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SCOPPETTA'S DUPLICITY

Scoppetta's Duplicity

 
To the Editor:

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta was reported (June 9 issue) to have refused the City Council's offer of funding to reopen six fire companies that were shuttered in 2003. However, at the same hearing, he complained of the Department of Homeland Security's cuts in funding to New York. This strikes me as being two-faced.

The Commissioner also spoke of the increased response times in those closed companies' areas as being under the six-minute national average. The FDNY has always used five minutes as the maximum acceptable response time. Suddenly, a new definition is being introduced. Is this a cover-up smokescreen?

RICHARD TRAVERS, Deputy Chief, FDNY (Retired)

Editor's note: Mr. Travers is a former elected officer of the Uniformed Fire Officers' Association.