Unemployed Want More From LMDC, By
Matt Donnelly, NY Newsday, July 29, 2003
Before Sept. 11, Wendy Bradley, a mother of three, worked through a temp agency as an
office assistant, often in lower Manhattan. Within months of the terror attack, Bradley
was supporting her family on her unemployment checks and savings.
Two years later Bradley, 45, who lives in West Harlem, said her savings are gone and the
outlook for jobs is getting worse. In two months she will be out of a job - again.
So yesterday, she was among about 300 unemployed workers and activists at St. Andrew's
Church downtown who demanded that the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. use $1.2 billion
in federal grants to create 60,000 new jobs.
The LMDC and its partners have given out more than $17 billion on infrastructure,
transportation, tax credits and bonds, but officials with the Labor Community Action
Network to Rebuild New York point out that none of the money has been used to create jobs,
even though New York City has more than 300,000 unemployed workers.
So far, the proposal from the action network - a coalition of labor unions, community or
advocacy organizations, research institutes and other nonprofits - hasn't attracted much
attention among politicians and LMDC officials, said the group's coordinator, David
Dyssegaard Kallick.
"We've really been given the runaround," he said. "We've just seen a lot of
behind-closed-doors decision making."
A spokeswoman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg read a statement saying the action network has
"been a true source of support for our great city."
Bradley, after hearing the statement, laughed. "I could have written that," she
said. LMDC employees at the rally declined to comment.
After speaking at St. Andrew's, about 200 people marched to the LMDC headquarters at One
Liberty Plaza. Five representatives delivered a letter, asking LMDC leaders to meet and
discuss their employment plan.
After about five minutes, a dozen police officers escorted the protesters from the lobby
to the sidewalk, where they slowly dispersed.
LMDC officials declined to comment on the letter, adding that it is holding community
meetings throughout the city to gauge public opinion on allocating the remaining federal
funds.
Bradley was among those circling the lobby and later the front steps. She said she came to
see what the city and the action network could offer her.
In January, she applied for public assistance and in April the city gave her a six-month
maintenance job in Morningside Park. Bradley said she doesn't mind picking up trash in the
summer heat, as long as it brings her a paycheck. She is making $7.50 an hour.
"My goal is to not be on public assistance," Bradley said. "This is not me.
This is degrading. So I ask the city, is this the best you can do for me?"
Small WTC
firms face new fund delay, NY Daily News, by
Greg Gittrich, Monday, July 28th, 2003
Small businesses near Ground Zero awarded federal aid to help them rebound from the Sept.
11 attacks won't get the sorely needed money this month as promised.
The state Economic Development Corp., which controls the cash, has delayed the payouts again - threatening many of the companies' survival, Crain's New York Business reports.
The state has told the 2,000 businesses awaiting grant money that the funds will arrive in August. The companies, most of which applied for the grants right before a Dec. 31, 2002, deadline, were initially told they'd get the cash several months ago.
"They talk about small businesses being the backbone of America, but then they turn their backs on us," says Cynthia Cruickshank, chief executive of Unique Support Staffing Inc., which is waiting for $80,000.
The state got a staggering 3,447 applications in December, and the program's original $481 million in funding couldn't cover all the qualified applicants.
The state asked for more funds, but the new allocation required approval from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the federal Housing and Urban Development Department.
The development corporation signed off on the money in May, and a HUD spokesman told Crain's his agency was "making every effort to fast-track our approval."
Church
won't allow mini WTC on grave, By Greg
Gittrich, NY Daily News, Tuesday, July 15th, 2003
Roman Catholic Church officials are forbidding the family of a man killed at Ground Zero
to erect a small granite replica of the twin towers at his grave - causing his parents
added anguish.
"What the church is doing is cruel," said Nassima Wachtler of Ramsey, N.J., whose only son died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "The whole idea of any kind of church or religion is to soothe the soul. I don't find that is being done."
Greg Wachtler, 25, worked on the 93rd floor of the north tower, the first to be hit by a hijacked plane. His remains were recovered amid the rubble of 5 World Trade Center and identified Nov. 14, 2001.
His parents believe he had escaped the intense fires that consumed the north tower, only to have the skyscraper collapse before he could flee the complex.
Wachtler, who lived in SoHo, was buried in the family's plot at St. Mary's Cemetery in Greenwich, Conn. His paternal grandparents lie beside him.
The headstone bears the family name but makes no specific mention of Wachtler, who worked as a research associate for Fred Alger Management. It also says nothing of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Wachtler's mother and his father, Paul, believe the best way to memorialize their son is by placing a monument in the likeness of the twin towers on the base of the headstone.
"The towers were very important to him," said Paul Wachtler, 59. "He was very proud of them and was very excited when he started working there."
According to a drawing of the proposed tribute, the replica towers would be 4.4 inches wide and 29 inches tall. They would be slightly shorter than the headstone.
"It would be so respectful," said Nassima Wachtler, 57. "We are not trying to make a showcase of it."
But the Diocese of Bridgeport, which manages the cemetery, has refused to allow the tribute, citing longstanding rules that allow for only one monument per plot.
"We do sympathize with their loss," said Ray Capo, director of cemeteries for the diocese. "But there are other people who lose loved ones as well. This is a policy for everyone."
The cemetery covers about 70 acres and consists of a few thousand plots, according to Capo. "To allow additional monuments would open a Pandora's box of problems," he said.
Church officials learned of the idea of the replica towers in June 2002.
Family nixed alternative
After rejecting the idea, Capo said, the diocese presented several alternatives to the Wachtlers - including increasing the headstone's size and sandblasting an image of the twin towers on the marker. "But she refuses to do that," Capo said of Wachtler's mother.
The Wachtlers insist the rule is enforced capriciously and have sought help from elected officials in New Jersey and Connecticut.
The couple said they have no intention of suing the church or exhuming their son. They are seeking to win public support in hopes of swaying the church.
"We are asking for an exception because the event was so exceptional," said Paul Wachtler. "We are looking for a break."
His wife, who makes the 40-mile trip to her son's grave almost daily, vowed not to give up. "What they are doing is opening the wound a little bit more," she said. "I'll keep on fighting. The last wish that we have for our son is that he can be buried with his towers above him."
Bikers hit
road for 9/11 fund, By Don Singleton, NY Daily News, Sunday, July 6th, 2003
With a thunderous roar, more than 1,000 motorcyclists rode to Woodstock from Ground Zero
yesterday in a charity event.
The bikers, many of whom had worked for months cleaning up the World Trade Center site, gathered first at Battery Park near South Ferry.
The Ground Zero Independence Ride helps family members and children affected by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to event organizer Greg Nolan, a foreman of Local 15, Operating Engineers, who spent months with the hundreds of rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero.
The bikers made the ride to Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, in upstate Oneida County - site of the first Woodstock music festival - in a long, colorful procession, and quickly settled in for two days of camping, music and camaraderie.
"Bikers from around the country as well as the metropolitan area are taking part to honor our nation's flag on Independence Day weekend and help a worthwhile cause," Nolan said.
When the two-day event wraps up at 6 p.m. today, the organizers plan to turn over at least $200,000 in proceeds to the World Trade Center Miracle Foundation, which aids victims of 9/11.
"Many individuals cannot get and have not gotten assistance because of insurance restrictions, giving rules tied to charitable bylaws, illiteracy or government agencies' strict rules of qualification," Nolan said.
WTC graffiti
fix still on hold, By
Weeks after the Port Authority vowed to replace vandalized panels describing the twin
towers' history, the tribute is still marred with graffiti messages - some well-meaning,
some crude - from Ground Zero visitors.
Graffiti has been written and, in some cases, etched across the panels, prompting officials to order new ones that will be placed above the reach of visitors to the mesh viewing wall.
"The graffiti is on these signs in such a manner that you can't scrape it off," said Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman.
He said a manufacturing delay has kept the agency from replacing the panels, which describe the history and construction of the twin towers, the bomb blast at the site in February 1993 and the 9/11 attacks.
But some visitors to the viewing area are stunned to see scrawled messages like "madison arrived here," written vertically on a picture of the two towers, and another missive that reads: "JAZ - A.K.A. Big Butt."
Other messages were solemn, such as "God Bless" or "My heart cries for thee."
Octavine Prather of Staten Island, who visited the World Trade Center site with her son yesterday, was offended by the graffiti. "I think it's disrespectful," Prather said. "It's terrible."
Officials hope to have the new panels in place by the end of the summer.
My car drove 'em crazy, By Alison Gendar, NY Daily News, Thursday, July 3rd, 2003
I shut down the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday.
Well, not exactly. And certainly not intentionally. It was my car that did it.
Of all the thousands of cars parked legally and illegally in New York City, some guy singles out my red Toyota to use as a prop for a terrorist prank.
Great.
For the record, I'm not a terrorist. I write about schools for the Daily News. Just want that said up-front.
I had parked on Centre St. near the entrance of the Brooklyn Bridge, a spot favored by reporters when they need to cover something in or near City Hall. I pulled in about 9:15 a.m. and headed to an education hearing at nearby 250 Broadway.
By the time I got back at 12:15 p.m., the Department of Citywide Administrative Services had barricaded the area with metal police gates.
I smiled at the department's officers and said I had to get my car, parked behind their barricade.
"Which one?"
"That one," I said, pointing to the red Toyota.
"That's YOUR car?" The officer gave me a funny look. "Stay right there. Don't go anywhere."
My first thought was that Mayor Bloomberg was cracking down on illegal press parking and that my car was impounded. But the skeptical looks on cops' faces said it was more serious than parking tickets.
While I was away, a man named Albert Martinez told police of an encounter with a Middle Eastern-looking man that involved my car.
Martinez told cops the man came up to him and offered $1,500 if he drove a car over the Brooklyn Bridge and parked on the other side. Martinez said the man jingled car keys, showed him the cash and pointed to a red car.
My car.
Instead of taking the money, Martinez told the man he needed to call a friend about the deal. But instead, Martinez dialed 911 and waited for the cops.
Police partially closed the bridge, rerouted trains, evacuated nearby offices, shut down Chambers and Centre Sts., and called in the bomb squad. In the end, cops said my car was clean, and the bridge, subway and streets were reopened.
So ended the three-hour stint when my car was the central character in a bizarre New York story. It might have been funny, if it hadn't been so creepy.
At least if I blow deadline, I'll have a good excuse.
At Museum's
New Home, Old Seaport Walls Speak,
all it the city's original world trade center.
Nearly two centuries ago, the merchant Peter Schermerhorn began constructing a row of commercial buildings in a speculative Fulton Street development that was to house Manhattan's first collection of traders, importers and countinghouses only steps away from the city's busiest piers.
Now those original Federal-style brick commercial buildings of Schermerhorn Row — as well as tantalizing, venerable remnants of the thriving businesses that inhabited them — are being reclaimed as components of a $21 million new South Street Seaport Museum complex. Construction crews are toiling to make the buildings' hidden spaces and artifacts visible to the public for the first time when the museum opens this fall.
Peter Neill, president of the museum, said it would display "not only firsthand evidence of the maritime enterprise that built American trade, but also the acculturation process for immigrants, which established the diversity of our population."
Thomas Bender, professor of history at New York University, said that in the early 1800's, the seaport was nothing less than "the heart of a worldwide trading empire," adding, "It's fair to say that New York's economy was born there."
The riverward wharves of Schermerhorn Row were not only important to New York, but also the nation, because in those pre-income-tax days, Professor Bender said, the customs tariffs paid at New York's port were "supplying 70 percent of the national income by the time of the Civil War."
The new museum space, between Front and South Streets on Fulton Street, will offer salt-scented breezes and views of the harbor, and more important, walls and windows that were witnesses to the city's vibrant maritime saga.
Only yards from the Schermerhorn buildings, with their handmade bricks and raked slate roofs, the first American ships sailed to China to open trade. Whalers and packets arrived, as did boatloads of coffee, tea, molasses and, yes, immigrants.
Professor Bender said the Seaport was the place "where immigrants got off the boat, and found employment, and even the most unskilled could get their shot." That influx of new Americans, and the way of life of the working people of the wharves, will also be a focus of the new museum.
"We don't have the great collections of the historical societies uptown," Mr. Neill said, "which are basically the heirlooms of the great families that no one wanted to keep. This museum is about the working people — downtown, where the value was created. This is the beginning of the story. The uptown museums are the end of the story."
Schermerhorn Row was saved after a group of spirited citizens fought for years against
its demolition. They created the museum, which was chartered in 1967. The row and its
block were declared landmarks in 1968 and incorporated, along with the museum, in the mall
created by the
John H. Beyer, the partner in charge of the museum project for the architectural firm Beyer Blinder Belle, which also renovated Ellis Island and Grand Central Terminal, said the Seaport Museum "has never had a real gallery presence." The museum, which has a full-time staff of 39 and 300 volunteers, has exhibition space in three small galleries on Water Street to display its collection of nautical memorabilia. It also has exhibitions in three of its classic restored ships at Pier 16.
After entering at 12 Fulton Street (or 165 John Street at the other side of the museum), visitors will tread a newly installed corridor of greenish Louisiana bluestone on their way to the admissions desk, and ascend via an escalator to an atrium revealing the original buildings' backyard. Then visitors will tour a warren of lofts, storerooms and offices in what Mr. Beyer said were "the mercantile high-rise buildings of their day."
Mr. Neill said the goal was not to tear out the soul of the old structures to create exhibition space. "Like our sailing ships, the buildings themselves are artifacts," he said, "and we didn't want to turn them into white boxes."
The museum's circuitous exhibition route on upper floors was the answer to a real-estate conundrum. The arrangement of the Rouse Company with New York City gave the developer the rights to the retail space in most of the Seaport's ground floors and second floors, so the museum was carved out above.
The museum raised money for the new galleries from donors like the Starr Foundation,
the J. Aron Charitable Foundation,
In the congeries of rooms in the new museum — at points the space is barely seven feet high — visitors will be able to see original mercantile offices, lofts and warehouses. Hoists and elevators have been preserved. Charred beams and scorched ceilings will serve as lessons on the prevalence of fire in early maritime businesses.
Visitors will also be able to see the original chimneys, door frames, plaster walls and wallpaper — all of it greatly decomposed by time — of the Fulton Ferry Hotel, the one made famous in Joseph Mitchell's "Up in the Old Hotel," first written for The New Yorker.
"We're leaving this as a ruin," Mr. Neill said, "leaving it inhabited by the ghosts of immigrants and sailors and young women just off the boat."
In the hotel, visitors will be able to view rooms where generations of immigrant girls attended to the laundry, and witness some startling examples of workingmen's graffiti, like the signature of one William Sinclair from Sept. 16, 1847.
But the Lascaux cave of Schermerhorn graffiti is a 10-foot-wide by 8-foot-tall relic in the former Bennett & Becker tea and coffee importing company. Under old wallboard, workers found 130-year-old graffiti written in Gaelic, displaying the words to a popular revolutionary song, the drawing of a Gaelic harp and a caricature of the owner, James P. Bennett.
"This is quite a discovery," Mr. Neill said, "because we've so far been unable to find any actual portrait of Bennett for our exhibition."
A crucial element of the reconstruction has been the replacement of original rotted floors. More than 20,000 square feet of ancient pine boards rescued in Massachusetts by the Mountain Lumber Company of Ruckersville, Va., are being installed. "It contributes to the museum's authenticity, replicating the original flooring," said Willie Drake, the company's president.
Not unlike the immigrants who originally worked in the same warehouse room, one of the floor installers, Terence Chow, is also a new American — he arrived from Burma in 1972. The installation of the boards is challenging because "the floor is so uneven," he said on a recent afternoon, pointing to the eccentrically settled old walls.
"It makes you seasick just looking at it," he added, smiling. "The original workers had it easier."
Odd Package. Edgy Riders. Trains Stop. Unclear Why
o yesterday wasn't just another one of those days. It
was a subway-stopping, bridge-closing, going-nowhere kind of day that had a nerve-rattling
uneasiness. And all because of small things that had nothing to do with each other but set
off a major reaction in Lower Manhattan, first on the subway at Canal Street, and later
around a car near the Brooklyn Bridge.
By the time it was over, some subway lines had been snarled for more than eight hours, the Brooklyn Bridge had been closed for about 40 minutes, and the police were questioning a man who called 911 and said he had been offered money to drive a car parked near City Hall across the bridge.
The headaches began around 8:45 a.m., when passengers on a subway train noticed something — a "suspicious package" containing a white substance, as a Fire Department spokesman later described it. The passengers told the conductor, who told the train operator, who stopped the northbound No. 1 train at the Canal Street station.
Before long, local trains from 14th Street to South Ferry had been halted, as had express trains from 34th Street to Chambers Street.
Compounding the concern were words on the package. The police said they were "to hell," although there was talk outside the station that there were more words than that. Frank Goldsmith, the director of occupational health for the Transport Workers Union, said they were "anti-M.T.A. writing."
Soon the Fire Department arrived — 20 units with 100 firefighters in all, said the spokesman, Jack Thompson. The specialists in hazardous materials wore green suits and had cylindrical tanks strapped to their backs. Some set up a portable shower, a rectangular frame made of pipes that was connected to a fire hydrant. Later, firefighters used it for decontamination.
But first, they had to go in and see what was in the package. William Blaiche, an acting division chief, said it was pasty and was in a plastic bag inside the envelope. Chief Harold Meyers described what was in the plastic bag as "a wet, white, sugary-type" compound.
The firefighters tested it to see if it was a hazardous chemical or was radioactive. It was not, Chief Meyers said. Then they tried a different test to see if it contained harmful biological agents. That test was "inconclusive," he said, so the substance was delivered to a City Department of Health laboratory for yet another test. Several hours later, the Health Department issued a 22-word statement saying an anthrax test was negative.
The city decided that "it was probably cornstarch," said Scott Phelps, an assistant commissioner of the Health Department.
But that was after firefighters wearing white suits, masks, green gloves and tall green boots had been sprayed with water as they climbed out of the subway. In all, Chief Blaiche said, 24 people, all Fire Department employees, were decontaminated.
As for the incident near City Hall that shut down the Brooklyn Bridge, it began with a call to 911. The man who made the call, the police said, told investigators that he had been approached by a man in his 30's or 40's who offered him $1,500 to drive him across the Brooklyn Bridge in a red car parked on Centre Street about 75 yards from City Hall, the police said.
The man who said he had been offered the money, according to the police, does not speak English. He told investigators that the other man had had a wad of cash in his hand and had spoken to him in Spanish.
The first man told investigators that he went into the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall subway station and called 911 from a pay phone to report the incident. He then approached two officers in uniform in the station and told them about his encounter with the other man, the police said.
The two officers accompanied him to the street to look for the other man. The car he showed them was registered to a reporter for The Daily News, Alison Gendar. She said she had parked there on her way to a public hearing at 250 Broadway,
"Lucky me, that was my car," she said later. "I have no idea why he was pointing at my car."
The area was closed off and traffic was shut down on the Brooklyn Bridge while the bomb squad was sent in. They found nothing unusual in or around Ms. Gendar's car.
The police said they were skeptical about the man's story. He showed the police a green card that they said they believed was fake.
"The more he talked," the official said, "the more his story changed." A detective added, "For whatever reason, he may be drumming this whole thing up."
For people caught up in the two incidents, words like "frustration" and "inconvenience" came to mind, as did words that cannot be printed here. Some people worried about terrorism, but not Ron Bernier, a construction worker on Staten Island whose trip home was by the subway.
"That's never my first thought," said Mr. Bernier, who lives on Staten Island.
A co-worker, Dennis Newman, started into a denunciation of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. But he stopped, saying he realized the disruptions in subway service had nothing to do with the mayor — he just wanted to get home to Staten Island.
Good as mold, By Eric Herman, NY Daily News, July 2nd, 2002
The developers of a new condominium tower in Battery Park City are trying to break the mold - literally.
Last week, the Battery Park City Authority picked Millennium Partners to build on a prized site next to the Ritz-Carlton, which Millennium also built. The new 37-story luxury building will have 282 apartments, at an average price of $910,000.
Meanwhile, the New York-based company faces lawsuits over mold contamination in another of its luxury buildings - the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C.
Four buyers in Washington have filed lawsuits over the mold, while two others have reached six-figure settlements, according to the Washington Post. The condos went on sale in 1999.
Millennium founding partner Philip Aarons says "a poor plumbing and roofing installation" allowed moisture to collect in the infrastructure, creating the mold.
"We've just been very aggressive in going after it and taking it all out," Aarons said.
Not aggressive enough, according to Alyson Gannon, a former resident who is suing Millennium. Gannon describes the mold as "toxic" and said it made her "really, really sick."
Iran Hostages Rage,
By Derek Rose, NY Daily News, Wednesday, July 2nd, 2003
Some of the 52 Americans held hostage by Iran two decades ago said yesterday they feel
betrayed after a federal court threw out their $33 billion lawsuit seeking damages.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed a lower-court ruling that the 1981 deal that freed the hostages bars legal claims against Iran.
It was a harsh blow for the 50 men and two women held hostage for 444 days, some of whom were tortured.
"Disgraceful," said Moorhead Kennedy, 72, of Mount Desert, Maine, a retired Foreign Service officer.
"I think it's strange that a country designated as an 'axis of evil' has to have its rights so carefully protected," Kennedy said.
"We really do feel very hurt by the whole process," said Barbara Rosen, wife of former hostage Barry Rosen of New York. "The injustice of this whole thing is just overwhelming."
Won default judgment
The former hostages sued after a 1996 law allowed suits against state sponsors of terrorism. They were awarded a default judgment in their favor in 2001, when Iran failed to defend the case.
But the State and Justice departments intervened, persuading a court to overturn the judgment based on the deal to free the hostages, which had the approval of two Presidents - Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan - since the release came on the cusp of their presidencies.
Government lawyers insisted in court they weren't going to bat for Iran, just making sure America lives up to its word. But the former captives don't see it that way.
"As far as the hostages were concerned, [the deal to release them] was a ransom note," Kennedy said. "The courts don't uphold suicide pacts or gambling debts. This is something in that order. It was made under duress."
The appeals court said violating the accords would take a presidential act or a vote in Congress.
A bill approved by a congressional conference committee in 2001, giving the hostages the right to sue, isn't adequate because it wasn't voted on by the full Congress, the appeals court ruled.
"I presume we'll go to the Supreme Court on this," Kennedy said.
9/11 groups
to sue PA over safety, By Greg Gittrich, NY
Daily News, Monday, June 30th, 2003
A group of Sept. 11 victims' families will file a
lawsuit against the Port Authority today in a bid to force the agency to follow city fire
and building codes in redeveloping Ground Zero.
The legal action comes after last-ditch talks between the PA, which owns the disaster site, and the families broke down.
"We would rather the Port Authority voluntarily comply," said Monica Gabrielle, co-chairwoman of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign, whose husband was killed in the Sept. 11 terror attack.
"This is really a no-brainer," Gabrielle said. "The Port Authority should be held to the same standard as private landlords."
As a bistate agency, the PA is immune from local regulations and codes.
But the victims' families contend that the PA charter only refers to its role as a transit authority - and does not extend the immunity to the agency when it acts as a commercial landlord.
PA spokesman Greg Trevor said the agency does not comment on pending litigation. But he added: "We are saddened and disappointed that they have decided to break off discussions because we share the same goals: to ensure that the buildings at the World Trade Center meet and exceed building and fire codes and to make these buildings a national model for safety and security."
Federal officials investigating the twin towers' collapse are examining whether the PA used an inadequate amount of fireproofing to protect the skyscrapers, as some independent experts have charged. The probe by the National Institute of Standards and Technology is expected to conclude next year.
Today's lawsuit will be filed by the victims' families, the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and two lower Manhattan community associations.
The groups threatened the legal action last month but held off when John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., agreed to set up private talks with the PA.
Tom Shanahan, the lead attorney on the lawsuit, said the discussions broke down because the PA wants to continue to use signed memorandums with the Fire Department to guarantee compliance at Ground Zero.
"From our perspective, it should be statutory rather than contractual," Shanahan said.
Skyscraper to be Razed at WTC Site, By Maggie Haberman and Greg Gittrich, NY Daily News, 6/20/3
A office tower at the edge of Ground Zero that was badly damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks will be demolished because of mold infestation, the Daily News has learned.
The steel and glass tower, owned by Deutsche Bank, has been vacant since debris from the twin towers tore a 24-story gash into its facade.
The black fungus apparently grew rapidly because of dark and damp conditions in the abandoned tower.
Sources told The News yesterday that Deutsche Bank is expected to raze the 40-story building in the next few months.
A Deutsche Bank spokeswoman would only say that bank officials are "continuing to work toward reaching a final decision."
The bank has reached an agreement with one of the four companies that insured the $178 million tower, a source said.
Demolishing the tower at 130 Liberty St. could give state and city rebuilding officials greater flexibility as they move to rebuild Ground Zero.
A version of architect Daniel Libeskind's site plan for Ground Zero contemplates building a new commercial tower on the Deutsche Bank property.
The land could be purchased by the state and city. But no decisions have been made.
A spokeswoman for the city Buildings Department said the bank has not filed for a demolition permit. Its most recent application indicates that significant repairs would be made.
But sources said those repairs are needed to prevent the mold from spreading to adjacent buildings during demolition.
Last
Days for a Survivor of Sept. 11,
he battered and disfigured
It will be the end of an unlikely symbol. In the days immediately after Sept. 11, 2001, the boxy, 40-story skyscraper next to the ruined World Trade Center became a talisman of hope to many rescue workers at ground zero. Human remains were found on its roof.
Sentiment downtown was overwhelmingly in favor of repairing it if possible, the thought of another building coming down being too much for many people to bear. At least eight buildings were destroyed and at least seven were seriously damaged in the terrorist attack.
The weeks have stretched into months, and now the building at 130 Liberty Street, veiled in black netting, has become an unwelcome symbol of decay — "an ever-present reminder of the darkest moment in our past," Gov. George E. Pataki said in April — in a neighborhood that is struggling to revive itself.
Mr. Pataki also directed that rebuilding officials "replace the shroud with a mural trumpeting a new symbol to rise at ground zero," the 1,776-foot tower designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind.
The building must be disassembled more than torn down, covered in an airtight tarp to contain the asbestos and other contaminants that have made the building unusable. As a result, the cost of the work has been estimated at more than $100 million, according to people involved in planning the project. Insurance payments to Deutsche Bank are expected to cover most of the cost. The mural the governor ordered is expected to be installed on the tarp in September at a cost of $1.5 million.
Downtown residents and businesses have pushed government officials to force a decision about the Deutsche Bank building. "The only hope we have down here is in the rebuilding of this area," said Madelyn Wils, the chairwoman of Community Board 1, the neighborhood advisory board for Lower Manhattan and a director of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. To many, she said, the building "represents the slowness of the progress down here."
What will happen to the property once the building is removed is still uncertain, although many people have made their interest clear. Deutsche Bank has expressed a willingness to sell it, according to people who have participated in discussions.
The Bloomberg administration has indicated its interest in acquiring the property, possibly for residential construction. Daniel L. Doctoroff, the deputy mayor for economic development and rebuilding, said the area south of Liberty Street was "an emerging residential neighborhood," adding that the building "could be a mixed-use site, with a trading floor at the base with a separate entrance for apartments up above."
Officials at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are also interested in the future of the property. One version of Daniel Libeskind's plan for ground zero places a 1.67-million-square-foot office building there.
Matthew Higgins, chief operating officer of the development corporation, said rebuilding officials had always considered the possibility of including the Deutsche Bank property in the overall planning for the site. But, he said, "it's premature to say whether we'd have an interest in the property."
Because of its proximity to the area's transportation hub, it might be attractive to a commercial developer, although it would be difficult to justify an office building there when 10 million square feet of space is scheduled to go up across the street over the next decade.
Since the Sept. 11 attack, Deutsche Bank has been battling with the building's four insurers over its fate, and the bank has maintained for at least six months that the structure is beyond salvage. The insurance companies disagreed, wanting to rebuild, at least until recently. Last week the bank reached a tentative settlement with the lead insurer, the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, which would allow the demolition to proceed, according to three people involved in planning the building's future.
Rohini Pragasam, a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank, declined to comment on the settlement
or the building's future. "We continue to work toward a final decision on the fate of
the building," she said. Mark Schussel, a spokesman for Chubb, also declined to
comment. A final deal requires approval by the three other insurers —
The building, known as the Bankers Trust Building until Deutsche Bank merged with Bankers Trust a few years ago, was built in the early 1970's and contained 1.4 million square feet of office space. It was connected to the World Trade Center by a footbridge across Liberty Street and was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates, the architecture firm that also designed the Empire State Building, and Peterson & Brickbauer.
Although steel falling from the south tower of the trade center ripped a 24-story gash in its northern facade, the building remained structurally sound. Its sprinkler system was triggered, however, and the combination of standing water, contaminants from the trade center, sealed windows and little direct sunlight spawned a robust strain of mold throughout much of the building.
After an intense cleaning, the city health department declared the building free of mold earlier this year. The dismantling of the building will still require engineers to pay close attention to environmental hazards, accounting for most of the costs of taking the building down.
Raising scaffolding around the building to support the tarp enclosing the project will cost more than $10 million, according to a real estate executive familiar with the project. The removal of asbestos and other contaminants is expected to cost more than $70 million, while taking apart the structure will run at least $25 million.
The fate of one other building near ground zero remains unresolved: Fiterman Hall, a 15-story building at 30 West Broadway. On Sept. 11, 2001, its owner, the Borough of Manhattan Community College, was three weeks away from unveiling a $64 million renovation. The college has been working with the State Dormitory Authority and its insurers on the building's future.
Aid for WTC Vols, By
Greg Gittrich, NY Daily News, Thursday, June 19th, 2003
The Assembly has overwhelmingly passed a bill to make ailing Ground Zero volunteers
eligible for workers' compensation - but the legislation has yet to win support in the
state Senate.
Although Congress gave New York $25 million to cover the volunteers' medical bills and lost wages, state law has kept them from tapping into the money.
The Daily News revealed the volunteers' plight June 9. Many of them suffer from respiratory problems and posttraumatic stress syndrome, according to examinations by Mount Sinai Medical Center.
"These individuals selflessly gave of themselves and incurred serious health problems as a result of their efforts," said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan). "They are owed a debt of gratitude by our state and our nation. It is my hope that this legislation will, in a small way, begin to repay that debt."
The bill, sponsored by Silver, passed Tuesday by a 146-to-1 vote.
Today is the final day of the legislative session, and as of late yesterday the bill did not have a sponsor in the Senate. A similar measure introduced by state Sen. Guy Velella (R-Bronx) has yet to win support.
Jon Sullivan, spokesman for the New York State Workers' Compensation Board, said the state is reviewing various proposals to free up the money.
At the same time, the board's chairman, Robert Snashall, blamed Congress for the delay.
In a letter faxed yesterday to Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan), Snashall argued that Congress failed "to establish any mechanisms ... or other criteria" to use the money," which "seriously impaired" the board's ability to process the volunteers' claims quickly.
Maloney, who helped secure the money 18 months ago, scoffed at Snashall's explanation. "Now I have heard everything," she said. "The state's complaining that they didn't do their job because Congress gave them too much flexibility?"
$90M in WTC aid on hold, By Greg Gittrich, NY Daily News, Tuesday, June 10th, 2003
Some $90 million in disaster aid earmarked for monitoring the health of Ground Zero workers is being held up by federal officials, the Daily News has learned.
Congress signed off on the money in February after months of partisan sparring between President Bush and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).
Yet the money has not reached the city - and if the delay drags on, it could shut down a World Trade Center health screening program run by Mount Sinai Medical Center, officials said.
Some $25 million of the aid was to go directly for examining city firefighters for respiratory problems, posttraumatic stress syndrome and other ailments related to Ground Zero.
"We fought very hard to get this money," said Philip McArdle, health and safety officer of the Uniformed Firefighters Association. "It's absolutely needed."
About 200 firefighters have been forced to retire because of lung problems related to exposure at Ground Zero, FDNY officials said yesterday.
Congressional leaders and the White House inserted the $90million in the 2003 omnibus spending package to pay for expanded clinical examinations for firefighters and Ground Zero workers and volunteers.
But the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which controls the money, has yet to strike a deal with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that would specify how to distribute the aid.
Brad Gair, FEMA's pointman for Ground Zero, said an agreement was imminent.
"Our goal is to get the money in the hands of the CDC by July so their won't be any lapse" in the medical exams, Gair said.
Many sick people
As of last week, Mount Sinai had screened 6,300 workers and volunteers. About 40% suffer from respiratory problems and more than 50% have posttraumatic stress syndrome.
The screenings have been paid for with $12 million in federal money, which will be depleted by the end of the summer.
Gair said a portion of the $90 million would go to Mount Sinai so it can screen more of the estimated 35,000 Ground Zero workers and volunteers.
He added that the CDC also would create a procedure for long-term exams and bid out the work.
Clinton, who with Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) fought for the aid, said the funding delay was unacceptable. "On Sept. 11, volunteers and rescue workers wasted no time rushing to Ground Zero to save lives. ... But it is taking too much time to get the $90 million" out to help them, she said.
Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said he has introduced a bill that would permit sick Ground Zero volunteers to get workers' compensation benefits.
As the Daily News revealed yesterday, ailing volunteers have not been able to tap into $150 million in workers' compensation because of technicalities in state law and bureaucratic delays.
Congressional investigators are looking into whether the Small Business Administration responded adequately to requests from New York City business owners for loans to help them recover from the physical or economic impact of the September 2001 terrorist attack.
Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, announced the inquiry yesterday. She said she had requested it because more than half of the nearly 14,000 applications received for such loans from small businesses had been declined or withdrawn.
Ms. Velázquez's office said that the Small Business Administration had received 13,927 applications for Sept. 11 disaster loans, and had granted 43.6 percent. The rest were either denied or classified by the agency as withdrawn.
The agency said that the withdrawn category included applications literally withdrawn by the business owners, and applications for which the owners did not provide enough information, though some in the second group may yet be processed if the information is given.
An official in the Small Business Administration said yesterday that according to the agency's calculations, it had approved 54 percent of the applications. He said that this was in line with an average 53 percent approval rate for loan requests to the agency after 23 major disasters across the country in recent years. The official, Herbert L. Mitchell, associate administrator for disaster assistance, said the agency and Ms. Velázquez used different methods to calculate the approval rate. While she took the 6,072 approvals as a percentage of the 13,927 applications submitted, the agency, he said, took the approvals as a percentage of the 11,267 on which it had taken final action.
Those it did not take action on were 2,424 in the withdrawn category and 236 that were immediately rejected because the applicant was seen as clearly unqualified, Mr. Mitchell said.
But even if the approval rates for the 9/11 applications are in line with the agency's previous lending after natural disasters, "it certainly doesn't mean" that the same rate should prevail in the case of a disaster like the terrorist attack, said Wendy Belzer, a spokeswoman for Ms. Velázquez.
The inquiry will be carried out by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
City Cleared on Making Diesel-Soot Study, NY Times, (no byline) 6/6/3
ew York City does not have to study the health effects
of soot from diesel sanitation trucks, the state's highest court ruled yesterday.
Beginning in 1999, in preparation for the closing of the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, the city used diesel trucks to transport waste from Manhattan to New Jersey.
The New York attorney general, Eliot L. Spitzer, argued that the city should have studied the environmental impact of particulate emissions of 2.5 microns or less. Instead, the city studied larger emissions.
The state appeals court found yesterday that at the time, there was no technologically feasible method to evaluate the smaller emissions.
A spokeswoman for the city sanitation department, Kathy Dawkins, said its trucks in Manhattan and the Bronx switched to ultralow-sulfur diesel fuel last year to reduce emissions, and would adopt the practice on all its routes in the next few years.
Downtowners
nix Ground Zero plan, By Maggie Haberman, NY
Daily News, Wednesday, May 28th, 2003
More than half the people living near Ground Zero don't like the plan for a sunken
memorial area at the World Trade Center site, a poll released yesterday shows.
Fifty-one percent turned thumbs down on architect Daniel Libeskind's winning design, according to the poll commissioned by a coalition of downtown civic leaders called Downtown Rebuilds.
Another 21% said they can stomach the plan, which calls for a memorial 30 feet below street level, but only if there are connections over the pit for pedestrian access.
A mere 20% said they like the design, which is part of Libeskind's overall scheme for the 16-acre site.
"I think people want to experience the memorial as a part of the neighborhood. They don't want to be looking down at it," said Madelyn Wils, the Community Board 1 chairwoman, who also sits on the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board.
Dave Stanke, who lives on Liberty St., agreed, saying, "The [biggest] number of visitors to the memorial are going to be people who live and work down here, and if [they] ... hate it, is that the kind of memorial you want?"
The LMDC picked Libeskind's plan as a blueprint for the site in February and is unlikely to modify the placement of the memorial space.
The poll of 800 downtowners was conducted by Blum & Weprin Associates between May 4 and 6 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
People who live near the site have said the Libeskind design has the same flaw as the destroyed World Trade Center - it cuts off neighborhoods from one another.
LMDC spokeswoman Nancy Poderycki wouldn't comment directly on the poll yesterday, but she said the agency is trying to rebuild the site in a way that "promotes a vibrant community for residents, workers and visitors."
9/11 trauma aid
in limbo, By Greg Gittrich, NY Daily News, Tuesday, May 27th, 2003
An unprecedented federal crisis counseling program set up to help New Yorkers cope with
the Sept.11 attacks has yet to spend roughly $90 million - more than half the money
earmarked for the free care.
The tens of millions sit unspent as the state and city battle budget shortfalls and struggle to pay for myriad expenses related to the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.
If the mental health aid is not spent this year — as some expect and others fear — the money could be earmarked with the feds' approval for anything from downtown transit projects to anti-terror programs.
"It seems that these funds are not going to be fully used," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "It would be wise to begin to look at this now and see where else the money could be used."
Still, state mental health officials overseeing the counseling program, known as Project Liberty, insist all the money will be spent by a December deadline.
But they are running out of time — and despite tremendous resources are still having trouble reaching everyone who needs help.
Fewer than expected
Though many New Yorkers continue to suffer from trauma related to Sept. 11, 2001, far fewer people than projected by the state have sought out Project Liberty.
Only 643,710 people asked for short-term, one-on-one counseling through March, the most recent data available.
Officials had expected to aid 2.5 million people.
State mental health officials maintain that many more people have benefited from Project Liberty through group sessions, educational materials and TV, radio and subway advertisements.
"Mental health care certainly isn't a popular thing," said April Naturale, statewide director for Project Liberty. "We are very, very pleased that this many people have reached out."
Mental health experts say there is no doubt that Project Liberty has provided crucial support to many people who otherwise might not have asked for it, including cops and firefighters.
Still, criticism persists.
The program — held up as the largest mental health response in the nation's history — has been faulted for trying to help millions with no direct link to the attacks.
Mental health experts also say the program has been hobbled by federal guidelines that dictate how its money can be used. The guidelines were created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to respond to the psychological fallout of natural disasters, not terrorism.
The rules, while relaxed considerably since the attacks, have required Project Liberty to focus almost entirely on short-term crisis counseling and outreach.
'A bad fit'
That type of help has proven effective after earthquakes and floods, but terror attacks tend to cause more prolonged psychological problems that cannot be addressed through quick intervention, said Brian Flynn, an expert on traumatic stress and former assistant surgeon general.
Roy Grant, research director for the Children's Health Fund, agreed. "Project Liberty has tried to do the best they could with a model that was a bad fit," he said.
Several mental health providers and observers said there is an ongoing need for counseling and urged the program to focus more on groups that were slow to get help.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) said it was not until 18 months after the attacks that FEMA agreed to use $33 million in Project Liberty money to counsel school children.
Dr. Jack Saul, a trauma expert at New York University, said he had hoped to get funding for a lower Manhattan resource center around the first anniversary of the attacks, but had to wait until this February.
"The impact of an event like this lasts for at least five years," he said. "Even though we are getting a late start, the need is going to be there for some time."
FEMA awarded Project Liberty $132 million a year ago. The grant was the largest ever of its kind and came on top of a previous $22.7 million allocation.
The larger grant was meant to last nine months. Project Liberty has now extended its services twice and is due to stop offering help in December.
About $65 million has been paid out, according to the state Office of Mental Health.
State and city officials have approached FEMA about freeing up some of the aid for other 9/11-related projects.
One official said people are waiting to see if the funds go unspent, adding that an evaluation this year indicated some funds likely would go unused.
Braid Gair, FEMA's federal recovery officer, said the agency will not consider the Project Liberty money unused "until and unless Project Liberty comes back to us and says it doesn't need the money."
9/11 haunts heroes,
By Michele McPhee and Patrice O'Shaughnessy, NY Daily News, Sunday, May 25th, 2003
The death, destruction and inability to find every victim in the World Trade Center attack
continues to inflict physical and emotional scars on the police and fire personnel who
responded that day or spent a year in the aftermath of the disaster.
Twenty months later, severe mental health cases are increasing among cops who were at the twin towers' collapse, or worked at Ground Zero or the morgue or the Fresh Kills landfill.
"We're getting cases that if they hadn't reached us, they would have taken their own lives, taken someone else's, hurt somebody else or become part of the disciplinary system," said William Genet, director of the independent support group, Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance. "There is no question in my mind that certain clients we have were heading for real problems."
Firefighters are still seeking counseling in record numbers. After a decline in January, there were 200 new cases on one day in February.
And the physical toll on the FDNY is high: 200 firefighters were forced to retire because of lung ailments from Ground Zero, and possibly hundreds more will have to leave the job in the next year for the same reason, department officials said.
William Quick, the holder of two medals and 12 citations for bravery in his 22-year career, had planned to be a firefighter forever.
Quick, 47, rushed to the twin towers Sept. 11, 2001, helping wounded people out of a nearby subway station, then took cover as the buildings cascaded down. "I couldn't breathe, I hid in my coat, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face," he said that day.
He spent months in the rubble and dust searching for victims. Still, he loved the job.
But in January, Quick - a veteran of rescue and specialty squads - learned he had lost 30% of his lung capacity working at Ground Zero.
"The doctor looked at me and said that I couldn't go back with those lungs. He told me I had to retire," Quick said last week. "I was devastated. My heart was in my throat. For a month, I wouldn't go to the firehouse because I had to hang my head low.
"I kept thinking, 'I can't be a fireman anymore? I can't be in the house, I can't be on the truck,'" Quick said. "Sometimes, I just drive around in my car and cry. Being a firefighter is my life, and I never wanted it to end."
Reopening old wounds
A veteran police officer who spent months at Ground Zero has been counseled recently by Genet's group because he is still depressed. On his way to the group's office on lower Broadway two weeks ago, he decided to walk past the disaster site.
"When he got to our office, this fully grown man completely broke down, his body went numb," Genet said. "We had to render him medical aid. It was scary. It was my first experience with the physical showing."
Genet said the number of cops seeking counseling has leveled off, but the severity of the cases has increased; the stress-related problems are more critical.
Last year, his group averaged 20 critical cases at any given time. This year, the group has 35 ongoing critical-status cases. "And we believe it's climbing," he said.
Genet's views echo the feelings of several ranking NYPD members who were interviewed.
"It's still affecting many of us now, in little ways, sure," said one veteran detective who was at the towers' destruction. "But almost every cop you talk to knows a cop who is affected to the point where they are debilitated, guys who were heroes that day and are totally messed up, in a mental hospital or drinking."
The critical-case cops Genet works with are on desk duty or sick leave. "They can't work, and for some of them, it's too late, too severe. They may never go back to work," he said.
At the FDNY, counselors are dealing with some firefighters torn up on two fronts.
The department gave comprehensive medical examinations, including pulmonary tests, to 10,000 members. About 2,500 showed diminished lung capacity caused by exposure to the air at Ground Zero.
"A significant number were unable to return to work and had to retire," Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said. "Some are young firefighters who had their careers cut short by this tragedy."
Firefighter Ed Sullivan, 40, of Engine 211 in Brooklyn, is on light duty after failing the lung test. He was at the command center at the towers and is slated to retire.
"It was all I ever wanted to do my entire life," he said. "Lots of guys are suffering. Almost everyone I know has respiratory problems. The physical stuff you get used to, the emotional stuff doesn't leave. I still have nightmares, I still break down every time I see a picture of one of my buddies who died. I personally knew 40 firefighters who didn't walk away from there."
Delayed fallout
Malachy Corrigan, director of the FDNY's counseling unit, said he anticipated the delayed fallout.
"Because the symptoms were repressed for 18 months, it could be more difficult to connect it," Corrigan said. "But we see people individually, to find their story. Clearly, in the clients' vocabulary, they're saying it's because of 9/11."
Corrigan said his pre-9/11 caseload was about 50 clients a month. It peaked last fall with some 500 in a month, then declined to 80 per month. By the end of March it was 120 a month, Corrigan said.
"We're talking about brand-new people," he said.
From Sept. 11, 2001, through the end of last March, nearly 6,000 people received counseling from his unit. Most - 85% - were FDNY members, the rest were relatives or families of the 343 fallen firefighters.
Genet said that before the World Trade Center disaster, 10 to 15 cops would be in counseling each month. His group saw 2,000 cops in 90 days after 9/11 and now counsels 20 to 30 a month.
"They're not sleeping, they're irritable, battling with spouses, drinking more; they're emotionless, or totally overreacting. Some show paranoia with loud planes. They can't go near a police facility or anything to do with the towers," he said.
"They say to us, 'Hell, that was better than a year ago.'"
He said it's natural that people who were at Ground Zero or the morgue or dealing with victims' families for prolonged periods would take longer to react than a cop who responded to the attack and quickly resumed regular duties.
"Our timetable varies ... those at the morgue and the landfill were not finished with their work until a year later," Genet said. "They have it stuffed so far down, that when it does come out, it's festered so long that it could jump right into a severe case requiring hospitalization, or showing itself in more serious domestic situations or breakdowns."
Separate support group
Genet's group counsels cops who are not in the NYPD disciplinary system. Those who are arrested or suspended from duty are required to use the department's counseling program. Figures on how many cops have received counseling from the NYPD's program were not available.
Sixty-nine cops have been suspended this year for domestic violence incidents, drunken driving and other infractions, such as failing to follow orders. In the same period last year, 48 cops were suspended. The department could not say whether any suspensions were linked to World Trade Center duty.
Genet said posttraumatic stress often manifests itself in disciplinary problems but added that patterns emerge only over extended periods.
For example, more than two years after the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, counselors saw severe cases of posttraumatic stress.
Corrigan said firefighters have begun to deal with their stress in groups.
"Those trapped in a particular location when the buildings fell, they shared the commonality that they were going to die. The 200 members who worked in the morgue shared something totally different from others in the department, about 30 of them are in the group. We also have collapse groups - anyone who was in the buildings, or buried under a car."
He said another group is composed of firefighters forced to retire because of lung problems.
Genet's group also has put those who shared experiences together - cops who lost co-workers or who couldn't get into the towers to rescue victims.
"The most severe cases we have are the ones who probably did the most over there," he said.
Scoppetta is lobbying for the continuation of federal funding for counseling. It is expected to run out at the end of the year.
"This funding has proven critical because it helps our work force address important individual and family needs."
But for some 9/11 rescuers, things will never be the same.
"Going to the firehouses now, the people I know, you can see they have changed," said Sullivan. "It's taken a part out of all of us."