Excerpts from Chicago.cbslocal.com:
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has tapped Acting Chicago Fire Commissioner Annette Nance Holt, who lost her teenage son to one of the city’s most infamous shootings in 2007, to serve as the first Black woman to run the Chicago Fire Department.
Lightfoot announced Nance Holt’s nomination at a graduation ceremony for the latest class of Chicago Fire Department paramedics on Friday where Holt urged the class of 42 new paramedics to treat the patients they serve as members of their own families.
Nance Holt is the mother of Blair Holt, a 16-year-old Julian High School honor student who was shot and killed in 2007, as he was trying to shield a classmate from gunfire on a CTA bus. She and Blair’s father, retired Chicago Police Cmdr. Ronald Holt, have become outspoken advocates for victims of gun violence ever since.
A product of the Chicago Public Schools and a graduate of Chicago State University, Nance Holt has been a firefighter since 1990, four years after the first women were hired at Chicago Fire Department. She has served in virtually every role at the department, except for engineer.
In 2018, Nance Holt became the first woman and first Black woman to serve as First Deputy Commissioner. Lightfoot tapped her as Acting Fire Commissioner in early April, after Commissioner Richard Ford II retired when he reached the department’s mandatory retirement age.
#1 by Bill Post on May 21, 2021 - 7:27 PM
The point is that we don’t know what Commissioner Nance Holts’ qualification for being promoted to the fire commissioner.
I am afraid that Mayor Lightfoot might try to micro manage the fire department and use Commissioner Holt as a cover or a “smoke screen,” pun intended.
#2 by John Antkowski on May 16, 2021 - 2:35 PM
Well put, Old Timer. But the times we live in now, race and gender always will trump Qualifications and experience. The Fire Department has always been a predominately Caucasian male profession. The Chicago Fire Department has always had that issue. We don’t know what she brought to the table, or the agenda she has planned, but I will bet my last dollar her agenda will be run by the Mayor. For all we know she could of been the best qualified from the list of candidates. Check out her achievements before casting judgement. I would personally say, that anyone who is on the CFD now and follows this platform; be ready for drastic changes. Just my 2 cents.
#3 by Old Timer on May 16, 2021 - 2:15 PM
Family and personal tragedies should be off limits
That being said race sex and religious beliefs are not a requirement for a Command Position
Since 1990 what are this person’s accomplishments that benefit the department and its personnel
What special training or tactical teams was this person involved in
What are this person’s view of the department now
What are the plans to lead the department forward in all aspects
#4 by Dan on May 15, 2021 - 11:48 PM
Bmurphy, maybe it was sarcasm, but no, not out of bounds.
Look at all the press in this. They concentrate more her kid’s murder, which is sad but not related to firefighting versus her qualifications. Unless you think being a Black woman is her main qualification, which the press and mayor thinks it is.
The only qualification one or 2 media site reported is that she graduated from college. But in what? What are other qualifications does she have? I would hope there more than that. But the media doesn’t tell us that and neither does the CFD web site either.
#5 by BMurphy on May 15, 2021 - 4:47 PM
Chuck: waaaaay outta bounds, dude.
#6 by Michael on May 15, 2021 - 12:58 PM
Yea Chuck, I’m sure she is counting her blessings.
Unreal.
#7 by JS on May 14, 2021 - 10:20 PM
Get a life Chuck…spoken like a true failure in life yourself
#8 by FFPM571 on May 14, 2021 - 7:52 PM
Shocking… never would have expected that….not from this Mayor…..
#9 by Dan on May 14, 2021 - 2:53 PM
Is she qualified to run the department based on her skills or her reputation?
If she was the best candidate, great. If not another political show appointment.
#10 by Chuck on May 14, 2021 - 2:32 PM
She got more mileage out of her child’s murder in career advancement than any human in history. Unreal.