Former Deputy Mayor is Sick From WTC Dust

Yesterday, it was revealed that former deputy mayor Rudy Washington, the Deputy Mayor for Community Development and Business Services under Rudy Giuliani, had filed a worker's compensation claim to cover medical expenses related to his respiratory ailments - and that the city was trying to appeal it. Washington overseen clean up and outreach work at Ground Zero right after September 11, according to another deputy mayor, and now has severe asthma. This comes after the umpteenth report that WTC dust could scar lungs and reduce their capacity to take in and let out air. In order to avoid any more embarassment of future "City Doesn't Care About People Who Work at Ground Zero" headlines, Mayor Bloomberg is asking that city lawyers settle the claim. The NY Times reports that the city appealed Washington's claim because they felt it was filed after the statute of limitations, which is pretty telling about what the city will do to avoid paying a former city employee for an illness on the job during a terrible time. We wonder if the city will have to enact some sort of policy about 9/11-related health claims, as illnesses will continue to emerge in these years after September 11.