THE| CUTTING EDGE Winter 2020 Vol. 28, No. 1 NEWSLETTER The People Have Spoken and A New Day Dawns See Page 2 Inside Dawn of a New Day Local 94 Service Awards Meet our 2020 Scholars WINTER 2020 | 1 Page 2 Pages 8-9 Pages 14-15 Business Manager’s Report Executive Board Kuba J. Brown Business Manager & Financial Secretary Thomas M. Hart President After Separation and Loss Michael Gadaleta Vice President Raymond Macco We Enter the New Year in Hope Assistant Business Manager & Recording-Corresponding Secretary Brothers and Sisters, Kelly Ann Drummond Treasurer Phillip Baffuto I hope this finds you and your families Conductor well and in good health. These have been Local 94 members picketed for months outside 300 Wall Street (L). The Rocco Ferrigno extraordinary difficult and painful times. pandemic led to a livestream of our 9/11 Memorial Mass, We Will Never Forget. Guard Many of our Brothers and Sisters have been John Cancel, Vincent Curcio stricken by this horrible coronavirus. Our Bill Caramico Trustees nation has already suffered the loss of more Anthony Fasulo, David Rodriguez, than 300,000 lives, and another American ‘You were always there ready to keep our Joseph Gargiulo dies every minute. Auditors children, our teachers and the tenants within Who could have ever imagined? So as we reflect during this Christmas sea- our schools, commercial buildings, condos, and Business Manager and Agents son please join with me as we take a moment Kuba J. Brown to reflect on the lives lost and pray for the apartment complexes safe and secure.’ Business Manager/Financial Secretary families they have left behind. Raymond Macco May they rest in peace. Assistant Business Manager/ Recording-Corresponding Secretary/ A Season and Reasons for Hope Business Representative for Downtown Council Member Ben Kallos and Kuba Brown Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island Christmas and the New Year is the season after meeting at the German Embassy. Voters in states as diverse as New York and a meeting with the German Embassy. precious treasure -- our children – could safely Thomas M. Hart of hope. And with the much anticipated vac- Georgia, Michigan and Arizona, and Virginia In March as we were about to walk return their classrooms. President/Business Representative for Midtown Manhattan/Health & Safety Officer cine now at hand we may at last be able to and Colorado all voted for change. The people proudly in the St, Patrick’s Day parade with Strategies and plans for schools and build- Michael Gadaleta bring this devastating virus under control. Joseph Biden? Thirty six years in the Senate, have spoken. Now it’s up to the new adminis- IUOE General President Callahan as Grand ings were in a state of constant change. You Vice President/Business Representative of We have also elected a new president. eight years as Vice President. Few if any, tration to deliver. Marshall, COVID-19 hit like a thunderbolt. remained steadfast and did not yield. You were Uptown Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx On January 20th Joseph Biden will be know and understand the inner workings of Working together Biden and Harris may Our city and our state were shut down. No always there ready to keep our children, our Kelly Drummond sworn in as the 46th President of the United Washington as well as Mr. Biden. just be the team to get the job done. more in-person meetings, no golf outings, no teachers and the tenants within our schools, Treasurer/Business Representative of Hotels, Clubs and Commercial Residential properties States. President-elect Biden along with Vice Together, they know and understand how Let’s give them a chance. summer picnics, no dinner-dance. We even commercial buildings, condos, and apartment of New York City; New York City Public Schools President-elect Kamala Harris will bring years the government is structured and how it live-streamed our September 11 Memorial complexes safe and secure. Rocco Ferrigno of government service and experience into the works. They built their campaign on rebuild- What We’ve Done, Where Mass. You made us all very proud. Guard/Business Representative White House. ing our infrastructure, job creation, expanding We’re Going All these events meant to bring our mem- Merry Christmas & a Safe and Healthy Downtown Manhattan This has been an historic election in so education and creating new opportunities. Our lives and our routines have now and bers, family and friends together gone in an New Year, Bill Caramico Trustee/Business Representative many ways. The Vice-President elect Harris These promises are not new. In fact forever been changed. Both at home and at instant. of New York City Public Schools, Hotel and Club is the first woman to hold that office. She has President Trump and others before him have work we have created and will continue to cre- Yet, throughout these troubled times you, In Solidarity, properties of New York City been breaking barriers throughout her career. all talked about infrastructure. Yet, for all the ate new routines. the Chiefs, Assistant Chiefs, Engineers and John Cancel A former prosecutor and a member of the talk it’s been nearly 70 years since President Just think we began this year with picket Helpers stepped up to ensure your buildings Trustee/Business Representative of New York City Public Schools, Hotel and Club Senate, she brings a lifetime of experience to Eisenhower announced and developed the lines outside 30 Wall Street fighting to restore were safe, secure and operating efficiently. properties of New York City the Office. interstate highway system. I think we can all our members and members of Local 32 BJ In our schools Local 94 Firemen and On the cover: President-elect Joe Biden and When it comes to experience who has agree those roads and bridges might need an who were told they were being replaced. Our women, continued to work throughout the Kuba J. Brown Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. ever been as prepared for the presidency than upgrade. efforts to save those jobs led to rallies and even year to ensure our schools, and our most Business Manager and Financial Secretary Photo by Shutterstock. 2 | THE CUTTING EDGE NEWSLETTER WINTER 2020 | 3 Tom Hart 11 Madison Ave. Top BOMA Honors for Local 94 Chief and Crew Pandemic Leaves Little Time to Celebrate (L to R) Chief Ralph DiDomenico, Engineers Chris Kerr, James Stipeck, Mike Taggart, Home to Chef Daniel Humm’s three-star Mike Persaud (wearing cap), Assistant Chief Lou Liotta and Engineer John Trumpfeller. restaurant Eleven Madison Park is renowned throughout the world. But Humm and his talented team aren’t the only stars on the block. The building which once was occupied One only needs to visit the engine room by 8,000-10,000 people a day has been reduced of 11 Madison Ave, where Local 94 Chief Ralph DiDomenico and his talented team to 400 to 500. who last year earned BOMA’s highest honor the Grand Pinnacle Award. And, while still basking in their success Chief DiDomenico was named the 2020 Chief of the Year. DiDomenico and his Local 94 crew of Thermal Battery cooling system featuring sooner had DiDomenico received his award Lou Liotta, Mike Persaud, Mike Taggart, two high efficiency centrifugal chillers and than we were hit with the coronavirus John DeChiara, Chris Kerr, Steve Baker, 64 thermal ice storage tanks, holding some pandemic. Willie Mercado, Bill Pavlovic, Ted Benson, 500,000 pounds of ice. The building which once was occupied James Nobiletti, John Trumpfeller, James That big investment began paying divi- by 8,000-10,000 people a day has been Stipeck and Mike Kerwin were recognized dends from day 1. “The savings have been reduced to 400 to 500. for the extraordinary energy savings they remarkable,” said DiDomenico. “With the “In the beginning we were working created in the 1.1 million square-foot space rebates and savings of $750,000 a year in split shifts two weeks on two weeks off,” they operate. electricity, we will reach our ROI in 5.4 DiDomenico said. “Some of the guys were As the home to SONY and the American years.” in the work share program where they Headquarters of Credit Suisse, Yelp, as well Beyond the dollars, the project led to received unemployment and the $650 sup- as the aforementioned 11 Madison Park, the a reduction of 1.035 KW peak demand plement. But that didn’t last.” building is in operation 24-hours a day. during the first summer; eliminated 1.4M DiDomenico is hopeful that the vaccine The road to cost cutting began in 2018 lbs. of C02 annually. will be the game changer. “Hopefully with with the installation of a $6.5 million Trane The celebrations were short lived. No the New Year things will get better.” 4 | THE CUTTING EDGE NEWSLETTER WINTER 2020 | 5 Mike Gadaleta Section Head Here Ray Macco and Rocco Ferrigno Improving Air Quality in Age of COVID As the owners of four buildings in Manhattan, and the operators of a fifth build- Local 94: Keeping ing in Manhattan, Fisher Brothers’ top priority has always been the health and well-being of the Doors Open their tenants and operations staff. During the Fall of 2019, the company’s leadership team began exploring an innova- While Coping with tive indoor air quality (IAQ) monitoring sys- tem. As soon as a pilot program was finalized, Chief Engineer Tommy Mazza (2nd L), with less than half of the COVID-19 31-member crew. the first cases of COVID-19 were recorded in New York. “We were looking at the IAQ monitor- At the heart of this newsletter are the sto- Citigroup, the building was in the midst of Direct Outside Air System (DOAS) and ing system, and we were going to start with a ries which feature the men and women who a five-year multi-million dollar renovation Demand Ventilation Control Monitoring.