The Bravest Kitchens Demand Teamwork And Dedication

The FDNY exam for recruits covers all the important situations a firefighter must face on the job:

“As a rookie firefighter you are responsible for cleaning the kitchen. You arrive for the beginning of your shift to find the kitchen area is a mess. And there is a bowl of chili spilled on the floor from the firefighters from the previous shift. The reason the kitchen is such a mess is due to the previous crew having gone out on a call to a fire during their dinner, and they are still actively fighting the fire … What should you do with the following circumstances?”

The Road To Staten Island Is Paved With The Unthinkable

Families of 9/11 victims worry that roads in Staten Island may be paved with human remains:

Families members of Sept. 11, 2001, victims filed court papers last week charging hundreds of thousands of tons of debris at the Fresh Kills landfill were not sifted for human remains — and have even been used to pave roads and fill potholes on Staten Island.

The claims were part of a lawsuit submitted in Manhattan Federal Court, and include affidavits by the city’s chief medical examiner, a former landfill director and Eric Beck, a city contractor who oversaw the separation of the pulverized debris or “fines.”

“I observed the New York City Department of Sanitation taking these fines from the conveyor belts of our machines, loading it into tractors and using it to pave roads and fill in potholes, dips and ruts,” Beck said.

Beck was a senior supervisor for Taylor Recycling Facility, hired to sift through debris brought to Fresh Kills after the World Trade Center attacks, between October 2001 and July 2002.

The 9/11 family members are suing the city to force them to continue the separation, and to create a worthy burial place for them. Some groups estimate there are about 223,000 tons of debris that were not properly sifted. The city filed to dismiss the lawsuit, and the families filed to counter that motion Friday.

Those documents contained a 2003 letter by chief city medical examiner Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, who wrote it was “virtually certain” that at least some human tissue has been mixed in the dirt at the landfill.

Shame Them Once, Shame On Me, Shame Them Twice . . . Oh, I’ll Probably Eat There Anyway

Since I don’t much care whether Joe’s Falafel Cart has adequate hand-washing stations or if his ingredients are stored too close together, I wonder whether this could perhaps work:

Restaurant-goers would know if they’re in for a fine or filthy din ing experience under a new A-to-F rating system proposed by a state lawmaker.

State Sen. Jeff Klein has reintroduced a bill that would overhaul the state’s restaurant inspection system, modeling it after California’s, which requires stricter inspections and violations posted right on the restaurant’s entrance.

“It’s a simple system that would allow people to see clearly what the grade is as they enter — A, B, C, D or F,” said Klein, a Bronx Democrat. “The only way to ensure cleanliness and food safety is to make a restaurant’s grade public knowledge. That forces the owner to get it right.”

The measure would allow the city Health Department to devise its own criteria.

The legislator criticized the city’s current inspections, which use a Byzantine scoring system that allows eateries to remain open even if live rodents or rat droppings are found.

This is what they do in Los Angeles County, and there eating at a “B” or lower is sometimes even considered a sort of badge of honor.

Friends Helping Friends By Naming Things For Other Friends

Don’t feel too dumb if you don’t recognize the person who your street is now named for — the Brooklyn Paper explains that they’re mostly bureaucrats:

In the grand tradition of naming city streets after people no one has ever heard of, DUMBO’s own Main Street is slated to be co-named for former Department of Transportation assistant commissioner Dolores Barbieri.

Who?

What?

Huh?

The street co-naming would be the first for DUMBO, a distinction that puts it on the map — in the sense that the neighborhood now has enough residents to attract the attention of politicians who want to honor ex-colleagues.

Under the proposal, the block between Plymouth and Water streets would be co-named for Barbieri, who died last May. Barbieri — a Brooklyn native — was a Pratt Institute graduate and an assistant to former Borough President Howard Golden.

Her biggest achievement at the DOT was the reconstruction of both Staten Island Ferry terminals, neither of which is in Brooklyn.

Her connection to DUMBO? She was living on Main Street when she passed away.

“We nominated her for the street-naming because she had an outstanding record of public service,” said Evan Thies, spokesman for Councilman David Yassky (D–Brooklyn Heights).

Community Board 2’s transportation committee overwhelmingly approved the co-naming on Tuesday in advance of a full board vote on March 26.

And that’s OK with some DUMBO enthusiasts.

“Paying homage to people who devoted their lives to public service is always a good thing,” said Tucker Reed, executive director of the DUMBO Improvement District.

And yet everyone knows the real reason is to get people to stop thinking about the other great Barbieri:

In the past three and a half years, Lloyd Joseph has been in and out of hospitals, undergone multiple surgeries and struggled to make ends meet as the injuries he sustained in the October 15, 2003 ferry crash prevented him from working. On Monday, he rejoiced when he learned he can finally move ahead with a lawsuit against the city.

“I am very happy with that reaction; it’s been four years now and I am still suffering,” said Joseph. “I have another operation today. I have already taken three operations, and I still have one more to go. And it’s time for my wife and my kids to get some kind of closure on this.”

Joseph is one of dozens seeking damages from the crash of the Andrew J. Barbieri, which claimed the lives of 11 people and injured scores of others. The city wanted to use an old nautical law to cap civil claims to the cost of repairs to the ferry, at about $14 million.

But in a 25-page decision, Federal District Court Judge Edward Korman denied the city’s request, saying a rule requiring two pilots to be in the pilothouse at the same time was simply ignored at the time of the crash, leaving the city liable.

Korman’s ruling says, “enforcing the rule was cost free and the City’s failure to do so constituted a breach of the duty of care owed to the Barbieri’s passengers, who entrusted their safety to the city. This breach of duty was a substantial factor in causing the deaths and injuries suffered by the plaintiffs.”

Fuckin’ Kids

Remember that horrifying, disgusting story about the 58-year-old janitor accused of raping an eight-year-old girl repeatedly at school? You know — the janitor whose picture was all over the evening news and in the tabloids. Yeah, well that was basically all made up:

A judge yesterday tossed out the case against a man accused of raping an 8- year-old girl in the school where she was a student and he a janitor — as prosecutors admitted that her story had fallen apart.

Francis Evelyn, 58, who had maintained his innocence, sobbed as he left the Brooklyn courthouse.

“He’s been through quite a bit this week,” defense attorney Richard Spivack said.

The girl’s mom told police on Monday that her daughter said she’d been repeatedly assaulted over the last month in a school bathroom.

Evelyn was arrested later on that day after the girl identified him as her attacker. Bail was set at $150,000.

But on Wednesday he was suddenly released without bail, prompting speculation that the case was considered shaky.

Prosecutors said yesterday that during further questioning, they concluded that the child’s account had too many inconsistencies to be credible.

That’s a wire story in the Post (classy!), who should feel at least a little sheepish about running this story. The Daily News coverage is a little more contrite:

After days of falsely being portrayed as a child rapist, a Brooklyn school custodian broke down in tears yesterday as the charges against him were dismissed.

“Just kill me,” a distraught Francis Evelyn, 58, muttered to family members who tried to soothe him as he left Brooklyn Criminal Court.

Evelyn had been led out of Public School 91 in Wingate in handcuffs on Monday and spent two days in jail at Rikers Island after an 8-year-old girl said he had repeatedly molested her in a basement bathroom between Feb. 1 and March 9.

But the Trinidad native knew he was innocent.

“I went through hell,” Evelyn later told Channel 7 news.

He said he would never forget being in jail — his first time ever behind bars, the station reported.

“They were threatening me, and tell me they’re going to take me out, they’re gonna cut my throat,” he said. “It’s their sister, their niece. It was hell.”