9/11 hero and NYPD detective honored with street naming
A street bordering Williamsburg Houses on Scholes Street (and the corner of Humboldt) is now named Detective Barbara Taylor-Burnette Place. Many in the community came out to honor her at the ceremony held on October 22.
Barbara Taylor-Burnette grew up in the community of Williamsburg Houses and when grown became a NYPD detective and her heroic efforts on 9/11 shortened her life. She died at 58 last December after a long battle with interstitial lung disease and lung cancer that were linked to her 23 days working at Ground Zero. On the day of 9/11 she worked twelve hours rescuing and evacuating people starting moments after the World Trade Center fell.
As her health and the health of her colleagues began to fail due to their exposure to the 9/11 site Barabara became a health advocate and made two trips to Washington D.C. to make a stand for full funding for the Zadroga Act.
Throughout her health struggles she remained a positive force, remembers Nicholas Papain attorney and 9/11 advocate. Papain told the NY Daily News that Barbara wouldn’t let her suffering lead her story. That she always had a smile on her face and was filled with optimism so that everyone would forget she was ill.
Barbara Taylor-Burnette’s husband, Lebro “Lee” Burnette and their three daughters are still mourning their loss. But they see the street naming brings her presence home to a place that has been in her family since the 1950s and continues to be.
The Greenline 