Ms. Barron would live.

She did.  Continue reading →

NFL claims that concussions have no lasting effect

The NFL has been asserting that concussions don’t, in fact, pose a long-term health risk. This means that they’ve got access to health data no one else has – but it’s so secret that they can’t discuss it. From today’s Times, “For Jets, Silence on Concussions Signals Unease” by Alan Schwarz:

Laveranues Coles is equal parts receiver and raconteur, the New York Jets player who talks when no one else will. But upon hearing one subject — concussions, specifically the two he has sustained in the past year — he immediately lost his smile, and looked around the locker room to see who might be listening.

“I can’t talk about that,” he said. “You know I can’t talk about that.”

Then he walked away.

We note that the Jets receive government subsidies from the state of New Jersey, and the NFL exists, we understand, by virtue of a government antitrust waiver. Those matters entirely aside from any moral or legal responsibility. Back to the Times piece: Continue reading →

Los Angeles Fire Department uses microbloggers for real-time intelligence

This suggests an exceptional organizational agility. Ellen Perlman of Governing.com has this piece, “Crazy Cool in L.A./A fire department taps into microblogging to keep itself on top of situations,” published in the November 2006 issues of Governing magazine.

Last May, Los Angeles firefighters had their hands full. A blaze was spreading through 800 acres of Griffith Park but they only knew what was happening from the side of the fire where their trucks were parked. To get a sense of the extent of the conflagration, firefighter Brian Humphrey sent messages to strangers on the other side of the fire — explaining who he was and asking them to call him right away.

How did he know whom to contact? Humphrey twitters.   Continue reading →

Cholera in Iraq

In mid-2003, the World Health organization reported on cholera in Iraq:

rom 28 April to 4 June 2003, a total of 73 laboratory-confirmed cholera cases have been reported in Iraq : 68 in Basra governorate, 4 in Missan governorate, 1 in Muthana governorate. No deaths have been reported.

From 17 May to 4 June 2003, the daily surveillance system of diarrhoeal disease cases in the four main hospitals of Basra reported a total of 1549 cases of acute watery diarrhea. Among these cases, 25.6 % occurred in patients aged 5 years and above.

Link.

Continue reading →

New York Times: Study Finds Carcinogens near Canadian Oil Sands project

By  Ian Austen  in the Times on November 9th, “Study Find Carcinogens in Water Near Alberta Oil Sands Project,” more evidence of one of the myriad costs and risks that come with the use of fossil fuels:

OTTAWA, Nov. 7 — High levels of carcinogens and toxic substances have been found in fish, water and sediment downstream from Alberta’s huge oil sands projects, according to a new study.

The 75-page report, written by Kevin P. Timoney, an ecologist with Treeline Environmental Research, was commissioned by the local health authority of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, where many residents say they believe the oil sands developments to the south are damaging their health.

Oil sands developments are generally vast open-pit mines that recover a form of tar mixed with sand. That tar, which is formally known as bitumen, is later separated and processed to produce oil. Most of the oil from the Alberta developments is sent to the United States.

Earlier studies by the province of Alberta had dismissed health concerns. And Dr. Timoney’s report, while highly critical of the government, does not make a specific link between the toxic substances and the oil sands. But many Fort Chipewyan residents did on Thursday.

“For years the community has believed that there’s lots of cancer,” said Donna Cyprien, health director of the Nunee Health Authority. “When they drank from the water, there was an oily scum around the cup. We now know there is something wrong.”

Mrs. Cyprien said that the local health board hired Dr. Timoney largely because it had lost faith in Alberta’s provincial health department.

Like Dr. Timoney, scientists who have reviewed his report say further studies are necessary to determine the cause and extent of the problem. But they also expressed concern about what his research had already found. “This could actually be worse, in some respects, than the Exxon Valdez,” said Jeffrey W. Short, a research scientist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center who has studied the tanker accident that spilled 11 million gallons of oil off the Alaska coast in 1989.

Most disturbing, said Dr. Short, was the finding that from 2001 to 2005, concentrations in sediments of a group of chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons rose.

“These are substantial increases over and above the natural levels,” said Dr. Short, adding that the hydrocarbons “are notorious carcinogens,” found in tar and tarlike materials. In some cases, they were more than four times recommended limits in the United States. (Canada has no guidelines.)

Dr. Timoney concluded that the town’s treated drinking water was safe, but found high levels of arsenic, mercury and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in fish, which many people in Fort Chipewyan, especially members of its Native community, rely on for a substantial portion of their diet.

In an e-mail message, Howard May, a spokesman for Alberta’s Department of Health and Wellness, said that the government could not specifically comment on the report because it had not received a copy.

“There is nothing really new in these allegations, we have been looking into them for some two years now,” Mr. May wrote, adding that the government investigation has found “no higher incidence of cancer in Fort Chipewyan than the rest of the province, and we stand by that analysis unless and until we are provided with further evidence.”

Oil, then -unless it’s being used at the well head – after extraction, it needs to be moved somewhere for refining – a process which carries its own risks – stored – and then transported down the supply chain towards end users.  And in each stage of this process, there are risks: in production (the article above provides an illustration). And in each mode of transportation, risks – of trucks overturning, pipelines accidentally or intentionally being ruptured, boats spilling their loads.

We don’t mean to make an argument against  any and all use of petroleum – but that one of the many benefits of reduced consumption (reduced greenhouse gases, reduced cost, reduced air pollution), is a reduction in risks and costs connected to production.

Glasgow Wood Recycling Project

The Glasgow Wood Recycling Project  – even better, their blog here – are connected to the Glasgow School of Art – and, if I understand this correctly, they’re buying wood waste, also taking it as donations, and trying to find (1) finished projects/products that can be made with what they’re collecting, and (2) forms of unused  wood which are salable. By definition, they’ve given themselves a job that’s difficult – but which will get (or should get) easier with scale. [photopress:wood_box1_19_09_2002_21_29_05.JPG,thumb,alignright] Here are some images of what they’ve had for sale. We’re going to try to keep up with them – This could be a win-win – reducing waste, making cheaper materials available for small projects.

Thanks to Roy at Zero-Waste

for posting about the Glasgow Wood Recycling Project

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Waterstudio – water-friendly, resilient architecture

From Jill Fehrenbacher and Sarah Rich

at Inhabitat, we learned about Waterstudio :

In the months following Katrina, one of the most interesting design solutions we found for dealing with rising water levels was the amphibious architecture of Dutch firm Waterstudio. Architect Koen Olthius specializes in a unique technology that allows land-based buildings to detach from the ground and float under rising water conditions. Olthius’ claim to fame is that he focuses exclusively on aqueous design – design for building in, on and at the water – in a country where water dominates the landscape.

Link to Inhabitat’s post.

This design – if a flood-prone city grid were designed around having, say, 10% of its building stock built this way – would provide precious evacuation time – and since these structures are might well survive serious flooding – they’re the avant-garde

of the recovery. Once the water recedes – these structures won’t need to be rebuilt.