Pol: Express lanes for 1st responders
Ten items or less should not apply to New York’s selfless first responders.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams called Saturday for all New York supermarkets to offer express lane treatment for those heroic New Yorkers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
“After coming off a 12-hour shift, or going in early and coming back late at night, they should not have to navigate the grocery aisles to find the basic products that they need,” said Adams (inset), joined by several city union representatives. “First responders should get first dibs. And so we’re asking all of our grocery stores to prioritize them, and let them move through the stores in an expeditious fashion.” Foodtown-Pathmark became the first to heed the call, announcing firefighters, police officers, correction officers, hospital personnel and other essential workers will receive the special treatment at its 13 supermarkets across the state.
Qualifying workers should present ID to store personnel, and “we will get you through the checkout lines as fast as we can,” said Noah Katz, co-president of Foodtown. Katz also pledged to distribute $100,000 in $25 gift cards to the city’s stressed-out health employees at hospitals near five Brooklyn store locations.
Adams additionally called for the city and the state to open dedicated coronavirus testing sites strictly for public employees, citing recent numbers of ailing first responders: Roughly 20% of NYPD officers, 17% of city firefighters and 24% of Emergency Medical Service employees called in sick in the last week.
“They’re putting themselves in harm’s way every day,” he said. “They’re not walking the other way. … It’s time we show our gratitude to these heroes in concrete ways.”