BENSONHURST'S PREMIER NEWS BLOG

From the offices of Congressman Michael Grimm:

BROOKLYN, NY – Today, Rep. Michael G. Grimm (R,C-Brooklyn/S.I.) and State Senator Marty Golden (R,C,I – Brooklyn) sent a letter to Community Board 10 Chairwoman Joanne Seminara in support of naming the northeast corner of 5th Avenue and 85th Street “Firefighter Michael G. Behette 9/11 Memorial Way.”  Michael Behette was a Dyker Heights resident and firefighter who died last month from a 9/11-related cancer. His family has requested the street naming in his honor, and Rep. Grimm and Senator Golden are lending their full support.

“Michael Behette was a true American hero who bravely rushed into a dust cloud of danger when others ran away,” said Rep. Grimm. “His selfless love for our city, for others, and for his profession as NYC fire fighter ultimately cost him his life, and that should never be forgotten. It is with great privilege that I join Senator Golden in support of naming this memorial after our hometown hero, Michael Behette, so that we will never forget his inspiring story or the sacrifices he made on our behalf,” said Rep. Grimm.

“Firefighter Michael Behette was an example to us all.  His dedication to the recovery efforts is a reminder of the service and sacrifice of our bravest to help move our city forward after we were attacked.  Michael gave everything for his city, state, and nation, and today I join with Congressman Grimm in calling for our city to remember and honor his ultimate sacrifice by this memorial on 85th Street.  My thoughts and prayers continue to be with his family, and I call on all to remember that while all gave some in those days and months, some, like Michael, gave all,” said Senator Golden.

Michael Behette was assigned to Ladder 172 in Bensonhurst. When the towers were hit, Behette was on vacation in Florida. Unable to get a flight home, he drove straight to Ground Zero where he worked for the next 31 days in rescue and recovery operations.  He stayed on site for six more months. He was diagnosed in 2011 and passed on September 17th, 2012 from lung cancer, which is believed to have been caused from exposure to the toxins at the WTC site.

Rep. Grimm and his staff have met with members of the Behette family who brought the matter to their attention, as well as helped the family obtain the application for the street naming.  Rep. Grimm and Senator Golden have written the attached letter of support to be submitted today with the family’s application.

Mourners gather during last year’s Brooklyn 9/11 Memorial, the 10-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Photo by Erica Sherman

Today, the 11 year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we grieve, remember our lost loved ones and honor those who gave their lives to save others.

As we all recall the events of that day, we hope that you can take a moment to reflect on the tragedy that changed our nation forever. By taking a moment of silence or consoling someone that was personally affected by the attacks, we hope this will help us continue to grow as a community and stand together as a nation. The people that lost their lives on this date will never be forgotten.

There will be ceremonies marking the occasion all over the city, including one at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. If you’re looking for a few not so far places to mourn, check out a list from our sister site Sheepshead Bites.

We welcome your memories or tributes in our comments section below.

The following is a press release from the office of U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler:

9/11 Health Bill Authors Applaud STAC Recommendation to Add Coverage for Cancers Under Zadroga Act

New York, NY – Today, the Science/Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) of the World Trade Center Health Program voted to add certain types of cancers for coverage under the program. U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Peter King (R-NY), authors of H.R. 847, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, lauded today’s real progress toward inclusion of cancers under their legislation and issued the following joint statement: Continue Reading »

Source: _PaulS_ via Flickr

The following is a press release from the office of U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler:

New York, NY – U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Peter King (R-NY), authors of H.R. 847, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, issued the following joint statement in response to the publication today of e-mail communications by members of the World Trade Center Science/Technical Advisory Committee (STAC), showing that the Committee is making progress toward advocating that cancers be covered under the Zadroga Act: Continue Reading »

The following is a press release from Rep. Jerrold Nadler’s office:

9/11 Compensation Fund Open for Business

-Zadroga Bill Authors Hail Opening of Fund to Provide Economic Relief to Injured 9/11 Responders & Survivors-

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Peter King (R-NY), authors of H.R. 847, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, issued the following joint statement on the announcement today by Special Master Sheila Birnbaum that the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) is now open for business:

“Today, we are putting into practice an important part of the Zadroga law so that it can begin helping people. Getting the VCF up and running is a crucial step toward meeting America’s moral responsibility to help those injured as a result of 9/11. We are delighted that this day has finally arrived, and that struggling 9/11 responders and survivors will soon be able to apply for the economic relief they and their families so urgently need.

“Ms. Birnbaum has done a great job setting up the VCF in a timely manner and in seeking input from 9/11 responders and survivors to make the program better. We will continue working to create the most compassionate and efficient program possible for those injured by the toxins at ground zero.”

The VCF’s website, http://www.vcf.gov/, will enable claimants to register for the VCF online, the first step in the claims process; obtain a checklist of documents and information that claimants will need when they submit their claims; and review a list of frequently-asked questions, which will be updated regularly, and is designed to make the process as simple as possible.

The Zadroga law provides health care for those injured or exposed to toxins released by the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, and reopens the VCF to provide economic relief to those harmed by the attacks (the original VCF was created in the weeks following 9/11 and closed in December 2003).

Background

In January, Maloney, Nadler, and King released documents from the Congressional Research Service to help answer questions that members of the media and the public may have about the new law. Below are links to the four documents:

• · A Q&A on eligibility for health and compensation benefits under the Zadroga Act;
• · A timeline of dates by which the new law will be implemented;
• · A brief, plain-language summary of the law; and
• · A section-by-section summary of the law.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler represents New York’s 8th Congressional District, which includes Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea, SoHo, Greenwich Village, TriBeCa, the Financial District and Battery Park City. In Brooklyn, the 8th District includes parts of Borough Park, Red Hook, Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Gravesend, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and Seagate.

Rep. Michael Grimm (from house.gov)

Michael Grimm recalls digging “with his bare hands” at Ground Zero, attempting to find remains of victims of the attacks of 9/11. According to the New York Congressman, he recovered a woman’s hand and part of a person’s torso.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle recently interviewed Rep. Michael Grimm, who – although he was in Quantico, Virginia on September 11, training to be an undercover FBI agent – demanded, along with other agents from New York, to travel back home to aid in the recovery.

From the Eagle:

“We sat in class glued to the television,” he said.

FBI supervisors were undecided as to whether to dispatch the agents to New York to assist with the rescue and recovery or to keep them in Virginia. Grimm and many of his fellow agents who hailed from New York demanded to go.

“Several of us said, ‘We don’t really care what you have to say. We’re going home!,” he recalled.

Grimm, who says one fellow agent and friend lost a sister in the attacks, was part of a “bucket brigade,” which passed small objects to a truck in order for them to be brought to a Staten Island landfill and inspected for human remains.

According to the Eagle, Grimm spent around six weeks working on the recovery – with himself and other agents dividing their time between lower Manhattan and the Staten Island landfill.

The House Representative for Staten Island and part of Southern Brooklyn has diminished lung capacity, though he’s not sure if it’s from 9/11 or time spent in combat as a Marine during the first Gulf War.

Rep. Grimm told reporters that he planned to attend several events commemorating the 10th anniversary of September 11, which he says he considers a personal issue.

Rep. Michael Grimm represents New York’s 13th Congressional District, which includes all of Staten Island. In Brooklyn, the 13th District includes parts of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Gravesend.

Ground Zero September 13, 2001 (photo by Andrea Booher via wikipedia.org)

From a House Resolution on the 10th anniversary of 9/11:

Whereas memorials have been constructed… so that Americans and people from around the world can visit to mourn those lost and to pay tribute to the heroic action and sacrifice of those who have served our communities and our country in the years since the attacks;

Commentary on the resolution from Activistpost.com:

First responders who risked their lives were first deceived about the air quality by the EPA, made to fight and beg for sufficient health care, run through a terror watch list, and have been denied a place at (sic) 10th Anniversary Ceremony, which is supposedly being given to honor courage and resolve.  Quite a tribute!

Ten years after the attacks of 9/11, the EPA is still sickening New Yorkers – both figuratively and literally.

In the days following September 11, 2001, Christine Todd Whitman, who at the time administered the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA, assured Lower Manhattan residents and first responders that the air quality at Ground Zero was safe, with negligible amounts of toxic substances such as asbestos.

A 2003 report by the EPA’s inspector general concluded that the agency did not have the necessary data to make that call – and did so under pressure from the White House to present a reassuring public image.

An article in Friday’s New York Times reports that, although the EPA says they’ve learned from mistakes made in the aftermath of 9/11, critics – including Representative Jerrold Nadler – remain unconvinced that the EPA has made the necessary changes.

To the contrary, local elected officials and government watchdogs say the EPA has made virtually no changes to its standard operating procedures, changes that could prevent the same thing from happening in the event of another attack. Continue Reading »

The following is a press release from Rep. Jerrold Nadler:

NY Lawmakers File Petition Requiring 9/11 Health Czar

to Consider Covering Cancers

 New York, NY – U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Jerrold Nadler, Peter King, Charles Rangel, Nydia Velázquez, and Michael Grimm; Denis Hughes, President of the New York State AFL-CIO; Pat Lynch, President of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association; Al Hagan, President of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association; John Feal, President of the FealGood Foundation; and 9/11 first responders and survivors gathered at ground zero today to announce that the lawmakers have filed a petition with 9/11 Health Program Administrator Dr. John Howard that will require Dr. Howard to consider within 60 days whether or not to add coverage for cancers under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.  A copy of the petition, which was also signed by New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, follows.

The lawmakers filed their petition following the release last week in The Lancet of a peer-reviewed study by the New York City Fire Department that indicated an elevated risk of melanoma, thyroid and prostate cancer, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma among firefighters who served at ground zero compared to the general population, and an overall increase in cancer among firefighters exposed to toxins at the World Trade Center site compared to firefighters who weren’t exposed to those toxins. 

In July, Dr. Howard announced that, following a review of the available medical evidence, cancers would not yet be considered covered conditions under the Zadroga Act.  However, the only peer-reviewed study of possible 9/11-related cancers available at that time was a small study showing a possible rise in multiple myeloma among 9/11 responders. Continue Reading »

The following is a press release from Councilman Vincent Gentile:

BAY RIDGE – Calling on all of southwest Brooklyn to unite, Councilman Vincent J. Gentile will host a “Day of Remembrance” this coming Sunday to commemorate ten years since the attacks of September 11th, 2001.  Victims’ families, local clergy, Veterans groups, Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, school choirs, community leaders and elected officials will all be on hand for the event which will begin at 4:30 PM at John Paul Jones “Cannon Ball” Park at 101^st Street & 4^th Avenue.  All are welcome.

“It is important that we come together to commemorate the tragedy and show reverence to those we lost, while reflecting upon the ten years that have passed and how this tragedy has impacted our future as a community and as a nation,” Councilman Gentile said.

Last spring, Councilman Gentile, determined to involve young people from the neighborhood – many of whom weren’t even born at the time of the attacks – asked twenty local schools to have their students create posters to honor the victims of the 9/11 attacks.  “It’s only appropriate that the future leaders of our community and country – today’s children – play a major role in this tribute”, said Councilman Gentile.

The nearly 3,000 handmade posters will create a visceral mosaic as they are hung along the length of the bike path in time for a solemn procession ending at American Veteran’s Memorial Pier at
69th Street & Shore Road. 

Councilman Vincent Gentile represents City Council District 43, which includes Bay Ridge, as well as parts of Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and Bensonhurst

Days after the terrorist attacks air quality was, despite assurances by the EPA, extremely hazardous (photo from wikipedia)

According to the Federal Government, the Zadroga Act, which was created in order to provide medical care for people exposed to 9/11 dust, does not apply to the increasing numbers of cancer victims who claim their sickness was caused by carcinogens released into the air in the aftermath of that day’s terrorist attacks.

Dr. John Howard, the doctor in charge of overseeing the program says there’s not enough proof the dust, created by the collapse of WTC buildings 1, 2 and 7, resulted in the cancer. And until that link can be proven, cancer victims who were healthy and in lower Manhattan at the time of the attack will not benefit from the $2.7 Billion made available by the statute.

Today, the bill’s three authors- who all represent the NYC area, U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Jerrold Nadler, and Peter King, released a joint statement which reminded the public that Dr. Howard’s decision was the result of preliminary findings, which could very well change: Click here to see what our elected officials have to say