efdcapt115

Oh sorry. I read the title and thought this was a thread about Ibo's chili that he used to make for us at headquarters......

Interestingly while researching "Semper Fi" I happened upon this little tid-bit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semper_fidelis Thank you to all who have served The United States of America, as Marines. Some of you might have seen the story yesterday; out in Las Vegas the entertainer Marc Anthony was out on the town when he came across two Marines dressed in their Class A uniforms. Mr. Anthony proceeded to take the two Marines with him, from place to place and introduced them as his guests of honor. Classy move, as in my opinion all members of our military are deserving at all times of being "guests of honor" no matter who they are with or where they might go.

What a tragedy...such a young man, with a wife and a child. My heart aches for this family. Rest in Peace.

I totally understand your point. However, if the taxpayers in (say once again) The City Of Yonkers decided a long time ago that if their tax dollars were going to fund a fire and police department, and those constituents believed it was in the best interest of the citizens of Yonkers that their own people get preference; that's the way it is. Same with most Fire Districts, Villages, Town jobs, etc. I don't know how much of an issue residency has ever been in the educational systems though. FDNY hires from surrounding counties. NYPD the same. Unless they changed it. There are also some smaller PD's and FD's in Westchester that will hire non-residents because of the demographics. Residents in some of these communities are too busy trying to get their sons and daughters in Harvard or Yale to be worried about who works at the Firehouse or the Police Station.

Honest question, honest answer. There were more than likely years when your village paid very little into the system because the investments the Retirement System was in, did very well. To keep the system in top shape, and properly funded, the yearly municipal contributions fluctuate with the rate of return from; you guessed it, the markets. NYSPERS/NYSPFRS has BILLIONS in stocks, and by the way pays tens of millions of dollars to various fund managers. So the reality is a public pension system that invests in equities markets, and pays quite a few thousand private salaries on Wall Street as well.

I think traditionally the issue of "hiring one's own" was based on the theory that these are local jobs for local people. Edit: Maybe I should expand on that; the sons and daughters of (say) The City of Yonkers traditionally deserve first shot at the job.

Chief, What if a guy was really interested and moved into Yonkers asap?

Mrs. Gruber. Pat. The Matriarch of the Eastchester Fire District. If there was one person that I would say helped me the most during my career, it was this lovely lady. Ask any member of the EFD who worked during her tenure and I'll bet they'll tell you the same thing. No problem too small for her attention. Fair and equal treatment toward all employees. A woman who broke the glass ceiling in one fire department. May she rest in eternal peace, with the enduring gratitude of this extremely grateful former employee. God Rest Pat. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/lohud/obituary.aspx?n=pasqualina-i-gruber&pid=154513824

The ONLY person I know who still bathes and doesn't shower, my Great-Aunt from our family roots hometown of Soundview in Da Bronx......I noticed she's been acting weird lately, I'd better warn her......

How come I got Lady Gaga doing some sort of birthing from an egg?

Irregardless of who in the banking, mortgage, insurance, re-insurance, stock brokering, derivative trading, commodities future trading industries bears the ultimate or shared responsibility for the financial condition of the United States, or New York State, I can say in total agreement with INIT915; WE....those who serve/d the people in public employ....DID NOT create the mess, and are NOT responsible for cleaning it up, or have to pay some kind of price for their collective bad gambling blunders. Some CEO's around those industries need to step up and lead the way for the private sector, to take responsibility for what THEY have done, and stop pointing fingers at the "Boogiemen in Blue", those who serve/d the public with honor, integrity, and honesty; values which seem to have gone missing in the game of greed that has come to dominate many industries in the private sector.

The New York State Public Employees Retirement System/Police and Fire Retirement system is one of the highest ranked and funded public pensions in the country. A recent audit found the system to be 107 percent funded. It remains healthy because politicians like some of the former governors of the state attempted to raid the system and under fund it through various schemes over the past decades, but in each case the Comptroller of the State of New York fought and won in the courts on behalf of the retirement systems, and any money that was attempted to be absconded with was forced to be repaid. Unlike New Jersey for instance (sorry Brothers and Sisters of the Garden State for singling your system out) which is severely underfunded because Governor Christine Whitman was responsible for scheming the system and under funding it for many years. They have a major problem. Albany, New York can be severely dysfunctional at times, but with regard to the retirement system and an elected State Comptroller as it's sole Trustee; it has actually functioned well and been protected. New York City is a different system, and I cannot speak to the health, obligations or forthcoming funding issues within that system.

Not understanding this comment. I've not seen anything that would infer NY collective bargaining rights for any public employees are in jeopardy. Source?

With all the serious topics being discussed on the board as of late, a moment of levity might be in store. Here's a guy from jolly old England demonstrating ground ladder safety to the employees of a private company. Cue the Benny Hill music please: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=O-mLXJAf09w

Cap, Doesn't the FDNY MDT System allow for the accurate following of all information? That would be a great question that JBE could expand on. Calling JBE....over...

Before this is over, it might give the Stamford thread a run for it's money: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/07/2491671/tit-for-tat-new-video-of-speeding.html

There was one chief out of many I worked for.....wish the heck he would have just stayed HOME.

The answer is very simple: Troopers don't want local PD's responding to an incident at 120 mph (just look at the FHP/Miami debacle) You gotta know this is a just a kiddin'

PS: The "trainer" got himself suspended from the job.....because he couldn't keep his self "suspended"....lol

Chris, The Trooper allegedly called in the wrong plate number.

I just want to reiterate, I didn't follow up with the additional postings to stir any controversy on this board. I was just in the process of posting my opinion when I read the prior posts and decided to keep it to myself, and I'm not inferring anything is wrong with those posts. The only reason I've followed up with the news stories is because it is dominating the news cycle down here, and in all honesty the whole incident raises legitimate and interesting questions that I thought would be good reading/viewing for our members here.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/05/2488922/trooper-vs-miami-cop-police-public.html The south Florida LE story that refuses to go away. Check out the full video from the FHP vehicle: Youtube credit: rawdashcam

Let us share a hug and a verse of Kumbaya!

Fair enough. Yes I did say I came down squarely on the side of the Brothers of the SFRD, but I know that was not a statement against the volunteers of those other departments, because as I've tried my best to understand the SFRD issues, no plan eliminates volunteer firefighters, but some plans could have put some SFRD firefighters jobs in jeopardy. As best as I understand it now, you will only advocate for a plan that would not do that. I have built my reputation on this board as someone who understands and accepts the fact that the fire service is and will always be both a career and a volunteer service, and that in order for progress to be made anywhere, members on both sides are going to have to overcome age old prejudices they may begrudge against each other. I was on the job in the "good old days" when drunken volunteers walked in off the street, made disparaging comments to me that I was a glorified janitor, before heading up to the bar in the firehouse to complete putting their package on. If any career firefighter could/would carry a grudge toward volunteers, it would be one from a combination job, when there was (or maybe still is in places I don't know) a constant and concerted effort to rob us of our dignity, put us down, and play power games against us. When I was promoted in '98 to Captain and put in charge of training the volunteers in my former department, I chose to try and be a better man than that; offering respect and receiving it back. I have never looked back. I don't "protect the homefront" anymore. I'm retired due to illness; lucky to be alive and cherishing every day of the pension I earned with my efforts and sacrificing my health along the way to try and make ironically, a safer and healthier environment for others. We all make/made sacrifices in our own way for this country; every one of us who took an Oath to protect the Constitution when we joined our respective services. I'll not sidetrack your journal thread anymore, as I do respect the job you are doing there, and don't want to distract you from conveying what you believe is important for the members here to read. I'm sure you are well compensated for it, and you deserve it. The biggest problem I see here on the homefront is nobody seems to notice or care anymore that our troops and civilian support are still fighting/working in Afghanistan, still dying for our country, still making major sacrifices every day. To this point, I'm glad that we've debated a bit; maybe it stirred a few readers to think a little and not take for granted the fact that it is war, and you are working in a war-zone with tens of thousands of our fellow countrymen/women. I respect your point of view, and thank you for respecting mine. Stay well.

The Federal Gov't made the choice to put the money that could be used for infrastructure projects in America, into other projects in Afghanistan and Iraq. As long as the Feds priorities are out of order, we here at home, the taxpayers footing the bills, will also get the short end of the stick; meaning no real improvements here, continued deterioration of the infrastructure, amassing debt that our great-grandchildren will be paying for, and it's looking more and more likely that the debasement of our currency is going to continue to put millions of Americans into poverty. These private companies that take their profits and run with them; the ones who control the electric systems, the water systems, the communication systems, I don't think we can expect them to invest enough to make significant improvements in those systems. Rather, they will continue to provide simple patches over larger and larger gaping holes in a crumbling American infrastructure. Although the financial incentive has been there for them to build out the mobile telecommunication infrastructure, and upgrade the fiber optic networks in areas that are profitable enough. If they can't foresee enough profit, in rural areas, less populated areas, they don't make those investments. When one company bought my cell phone provider a few years ago, they promised these upgrades were going to happen. I'd been all around the country with my Nextel, and I could tell you where and in which states I was going to get service or not. Cross country? Service ended west of Des Moines, Iowa, and picked up again in Cor-de-Laine Idaho. Years later, after Nextel was cannibalized? Same thing. No improvements. It's totally ironic that mobile phones work great along the Interstates on the Eastern Seaboard, but head east off I-95 into rural South Carolina.....no signal until you get to the coast. That was Nextel; and still is. No promised improvements. I'm sorry I'm getting off topic.