Sanit Inducts 400, Honors Its Heroes

100-Plus Promoted

Mayor Bloomberg and Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty Nov. 15 swore in 400 new Sanitation Workers, honored several heroic employees, and promoted more than 100 workers to the ranks of General Superintendent, Sanitation Police Inspector, and Sanitation Supervisor.

Photo credit: Mike Castellano A FIERY RESCUE: Mayor Bloomberg (far left) and Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty (far right) honor Sanitation Worker Roger Martinez and Sanitation Supervisor Daniel Kane for alerting residents in The Bronx that their building was on fire. Mr. Bloomberg noted at the ceremony that the city depends on Sanitation Workers every day to remove thousands of tons of trash and to clean the streets when it snows. "It's a Herculean job that allows New York to thrive and grow," he told the crowd of hundreds of Sanitation Workers and their friends and families gathered at the Center for Performing Arts at Brooklyn College.

Mr. Doherty welcomed the new workers and lauded the new supervisory staff and award winners. "Sanitation personnel do a gritty but an essential job, and at times we do it with compassion and courage," he remarked.

When DOS Supervisor Daniel Kane and Sanitation Worker Roger Martinez noticed smoke billowing from the top floor of an apartment building in The Bronx on Aug. 11, 2005 they ran inside to alert the residents. They also re-entered the building to close the doors and windows to help contain the fire. The department awarded them the Gold Medal of Honor for their actions that day.

Their colleague, Sanitation Worker Stanley White, who called 911 and began putting water on the fire with a hose from a nearby department garage, received the Silver Medal of Honor.

Sanitation Workers Damon Allen and Michael Kalinowski were awarded the Gold Medal of Honor for rescuing a panicked father and his young daughter from a burning building in Brooklyn. The men saw flames shooting from an apartment while they were on their way back to their garage at 4 a.m. on Sept. 14, 2005.

'We Tried to Help'

"We heard two people calling for help, so we tried to help anyone in any way we could," Mr. Kalinowski told THE CHIEF-LEADER the evening of the rescue.

The two men noticed a man holding a young girl trapped on the third-floor fire escape screaming, "Help, catch my baby."

With flames engulfing the building on Remsen Ave. in East Flatbush, the Sanitation Workers instructed the man, Damon Whyte, to try to move a bit further down the side of the escape ladder.

After climbing down one flight, Mr. Whyte dropped his 4-year-old step-daughter, Emani, into Mr. Allen's waiting hands. "I was just hoping that nothing would happen and we would get them out safely," Mr. Allen said. Mr. Whyte reached the ground on his own.

Emani, who was out shopping with her father the next day, told a reporter the drop was "fun."

While on routine patrol in Brooklyn on Aug. 9, 2005, Sanitation Police Officer John Guarneri saw an elderly man being spat on, slapped, and assaulted with a baseball bat. He apprehended and detained the assailant until the police arrived. The 68-year-old man was treated for his injuries and the perpetrator was charged with second degree assault and harassment, as well as criminal possession of a weapon. Officer Guarneri was awarded with the department's Bronze Medal of Honor.

New Supervisory Staff

Steven Habin was named General Superintendent IV and Steven Costas and Ronald Dobson were promoted to General Superintendent III. The new General Superintendents II are: Frank Costanzo, Vincent DiPolo, Chi Dong, Thomas Killeen, Carl Novelli, and Nicholas Vero.

The General Superintendents I are: Robert Acquista, Kenneth Cali, Ronald Cardno, David Chillemi, Robert Durante, Stephen Heyen, Christopher Klinger, Louis Lanni, Michael Moss, Francis O'Keefe, Luiz Pang, Silvestro Rocchio, John Ryan, and Joseph Santanastaso. Vincent M. Caruso was named Sanitation Police Inspector. The names of the Sanitation Police Officers are: Michael Bristol, Ronald Gori, Antowin Kenner, Vincent Provenzano, and Gerard Rotolo.