By Sally Goldenberg
Staten Island Advance (New York)
Copyright 2007 Advance Publications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
NEW YORK — New York City’s fire commissioner vented his exasperation yesterday about being ousted from the front ranks of the city’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which will wind along Fifth Avenue on Saturday.
“We’re really disappointed. I think it’s disrespectful to move them (firefighters) back,” Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta told reporters after he testified at a City Council hearing on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed budget.
The commissioner was particularly frustrated by what he deems a hollow reason for switching the lineup and banishing the FDNY from the prime marching spot it has enjoyed for more than a century.
“The reason given was that we had New Orleans firefighters join the parade last year, and they took time to unfurl the banner thanking the FDNY for our response to the Hurricane Katrina situation,” the commissioner said.
The move irked organizers of the parade, who could not immediately be reached for comment last night, because the New Orleans contingent held up the march.
The Ancient Order of Hibernians has carte blanche in running their parade, a point driven home by court rulings that have upheld their exclusion of gays who want to march under their own banner.
The new order of march “really defies logic and reason,” Scoppetta said, reiterating that the FDNY sent more than 300 firefighters to the Gulf Coast in the wake of the September 2005 disaster.
“Of course New Orleans came up. If that delayed the parade by any number of minutes, I think it was time well invested,” he said.
Traditionally, the parade is led by the band of the Fighting 69th Infantry, followed by the New York Police Department and then the Fire Department of New York.
Despite being sandwiched in the middle of the nation’s largest St. Patrick’s Day march, Scoppetta said the FDNY will show up thousands strong for the Manhattan parade, and will carry 343 American flags - one for each firefighter killed on Sept. 11.
“There is never a St. Patrick’s parade that the Fire Department doesn’t get a wonderfully warm response,” he said. “It’s always a big day for the Fire Department, and we’ll be there, but it’s really disappointing.”
The snafu is an example of history repeating itself, but last time the relationship between the FDNY and the parade spoiled, it was Scoppetta who angered his charges by changing the rules.
Two years ago, the commissioner, along with the chief of department, banned the wearing of green berets by firefighters in the interests of projecting a uniform and dignified appearance for the department.
The move irked about 1,000 active and retired firefighters, who boycotted the march because they deemed the regulation disrespectful.