DEP Press Advisory on Deer Hunting Cancellation, October 2, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Up-HTfi... “It’s a temporary home with no end in sight,” said Vincent Tatick, president of the Joseph H. Carter Fish Company. “The city thinks they’re helping us. But over all this location is killing us. If we can get back home, we want to get back home yesterday.” The wholesalers were scheduled to move to a new location in the Bronx in 2003, but construction on that J'?- project will not begin until later this fall, city officials said. For now, they I will have to endure the parking lot. a® ' "We’ve got no problem with the temporary move,” said Tony Cirillo, president of Local 359 of the United I' 6a Food and Commercial Workers, the union that represents the 400 jour­ I neymen and salesmen at the fish stalls. “We’re Americans and we want to do our part. But enough is ^ough. The New York Stock Ex­ change is back open for business, for pete’s sake. How about us?” A refrigerated truck at the Fulton Fish Market, now relocated to Hunts Point in Because business is so bad. Mr. the Bronx. The temporary market has only one-third the space of the old site. Cirillo said, 50 of his men have been laid off and more job losses are ex­ are set by the individual consignees pected next week. and are determined by a strange “Have you ever seen Fulton Mar­ “These are good jobs,” he said. combination of weather reports, fish­ ket?” the official said. “It always “This whole thing has a negative ermen’s gossip and the prices at the looks filthy at the end of the selling neighboring stalls. day.” Yet another The men still come to work at There is also the economic health of the old neighborhood to consider. midnight, as they have for a century. aftershock: South Their language is rough and blasphe­ Carmine’s restaurant, at Front and Beekman Streets, and a favorite of mous. But many buyers, who come market hands, has lost most of its Street is needed ‘for from as far away as South Jersey and northern Connecticut, are going food business, the owner reports. Then there is Annie, a pillar of the the relief effort.’ to the Philadelphia and Boston mar­ Fulton Fish Market. She earns a kets rather than take their chances meager living sailing newspapers in the Bronx during the dark morn­ and socks and cigarettes. She has no ing hours, the salesmen said. pension. What happened to Annie, the trickle-down on families and the Judging by the sanitary conditions men asked yesterday morning. city.” of the temporary fish house, one can­ Around 4 a.m., she arrived by car Some people at the market say not blame them. The quarters are service. They were glad to see her I Mayor Giuliani is using a national until someone figured it out. ' wretched. Rodent droppings line the emergency to punish them for their walls. Exhaust fumes from the fork­ "Annie’s here?” he said. “Oh, God. long-running resistance to his au­ lifts mingle with the fish. The floors That means we’re here to stay.” thority. Mr. Giuliani effectively are a slop of mud and oil. crushed the influence of organized The few toilets are filthy, and there crime at the Fulton Fish Market in are only a few hoses to wash down You can order the mid-1990’s, requiring licensing the entire 50,000 square feet of indoor The Times Book Review and background checks on workers, cooler and storage space. The equip­ by mail. which forced more than a dozen com­ ment at the temporary market in­ panies out of business. A great gift idea! cludes 20 diesel trucks used for re- • Citj' officials say the move is noth­ frigeration. 15 portable spotlights ing more than an emergency meas­ and a handful of outhouses. One ure to keep the fish market, the larg­ truck recently' malfunctioned and est in the United States, solvent, and $13,000 worth of seafood was lost that every effort is being made to get overnight. the Fulton Fish Market back up and A city official who works with the running. market seemed content with the “There was no electricity or tele­ cleanliness of the Hunts Point loca­ phones and Lower Manhattan was tion, saying the area is power- immobilized,” Ms. Patterson said. washed daily and the garbage is “At this point. South Street is an picked up. artery needed for the relief effort, and it’s hard to say when we’ll be able to move them back.” The market operates like an open- air auction house, except there are no barkers and no tote boards to reflect supply and demand. Prices

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