Friday March 31, 2006

March 31, 2006
In Operators' Voices, Echoes of Calls for Help
By JIM DWYER
The city released partial recordings today of about 130 telephone calls made to 911 after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, stripped of the voices of the people inside the World Trade Center but still evocative of their invisible struggles for life.
Only the 911 operators and fire department dispatchers can be heard on the recordings, their words mapping the calamity in rough, faint echoes of the men and women in the towers who had called them for help.
They describe crowded islands of fleeting survival, on floors far from the crash and even on those that were directly hit: Hallways are blocked on 104. Send help to 84. It is hard to breathe on 97.
Be calm, the operators implore. God is there. Sit tight.
The recordings, contained on 11 compact discs, also document a broken link in the chain of emergency communications.
The voices captured on those discs track the callers as they are passed by telephone from one agency to another, moving through a confederacy of municipal fiefdoms — police, fire, ambulance — but almost never receiving vital instructions to get out of the buildings.
No more than 2 of the 130 callers were told to leave, the tapes reveal, even though unequivocal orders to evacuate the trade center had been given by fire chiefs and police commanders moments after the first plane struck. The city had no procedure for field commanders to share information with the 911 system, a flaw identified by the 9/11 Commission that city officials say has since been fixed.
The tapes show that many callers were not told to leave, but to stay put, the standard advice for high-rise fires. In the north tower, all three of the building's stairways were destroyed at the 92nd floor. But in the south tower, where one stairway remained passable, the recordings include references to perhaps a few hundred people huddled in offices, unaware of the order to leave.
The calls released today bring to life the fatal frustration and confusion experienced by one unidentified man in the complex's south tower, who called at 9:08 a.m., shortly after the second plane struck the building. For the next 11 minutes, as his call was bounced from police operators to fire dispatchers and back again, the 911 system vindicated its reputation as a rickety, dangerous contraption, one that the administration of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani tried to overhaul with little success, and one that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg hopes to improve by spending close to $1 billion.
The voice of the man, who was calling from the offices of Keefe Bruyette on the 88th floor of that building, was removed from the recording by the city. From the operator's responses, it appears that he wanted to leave.
"You cannot — you have to wait until somebody comes there," she tells the man.
The police operator urged him to put wet towels or rags under the door, and said she would connect him to the Fire Department.
As she tried to transfer his call, the phone rang and rang — 15 times, before the police operator gave up and tried a fire department dispatch office in another borough. Eventually, a dispatcher picked up, and he asked the man to repeat the same information that he had provided moments earlier to the police operator. (The police and fire departments had separate computer dispatching systems that were unable to share basic information like the location of an emergency.)
After that, the fire dispatcher hung up, and the man on the 88th floor apparently persisted in asking the police operator — who had stayed on the line — about leaving.
"But I can't tell you to do that, sir," the operator said, who then decided to transfer his call back to the Fire Department. "Let me connect you again. O.K.? Because I really do not want to tell you to do that. I can't tell you to move."
A fire dispatcher picked up and asked — for the third time in the call — for the location of the man on the 88th floor. The dispatcher's instructions were relayed by the police operator.
"O.K.," she said. "I need you to stay in the office. Don't go into the hallway. They're coming upstairs. They are coming. They're trying to get upstairs to you."
Like many other operators that morning, she was invoking advice from a policy known as "defend in place" — meaning that only people just at or above a fire should move, an approach that had long been enshrined in skyscrapers in New York and elsewhere.
At Keefe Bruyette, 67 people died, many of whom had gathered in conference rooms and offices on the 88th and 89th floors. Some tried to reach the roof, a futile trek that the 9/11 Commission said might have been avoided if the city's 911 operators had known that the police had ruled out helicopter rescues — another piece of information that had not been shared with them — and that an evacuation order had been issued.
The calls were released today in response to a Freedom of Information request made by The New York Times on Jan. 25, 2002, for public records concerning the events of Sept. 11. The city refused to release most of them on the grounds that they were needed to prosecute a man accused of complicity in the attacks, or contained opinions that were not subject to disclosure, or were so intensely personal that their release would be an invasion of privacy. The Times sued in state court, and nine family members of people killed in the attacks joined the case.
Judge Richard Braun of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan ruled in early 2003 that the vast majority of the records were public, but said that the city could remove the words of the 911 callers on privacy grounds. Over the next two years, the core of his ruling was affirmed by the appellate division and the New York State Court of Appeals.
That led to the release of the calls today. City officials said that 130 calls were made to 911 from inside the buildings. Of that group, officials were able to identify 27 people and notified their next of kin this week that they could listen to the complete call.
While that might seem like a small number of calls given that approximately 15,000 people were at the trade center that morning, officials said that many of those who got through to 911 were with large groups of people.
One of these groups was on the 105th floor of the south tower, a spot where scores of people had congregated after trying to reach the roof. Among them was Kevin Cosgrove, who worked on the 100th floor, and who had told his family that he had gone down stairs before turning back. He called 911, and said he was in an office overlooking the World Financial Center, across West Street, records show. He said he needed help, and was having difficulty breathing.
One of the recordings — city officials have refused to say who made the call — involved a man on the 105th floor who suggested desperate measures to improve the air.
"Oh, my God," said the dispatcher. "You can't breathe at all?"
The caller's words were deleted.
"O.K.," said the dispatcher. "Listen, when you — listen, please do not break the window. When you break the window — " here, the caller interrupted.
"Don't break the window because there's so much smoke outside," the dispatcher said. "If you break a window, you guys won't be able to breathe; . O.K.? So if there are any other doorways that you can open where you don't see the smoke."
The dispatcher tried to soothe the man, finally saying, "O.K. Listen, calm yourself down. We've got everybody outside. O.K.?"
The man spoke and the dispatcher assured him help was on the way.
"We are," the dispatcher said. "We're trying to get up there, sir. Like you said, the stairs are collapsed. O.K.? Everybody wet the towels and lie on the floor. O.K.? Put the wet towels over your head and lie down; O.K.? I know it's hard to breathe. I know it is."
People on the highest floors in both towers suffered acutely from the smoke and heat, even though they were many floors distant from the entry points of the planes that had crashed into the buildings. In the offices of Cantor Fitzgerald in the north tower, between 25 and 50 people found refuge in a conference room on the 104th floor. One man, Andrew Rosenblum, reached his wife in Long Island, and gave her the names and home phone numbers of colleagues who were with him. As he recited the information, she relayed it to neighbors. Mr. Rosenblum also called a friend and said that the group had used computer terminals to smash windows for fresh air.
Such drastic actions appeared to have been discouraged by the operator. Another Cantor Fitzgerald employee on the 104th floor was Richard Caggiano, who called 911 at 8:53, seven minutes after the plane hit the north tower.
"Don't do that, sir," the operator said. "Don't do that. There's help on the way, sir. Hold on."
Mr. Caggiano's words, which were not made public, prompted a question from the operator.
"Are y'all in a particular room?" she asked. "How many?"
She listened, then said, "25 or 30 in a back room. O.K. They're on the way. They're already there. You can't hear the sirens?"
Just before the south tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., a spurt of calls reached the 911 operators. One of these was from Shimmy Biegeleisen, who worked for Fiduciary Trust in the south tower on computer systems. He was on the 97th floor where, by chance, an emergency drill had been scheduled for that day. Mr. Biegeleisen called his home in Brooklyn, spoke with his wife and prayed with a friend, Jack Edelman, who remembered hearing him say: "Of David. A Psalm. The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world and those that live in it."
At 9:52, he called 911. The building had seven more minutes before it would collapse. Mr. Biegeleisen would spend those minutes telling first the police operator, then the fire dispatcher, that he was on the 97th floor with six people, that the smoke had gotten heavy.
The police operator tried to encourage Mr. Biegeleisen.
"Heavy smoke. O.K. Sir, please try to keep calm. We'll send somebody up there immediately. Hold on. Stay on the line. I'm contacting E.M.S. Hold on. I'm connecting you to the ambulance service now."
As his call was transferred to the ambulance service, once again, the information about the smoke and the 97th floor was sought and delivered.
"Sir, any smoke over there?" asked the ambulance dispatcher. "O.K. the best thing to do is to keep — keep down on the ground. All right? O.K.?"
The ambulance dispatcher hung up, but the original operator stayed on the line with Mr. Biegeleisen. She could be heard speaking briefly with someone else in the room, and then turned her attention back to him
"We'll disengage. O.K.?" the operator asked. "There were notifications made. We made the notifications. If there's any further, you let us know. You can call back."
Seconds later, the building collapsed.
Posted 3/31/2006 at 12:56 PM

Friday March 31, 2006
Bloomberg: Illegal Immigrants Should get Permanent Status
NEW YORK -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States should get permanent status.The Republican mayor also said guest worker programs and mass deportations aren't practical solutions.In an interview with CNN broadcast Thursday, Bloomberg, who oversees a city with an enormous immigrant population, said he's frustrated with the debate on immigration currently gripping Washington, D.C., because it's removed from the reality he faces as a mayor."I wonder what world they live in,'' Bloomberg said of Capitol Hill politicians. "You're not going to deport 12 million people, so let's stop this fiction. Let's give them permanent status.''He acknowledged that solution "may very well be rewarding lawbreaking.''"But let's get real,'' he said. "I mean, you know, we don't live in a perfect world.''The mayor said guest worker programs and other temporary solutions wouldn't work because people wouldn't leave after their time runs out."Are you going to leave after six years? Come on, guys,'' he said, adding that such solutions are just ways of postponing problems.
Posted 3/31/2006 at 9:49 AM

Thursday March 30, 2006
women - including myself - check out themselves while walking next to store windows. we check out our shoes, the pants length, skirt length, how the hair looks from the side ways, how the bag looks, etc.
we've got to stop. because this is the truth: whether we look good SIDEWAYS, that doesn't really hold true for what really "counts" (to us and to the opposite sex): front & back views.
when was the last time you ladies saw your backside, not twisting from front TOWARDS back, but really, a full frontal- and back view?
it's not pretty, let me tell you. it's time for reality.
i know. i suck with this dose of reality. like cold shower.
Posted 3/30/2006 at 10:52 AM

Tuesday March 28, 2006
heard the Chausson Concert for Piano, Violin and String Quartet in D major, Op. 21 yesterday. WOW, what a sucky piece. No wonder nobody ever plays Chausson anymore. WOW! SO SUCKY!!!
outta 4 surprised (wow, this sucks) music grading!
Posted 3/28/2006 at 11:48 AM

Monday March 27, 2006
now i'm done with church hopping. i've attended 5 different churches and it's time to narrow them down. unfortunately, i don't feel any pull to any particular one. i know which ones i don't want to attend, but i'm not sure about which ones to attend...bleh bleh bleh~~~
i think i'll try one more church next sunday and then April will be all about the new church. it's hard to find THAT combination of great fellowship, great sermons and just feeling of clicking. i think it's harder, actually, because there ARE so many choices.
either that, or i'm just hard to fit in...
Posted 3/27/2006 at 9:59 AM

Saturday March 25, 2006
wow, what a screwed up movie. one thing for sure: I HATED THE MUSIC!!!
outta 4 angry taxi drivers.
Posted 3/25/2006 at 6:53 PM

Thursday March 23, 2006
Dick Cheney and George W. Bush were having breakfast at the White House.
The attractive waitress asks Cheney what he would like, and he replies, "I'd like a bowl of oatmeal and some fruit."
"And what can I get for you, Mr. President?"
George W. replies with his trademark wink and slight grin, "How about a quickie this morning?"
"Why, Mr. President!" the waitress exclaims "How rude! You're starting to act like Mr. Clinton, and you've only been in your second term of office for a year! ''
As the waitress storms away, Cheney leans over to Bush and whispers...
"It's pronounced 'quiche'."
Posted 3/23/2006 at 3:56 PM

March 22, 2006
Coyote Found Roaming in Central Park Is Captured
By MARIA NEWMAN and JANON FISHER
A coyote roaming through Central Park today got a taste of what it's like to lead the police on a chase in New York City, where the tabloid media and countless other reporters and photographers will chase anything that gives chase.
The coyote, which was first spotted in the park late on Sunday, was finally captured at about 10 this morning near Belvedere Castle, after an officer with the New York City Police Department's Emergency Service Unit shot it in the rear with a tranquilizer dart.
A 35-pound male that had been dubbed "Hal" by some police officers and reporters because it was first spotted near the Hallett Nature Sanctuary in the park's southeast corner, the coyote appeared healthy when it was captured, according to a city veterinarian who examined it. Hal will be taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center in upstate New York, officials said.
During its several-day adventure in Central Park, the coyote has been spotted by many but harmed no one, and it had attracted quite a following from a motley crowd that tailed him him through New York City's otherwise bucolic oasis.
Just before it was caught this morning, the coyote's chasers included not only about a dozen officers dressed in dark blue uniforms and flak jackets armed with tranquilizer rifles, but also park maintenance employees on carts, their rakes sticking idly out of the back as they barked directions into walkie-talkies.
There were also countless reporters and photographers sprinting after the coyote as it made its way through the paths, meadows, ponds and wooded areas of the park, and a few curiosity seekers among people visiting the park.
There were even news helicopters hovering above the park, broadcasting the hapless coyote's every move to viewers around the country.
Police officials had warned people that the biggest danger the coyote posed was to pets. Adrian Benepe, the city's parks commissioner, first caught a glimpse of the animal on Tuesday, in the Hallett sanctuary.
After it was captured, Mr. Benepe told reporters that the coyote may have made its way to Central Park from Westchester County via an Amtrak train bridge over the Harlem River.
"For a coyote to get to Midtown, it has to be a very adventurous coyote," Mr. Benepe said. "It was a very curious kind of coyote."
Even Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor, felt compelled to comment on the coyote's travails.
During a session with reporters Wednesday morning, he said: "This is New York, and I would suggest the coyote may have more problems than the rest of us."
On Tuesday night, the police managed to shoot the coyote it with a tranquilizer dart. But that didn't stop Hal, who was seen again this morning by a construction worker at a ball field that was being mowed.
Suzanne Kelly, who was working on the wardrobe department of a movie crew filming in the park, said she saw the coyote at about 8 this morning. She said it was near another woman walking her small dog. At first, Ms. Kelly said she thought the coyote was another dog.
"She tried to shoo it away," she said of the dog walker. "I saw it coming toward me. I purposely turned away. I have bad luck with dogs. I thought it would try to bite me."
The coyote, however, did not seem that interested in her, and made his way to another part of the park.
Finally, the police spotted the animal once again at the Hallet sanctuary, an area in the park near 65th street which includes a duck pond and is surrounded by an 8-foot-high fence.
The coyote darted through the wooded areas of the sanctuary, making his way in and out of a rocky area, and finally jumped into the pond.
But before officers could catch up with him, Hal scaled the fence around the sanctuary, and made his way through the park again. At one point his followers saw him go past Wollman Rink, where a woman in a sparkly sweater was serenely executing figure-8s upon the glistening ice, unaware of the commotion around her.
Hal turned north again, and was spotted going past the Boathouse Restaurant. Finally, he made its way past Belvedere Castle, and at about 10 a.m., he became trapped near some air conditioning equipment behind a nearby fire department comunications substation.
At about 10 a.m., Emergency Service officer Phillip Tropp took a shot at him, hitting him in the rear.
"We waited a few minutes for the tranquilizer to take effect," Mr. Tropps said, "then we noosed it and put it in the cage."
The coyote's breathing was shallow and he appeared in a deep sleep.
The last time a coyote was seen in the same section of the park was in April 1999, when one was tracked down, tranquilized and sent to live at the Queens Zoo.
Mr. Benepe had tried to calm any fears people may have had of an animal more common in the rural areas of Westchester County than in the middle of a big city.
"He's probably more frightened of you than you are of him," Mr. Benepe said.
Posted 3/22/2006 at 3:38 PM

Tuesday March 21, 2006
lately, i've been going to bed very late. i am so sleepy around my "bed time," (that being 10 PM) so i sluggishly move around my apt, then somehow i end up on the couch. 11 pm comes around, and then i realized "sex and the city" is now on ch.11 as reruns. mind you, i've only watched 1 episode of SATC and i wasn't so impressed with it while it ran on hbo.
i will say this and probably offend all of SJP's loves out there: i don't understand why they would praise such a show. so far, i've watched about 3 episodes and it's all about...okay, sex and things about the city, that has to do with sex. but its heroine - carrie - is a messed up woman and i don't think she's such a great character. flawed and realistic, perhaps and maybe in that the public admires the show. i agree that realistic portraits of people are what touches and moves us, yet her METHOD of coping, like having flings, then crawling back and apologizing and then "hurting" because her bf isn't forgiving of her quickly enough, etc. and that's what we should identify with...that we should EMPATHIZE WITH our heroine...COME ON! JEEZ LOUISE!!
i was, however, entertained by her friends.
Posted 3/21/2006 at 7:15 PM

Sunday March 19, 2006
okay, so i'm back...mostly because
a) i'm a cheapo: in order to create my own website, i need to PAY to host the site, etc. if i had that $10 a month, i'd rather (re)start Netflix!
b) i miss a place where i can paste a link and nobody tells me to:
"stop sending these things to me!"
"huh??"
"hey..."
so...welcome back...SEE PEA!!!!! HA HA HAAAAA (<---- that's actually # c), as i missed laughing at myself too.)
Posted 3/19/2006 at 9:47 PM