Gawker: City Might Want NYPD and FDNY to Curb Early Retirement

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Liberty/coat drive ad by PirateJenny on flickr

With the grim state of the city budget a hot topic these days, questions are being raised about how long we can continue to sustain the heavy financial burden that comes from the city's pension system for municipal retirees. Last year the city paid out a total of 9% of its budget ($5.6 billion total) for its pensions and analysts project that percentage is only expected to rise. Former NYPD officer and current State Senator Martin Golden told the Post, "Everything's got to be explored...The bottom line is everything's on the table."

What Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Paterson would specifically like on the table is the "20-and-out" retirement plan for municipal workers. Bloomberg said, "Right now, we are paying full retirement benefits to people in their 40s. As people are living longer, we simply can't afford to do it forever."

Read the whole thing.

Tragic Fire, Great Photo Essay

 

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Story here.

Source: Daily News Record

Don't Wanna Check Hydrants?

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Been checking your hydrants like you should?

Source: Newsday

Non-"Screamers"

Yesterday I talked about Jay Lowry and his podcast comments about maintaining a calm voice during radio transmission. 

Well, here's the ultimate example of that: Captain Chesley Sullenberger, at the wheel of an Airbus A320 with both engines gone, 155 souls on board and his own ass on the line. 

Cool. As. Ice. 

He May Have A Point

“We don’t do as well on these multiple-choice tests,” said Capt. Otis Jordan, president of the Houston Black Firefighters Association. Jordan and the HBFA are not part of the suit. “I compare fighting a fire, riding an apparatus, to playing football. Your best athlete might not be the straight-A student.”

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Source: Houston Chronicle

I think OJ (Otis Jordan) has a point, though it's not what he intended, and it's something that white firefighters would get pilloried for mentioning. The main point is not that blacks are less intelligent than whites; it's that multiple choice tests are probably the least effective means of selecting competent fire officers, especially at the lower ranks.

I've done well on competitive multiple choice examinations, but I admit that the skill set they test has almost nothing to do with whether or not you'd be an effective fire officer. What they test are the skills of rote memorization, dogged perseverance and a certain ability to mindlessly digest mounds of trivia and regurgitate it on command--i.e. a skill set that rewards a certain thick-headed personality type. Consider it a form of affirmative action for bovine bureaucrats.

What makes a good fire officer? Things like: *courage, * quick decision-making ability under pressure,* strong ethics, * people skills, * leadership charisma and, * especially at the lower ranks, raw physical fitness. This is the same skill set that makes a good football quarterback or an infantry platoon leader in the Army.

Defenders of written tests say, "Well, they're fair." To which I say: drawing names out of a hat would be fair. There must be a better way to pick effective fire officers. 

Bronx Firefighter Recalls Jump During Testimony

Source: NY1

Comments from FDNY firefighters who know more about this incident would be appreciated. 

Update: Fire(fighter) Behavior has a discussion of the incident here. 

Whip It Good

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