RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
NPR's Margot Adler reports.
MARGOT ADLER: The statement added, we're working to find ways to recognize and honor first responders and other groups at different places and times.
ANTHONY FLAMIA: It just was, you know, a total disrespect of the responders.
ADLER: Anthony Flamia, a retired and disabled New York police officer, injured during his work at Ground Zero, says that's absurd. He says they were the ones who put the city back together, and he is not alone in his views.
JAMES RYDER: I was there on day one, and I was there for four years.
ADLER: James Ryder is also a retired officer with the NYPD who worked on DNA identification of body parts and other items at Ground Zero. As for the responders not being invited...
RYDER: We don't know why. Michael Bloomberg is a very intelligent man. There's always ways you can figure out something and the good Mayor Bloomberg figured out a way to get a third term. And if that took him a little while and some effort, I'm sure he could have figured out a way to invite us down there.
ADLER: Margot Adler, NPR News, New York. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
