Elon Musk took to his social media site on Friday to decry New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s pick to lead the city’s fire department, claiming that she couldn’t do the job. The commissioner-to-be, Lillian Bonsignore, is a 31-year FDNY veteran who led the department’s emergency medical services during the Covid-19 pandemic. She will be the second woman to hold the position and the first openly gay person to lead the department.
That was enough for Musk to weigh in. “People will die because of this,” he wrote, adding, “Proven experience matters when lives are at stake.”
As Gothamist reported, before her retirement in 2022, Bonsignore was both the highest-ranking uniformed woman in FDNY history and the first woman to achieve a four-star rank. At the press conference announcing her appointment, Mamdani praised Bonsignore, saying that “her record speaks for itself,” before detailing her career in the city that spanned from before 9/11 through the worst of the pandemic.
Musk is the richest person on the planet and a rabid opponent of diversity, equity, and inclusion measures, or DEI. He appeared to be claiming that the new head of the FDNY was a diversity hire. He’s written: “Time for DEI to DIE,” “DEI has caused people to DIE,” “DEI is a Civil Rights Act violation,” “DEI kills art,” “DEI puts the lives of your loved ones at risk,” and “DEI is just another word for racism,” amongst his other previous observations about these efforts.
Back in 1995, the FDNY did a hostile takeover of EMS.
EMS had originally been under the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation, a city agency that oversees the public hospitals. In 1993, HHC funded an independent study to see what the best way to move forward was. The consultants looked at all the options, including moving EMS to police or fire supervision, ro making it an independent service. They decided that the best course was to keep EMS under HHC, but give it $3 million to upgrade.
At about that time, FD decided they wanted to study taking over EMS. The City Council voted them $5 million to do a test where FDNY responded to EMS calls in one borough. Even though the New York State agency in charge of licensing paramedics said FD had failed, the City decided the test was a great success. FD got control of EMS.
Pretty much the day FD took over, old time EMS people started leaving. Some retired, and others went to other civil service jobs.
Only one Fire Chief bothered to take an ride-alongs with EMS. Most never stuck their nose into an EMS station.