OCTOBER

SEPTEMBER

• Low birthweight in New York city and upstate New York following the events of September 11th ... CONCLUSIONS The events of September 11, 2001 in NYC were associated with immediate increases in births <2000 g, slightly delayed decreased preterm delivery, and delayed increases in LBW among infants exposed periconception or in the first two trimesters. Stress may contribute to observed associations. .... (Hum Reprod. 2007 Nov;22(11):3013-20. Epub 2007 Sep 28)
• Misplaced blame ... Letters: Manhattan: Bill Hammond's column "Feds added fuel to the fire" (Sept. 25), which argues that environmental safety guidelines are to blame for the tragic deaths in the Deutsche Bank building, is scapegoating, plain and simple. Negligence was to blame. The FDNY had no fire plan for the building, and the contractors failed to maintain standpipes. Also, the building was contaminated from the World Trade Center collapse. Laws mandating an environmentally safe demolition must be strictly followed to prevent harm to workers inside and to the thousands who live and work nearby. --Rep. Jerrold Nadler; Manhattan: It is wacky to paint the EPA as the chief culprit in the Deutsche Bank fire and deaths. Blame negligent contractors, nonexistent FDNY inspections and poor LMDC and city supervision. Most of all, blame a stupid plan to demolish the building while cleaning it. Haste, not the EPA, made for tragic waste. --Mark Scherzer (NYDaily News, 9/28/07)
  
• ENR editor fired up about "disgraceful" legacy at Ground Zero ... ENR editor fired up about "disgraceful" legacy at Ground Zero. Construction publications generally play it safe and don't often express fiery political opinions, but the September 12 issue of Engineering News Record was an exception.Marking the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, the ENR editor came out with a scathing review of the Bush administration's presence in Iraq, calling it a "self-made morass." The editorial continues: "Even the rebuilding efforts at the World Trade Center site are rife with politics, grandstanding emotional paralysis and junk science relating to building codes and design. Ground Zero continues to claim lives, the latest being two firefighters who died August 18 while fighting a blaze atop the skeleton remains of the 41-story Deutsche Bank building. It's hard to believe the wrecked building is even still standing.... (Canadian Consulting Engineer, 9/24/07)
  
• FDNY'S BLUNDER UNIT BACK AT DEUTSCHE BLAZE SITE ... Firefighters at Engine Co. 10 have resumed regular inspections of the former Deutsche Bank building. Nearly five weeks after a fatal blaze claimed two firefighters' lives, the unit has been ordered inside the toxic trap several times recently, FDNY spokesman Jim Long confirmed, mainly for "surveillance and familiarization" reasons. He said it's not known for how long or how regularly those visits will continue, but noted that a battalion chief will be assigned to the demolition project until its completion. Following the Aug. 18 fire that killed Firefighter Robert Beddia and Firefighter Joseph Graffagnino, Engine Co. 10 was criticized for failing to inspect the condemned Deutsche Bank building every 15 days as city law required. Three senior officers - including Engine Co. 10 Capt. Peter Bosco - were reassigned by the FDNY, an action the officers union has derided as a knee-jerk reaction from Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta. Union officials say the toxic conditions made inspections impossible, since firefighters weren't properly equipped. The recent inspections have been time-consuming because of the complex hazmat gear each firefighter must don before being allowed into the structure, sources said. The building, which was filled with deadly dust after the collapse of the World Trade Center, has never undergone complete toxin abatement. "The firefighters put on two hazmat suits, and then they close the openings around the gloves and the boots with duct tape," said one veteran FDNY officer. "They wear masks and self-contained breathing apparatus as well." And when their inspections are complete, the firefighters and their equipment have to be decontaminated, which means stripping away the top layer of hazmat gear, and spraying down their masks and other items. The whole process can take up to six hours, a firefighter said, although touring the building itself can usually be done in three. (NYPost, by Ginger Adams Otis, Sept. 23, 2007)
  
• Deutsche Bank's steel to be recycled for food cans, car parts ... Contaminated steel beams from the Deutsche Bank building - cleaned, melted and recast - could end up as part of your next can of soup. Since demolition of the troubled tower began in March, its several tons of steel have traveled thousands of miles by truck and ship on a winding journey around the world. ... Steel, the world's most recycled material, is a market-based commodity that was sold for $250 to $300 a ton between March and the middle of last month, when demolition at the site was stopped. Representatives from Sims Metal and Mid Island Scrap Corp. declined to comment on the amount of steel they received or how much they paid. John Galt Corp., which also reaped profits from the scrap, could not be reached for comment. Once prepared, the Deutsche Bank scraps were likely to have been loaded onto a ship bound for Europe, Shinn said. They would then have been taken to steel mills in Turkey, Greece or Italy, where they would be mixed with additives and melted down in furnaces of 3,000 degrees. Experts say the recast steel most likely ended up in manufacturing plants in Europe and the U.S., where it was processed into cans, automobile parts, appliances and building materials sent around the world. The process from the moment a piece of steel leaves the Deutsche Bank site to the point it is transformed could take just a few months, experts say. "Steel has no memory," Heenan said. "At 3,000 degrees, it can be turned into anything, and you'll have no idea where it came from." ... (NYDaily News, by Rich Shapiro, Sept. 23, 2007)
  
• New safety rules enforced at Deutsche Bank tower ... Tough new safety rules will be enforced at the Deutsche Bank tower to ensure there are no repeats of the August blaze that killed two firefighters, officials said yesterday. A fire official will stay onsite while the contaminated building near Ground Zero is demolished in the coming months, and there will be a site safety expert on the job 24hours a day, seven days a week - even when there's no work going on. The new plan was ironed out by Mayor Bloomberg and Avi Schick, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the state agency that owns the building. ... (NYDaily news, by Greg B. Smith, Sept. 22, 2007)
  
• Federal court to hear 9/11 worker lawsuits ... A state appeals court has ruled that nearly 300 workers allegedly sickened by their time at Ground Zero will have their cases heard in federal court. The Appellate Division ruled that all claims tied to injury, death or loss of property from the 9/11 attacks fall under the jurisdiction of Manhattan federal court. The ruling overturns a decision by a Manhattan Supreme Court judge who had allowed the workers' bids for litigation to proceed in state court, even after they filed late notices of claim against the city. The cases will now go before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. Close to 9,000 lawsuits by workers whose health has allegedly been affected by their time at Ground Zero already had been filed in Manhattan Federal Court. (NYDaily News, by Jose Martinez, Sept. 22, 2007)
  
• New York City fire chief urges federal safety push ... "But we could have and we should have saved 121 firefighters who couldn't hear evacuation orders because their radios weren't working," he said. "We could have and should have lessened the health impact on responders by providing them with proper respirators and protective gear from Day One. We could have and should have operated under a unified command system." But changes have been slow in coming, he testified to the House Homeland Security Committee. While some improvements have been made to communications and other equipment, "we have yet to focus on how to better protect the individuals who respond to major disasters in a comprehensive way," Visconti said. Witnesses assailed health and safety monitoring in particular. Although an estimated 40,000 to 70,000 people who worked on the pile at Ground Zero were exposed to toxic dust and debris, federal monitoring continues to be "stop and start," said Cynthia Bascetta of the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Tens of thousands of those individuals have yet to be screened at all, she said. "We recommended in July 2007 that the Secretary of Health and Human Services ... ensure that health screening and monitoring services are available to all people who responded to the attack, regardless of who their employer was or where they reside," said Bascetta, the GAO's health care director. "As of September, 2007, the department has not responded to this recommendation." .... (NY Newsdasy, by Carol Eisnberg, Sept. 21, 2007)
  
• Analysis: Bloomberg Vs. Giuliani on 9/11 ...(AP, Sept. 21, 2007)
• NYC, state agree on new safety protocols at WTC building ... The building's owner, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., said Friday it had agreed to the city's safety protocols to improve the working conditions and fire safety in the building. City officials said they expect to complete the upgrades in two to three weeks. They include:
  - putting fireproof doors at every entrance in the stairwells, where handrails and illuminated exits will also be installed and floor numbers will be clearly marked.
  - relocating the asbestos decontamination structure and showers to the basement or ground floor, rather than on the upper floors that are being decontaminated. A special elevator will be used to access that area only.
  -storing any extra decontamination materials, like plastic sheeting and plywood barriers, in a special vault in the basement. Previously, it was stacked and strewn throughout the building, adding to the fire hazard.
  - having a site safety manager on site every day, 24 hours a day. Also on the list is a plan to change the system that creates negative air pressure on some floors as part of the asbestos containment process. Officials believe that negative air pressure caused the fire to behave differently: flames were sucked downward instead of toward the upper floors, which surprised firefighters, who typically set up their base of operations a few floors under the fire. The new requirements say that the negative air pressure system must be able to be switched on and off from one location on the ground level, rather than a piecemeal network with different switches on every sealed floor. After the changes are made, the decontamination and deconstruction processes _ which were halted after the fire _ can begin again, officials said. LMDC Chairman Avi Schick and Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler said in a joint statement that all agencies involved are "working to implement them and to ensure that the decontamination and the deconstruction ... resumes in the safest possible manner." ... (NYNewsday, by Sara Kugler, Sept. 21, 2007)
  
• Crises Show Lack of Planning: Emergencies Not Mike's Forte ... The disaster at the Deutsche Bank building, with allegations of mob-controlled contractors and lack of oversight by the Governor and the Mayor, is eerily reminiscent of the Staten Island Ferry crash that killed 11 people on their way home from work in October 2003: Mayor Bloomberg has decided to blame the workers, not the bosses. In making public spectacles of three fire chiefs by leaving the impression that they were responsible for the deaths of two Firefighters, Bloomberg replicated what he did with the ferry deaths. .... But the larger issue with the fire was this: six years after 9/11, four years after the summer blackout of 2003 and after a similar rainstorm several years ago disrupted the subways, it is now clear to all New Yorkers that the Mayor has no plan - none - for any emergency - terrorism included - that might befall the city. Deaths Avoidable -- The fire deaths might have been prevented if Bloomberg implemented a suggestion made two years ago by a lowly reporter: namely that his technology experts figure out how to get Buildings Department violations - all of which are on line - to the firehouses across the city. If each firehouse had nothing more than a BlackBerry, the brave men who responded would have at least known of some of the perils that awaited them. ...(The Chief-Leader, by Jim Callaghan, 09/21/07)
  
• Editorial: Get out of Morgy’s way and on to the truth ... Tell the truth. That’s the only legal advice the city’s top lawyer, Michael Cardozo, needed to give firefighters and officials being questioned by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau about last month’s deadly fire at the former Deutsche Bank building. The New York Times reported over the weekend that Cardozo and his staff tried to summon firefighters in for “briefings” before the witnesses spoke to prosecutors. This week, the city hired a high-priced criminal defense attorney to monitor the flow of information to Morgenthau. The right to an attorney is a bedrock principle of our legal system, but that does not mean government should pay to defend any crimes that might have been committed on the public’s dime. Let’s be clear. There is overwhelming evidence of government neglect at Deutsche, but it may turn out that none of it amounts to crimes. The contractors, Bovis Lend Lease and John Galt Corp., also may not be guilty of criminal wrongdoing. That’s what Morgenthau’s investigation will determine. Cardozo, the Corporation Counsel, and his boss, Mayor Mike Bloomberg, should want to know if any crimes were committed by city employees. This is not some two-bit D.A. who files phony rape charges to win an election. And this isn’t a politically-motivated fishing expedition either. Morgenthau has more than three decades of prosecutorial experience. He and his team of prosecutors are among the most-respected in the country. If criminal trials are warranted, it could lead to answers to some of the questions that otherwise will not be answered with credibility. For one, why was the demolition allowed to continue despite numerous fire safety violations and several instances of falling debris? Why was John Galt hired? Why did government monitors allow smoking in a building with combustible materials?  Did anyone order the fire department not to inspect the building? Why was the standpipe water supply system rendered useless? We called for an independent investigation into the fire a few weeks ago because the state and city agencies conducting inquiries are the same ones who were responsible for the project originally. Although there has been real progress coming up with a safer plan, there continues to be reason to be distrustful. Less than a week after the deaths and new assurances of future safety, a massive forklift fell off the building, seriously injuring two firefighters. Avi Schick, chairperson of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the building’s owner, scolded an Environmental Protection Agency official for disclosing E.P.A. concerns to the public. We hear that officials continue to berate Community Board 1, after the board passes tough resolutions on Deutsche. If C.B. 1 warnings had been heeded, Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino could be alive today. Activists, local politicians, and we also issued warnings before the fire. The fact that officials in charge are still worrying about whether a community board resolution embarrasses them, shows that Robert Morgenthau’s independent investigation is needed and must not be hindered. (Downtown Express, September 21 - 27, 2007)
• Distal Airway Function in Symptomatic Subjects With Normal Spirometry Following World Trade Center Dust Exposure .... Rationale: Following collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC), individuals reported new-onset respiratory symptoms. Despite symptoms, spirometry often revealed normal airway function. However, bronchial wall thickening and air trapping were seen radiographically in some subjects. We hypothesized that symptomatic individuals following exposure to WTC dust may have functional abnormalities in distal airways not detectable with routine spirometry. Methods: One hundred seventy-four subjects with respiratory symptoms and normal spirometry results were evaluated. Impedance oscillometry (IOS) was performed to determine resistance at 5 Hz, 5 to 20 Hz, and reactance area. Forty-three subjects were also tested for frequency dependence of compliance (FDC). Testing was repeated after bronchodilation. Results: Predominant symptoms included cough (67%) and dyspnea (65%). Despite normal spirometry results, mean resistance at 5 Hz, 5 to 20 Hz, and reactance area were elevated (4.36 ± 0.12 cm H2O/L/s, 0.86 ± 0.05 cm H2O/L/s, and 6.12 ± 0.50 cm H2O/L, respectively) [mean ± SE]. Resistance and reactance normalized after bronchodilation. FDC was present in 37 of 43 individuals with improvement after bronchodilation. Conclusions: Symptomatic individuals with presumed WTC dust/fume exposure and normal spirometry results displayed airway dysfunction based on the following: (1) elevated airway resistance and frequency dependence of resistance determined by IOS; (2) heterogeneity of distal airway function demonstrated by elevated reactance area on oscillometry and FDC; and (3) reversibility of these functional abnormalities to or toward normal following administration of a bronchodilator. Since spirometry results were normal in all subjects, these abnormalities likely reflect dysfunction in airways more distal to those evaluated by spirometry. Examination of distal airway function when spirometry results are normal may be important in the evaluation of subjects exposed to occupational and environmental hazards. .... (Chest, doi:10.1378/chest.07-0913)
• Study: Respiratory Problems More Common In Earliest 9/11 Responders ... An average 146 firefighters and fire officers retired each year since 2001 because of lung problems, compared to just 49 in the years prior. Lieutenant Girard Owens has since retired, but he faces an array of medical issues, including respiratory and heart trouble because of the time he spent working at the site. “Well, I feel right now that I'm declining, because I’m feeling weaker and weaker,” said Owens. Owens is one of many who've retired because of his health. (NY1, Sept. 21, 2007)
  
• MTA rethinking deal with firm monitoring Deutsche demolition ... The MTA reversed itself on hiring an engineering firm to inspect area bridges and tunnels yesterday after learning it was the same outfit monitoring the Deutsche Bank demolition. On Wednesday, an MTA committee voted to award URS Corp. a five-year, $800,000 contract to inspect bridges and tunnels throughout the area. The MTA changed course late yesterday after the Daily News told officials URS is one of several contractors under investigation in the deadly Aug. 18 fire at the former Deutsche Bank building. MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said the authority learned of URS' role at the toxic tower sometime between when The News began asking Wednesday and last night. Soffin emphasized that URS' background check was a multimonth process completed before the fatal fire. "In light of this news, we've reopened the review and will not award the contract until we have a better understanding of what happened," Soffin said. URS spokesman Hugh Burns declined to respond to the MTA's move, stating, "It's the MTA's decision." The MTA Bridges and Tunnels authority committee approved URS' hiring Wednesday, despite a staff document recommending the award, "notwithstanding significant adverse information." Board member Frank Powers asked for details, stating, "I try not to deal with people with adverse records." .... Records reveal URS Corp. has recently been the subject of a number of investigations besides the Deutsche Bank probe. URS inspected the highway bridge in Minneapolis a year before its recent collapse. URS has said it may be the subject of suits because of the disaster. URS also is the subject of a $120 million suit alleging negligence following the collapse of a highway bridge in Tampa. URS called the collapse an "anomaly that couldn't be predicted." In 2004, a URS project manager overseeing construction of the post office in downtown Brooklyn was sentenced to 30 months in prison after admitting he took bribes. URS was not charged in that case. (NYDaily News, by Pete Donohue & Greg B. Smith, Sept. 21, 2007)
• New FDNY report on WTC's aftereffects on responders .... Among the findings in the report, "World Trade Center Health Impacts on FDNY Rescue Workers": Twenty-six new cases of the inflammatory lung disease sarcoidosis in the first five years after 9/11, most of them with asthma. Five or fewer rescuers got sarcoidosis annually before 9/11. Almost none had symptoms; 22% of FDNY rescue workers said they were "feeling as if [their] future will be cut short." ; As many as four years after the attacks, 53% said their mood had changed, with about one-third struggling with concentration and feelings of irritation, anger and anxiety.; The extent of sleep problems among responders barely diminished over the first four years after the attacks. Some 61% had them in the first year; 58% did in the next three.; Two-thirds of responders said their exercise routine changed in the first year after 9/11, but 18% said they had started working out more two to four years later. "Why this report is so important today is that it scientifically shows the connection between 9/11 and illnesses," Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) said yesterday at the Gouverneur Hospital, a medical center on the lower East Side that will house one of the two new outposts of the Bellevue WTC treatment clinic. "It's very, very important for making the case in Congress." A separate 9/11 health program for downtown residents, workers and students will be able to accommodate up to 20,000 people, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. The WTC Environmental Health Center at Bellevue Hospital has two new sites - at Gouverneur Health-Care Services in lower Manhattan and Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens. (NYDaily News, by Kirsten Danis & Jordan Lite, Sept. 21, 2007)
• CLINICS ADDED FOR 9/11 WOES ... A program offering free medical services to people experiencing health problems as a result of 9/11 is being expanded from Bellevue Hospital to two additional locations, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. The new sites, at Gouverneur Healthcare Services in lower Manhattan and Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, would allow up to 20,000 patients to be treated over the next five years. The city allocated $16 million to open the WTC Environmental Health Center in 2006 and has since added $33 million. The number of patients treated for 9/11-related illnesses has nearly tripled from 600 shortly after the attacks to 1,600. City officials are pushing Washington to pick up the tab. (NYPost, by David Seifman, Sept. 21, 2007)
• 42 Feet of Pipe Is Said to Be Missing ... The standpipe that failed to provide water during the fatal Deutsche Bank fire last month was not simply breached or cut — it was taken apart, and a full 42-foot stretch of it was removed from the building’s basement, several people with knowledge of the matter said. Various reports in the days following the Aug. 18 blaze, which left two firefighters dead, had characterized the break in the pipe as a smaller section, one whose disappearance may not have been glaringly apparent to people working in the building. But the people with knowledge of the matter said that indeed two consecutive 21-foot sections of the six-inch diameter cast-iron pipe, which ran horizontally across a section of the basement just beneath the ceiling, were cut or dismantled, leaving a large gap in full view of anyone in that part of the basement. “If anyone had bothered to take a look, they would have known it was not in operable condition,” one of the people said. The failure of the standpipe meant that firefighters lost crucial minutes in their effort to get water on the blaze, and officials are investigating whether the delay caused the deaths of the two firefighters, Joseph Graffagnino, 33, and Robert Beddia, 53. The two 21-foot pipe sections, once joined with couplings and gaskets to each other and to the two sections at the ends of the missing portion, were apparently then removed from the building, the people said. One of the people said that some portions of pipe were found in the basement, but it was unclear whether any of them were part of the two missing 21-foot sections. Prosecutors from the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, who are investigating the fire and the events that led up to it, are still unsure why the long section of pipe was removed and who removed it, according to one person with knowledge of that inquiry, examining not only the deaths of the firefighters, but also the actions of inspectors from the Fire and Buildings Departments. Prosecutors are also looking into why the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which owns the building and is overseeing the demolition, allowed Bovis to hire Galt, a company with little demolition experience and ties to a company under scrutiny by city investigators, for the enormously complex job. The pieces of pipe recovered in the basement after the fire and the remaining portions of the standpipe that were adjacent to the missing sections were sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation lab in Quantico, Va., for analysis. No official findings have yet been provided to prosecutors. The standpipe would have carried water pumped in from a hydrant by a fire truck to the pipe that rises to valves on each floor, where firefighters could connect a hose and draw water. One theory about why the pipe was removed was based on a makeshift hoist that had been built beneath where the missing length of pipe had been. One person who has been briefed on the case said the hoist was set up to lower material into the subbasement. Under the theory, the person said, the section of pipe was removed to make room for the hoist. The size of the missing section makes an early theory about the removal seem less plausible. Investigators had theorized that workers had used the standpipe to run a compressed air hose up from the basement to the upper floors to power heavy equipment, a practice that some construction experts said was not uncommon. Since the fire, various reports have described the missing section of pipe as having been a chunk, a section and in one instance, a 20-foot length, but nothing as long as 42 feet. (NYTimes, by William K. Rashbaum & Al Baker, Sept. 21, 2007)
  
• Work to add stairways, reseal Deutsche may begin ... Preparation work needed to resume dismantling the former Deutsche Bank is expected to begin soon with a general agreement between 11 governmental agencies responsible for the building’s safety. The new interim agreement follows the Aug. 18 blaze that killed two firefighters. The plan was revealed Tuesday at a meeting convened by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. He said the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the building’s owner, has taken major steps toward coming up with a safer plan. “We are a long way there,” Silver said in a telephone interview. Since the fire, the speaker has convened several private meetings with Avi Schick, the L.M.D.C.’s chairperson, but Silver has opened them up to local residents and Community Board 1 members, who had warned the L.M.D.C. repeatedly about the project’s safety over the last few years. The L.M.D.C. has agreed to open two emergency fire stairways in the building, reseal the building within three weeks to prevent toxic contaminants from escaping, and to pay for a “24-7 presence in the building,” Schick’s words to describe the addition of at least one safety expert during off-hours. He said Wednesday he had no idea how much the new safety measures would cost. Similar to the previous private meetings, there were differing interpretations as to what was agreed to Tuesday. Silver and three residents left with the impression that all agencies had signed off on the plan and that it would include ridding the building of toxic materials before any demolition would resume, but both beliefs turned out to be less than entirely true. Schick told reporters the next day that the development corporation was “leaning heavily” toward completing the cleanup before demolition, but “we have not made a final decision.” He said there are safety advantages to doing one thing at a time. Board 1 and environmental activists have favored this approach to reduce the risks of contamination. Dep. Mayor Ed Skyler and the U.S. Dept. of Environmental Protection Agency disputed Schick’s contention that all agencies had signed off on the interim plan. Skyler said E.P.A. officials have not signed off but “are supportive of the plan. They have concerns that we need to work through.” Bonnie Bellow, an E.P.A. spokesperson, said there are unresolved “technical details” which she did not specify, but the L.M.D.C. has the go ahead to begin the interim plan to reseal the building. She said the details can be worked out as the plan proceeds over the next few weeks. ... Kimberly Flynn and other residents said there were many positive developments at this week’s meeting, but it is still unclear why all of the government inspectors on the site will do a better job monitoring the project now than they did before. To that question, Silver said the officials in charge know missteps will not go unnoticed. “Everybody feels they are on the hot seat and they are being watched more closely,” he said. On Wednesday, Skyler outlined how the city will improve its community notification plan for Deutsche and other emergencies around the city. He said that in October, there will be a new email notification system for Deutsche run by the city’s Office of Emergency Management. By the end of the year, the city hopes to have a text message alert system in place. Some time next year the city wants to begin a pilot “reverse 911 system” in one neighborhood, whereby automatic phone messages would be sent to everyone in the area. He said there are limits to both ideas. The city’s phone lines do not have the capacity to make massive amount of calls particularly in an emergency, when phones are in greater use. Text messages are currently sent as a low priority by cell phone carriers so they could take a day to be transmitted in an emergency. The city also wants to utilize existing technology to broadcast cell phone messages in a particular area, but carriers are also resisting that idea, Skyler said. ... (Downtown Express, by Josh Rogers, Sept. 21-27, 2007)
  
• More Able to Get Free Care for 9/11 Illnesses ... The city is expanding its treatment facilities to care for people sickened by ground zero dust in the aftermath of the World Trade Center collapse, city officials said yesterday. The city announced that two new clinics would provide free treatment to people with 9/11-related illnesses. The clinics will be available to anyone who lived, worked or went to school in Lower Manhattan and some areas of Brooklyn, or who helped in the cleanup, officials said. The clinics, in Chinatown and in Queens, will be part of the World Trade Center Environmental Health Center, which the city established at Bellevue Hospital Center last year. The center has treated 1,600 patients, but city officials believe thousands more may be affected. The expansion will allow the center to treat up to 20,000 patients over the next five years, city officials said. The announcement comes as city and state officials are pushing for $150 million a year in federal funds to offset the growing costs of monitoring and treating 9/11-related illnesses. The city has committed $100 million through 2011, including $33 million to further expand treatment at the three sites, officials said. “There is much about World Trade Center health effects that we still don’t know,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said. “But one thing we do know is that 9/11 was an act of war against our entire country, and the federal government must take responsibility for everyone harmed.” ... (NYTimes,by Ray Rivera, Sept. 21, 2007)
  
• Chairman: LMDC Aims To Have Plan For Bank Tower Demolition Soon ... The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation hopes to have a work plan for deconstructing the former Deutsche Bank building near ground zero within the next month, the corporation's chairman, Avi Schick, said yesterday. Mr. Schick would not speculate on when work on the building would resume. If the LMDC and regulators "are able to come to a quick agreement on a plan and a scope of work, then we are pretty confident that the process of identifying the right companies to do that work won't stand in the way of starting quickly," he said. Mr. Schick also said the LMDC is "thinking" it will take a different approach to deconstructing the building when it resumes work, discontinuing the previous practice of deconstructing and decontaminating the building simultaneously. Separating the tasks could minimize risks and lessen the complexity. ... (NYSun, by Grace Rauh, Sept. 20, 2007)
  
• City considering a reverse-911 call system ... The city wants to use high-tech warning methods in the future during emergencies such as the Deutsche Bank fire, including a reverse-911 system that calls affected residents. Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler told a City Council hearing yesterday that a pilot reverse-911 project could be "designed and ready to go sometime in early 2008." City Councilman Alan Gerson (D-Manhattan), who chaired the hearing by the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Committee, said the city failed to contact worried neighborhood residents after the Deutsche Bank fire broke out about 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 18. It wasn't until more than four hours later that Mayor Bloomberg held a news conference assuring residents the air was safe. (NYDaily News, by Frank Lombardi, Sept. 20, 2007)
  
• HIGH-TECH WARNINGS: CITY WILL SEND NYERS CRISIS TEXTS ... In the aftermath of the Deutsche Bank fire and the Midtown steam-pipe explosion, city officials yesterday announced they will begin testing rapid-alert programs to rush text messages to New Yorkers' cellphones. Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler told lawmakers at a City Council hearing that a pilot program using text messages as an early-alert system for communities will be ready to roll out within a few months. "We expect to launch the pilot at the end of this year. At the same time, we are wary of it, because we know that the communications infrastructure isn't as reliable as we would like," he said of brief text messages that would be limited to 60 characters. Skyler said text messaging is a low priority for mobile-phone companies, and that the carriers have yet to commit to ensuring that the messages would be delivered within an hour. "We are skeptical of the technology, but we believe it deserves a try. We haven't picked a neighborhood yet," he said. The Bloomberg administration has its eyes on what could be a more effective alert system that would use mobile-phone networks to send emergency messages to anyone carrying a phone within a specific swath of the city. Called "cell broadcasting," the alert system would require mobile-phone companies to make upgrades to their infrastructure - changes that City Hall is pushing for. "It is not possible for us to use cell broadcasting today, because wireless carriers have resisted investing resources in this emerging technology," Skyler said. But Skyler said the city is working on several fronts, including an e-mail alert program that will be tested next month in lower Manhattan by the Office of Emergency Management. The e-mail alert program will be available to anyone who signs up for it. After the hearing, council Speaker Christine Quinn said the private sector has to step up and help to improve the ability to deliver emergency messages. "We didn't hear government holding us back, we heard the corporate sector holding us back. That was not what I anticipated," said Quinn. "Yes, they are corporate entities, but they have a responsibility in this post-9/11 world." Lower Manhattan residents were furious over what they said was a lack of information and warnings about toxins released into the air following the fire at the Deutsche Bank building last month. ... (NYPost, by Frankie Edozien, Sept. 20, 2007)
  
• State may clean Deutsche Bank tower before demolition ... The state is now "leaning toward" cleaning the contaminated Deutsche Bank tower before demolishing it, a plan it had long rejected as too slow. Avi Schick, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., mentioned the proposed change yesterday after testifying before the City Council. For years, job safety advocates and neighborhood residents anxious about an accident there repeatedly called on the state to do the two tasks separately. Prior to an Aug. 18 blaze that killed two firefighters, contractors hired by LMDC were taking down the building floor by floor while cleaning asbestos and other toxins out of several floors below the demolition. Some investigators have theorized that the simultaneous nature of the work could have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Schick insisted the simultaneous work had nothing to do with the fire, and that deconstruction work wasn't going on that day - just abatement. Nevertheless, the state will likely "decouple" the two tasks because, Schick said, "That's the traditional way to do it." (NYDaily News, by Kirsten Danis, Sept. 20, 2007)
  
• FINALLY, A FIRE PLAN FOR DEADLY DEUTSCHE ... It took the tragic deaths of two firefighters, but the cursed Deutsche Bank building finally has a fire-safety plan, according to documents obtained by The Post. Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino, who perished in the Aug. 18 blaze in the contaminated building. lost their lives because of lax fire-protection measures, most notably a dismantled standpipe system. Since then, several government agencies and the FDNY have hammered out a plan full of commonsense requirements. Contractor Bovis Lend Lease must now provide plans that show the current layout and configuration of each floor. ... The negative air-pressure units that are needed to prevent the spread of toxic dust must have a master "off" switch. Those fans were blamed for causing the 14th-floor fire to spread unpredictably. And all stairways must now be clear of obstructions and marked with luminous paint. The new rules go beyond the single regulation in the deconstruction plan authored by the subcontractor John Galt Corp. and Bovis last year. Under that plan, the only fire-protection requirement was maintaining the standpipe - a task that wasn't done. (NYPost, by Chuck Bennett, Sept. 20, 2007)
  
• City Aims To Launch Program To Improve Crisis Communication ... The Bloomberg administration is aiming to adopt a host of new ways to communicate with New Yorkers during a crisis. Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler said yesterday that the city hopes to launch a pilot program for a text-messaging notification system by the end of 2007 and a pilot program for a reverse 9-1-1 emergency notification system by early 2008. By mid-October, the pilot program for an e-mail notification system is set to begin in Lower Manhattan. At a City Council hearing on how the city communicates with residents during an emergency, Mr. Skyler said he is "skeptical" of the text-messaging technology. New York's telecommunications infrastructure "isn't as reliable as we'd like," he said, which could lead to other problems during an emergency. "If I sign up for a service and I'm in a situation where I feel that I should be getting information from government and I don't get a message, then I might not do anything," he said. "I might not turn on the television. I might just go about my business and then maybe walk into harm's way.' Mayor Bloomberg promised during his 2005 campaign to work with cell phone carriers to provide emergency notifications and information through text messaging. Lower Manhattan residents have said that in the hours immediately following the outbreak of a fire at the former Deutsche Bank building near ground zero in August, they wanted information from the city that would have assuaged their fears and told them how to stay safe. (NYSun, by Grace Rauh, Sept. 20, 2007)
  
• New help for World Trade Center ailments ... New Yorkers suffering from illnesses caused by toxic dust and debris from the World Trade Center now have two additional places to get free medical treatment, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today. Two new World Trade Center Environmental Health Center clinics, in Chinatown and Queens, will be able to see up to 20,000 patients over the next five years, the mayor said in a statement. Funded by city coffers, the program's first outpost was created at Bellevue Hospital in midtown Manhattan in 2006. Around 1,600 people have signed up to be treated since its inception. But experts believe that thousands more are affected by exposure, including rescue workers and downtown residents. "The center's three sites will allow us to bring comprehensive assessment and specialty treatment to the people with symptoms from WTC exposures who have not yet accessed care," said Alan Aviles, president of the city's Health and Hospitals Corporation. The main complaints include respiratory illnesses, sinus and nasal problems, asthma, shortness of breath, and throat irritations. Other ailments include headaches, rashes, heartburn and indigestion, as well as anxiety. (NYDaily News, Sept. 20, 2007)
  
• MAYOR BLOOMBERG AND HHC PRESIDENT AVILES ANNOUNCE EXPANSION OF WORLD TRADE CENTER ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CENTER TO TWO NEW SITES AND CALL FOR SUSTAINED FEDERAL FUNDING: Fire Department Releases Comprehensive Assessment of Six Years of Research and Treatment of 9/11 First Responders ... (News Release, Sept. 20, 2007)
  
• City To Expand Care for 9/11 Sick .... In an attempt to treat thousands more individuals with health problems related to the attacks of September 11, 2001, the city has announced a major expansion of its World Trade Center Environmental Health Center at Bellevue Hospital. ... In a statement, Rep. Jerrold Nadler praised the mayor's support for the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which he introduced in Congress last week with Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Vito Fossella. The bill would fund the treatment of health issues related to the attacks, and would reopen the Victim's Compensation Fund. "Whether you were caught in the plume, cleaned up poisonous indoor dust, or were exposed to contamination in your home or workplace — if you were exposed to toxins from the World Trade Center, you should have access to quality care," he said. (NYSun, by Elizabeth Solomont, Sept. 20, 2007)
  
• FDNY leader urges safety fixes ...While some improvements have been made to communications and other equipment, "we have yet to focus on how to better protect the individuals who respond to major disasters in a comprehensive way," Visconti said. Witnesses assailed health and safety monitoring in particular. Although an estimated 40,000 to 70,000 people who worked "on the pile" at Ground Zero were exposed to toxic dust and debris, federal monitoring continues to be "stop and start," said Cynthia Bascetta of the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Tens of thousands of those individuals have yet to be screened at all, she said. (Newsday, by Carol Eisenberg, Sept. 20, 2007)
  
• A Six-Year Assessment: WTC Health Impacts on FDNY Rescue Workers ... (Fire Department, City of NY, Bureau of Health Services, Sept. 2007)
  
• FDNY Not Ready To Fight Toxic Fires: Month After Deutsche Blaze, Dept. Said To Be Without Plan ... There were new developments Wednesday evening in the aftermath of the Deutsche Bank fire. Startling details came out of a closed door meeting of top fire officials. With the deadly fire just over a month old there are apparently still no new plans for fighting fires in toxic buildings. "I'm shocked," said Deputy Chief Richard Alles. Alles was stunned by a disclosure he says was made by Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and his top aides at a behind-the-scenes meeting Monday night when the chiefs reportedly put Scoppetta and his men on the spot. They asked how they should attack a fire like the one at Deutsche Bank that resulted in the deaths of two firemen. The answer? "They are in the process of designing plans ... one month after the fire," Alles said. Scoppetta and his top aides reportedly revealed the lack of plans at a private session Monday night, with some 50 chiefs assigned to Division I in lower Manhattan. They told their union reps what happened. Alles says a lot of projects are reportedly affected. "One hundred to 200 buildings ... mind-boggling," he said. Added Battalion Chief George Belnavis: "Why don't we have a plan and what do we do next time? We really didn't get any answers yet, but that doesn't help the guys who are working today, tonight and tomorrow." Alles says one thing is certain. The FDNY doesn't appear to be looking out for the people it serves. "It is my belief the upper echelon of this department is more concerned with circling their own wagons and protecting their own interests," Alles said. "If they cared we would have the new procedure to follow today." FDNY spokesman James Long says the statements made by the chiefs are patently false and a misrepresentation of what was discussed at the meeting. (wcbstv, Sep 19, 2007)
  
• OEM to take over Lower Manhattan warning system ... The state agency that owns a contaminated lower Manhattan skyscraper failed to use its e-mail alert system to notify neighborhood residents about a deadly fire in the building because the blaze happened on a weekend, when the agency's offices were closed, city and state officials said Wednesday. As a result, the city and the state-run Lower Manhattan Development Corporation have agreed that the city's Office of Emergency Management will take over the e-mail alert system, which will be revamped and start running sometime next month, said Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler. "They [the LMDC] took on a responsibility but they don't have the 24/7 capability that OEM does," Skyler said after testifying at a City Council hearing on improving community notification in lower Manhattan in the wake of the Aug. 18 fire at the former Deutsche Bank building. The LMDC maintains two community e-mail lists with a total of about 4,000 subscribers, which were created to update residents on the progress of redevelopment at the former World Trade Center site and alert them in the event of an emergency -- a commitment that may have been overly ambitious, given the agency's size and lack of expertise in crisis management, said chairman Avi Schick, who took over in April. "I want to be able to partner with agencies like OEM because a city agency with a large head count and a 24/7 presence is going to, in the event of an extraordinary emergency, be better suited to delivering certain things than we can," Schick said. "What I don't want to do is overpromise -- it's hard to say in the middle of the night at the end of August that we're always going to have the number of staff available on short notice." Schick said the LMDC will continue to use the e-mail lists to notify residents about the results of air quality tests and "more routine, day-to-day issues that arise." The fire at 130 Liberty St., which killed two firefighters, has renewed concerns among lower Manhattan residents about the city's ability to get information about emergencies to them quickly.(Newsday, by Karla Schuster, Sept. 19, 2007)
  
• E-Mail and Text Messages Are Fine. But What About Mrs. McGillicuddy? ... In the wake of last month’s fire at the former Deutsche Bank building, the city is racing to find high-tech solutions — from text messages to e-mail alerts — to dispense information to residents during an emergency. But what about Mrs. McGillicuddy, a highly independent, perhaps elderly and bohemian resident who has not gone gently into the information age? That’s what Councilman Alan J. Gerson wanted to know as he interrogated Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler today, during a City Council hearing examining the city’s failure to provide timely information to Lower Manhattan residents during the Aug. 18 fire, which killed two firefighters. “Mrs. McGillicuddy is the person who doesn’t get her information from the Internet,” said Mr. Gerson, a Democrat who represents Lower Manhattan, as Mr. Skyler waited patiently for the five-minute-long question to unfold. ... Mr. Skyler acknowledged that the city does not have an effective method of informing residents of what to do, or not to do, during events like the Deutsche Bank fire. The blaze began around 3:30 p.m., sending plumes of dark smoke into the air and raising a host of questions among Lower Manhattan residents: Was the smoke toxic? Should they evacuate? Should they stay in doors and close the windows? Many of those questions weren’t answered until a 9 p.m. news conference that night. Mr. Skyler said the city has effective ways for informing residents of what to do in citywide emergencies, such as a blackout, transit strike or a terrorism alert. And in small-scale evacuations, the city can send firefighters door to door or use loudspeakers in police vehicles.“What the city government has not done to this point is deal with things in the middle,” he said, “saying, ‘Well, you don’t need to leave, but maybe you should close your windows,’ and sometimes further than that even if there’s nothing that anybody needs to do, it’s nice to be told that there’s nothing anybody needs to do, because as you know, it decreases anxiety and makes people comfortable to know that somebody has thought about these things and that somebody has communicated them.” (NYTime City Room, by Ray Rivera, Sept. 19, 2007)
  
• City Council Holds Hearing On Disaster Communication Issues ... The City Council looked into community notification problems surrounding disasters like the deadly fire at the former Deutsche Bank building during a hearing today. The deadly fire prompted the council committees on Lower Manhattan Redevelopment and Technology in Government to explore ways to improve communication with residents following a major event. For weeks after the Deutsche Bank building fire, Downtown residents said it was hard to get information about whether the air in their neighborhood was safe to breathe. There were similar concerns after the Midtown steam pipe explosion in July, with those who lived and worked nearby concerned about asbestos exposure, as well as when they'd be allowed to return to their buildings. To prevent future problems, officials hope to pass on information through e-mail, automated phone calls, and text messages – but they say the messages may not always be received. "A protocol in which the cell phone carrier does not believe it's a priority, won't resend it if it bounces a back, or can't commit to re-send it if within an hour, is unacceptable,” said Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler. "One of the most important and comforting things you can give a New Yorker is information, up-to-date information," said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Officials hope to begin a pilot program to test the e-mail alert system beginning this October. ... (NY1, Sept. 19, 2007)
  
• Bank Fire Prompts Hearing On Informing City Residents.... When a fire broke out in the former Deutsche Bank building near ground zero last month, many residents of Lower Manhattan peered out their windows, stumbled into the streets, and frantically called friends in search of information about the blaze. A City Council hearing today will examine the way in which nearby residents were notified about the fire. Lawmakers are expected to discuss establishing effective emergency communication plans so New Yorkers can be better informed during future catastrophes. The vice chairwoman of Community Board 1 in Lower Manhattan, Catherine McVay Hughes, said that when the fire was burning, people who live and work near ground zero had no way of getting answers to basic questions. "Should you stay in place? Should you leave? Should you close your windows?" she asked. "People are very concerned about this, downtown." Council Member Gale Brewer, a Democrat of the Upper West Side who is chairwoman of the Technology in Government Committee, said other cities have plans in place to reach residents during an emergency, such as recorded messages that are sent to landline telephones. "This would have been so helpful," she said, adding that, depending on the situation, residents could have been told to turn their air-conditioners on or off, and whether they needed to be concerned about asbestos in the air. "If I lived in an area like that, I would love to have that information." The use of alarms, e-mail, and text messages to communicate during an emergency also will be discussed at the hearing. Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler is scheduled to testify and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is planning to attend. After the subway flooding in August, lawmakers called on the Metropolitan Transit Authority to install cell phone service on the subway's underground platforms so that riders could be informed about service problems via mobile phones. (NY Sun, by Grace Rauh, September 19, 2007)
  
• City lends support to 9/11 health bill ... In testimony before Congress, the Bloomberg administration announced its support Tuesday for a 9/11 health bill that would require the federal government to pay for health care for first responders and other environmental victims of the attack that crumbled the World Trade Center. Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler said the federal government should help pay the cost of treating illnesses associated with the attack, which he said exposed some 400,000 area residents, Manhattan visitors and disaster first responders to environmental hazards and emotional trauma. ... (amNY, by Martin C. Evans, Sept. 19, 2007)
  
• Bill Would Expand Care and Compensation for Ground Zero Workers ... The Bloomberg administration is supporting a new Congressional bill that would provide health treatment and financial compensation for all workers, residents and others exposed to the dust and smoke from the collapsed World Trade Center. The bill, called the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, was introduced by several members of New York’s Congressional delegation Monday night. It would establish a long-term program to provide a broad range of physical and mental health services similar to those now being offered at Mount Sinai Medical Center and several other medical institutions in the metropolitan area to ground zero workers. The bill would also reopen the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund to help those injured by exposure to the dust recover financial losses related to their illnesses. The bill does not include cost estimates for medical screening, treatment or compensation. Edward Skyler, the New York City deputy mayor for administration, who testified on Tuesday before the health subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg supported reopening the fund because it would “enable the city to get out of the courtroom and focus its energies on helping those who continue to struggle with the aftermath of 9/11.” In Albany, Gov. Eliot Spitzer added his strong support on Tuesday to passage of the bill. The city is facing more than 8,000 lawsuits by workers who labored in the cleanup and recovery operation at ground zero in 2001 and 2002 and who say they became sick because the city was negligent about their safety. “New York City would rather stand with those who’ve filed suit, rather than against them in a courtroom,” Mr. Skyler said. Tuesday’s hearing was the fourth in a week to deal with health issues related to ground zero. Since Democrats gained a majority in Congress, those issues have received far more attention than in previous years, and the New York delegation is hoping that Democratic control of Congress will make it easier to get the legislation approved. The Zadroga bill is named for a New York City detective who died in 2006 after spending hundreds of hours at ground zero. His death was the first to be officially linked to exposure to the dust. The legislation was sponsored by Carolyn B. Maloney and Jerrold L. Nadler of Manhattan, both Democrats, and Vito J. Fossella of Staten Island, a Republican. Despite the bipartisan support for the legislation, it could face significant obstacles. Representative Frank Pallone Jr., a New Jersey Democrat who is chairman of the health subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the health care part of the legislation, said he expected to see objections to the bill from Republicans opposed to big government programs as well as from those worried about the cost of such programs. Dr. John Howard, the federal government’s 9/11 health coordinator, testified at Tuesday’s hearing that a federal task force studying options for a comprehensive health plan for ground zero workers completed its work last April and had not met since then. He said the government needed to see actual costs for thousands of ground zero workers who had received examinations and prescription drugs in New York and other places before making a final decision on the shape, and possible costs, of a long-range plan. (NYTimes, by Anthony DePalma, Sept. 19, 2007)
  
• To Some, Hiring of Top Criminal Lawyer Suggests Worries in Deutsche Bank Case ... Criminal defense experts said yesterday that the Bloomberg administration’s hiring of a widely respected defense lawyer to represent the city in the criminal investigation into the fatal Deutsche Bank fire last month suggests that it is concerned that prosecutors are focusing on city agencies as possible defendants. On Monday, the office of the corporation counsel, Michael A. Cardozo, released a brief statement saying it had hired the lawyer, Gary P. Naftalis, to represent the city in the investigation into the Aug. 18 fire at the contaminated building, where two firefighters died. The statement said Mr. Naftalis and his firm had been retained to help city lawyers respond to the storm of subpoenas issued by the office of Robert M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, to advise the city and “to appropriately and fully cooperate” with the inquiry. Yesterday, Mr. Cardozo’s office would not comment further on the reasoning behind the hiring, and a spokeswoman declined to discuss whether the city was concerned that prosecutors were exploring possible criminal culpability on the part of city agencies in the deaths. Several criminal defense lawyers said yesterday that the hiring of Mr. Naftalis, a highly regarded criminal defense lawyer with wide experience in complex criminal cases, and his firm, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, was an indication of the city’s level of concern that prosecutors might explore whether city agencies — the Fire and Buildings Departments — would face charges. “The concern appears to be that the D.A.’s office might consider, on the local level, what the Department of Justice has made many pronouncements recently on the federal level — the criminal liability of companies or business organizations,” Alan Vinegrad, a former United States attorney for Brooklyn, said by e-mail. “In this case, it would also involve the somewhat novel application of that principle to the city.” At the same time, some defense lawyers cited a range of other possible reasons for the hiring, including the relative inexperience of the corporation counsel lawyers in criminal investigations and in dealing with the mass of records sought by prosecutors. Connie Pankratz, a spokeswoman for Mr. Cardozo’s office, said Mr. Morgenthau’s office had not notified the city that it was a subject of the investigation. “We’re only at the point that we’re responding to subpoenas,” she said in a telephone interview. Later, in an e-mail message, she said the city was cooperating fully with the investigation. “Both the city and the D.A. have similar goals: to determine what happened and prevent something like this from happening again,” she said. The fire at the former bank headquarters at 130 Liberty Street, alongside ground zero, exposed a tangle of mysteries about the ill-fated deconstruction project, which has stalled several times over the last three years, and a series of possibly fatal missteps. The city and private contractors failed to conduct required safety inspections at the building and thus never learned that someone had removed a key section of standpipe, a pipe to which fire hoses are connected, in an apparently deadly act that delayed firefighters’ efforts to get water on the blaze. The firefighters were confronted with difficult conditions when they arrived at the building, where the asbestos abatement and dismantling work had transformed the office tower into a maze of plywood and polyurethane sheets and blocked stairwells. Ms. Pankratz said on Monday that Mr. Naftalis, whose firm will charge a discounted hourly rate ranging from $265 to $660 per hour, would represent the Fire and Buildings Departments, the agencies responsible for conducting some of the inspections. Prosecutors, speaking about the case generally, have said they are examining whether negligence led to the deaths. The investigation is far-reaching, examining not only how the fire started and how the firefighters died, but also on how a contractor with questionable ties was selected by the construction manager, Bovis Lend Lease, and approved by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which owns the building. Daniel J. Castleman, a senior aide to Mr. Morgenthau who is overseeing the inquiry, would not discuss details of the case yesterday or say how many prosecutors and investigators had been assigned. But he said it was “obviously a priority.” “People are working around the clock to ensure a complete and thorough investigation,” he said. Asked about the hiring of Mr. Naftalis yesterday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said it was in essence good news that the 700-lawyer corporation counsel’s office did not have much experience in criminal law. “We haven’t needed a lot of expertise in criminal law, but here there are charges that may be brought, criminal charges — maybe they won’t be brought — but we don’t have that expertise, so we’ve gone outside,” he said. “We have offered criminal help, legal help to any of our employees who need it.” (NYtimes, by William K. Rashbaum and Charles V. Bagli, Sept. 19, 2007)
• LEGAL AID IN DEUTSCHE FIRE ... The city is offering free legal help to any of its workers who might face criminal charges in the deadly Deutsche Bank blaze, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. "We will help anybody who needs legal services," said the mayor. "We treat all our employees exactly the same." Bloomberg insisted the free representation by a high-powered outside legal firm wasn't unusual and was intended to "make sure that this city is represented by people who know what they're doing." On Monday, the city Law Department announced that it had hired the firm of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel to help it handle an investigation by the Manhattan DA's Office into the Aug. 18 fire that took the lives of firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino. (NYPost, by Dvid Seifman, Sept. 19, 2007)
• White Men With Money: The City Lawyers Up ... The Bloomberg administration is facing a heap of subpoenas in the wake of the Deutsche Bank fire that killed two firefighters. So the office of the city's Corporation Counsel is hiring a criminal-defense lawyer, Gary Naftalis, ostensibly to help them sort out which documents to turn over to the investigators. This is, needless to say, an interesting move. City Hall's la-di-da press release says it needs "sufficiently knowledgeable attorneys in order to " fully cooperate" (because, you know, that's what criminal defense does, cooperate). Somehow, we're not thinking Naftalis will be doing what amounts to glorified document review. The man is a co-chair of Kramer Levin, a litigation boutique specializing in ultra-high-profile white-collar litigation; he has a rich (weak pun intended) history of getting wealthy white dudes out of massive trouble, having successfully defended Michael Eisner from Disney shareholders and Salomon Brothers from the SEC. Not that we're implying Bloomberg's in trouble over this, but hiring a guy like Naftalis to "cooperate" is like using a chainsaw to "mend fences." (NYMagazine, 9/18/07)
• Manhattan DA Questions FDNY In Deutsche Probe -- City Hires Expensive Lawyer To Help Craft Defense ... (wcbstv, Marcia Kramer, Sep 18, 2007 )
• City Hires Criminal Lawyer for Deutsche Bank Defense ... The Bloomberg administration announced yesterday that it had hired a top-flight criminal defense lawyer to assist it in defending city agencies in a criminal investigation into the deadly fire at the former Deutsche Bank headquarters last month. ... The investigation is broad, focusing not only on the firefighters’ deaths, but also on the actions of several contractors and city agencies and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which is overseeing the dismantling of the building alongside ground zero. The development corporation, which has also come under scrutiny and has been issued subpoenas for documents, has not hired a defense lawyer, according to its spokesman, Errol Cockfield. The prosecutors are examining the work of several contractors and looking into why the building had not been properly inspected by the city. They are also seeking to determine how a company with little experience was hired by the general contractor, Bovis Lend Lease, and approved by the development corporation for the $60 million contract to dismantle the building. ... Relations between the city and prosecutors in the office of District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau have been tense. Two weeks ago, the city sought to meet with several firefighters in advance of their appearance at Mr. Morgenthau’s office, where prosecutors later interviewed them about their experience fighting the Deutsche Bank fire. Connie Pankratz, a spokeswoman for the corporation counsel’s office, said in an e-mail message that Mr. Naftalis and his law firm, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, would represent “the city and various city agencies,” not any individual city officials or rank-and-file workers. ... Kramer Levin has agreed to reduce by 20 percent its normal hourly charges, and the rates it will charge will vary, she said, depending on the level of lawyer working on the case, from a high of $660 per hour to $265 per hour. ... (NYTimes, by William K. Rashbaum, Sept. 18, 2007)
• CITY HALL LAWYERS UP ... The Bloomberg administration said yesterday that it had engaged Gary Naftalis, one of the nation's top trial lawyers, as outside counsel regarding District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's ongoing criminal probe of the Deutsche Bank fire. .... The announcement came two days after The New York Times reported that FDNY brass had directed several firefighters who were present at the Aug. 18 blaze to meet with city lawyers before sitting down with Morgenthau's investigators. Why City Hall would want to get between Morgenthau and witnesses to a potential crime is a mystery. (NYPost, Sept. 18, 2007)
• Feds: Deutsche Bank demolition came close to disaster ... The Deutsche Bank demolition job is a nightmare of safety violations and near disasters, with subcontractor John Galt Corp. repeatedly misleading regulators, documents charge. Weeks before the Aug. 18 blaze that killed two firefighters, Galt workers accidentally set a safety net afire (click link to see document) and dropped molten steel on some scaffolding. Galt workers doused the fire without calling the Fire Department. Galt also assured the state that a crucial standpipe that failed during the fatal fire was tested and in "working condition" in April 2006. After the fire, inspectors discovered a piece of the pipe had been cut and removed. The Manhattan district attorney and the state attorney general are investigating the cause of the fire and trying to determine responsibility. An increasing number of incidents leading up to the fire are found in internal reports by inspectors for the federal Environmental Protection Agency and an EPA consultant, CH2M Hill of New Jersey, from March 21, 2006, through this Aug. 16 - two days before the fire. The records show regulators were constantly citing Galt for numerous problems. At times, Galt appeared to be trying to deceive its overseers. For instance, on June 9, 2006, the subcontractor claimed a pile of debris had been cleaned of toxic dust and passed air and wipe tests deeming it safe for disposal. Galt couldn't provide documentation, so the EPA decided to check it out. On the 35th floor, the EPA discovered the material was still filthy with toxic dust. After complaining that Galt was wasting their time, regulators confronted Galt executive Don Adler. "Adler stated something to the effect that this building isn't subject to any regulations, (click link to see document) so what standard could it possibly fail?" EPA inspector Bob Fitzpatrick wrote. Another Galt executive, Mitch Alvo, made several excuses. Fitzpatrick noted: "He seemed to know that the material wouldn't pass the regulators' inspection and was trying to justify it." Galt executives did not return a call seeking comment. More than a year later, on July 5, Fitzpatrick noted two containers with "large amounts of dust and debris" that were reported to have been cleaned. "This is a constant and recurring problem," he wrote. It wasn't just dust. Eight days later, inspectors watched as workers dumped contaminated water through a hole in the 20th floor. The pervasiveness of problems appears to have led a key safety inspector to simply throw up his hands. In a March 1 visit, regulators said they confronted Bovis Lend Lease site safety manager Jeff Melofchik about numerous workers without proper hardhats or other protective gear. The report says Melofchik "stated he was aware of the problem but didn't think it was going to be fixed." A Bovis spokeswoman said Melofchik denies making such a statement and insists he tried to correct the problems "immediately." One of the worst days came on July 31, weeks before the blaze that killed Firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino. That day, CH2M Hill said Galt workers cutting steel on the 28th floor set afire safety netting hanging outside the building. Galt workers doused the blaze with extinguishers and a water hose. Inspectors on the 23rd floor saw "pieces of molten metal" falling from above and landing on outside scaffolding. Finally, they asked a Galt "management specialist" to identify the contents of drums of toxic waste that were to be transported from the building. "After 15 minutes, it becomes apparent that the specialist is not really sure what is in each drum," the consultant wrote. Two days later, the city Buildings Department ordered all burning work halted, issuing a violation for unsafe storage of combustible materials, records show. ... (NYDaily News, by Benjamin Lesser & Greg B. Smith, September 18, 2007)
• Earlier Deutsche Bank fire not reported ... The fire department was never called to a smaller and earlier fire in the condemned and contaminated building -- and that raises a most disturbing question: if the department had been notified and known about the dangers in the building, could the deaths of two firefighters have been prevented? The Investigators Jim Hoffer has more. Much of the news about the Deutsche Bank fire has focused on bureaucratic blundering at the FDNY. But in a report, it's the owners and operators at the project site that may have blundered by letting the fire department completely out of the loop about an earlier fire. Twenty five maydays during the Deutsche Bank fire, it is a miracle more firefighters didn't die. But now there's evidence perhaps that the entire incident and the two fatalities could have been avoided had someone paid more attention to this. It's a report from an EPA inspector, obtained by Eyewitness News, that reveals that just 18 days earlier, a small fire broke out just one floor above where firefighter Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino died. The inspector notes in his July 31st visit "that netting outside of the building had caught fire from sparks generated from hot cutting." "This document shows there were fires occurring in the building. This is a gigantic red flag for people that fire safety needed to be looked at in this building," said John Jay College of Fire Science Professor Glen Corbett. But we've confirmed that no one at the Deutsche Bank site ever called the FDNY about the July 31st fire, even though the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's emergency action plan specifically states that in the event of a fire, the contractor must "call 911." "Had they been notified there was a real likelyhood that steps would have been taken to ensure fires didn't occur, there would have been much more scrutiny," Corbett said. This construction safety attorney goes one step further. "If they had done what they should have done, reported this accident, had proper inspection by fire department,this second fire would not have happen because the job would have been shut down," said construction safety expert Jeffrey Manheimer. A spokesman for the LMDC, which has oversight for the project, says "the fire was not big enough to call the FDNY. It was a small fire that only required the use of a fire extinguisher." But an FDNY spokesperson told us simply, "We should have been called." The construction safety expert offers one reason that they weren't. "They buried it .... time is money on these construction projects ... I understand a substantial bonus if they complete the project under schedule ... that's always an incentive," Manheimer said. One firefighter told us had the FDNY been called on the earlier fire, they may have discovered that the stand-pipe had been dismantled. We should note though that the fire department also failed to conduct mandatory fire inspections. If you have a tip about this or any other story, please give our tip line a call at 877-tip-news. (New York- WABC, September 17, 2007)
  
• $HAKY GROUND ... The obscure state agency charged with coordinating about 60 construction projects downtown - including demolition of the former Deutsche Bank building - is going broke, The Post has learned. Not only has the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, which is under Gov. Spitzer's control, been blamed for mismanaging deconstruction of the bank building at Ground Zero, it apparently can't even manage its own budget. State agencies have refused to transfer millions of dollars to the LMCCC, which has authority over every project south of Canal Street worth more than $25 million, because it cannot provide a satisfactory plan of how the funds would be spent. Unless changes are made, the LMCCC will have a $3 million deficit by next month, said sources with direct knowledge of the budget. For instance, the Port Authority, which has several megaprojects downtown, including the World Trade Center transit hub and the Freedom Tower, hasn't paid a cent of the $21.7 million it promised last year. The money is "contingent on completion of an agreement on how the funds will be used. Since the agreement has not been completed, the funds have not been transferred," PA spokesman Steve Coleman said. LMCCC leaders, including ex-Executive Director Charles Maikish and current head Robert Harvey, have come under fire for their handling of the demolition of the contaminated bank building. After an Aug. 18 blaze at the site killed two firefighters, it emerged that numerous safety hazards that contributed to the fire had been ignored. "We are confident that our partners will fully satisfy their funding commitments," said Errol Cockfield, a spokesman for the state-run Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which manages the LMCCC. The LMCCC has a five-year, $67 million budget, but Cockfield declined to discuss the state of its finances or why it can't document where the money would go. The MTA committed $10.4 million to the LMCCC, but also hasn't transferred any cash. Jeremy Soffin, an MTA spokesman, said the matter was being looked into. And the state Department of Transportation's $2.6 million commitment has yet to reach the LMCCC's coffers. (NYPost, by Chuck Bennett, September 17, 2007)
• Council Takes Agenda to Washington ... Securing money for the health needs of rescue workers and other responders at the World Trade Center site on and after September 11, 2001, is the City Council's top legislative priority when it travels to Washington today to lobby for its federal agenda. The council delegation, led by Speaker Christine Quinn, is scheduled to meet with the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, members of the New York congressional delegation, the president and CEO of the National Housing Conference, Conrad Egan, and Senator Stabenow, a Democrat of Michigan who is chairwoman of the Senate's Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee. Rep. Joseph Crowley, a Democrat who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, is hosting a reception tonight for the delegation, expected to include 24 council members. It is the first time Ms. Quinn is traveling to Washington with a delegation to roll out the council's federal agenda. The trip is paid for with public money that comes from each council member's individual budget. Members make their own travel and accommodation arrangements. ... (NYSun, by Grace Rauh, Sept. 17, 2007)
• L.M.D.C. agrees to reseal Deutsche after low dioxin levels are found ... Safe air and a working emergency notification system topped a long list of community demands crafted this week in the wake of the deadly Deutsche Bank fire. On Wednesday, Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson Mary Mears said that at least one of those demands will be met “shortly.” After three weeks of community insistence and two strongly worded letters from the E.P.A., the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has agreed to reseal the Deutsche Bank building to prevent toxins from escaping into the environment, Mears said. The L.M.D.C. had previously said it would not reseal the structure until remedial repair work on the building was complete and all of the project’s regulatory agencies had hammered out a new safety plan for the site. Mears said that the agreement to reseal the building was reached during a Wednesday meeting between E.P.A. Region 2 administrator Alan J. Steinberg, L.M.D.C. Chairperson Avi Schick and Dep. Mayors Ed Skyler and Dan Doctoroff. As of press time, the agencies’ technical experts were busy working out the specifics of exactly when and how the resealing would take place. “This is the right step,” said Community Board 1 vice chairperson Catherine McVay Hughes when she learned of the L.M.D.C.’s change of heart. “It’s terrific that all the agencies now are working together to keep our neighborhood healthy and safe.” At an emergency C.B. 1 meeting last Wednesday night — the third such meeting in as many weeks — officials, including a contrite Skyler, came with the intent of discussing a new community notification plan for the Deutsche Bank project and other potential emergencies citywide. However, the discussion often veered into other areas, as local residents chastised the L.M.D.C. for failing to heed, or even respond to, community reservations about the Deutsche project prior to the fire. Board members and activists alike also expressed grave concerns about the L.M.D.C.’s apparent reluctance to follow the E.P.A’s recommendations for dealing with the contaminated building. Their environmental concerns were heightened two days later, when the E.P.A. revealed that elevated levels of dioxins had been released from the building 10 days after the fire, though not at harmful levels. “I cannot tell you how very disappointed we are that the green governor who appointed you would allow you to press for a downgrade [on environmental safety],” Kimberly Flynn of 9/11 Environmental Action told Schick at the Sept. 5 meeting. .... (Downtown Express, By Skye H. McFarlane, September 14 - 20, 2007)
  
• AP Analysis: 9/11 health issue tests Clinton's clout ... Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her fellow New York Democrats will soon face a major test of their clout in Congress: whether they can deliver health care to sick ground zero workers. For years, New York politicians - none more prominent than Clinton - have blasted President Bush for not doing enough to treat those who are sick years after working on the toxic rubble of the World Trade Center. Now that Democrats are the majority in Congress and Clinton is the party's presidential front-runner, there is new hope among ground zero workers for health care - and compensation. ... (AP/Newsdsay, by Develin Barrett, Sept. 16, 2007)
  
• Editorial: A date that changes with time ... Life and death questions related to Sept. 11 also remain in Lower Manhattan. The tragic deaths of two firefighters last month at a building damaged by the collapsing Twin Towers are the source of many of them. Government indifference put those men’s lives at risk unnecessarily and there continues to be a disturbing unwillingness of many to take responsibility. The future health of some of those who worked cleaning up the W.T.C. and those who lived, worked and studied near the site is uncertain. We were pleased to see House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in our neighborhood this week announcing her support for a bill to provide health coverage to those affected by the attack. We hope and expect that New York’s mostly-Democratic Congressional delegation will now be able to get this important legislation passed and perhaps even Bush can be persuaded to sign a bill whose beneficiaries include uniformed officers who sacrificed their health responding to the attack. ... (Downtown Express, September 14 - 20, 2007)
• Firefighters in Bank Blaze Said to Have Ignored Order to Consult City Lawyers ... Fire Department officials directed several firefighters last week to meet with city lawyers before they were questioned by the prosecutors investigating the deadly fire at the former Deutsche Bank building, according to several people involved in the matter. The firefighters ignored the directive to report to the corporation counsel’s office two hours before their 10 a.m. appointment with prosecutors from the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, on Sept. 6, the people involved said. Instead, the men and their union lawyers went directly to Mr. Morgenthau’s office, where they recounted their experiences during the Aug. 18 fire, which killed two of their colleagues. Neither the Fire Department nor lawyers from the office of the corporation counsel, Michael A. Cardozo, notified prosecutors of their plan to meet with the men before they talked to prosecutors about the fire, which is the subject of wide-ranging criminal investigation, several of the people said. Mr. Morgenthau, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment on the city’s directive. But in 2003, when corporation counsel lawyers attempted similar interviews with city employees involved in a Staten Island Ferry crash, federal prosecutors strongly criticized the Bloomberg administration. The city’s actions at the time, the prosecutors said, “had a chilling effect on the candor of some city employees,” limited the ability of city investigators “to get at the truth,” and significantly slowed the inquiry. A spokeswoman for Mr. Cardozo said yesterday that he had no comment on the matter. Relations between Mr. Morgenthau’s office and City Hall have become strained as prosecutors press their investigation into the fire at the contaminated former bank building, which looms over ground zero and is both an ugly reminder of 9/11 and of the government’s slow progress in rebuilding Lower Manhattan. Prosecutors are focusing not only on the firefighters’ deaths, but also on the actions of several contractors and city and state officials and agencies. The city faces potentially significant civil liability in the case. In particular, prosecutors are reviewing the work of several contractors, examining why the building had not been properly inspected by the city, and exploring how a company with little experience was approved by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for the $60 million contract to demolish the building. Firefighting units that responded to the blaze in the Deutsche Bank tower found that demolition work had created difficult conditions. A standpipe used to deliver water to the upper floors had been dismantled, forcing fire companies to improvise with their own system of hoses, a procedure that delayed getting water on the fire. Required inspections in the building, including tests of the standpipe, had not been done, and the stairwells had been sealed as part of efforts to remove asbestos. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has said that the city will assist the investigation by Mr. Morgenthau and a separate inquiry by the state’s attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo. “We are cooperating fully with those investigations,” he said at a press conference several days after the fire, “and will take no steps that could interfere with them.” Tom Butler, a spokesman for the Uniformed Firefighters Association, which represents the firefighters, said he could not comment on the city’s actions, citing the investigation. The tensions between the prosecutors and City Hall developed when Mr. Cardozo’s office sought to have city lawyers present when city employees were questioned as part of the inquiry, several people have said. But prosecutors in Mr. Morgenthau’s office rejected that idea. The firefighters questioned last week were not targets of the inquiry, according to several people involved in the matter, and were represented by their union lawyers. They were part of a group of nine firefighters and one fire captain who were interviewed on Sept. 6. One person who has been briefed on the city’s handling of the matter said that the corporation counsel’s office had sought a meeting with the firefighters, not to debrief them, but to offer that city lawyers represent them in the interviews. ... Questioning of city employees by their superiors or city lawyers can, in some instances, cause problems in criminal investigations. When city employees are questioned under oath by the city before they speak to prosecutors, their statements cannot be used against them in a criminal proceeding; that is why police officers involved in fatal shootings are almost never questioned by police officials before prosecutors have a chance to conduct their own inquiry. (NYTimes, by SWilliam K. Rashbaum & Charles V. Bagli, September 15, 2007)
• Variance Reopening Request to OEM Meeting Letter from TRC/LMDC ... (09/14/07)
• Pelosi backs 9/11 health bill ... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came to the World Trade Center site Monday and announced her support for federally funded health care for anyone suffering from 9/11-related illnesses. ... Pelosi, a Democrat from San Francisco, mentioned ground zero workers but not residents during the Monday press conference and did not respond when Downtown Express questioned her about it as she was leaving the site. ... U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, who will be one of the legislation’s sponsors, said Pelosi has told him privately that she supports covering residents and he guaranteed that residents would not be cut out of the effort to provide health coverage. “They will not be negotiated out of the bill,” Nadler said. “Period.” ... Some Downtown residents attribute their new or worsened asthma, other respiratory ailments or cancer to their exposure to the toxic plume and dust released on Sept. 11, 2001 and in the subsequent months while the W.T.C. fires continued to burn. Etta Sanders, 50, a Downtown resident and Tribeca Trib reporter, died of lung cancer on June 5 and she connected her cancer to 9/11 in an essay the Trib published posthumously. Nadler, whose district includes the W.T.C., introduced similar 9/11 health legislation last year as did a fellow Democrat, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has a bill that would provide $1.9 billion in coverage. The new House bill’s language has not been finalized, but its other New York sponsors will be U.S. Representatives Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat, and Vito Fossella, a Republican. Most of the New York delegation supported last year’s bill but it did not get far in the Republican-controlled Congress. In order to be eligible for coverage under the new House bill, participants would need to have their illness connected to 9/11 by a “Center of Excellence,” or health facility that has been treating 9/11 ailments such as Mount Sinai or Bellevue, and then confirmed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. NIOSH would fund the program, not Medicare, as was proposed last year. The bill would also provide federal monitoring of anyone exposed to 9/11 toxins and reopen the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund to people who suffered economically because of a 9/11 illness. ... (Downtown Express, by Josh Rogers, September 14 - 20, 2007)
  
• Ex-NFL star Martin starts walk to raise US$10 million for 9/11 rescue workers ... "I've been termed a hero for playing a kids' game at a pro level, and that does not rise to the level of heroic," Martin said Saturday. "I think of 9/11, when I saw people respond and put their health, their careers, their lives in jeopardy." Six years later, there is evidence that many rescue and recovery workers could be in danger from lethal or crippling illnesses linked to their time at ground zero. Martin, 54, hopes to raise US$10 million for these victims with a cross-country walk, heading from the George Washington Bridge to the Golden Gate Bridge. ... (Canadian Press/AP, Sept. 16, 2007)
• Ayn Rand’s Literature of Capitalism ... She sold several screenplays and intermittently wrote novels that were commercial failures, until 1943, when fans of “The Fountainhead” began a word-of-mouth campaign that helped sales immensely. Shortly after “Atlas Shrugged” was published in 1957, Mr. Greenspan wrote a letter to The New York Times to counter a critic’s comment that “the book was written out of hate.” Mr. Greenspan wrote: “ ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is a celebration of life and happiness. Justice is unrelenting. Creative individuals and undeviating purpose and rationality achieve joy and fulfillment. Parasites who persistently avoid either purpose or reason perish as they should.” Rand’s magazine, The Objectivist, later published several essays by Mr. Greenspan, including one on the gold standard in 1966. Rand called “Atlas” a mystery, “not about the murder of man’s body, but about the murder — and rebirth — of man’s spirit.” It begins in a time of recession. To save the economy, the hero, John Galt, calls for a strike against government interference. Factories, farms and shops shut down. Riots break out as food becomes scarce. Rand said she “set out to show how desperately the world needs prime movers and how viciously it treats them” and to portray “what happens to a world without them.” The book was released to terrible reviews. Critics faulted its length, its philosophy and its literary ambitions. Both conservatives and liberals were unstinting in disparaging the book; the right saw promotion of godlessness, and the left saw a message of “greed is good.” .... “Rand believed that there is right and wrong,” he said, “that excellence should be your goal.” .... The book’s hero, John Galt, also continues to live on. The subcontractor hired to demolish the former Deutsche Bank building, which was damaged when the World Trade Center towers fell, was the John Galt Corporation. It was removed from the job last month after a fire at the building killed two firefighters. ... (NYTimes, by Harriet Rubin, Sept. 15, 2007)
  
• State 9/11 program investigates member’s cancer death ... State 9/11 program investigates member’s cancer death The state Health Dept. is investigating the death of Radio Repair Mechanic Glenford Pennington, whose co-workers and sister believe he died of cancer because of his work at Ground Zero. A Public Employee Press article on the Local 1087 member in June sparked the inquiry about Pennington, who succumbed to lymphoma cancer in 2006. Pennington, who was 49 at the time of his death, worked at Ground Zero on 9/11 and subsequently to clean and repair communication gear for the Fire Dept. The state Dept. of Health contacted the DC 37 Safety and Health Dept. after the article appeared to seek assistance in its investigation. The union referred the state to Pennington’s sister, Valorie Pennington, and PEP forwarded background information it had obtained while working on the story to the investigators. The state World Trade Center Responders Fatality Investigation Program is collecting information about the deaths of responders and volunteers who worked at the disaster site. In addition to establishing the cause of death, theinvestigation aims to determine whether Pennington’sillness is among a cluster of ailments associated with the fatalities of responders and volunteers, a state official said. Cancer link to deaths? Pennington’s case is significant because WTC medical investigators haven’t yet acknowledged a link between 9/11 deaths and cancers..... The state program investigating deaths related to the 9/11 disaster urges anyone with information on specific cases to come forward and help. The program needs workers’ names, dates of birth and death and causes of death. The information could lead to improvements in medical treatment and coverage of responders and could help the families ofresponders suffering from illnesses to receivecompensation. Anyone with information on the death of a responder should contact the program at WTCFatality@health. state.ny.us or call 866-807-2130 toll-free. (Public Employee Press, by Gregory N. Heires)
  
• Standpipe Blamed in Fire Is Recertified for Use ... A broken standpipe blamed for hindering the battle against a fire that killed two firefighters in the former Deutsche Bank building was declared operational yesterday, fire officials said. The declaration came more than three weeks after the fire; both the city's fire department and buildings department signed off on the repairs. Fire officials said a full hydrostatic test of the pipe was conducted — meaning water was run through the pipe at pressures sufficient to reach the upper floors of the 26-story building. During the seven-alarm blaze at the building on August 18, fire marshals found that the standpipe had been dismantled. They later discovered that hydrostatic testing of the pipe, required every five years, had not been conducted in a decade. Contractors working in the building, along with its owner, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, are currently being investigated in a criminal probe into the fire. The building is being dismantled after it was damaged and contaminated by toxic debris when the twin towers collapsed in the attacks of September 11, 2001. Pieces of the pipe have been sent to an FBI laboratory to determine if it was purposely dismantled or blew apart under pressure when water pressure was turned on while a valve was shut. The results of that analysis have yet to be released. After the fire last month, the fire department required the LMDC to make other changes to improve fire safety inside the structure. ... (NYSun, by Sarah Garland, Sept. 14, 2007)
• Deutsche Bank: Community Worries About the Fire Next Time: NEW INITIATIVES ON NOTIFICATION AND OUTREACH; LMDC WEIGHS HALTING DECONSTRUCTION UNTIL DECONTAMINATION IS COMPLETE - GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND CONTRACTORS POINT TO EACH OTHER AND SAY “ASK THEM” - WHY HASN’T THE BUILDING BEEN RESEALED? ... The fallout from the Deutsche Bank fire on August 18 continues to unsettle residents of Lower Manhattan, whose frustration is compounded by the absence of meaningful answers about the tragedy that claimed the lives of two firefighters, and whether similar disasters can be avoided in the future. ... contention between LMDC and other agencies was aired when the public were invited to pose questions, and Kimberly Flynn asked why the Deutsche Bank building had still not been resealed, more than two weeks after the fire, when it is known to contain hazardous materials. When Mr. Schick explained that the process for getting this approved was complicated and time-consuming, Ms. Flynn asked EPA representative Pat Evangelista (who attended the meeting as an observer) to explain his agency’s position. Mr. Evangelista said, “EPA feels that the building should be resealed while other decisions are being made.” Mr. Schick replied, “we’ll do the best we can.” (The Battery park City Broadsheet, by Matthew Fenton, Sept. 11-26, 2007)
  
• DEUTSCHE STANDPIPE FIX ... The faulty standpipe in the former Deutsche Bank building that led to the death of two firefighters three weeks ago has finally been repaired, officials announced yesterday. The standpipe, which was supposed to send pressurized water throughout the building, was partially dismantled the day of the Aug. 18 fire that killed firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino. The building, which is contaminated with toxic dust, was undergoing demolition. Careless smoking by a worker was blamed for the blaze. Meanwhile, more than two weeks after higher than normal levels of the carcinogen dioxin were detected around the building, officials agreed on a plan to reseal it. Officials could still give no firm date when the resealing work will begin. (NYPost, by Chuck Bennet, Sept. 14, 2007)
• Razzle Dazzle: The Smoke After the Fire ... Nearly four weeks after the Deutsche Bank building blaze in which two Firefighters were killed, the focus remains on what the Fire Department did wrong and who were the culprits. ... The warfare within the Fire Department, however, has turned the conversation away from the early targets of public ire: the contractor, Bovis Lend Lease and its since-dismissed subcontractor, the John Galt Corporation. It has also had the effect of giving a free pass to the Buildings Department, even though, according to several officials, it bears a greater responsibility than the Fire Department for ensuring that the deconstruction of the Deutsche Bank building was conducted safely and without posing fire hazards. Chief Siegel's memo from 30 months ago noted that because the fire alarm system at 130 Liberty St. was out of service, there was a "24 hour a day fire watch," meaning that individuals hired by the contractor were supposed to be walking through the building periodically to check for fire hazards. Glenn Corbett, an Associate Professor of Fire Science at John Jay College who has been active in an attempt to bring greater fire safety to all high-rises in the city, said that on more than one occasion in the past he had mentioned to his co-chair of the Skyscraper Campaign, Sally Regenhard, "This building is an incredible fire hazard." He said last week that he was astonished to learn of the routine violations by workers employed by the subcontractor - including the constant smoking that is now believed to have been the cause of the fire - because of the obstacles that were thrown up when he and Ms. Regenhard had attempted to have the building checked for human remains of the casualties of 9/11. 'Insane' to Use Plywood - Thirteen months ago, Mr. Corbett said, after being put through months of "enormous hoops and hurdles, including extensive medical checks," they were permitted to have an independent forensic anthropologist enter the building, leading to the eventual discovery of more remains. Because of the level of toxicity in the building, Mr. Corbett said, it was "absolutely insane" to use plastic and plywood during the asbestos-abatement work, even though that is fairly common in other buildings where such work is done. "Why weren't they using a lot more sheetrock or gypsum board?" he asked. "They did this on the cheap. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation bears the ultimate responsibility, then Bovis and Galt. But this was not a building that the upper management of the Fire Department should have treated like just another building. The only logical people who should have been in this building [from the FDNY] were members of the Special Operations Command, who have Haz-Mat training, either as a special detail or on overtime. This building was so unique, and so obviously a problem, that it had to go to the upper echelons of the department."... Organized-Crime Link - The LMDC has been criticized for permitting Bovis to retain a subcontractor which had connections to individuals linked to organized crime. One former union official with experience in the construction business said that while it was true that Harold Greenberg had ties to the Gambino Crime Family, he was sufficiently knowledgeable about the deconstruction work involved that Bovis may have figured, "Give it to him, it'll be down in six months." But this official, who spoke conditioned on anonymity, added that even in a building under deconstruction where services were being cut, it would be standard practice to keep the standpipe and sprinkler system in operation for use on the floors below where the work was being done. ... 'Liars Cut Corners' - The former union official questioned the grounds under which Bovis and Galt asked for - and got - an additional $40 million for the deconstruction, saying that there was no reason they wouldn't have known from the outset how much work would be involved. But, referring to published reports that false information had been supplied to the city's Vendex system regarding the contractors, he added, "If your supervision is from somebody who lied to Vendex, you know they're going to cut corners." Another person with extensive knowledge of the Building Code, who also spoke on condition that he not by identified by name, said the brunt of the blame within the Bloomberg administration should rest with the Buildings Department. He pointed out that even the fire-protection provisions for construction are covered in the Building Code rather than its Fire Department counterpart. "These days they're throwing around stop-work orders like confetti," he said of Buildings Department officials. "But on this building, they seem to have deferred to 'Lower Manhattan.''' Nearly as troubling as what happened at 130 Liberty St., he said, is that this might mean Buildings has not been conducting regular inspections at Fiterman Hall, a Borough of Manhattan Community College building which, while smaller than the Deutsche Bank building has some of the same issues. (Ironically, he noted, a smaller Deutsche Bank property to its south at 4 Albany St. had been "deconstructed quickly and neatly. The contrast was remarkable.") 'Not Doing Their Job' - "Buildings is now run by the lawyers and administrators more than the architects and engineers," he said. "It's gotten very bloated, but not at the practical level, so they're not doing their job." He continued, "I think the high echelons in both [city] departments vacated their responsibility." It was hard to believe, he said, that the decision not to conduct fire inspections would have been made by Mr. Bosco, the Captain of Engine Co. 10, which is right across the street from the Deutsche Bank building. "I don't think they would be taking it upon themselves to say, 'Screw it, I'm not going in there.' They would be the first-responders if there was a fire; they're the ones who are going in there." It's possible that a combination of sloth and the resistance among many firefighters to doing building inspection work led to the monitoring of the Deutsche Bank building falling through the cracks. But firefighters who advance up the ranks tend to be people who believe in process and the chain of command, and so it's hard to believe that three officers would have neglected their responsibilities without first asking for direction from higher up. The Profit Motive - It seems far more plausible that those with an interest in getting the building down quickly - either because that's what they were paid to do or because they stood to profit from the building that would go up in its place - would have been less than scrupulous about how it was accomplished. And so even Mr. Cassidy, who last week was calling for the heads of the Fire Department to be subpoenaed to testify by the Manhattan DA's Office, seemed to understand that the biggest culprits - those most likely to face criminal charges - will be found outside the agency which has been under the high-beams of the media for the past four weeks. (The Chief, by Richard Steier, 09/14/07)
  
• Wants Agency Heads Grilled: UFA Leader: FDNY Probe a Whitewash ... The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang - 'SHIFTING THE BLAME': Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy accuses the Fire Department of a cover-up for allegedly not looking into pre-fire procedures in its investigation of the fatal Deutsche Bank Building fire. He also called for the Department of Investigation to look into who leaked information about the probe to the Daily News. ... (The Chief, by Ari Paul, 09/14/07)
• Cleaners File Suit Over Pay for Jobs Near Ground Zero ... Nine workers who spent months after the Sept. 11 attacks cleaning offices, apartments and stores near ground zero filed a lawsuit yesterday against several of their former employers, accusing them of wage violations, including not paying overtime. The suit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, says the workers often put in 70 or more hours a week, but did not receive time-and-a-half pay for overtime, while the companies profited greatly. ... Lawyers for the workers said they hoped the suit would be certified as class action, representing more than 1,000 low-wage workers, most of them immigrants who were hired by several companies to clean up hundreds of buildings around the World Trade Center site. The buildings included churches, hospitals and government offices. The suit says that the companies ignored state labor laws by often paying workers, like Ms. Gil, a flat $60 fee for an eight-hour shift, without paying overtime when they worked double shifts or seven-day weeks. ... About a dozen companies are named as defendants, including Maxons Restorations, based in Manhattan; Crystal Restorations, in Port Chester; and Milro Services, in Freeport. “These companies profited a great deal from this work,” Mr. Swartz said. “But we know that some companies that did cleaning work down there didn’t violate wage and hour laws.” The suit asserts that revenues at Maxons jumped to at least $40 million in 2001, from $10 million the year before. ... (NYTimes, by Steven Greenhouse, Sept. 13, 2007)
• Weeks After Fire, Deutsche Pipe Fixed ... A broken standpipe blamed for exacerbating a fire that killed two firefighters in the former Deutsche Bank building was declared operational today, fire officials said. The fire department and buildings department both signed off on the repairs to the standpipe today, more than three weeks after the fire, and declared the standpipe fully operational for fighting fires in the upper floors of the 26-story building. Fire marshals found the standpipe had been dismantled following a seven-alarm blaze at the building on August 18. Pieces of the pipe were sent to an FBI laboratory to determine if they had been purposely dismantled, or if they had blown apart under pressure when the pipe was turned on. The results of that analysis have yet to be released. ... After the fire last month, the fire department has required that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the building's owner, make changes to improve fire safety there. Fire officials said today that all of those changes have been completed. (NYSun, by Sarah Garland, 09/13/07)
  
• Editorial: Swing the wrecking ball ... This is the same Buildings Department that lost control of the city's building boom and allowed a plague of cracked walls, shifting foundations and worker deaths. And it is the department whose inspectors failed to discover that a Deutsche Bank building standpipe had been disconnected, leading to the deaths of two firefighters. Two months ago, Commissioner Patricia Lancaster vowed to fix her agency. Enough is enough. She gets her act together or Mayor Bloomberg will have to do the job for her. (NYDaily News, 09/13/07)
  
• Hundreds a month apply for World Trade Center help ... Six years after the 9/11 attacks, more than 400 Ground Zero workers and volunteers are still signing up each month to be treated for a range of ailments, medical officials said yesterday. Thousands are suffering, and "respiratory illness, psychological distress and financial devastation have become a new way of life for many," said Dr. Philip Landrigan of New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Landrigan and other specialists testified at a House Education and Labor Committee hearing on continued federal funding for worker treatment and planning for future natural disasters and terror attacks. ... Freddy Cordero, 41, of the Bronx, a Board of Education employee who worked the bucket brigade at the site, said his doctors have told him he has "the lungs of an 80-year-old." (NYDaily News, by Richard Sisk, 09/13/07)
  
• FDNY ripped in Deutsche deaths, but what about Bovis? ... Main contractor at Deutsche Bank, where two firefighters died, is also building WTC memorial. The supervising contractor ultimately accountable for safety violations that killed two firefighters at the Deutsche Bank building remains the lead contractor for the World Trade Center Memorial. That's right: Bovis Land Lease is still building the memorial to those who died on 9/11. This, even though it allowed its subcontractor to turn a building at the very edge of Ground Zero into a deathtrap that killed Firefighter Bobby Beddia and Firefighter Joe Graffagnino. "Today, Bovis is humbled, and privileged, to have been chosen," Bovis CEO Peter Marchetto said back in 2006, when the firm was named lead contractor for the memorial. Some argue that because the Deutsche Bank building was initially damaged on 9/11, Beddia and Graffagnino could be considered the 344th and 345th members of the FDNY to die as a result of the attack on the World Trade Center. Which would make Bovis Lend Lease the first construction company ever to build a memorial that includes heroes its negligence helped kill. The city was lightning quick to publicly shame three respected and dedicated fire supervisors for failing to ensure the Deutsche Bank building was inspected in the weeks before the fatal Aug. 18 blaze. Yet the evidence is even clearer that Bovis Lend Lease abjectly failed in its supervising responsibilities. How can officials discipline fire commanders for not detecting the hazards before the fire and not just as quickly seek sanctions against to the company that allowed those hazards to materialize in the first place? How can a distinguished deputy fire chief be deemed no longer worthy to command his division while Bovis retains the honor of building the memorial? And if there is continued grumbling that the highest levels of the FDNY should be held accountable for the Deutsche Bank fire, what about the entity that retained Bovis? The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. not only hired Bovis but approved the hiring of the subcontractor John Galt despite warnings from the city Department of Investigation that it is a shell company run by characters with shady pasts. Anybody who starts pointing a finger at the FDNY about the Deutsche Bank fire should shake a fist at the LMDC. At least we have one bit of proof that Beddia and Graffagnino did not die completely in vain. That came on Aug. 29, after the Fire Department inspected the site of another Bovis project at the old Queens County Family Court building on Parsons Blvd. The firefighters discovered plastic and plywood partitions such as had been erected for asbestos abatement at the Deutsche Bank building. They then came upon a more alarming similarity that was confirmed by the Department of Buildings. "Buildings inspectors noted that the standpipe was missing sections on the first floor," DOB later reported. Bovis later said the building was under 75 feet high and therefore was not required to have a working standpipe. DOB issued a stop-work order that it posted on the construction fence near the big sign reading BOVIS. "Work was being performed in a dangerous or unsafe manner," the notice announced. Bovis hired the Federated Fire Protection company of the Bronx, which repaired the standpipe and reported in an Aug. 31 letter that it had been "tested and is in proper working order." The FDNY certified that day that the standpipe had indeed been fixed. The Buildings Department lifted the stop-work order yesterday. The Queens job can now proceed as safely. "We're being as cooperative as possible," a Bovis spokesman said yesterday. One remaining question is how Bovis would have allowed any demolition job in a building of whatever height not to have a working standpipe in the aftermath of the double tragedy at the edge of Ground Zero. The much bigger question is how there came to be a severed standpipe and a host of other safety violations at the Deutsche Bank building. That question is being considered by the Manhattan district attorney as the work on the 9/11 memorial continues. (NYDaily News, by Michael Daly, 09/13/07)
  
• FDNY BOSS A CHOPPER DROPPER: UNION ... Union leaders blasted Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta yesterday, saying he ignored a plan to fight high-rise fires with helicopters and abdicated authority over the downtown skyscraper where two firefighters died last month. According to the firefighters' union, Scoppetta passed up a chance to use federal Homeland Security funds more than two years ago to help buy helicopters that could hold 1,000 gallons of water and shoot it at flames. Union officials said the aircraft could have saved the lives of Joseph Graffagnino and Robert Beddia, who died Aug. 18 when a high-rise fire at the former Deutsche Bank building grew out of control after a broken standpipe failed to deliver water to firefighters."If you had a high-rise fire without sprinklers or a working standpipe, how else are you going to fight the fire?" said Uniformed Firefighters Association president Stephen Cassidy. Top commanders, including then-Chief of Department Peter Hayden, urged Scoppetta in March 2005 to buy the copters. Hayden said they proposed paying $30 million for two or three regional-use helicopters, a purchase that would have been offset by Homeland Security funds. The commanders made their pitch just two days after a battalion chief wrote a March 22, 2005, "smoking gun" memo detailing a strategy for fighting a fire in the contaminated building. "It didn't go anywhere," Hayden, who retired last year, said of the helicopter proposal. "He didn't see the need for it." Scoppetta yesterday said it would be unsafe to use helicopters for high-rise fires in the city, and that they can be utilized only for observation. The Police Department makes its choppers available when needed, he said. (NYPost, by Samuel Goldsmith, Kaili McDonnough & Leonard Greene, 09/13/07)
• EPA and LMDC Agree on How to Proceed With 130 Liberty ... The EPA and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation have reached an agreement on how to temporarily proceed at the former Deutsche bank building. REPORTER: Deputy Mayor’s Dan Doctoroff and Ed Skyler met EPA officials and LMDC head, Avi Schick. They committed to reseal the building site while preliminary work is done. REPORTER: Last week the EPA had taken the LMDC to task for not keeping it's public commitment to work with regulators and reseal the building to protect workers and the public from potential contamination. The site at 130 Liberty was severely damaged and contaminated on September 11th. REPORTER: The LMDC is still working on how it wants to approach the remediation and deconstruction of the building in the aftermath of last month's fire that killed two firefighters and destroyed environmental protections that had been put in place at the site. (WNYC, Bob Hennelly, Sept. 12, 2007)
• Variance Reopening Request from LMDC/TRC 130 Liberty Street Letter to NYSDOL (Sept. 12, 2007)
• Fire Chopper Could've Prevented Deutsche Tragedy? UFA President Slams FDNY Commish Over Failure To Act ... (wcbstv, Marcia Kramer, Sept. 12, 2007)
• Problems in Buildings ... To the Editor: “Burning Questions After a Blaze,” by Dennis Smith (Op-Ed, Aug. 31), talks about plenty of blame to go around with respect to the Deutsche Bank disaster. But maybe there is another side to this story that needs to be looked at. Many construction and demolition problems occur because of unrealistically low budgets or severe scheduling restrictions placed by the building’s owners when soliciting bids. Building owners trying to foist low budgets on contractors will generally require the contractor to cut corners. Unrealistically short schedules may cause the contractor to expedite work in such a way that worker safety or public protection is in danger. So maybe the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation ought to look at its bidding procedures. Did they not receive more bids for the work initially? Was denial of a reasonable profit for the contractor the cause? Or did they impose other restrictions that created an accident waiting to happen? (NYTimes, by Sidney M. LevyBaltimore, Aug. 31, 2007; published September 9, 2007 - The writer is a construction consultant.)
  
• Doctors: Long-term illnesses plague ground zero workers ... Doctors treating sickened ground zero workers offered Congress a detailed diagnosis Wednesday of the ailments still affecting thousands after the September 11 attacks, but warned that there's no way to determine how many more may become afflicted with life-threatening illnesses. Dr. Philip Landrigan of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine described three months of recent medical treatment to a House panel examining how many of those who toiled on the toxic debris pile are still sick -- or may get sick. Thousands of people "are still suffering," Landrigan said a day after the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Their ailments range from runny noses to laryngitis to lung disease, he said. "Respiratory illness, psychological distress and financial devastation have become a new way of life for many," he told the House Education and Labor Committee. He advocated leaving September 11-related medical programs in place to try to determine how many workers might develop long-term diseases. ... (CNN, 07/12/07)
  
• Doctors Testify Before House Committee On 9/11 Health Problems ... (NY1, September 12, 2007)
  
• State, EPA agree to seal contaminated WTC tower after fatal fire ... Workers will seal a contaminated ground zero skyscraper damaged in a fatal fire at the same time new fire safety measures are adopted in the building, officials overseeing the building's demolition said Wednesday. The former Deutsche Bank building's owner, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., gave no timetable for when it would close windows on several floors that have been open to the elements since the Aug. 18 blaze, which killed two firefighters. Several more meetings will have to precede any work at the condemned building. But officials from the LMDC, the city and the federal Environmental Protection Agency agreed in a meeting Wednesday to simultaneously seal the building and complete necessary safety work, the EPA said. At a downtown Manhattan community board meeting last week, LMDC Chairman Avi Schick and Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler said the building would not be sealed until other safety work is completed; Schick said that could take weeks. An EPA official publicly criticized the move, and the agency wrote letters to the LMDC demanding that the building be resealed immediately. ... (NYNewsday/AP, September 12, 2007)
  
• UFA Head Says Helicopter Could Have Prevented Deaths At Deutsche Bank ... (NY1, September 12, 2007)
  
• Labor Committee Explores Lessons Learned After Failure to Protect World Trade Center Rescue Workers ... (News Release, September 12, 2007)
  
• House Democrats Challenge OSHA Efforts At World Trade Site ... (CQ HEALTHBEAT NEWS, By Mary Agnes Carey, Sept. 12, 2007)
• Ground Zero cleaning workers sue ... Workers who cleaned buildings of World Trade Center debris around ground zero after Sept. 11 sued several companies Wednesday that they say underpaid them while making millions in profits. Nine of the workers filed a suit seeking class-action status against a dozen private companies and employers who hired people to clean dust and debris from private office buildings and apartments after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.(Newsday/AP, September 12, 2007)
  
• Report Confirms Problems with EPA WTC Indoor "Test and Clean" Program ... The GAO is the non-partisan investigative arm of Congress charged with auditing and evaluating Government programs and activities. The report is titled, “World Trade Center: EPA’s Most Recent Test and Clean Program Raises Concerns that Need to be Addressed to Better Prepare for Indoor Contamination Following Disasters,” .... (Occupational Hazards, by Sandy Smith, Sept. 11, 2007)
• Former FDNY Commish: Deutsche Bank A 'Death Trap' -- EXCLUSIVE: Von Essen Says Department Partly At Fault .... (wcbstv, Sept. 11, 2007)
• Health Problems Linger For 9/11 Responders ... "First time in the history that we had a mixture of JP4 aviation fuel, with PCB's from fluorescent lights, from heavy metals like chromium from plumbing fixtures - all stirred together and released by this catastrophic disaster," said Dr. Ben Ho, 9/11 first responder. Dr. Ben Ho was among Oakland's elite search and rescue team dispatched to Ground Zero. Ho and his fellow team members experienced no lasting ill effects, but many others have. "We had 70 percent of our personnel that were ill when they came back. Very unusual. Many upper respiratory infections. People with pneumonia. Young people who had pneumonia. Bronchial infections. Bloody noses, skin rashes," said Chief Harold Schapelhoman, Menlo Park Search and Rescue. Menlo Park's Frank Fraoni spent 18 days at Ground Zero. "I ended up with a severe respiratory concern. I had coughs that probably lasted a good nine or ten months, continuous," said Fraoni, Menlo Park Search and Rescue. .... (abclocal, by Laura Anthony, Sept. 11, 2007)
• Choosing life, leaving town ... Jennifer Rosenberg planned to board a Hamptons-bound bus last night, not to enjoy the end of summer or to escape the constant construction near her Front Street apartment. She has a more basic need: safe air to breathe. Rosenberg, 43, returned to Lower Manhattan eight months after 9/11 to "give back" to her hometown. She had been living in Beaver creek, Colo., where the air was the "cleanest in the world," she said. But within months,Rosenberg began feeling the effects of expsoure to asbestos and other toxins released into the air following the Twin Towers" collapse. She has been diagnosed with chronic pulmonary disease and WTC asthma and fears she won't live to see 50. .... Rosenberg, who lives roughly 470 yards east and "downwind" from Ground Zero, has been told by EPA officials that while she is on their list for its latest round of air =quality testing, she must wait until other residential spaces closer to the site are analyzed first. Rosenberg resistered for the testing in February, according to e-mails obtained by Metero. Most of her neighbors have sealed their vents to keep out possible toxins, she said.... (Metro, by Joshua Rhett Miller, 09/11/07)
  
• Deutsche lessons in Fiterman Hall plan ... A spokesperson for the EPA said some minor changes to the deconstruction plan, such as using more flamee-retardant materials, were on the table." "There may have to be some adjustments to the approach taken at this building," said EPA spokesperson Mary Mears. "But we would not expect those changes to significantly delay [deconstruction], larely becuase it has not started yet." (Metro, by Michael Rundle, 09/11/07)
  
• Ground Zero May Be Making Even Well Protected Workers Sick ... The recent fire at the Deutsche Bank building and the controversy that followed has reminded people once again of the environmental hazards that were left behind after September 11th. While for many awareness of these problems has just been reawakened, thousands of workers who participated in cleanup efforts that followed the Twin Towers collapse believe they are ill, due to the dust they breathed back then. REPORTER: As part of our occasional series, “Feet in Two Worlds”, Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska has this report on one group of workers who were already accustomed to work with hazardous materials, and trained to protect themselves from them, but who still say that chemicals and contaminants floating in the air after the terrorist attack made them sick. Even under the best of circumstances, asbestos removal is a hazardous job. And Lower Manhattan after 9/11 was a hazardous place. Miroslaw Gorczkowski worked 4 months on the cleanup, mostly at the World Financial Center. Walking around the site 6 years later the images of the work he did back then keep coming back. .... Interview with Miroslaw Gorczkowski -- GORCZKOWSKI: in November I went through skull trepanation, because they discovered 2 tumor in my head, they gave me 5 month " they took 1 tumor away, and after that I was on intravenous drip, and I underwent rehabilitation, and then they took me to the hospital" all together I spent 7 months in the hospital"Yes I was learning how to walk again, I was learning to coordinate my movements, at first I couldn’t read, because I was not able to make sense out of words" I couldn’t go from line to line, but after a while I was able to do it" I still don’t read that fluently" but for myself it’s enough" REPORTER: Today, Miroslaw looks like an old and tired man. In 2006 doctors removed an abscess from his brain. After the surgery, at the age of 50, he had to learn to walk and read again. He was also diagnosed with diabetes, lung lesions, and chronic cough. Unable to earn a living, he was forced to move to a homeless shelter. Miroslaw was one of about 3,000 workers in Local 78 of the Asbestos Lead and Hazardous Waste Laborers. They worked around the World Trade Center site in the months following 9/11. They got ptaid the undion wage of $23.15 and hour plus benefits. The union at the time was comprised mainly of Polish immigrants – many of them undocumented. Union treasurer Pawel Gruchacz says about 30 members have died since 2004. Interview with Pawel Gruchacz -- GRUCHACZ: prior to that we had some deaths, but the causes was accidents on the jobs and other reasons ' however we see the increasing number right after 9/11 but (((like I said,))) if that's the reason, it's not up to me to determine. REPORTER: Henryk Piesta died of heart failure in November 2004, a month after medical testing at Mt Sinai center found fluid and scarring in his lungs. Piesta had a history of heart disease. But his daughter Kasia believes that the toxins he was exposed to at the World Trade Center site hastened his death. ... (WNYC, by Eaw Kern-Jedrychowska, Sept. 11, 2007)
  
• EPA's Second Round of 9/11 Testing Falls Short ... As a result, none of the members considered the panel successful in meeting its established goals: to develop the second program; to identify unmet public health needs; to identify remaining risks using exposure and health surveillance information; and to determine steps to further minimize risk. Some members were so unsatisfied with the second program that they discouraged public participation. (OMB Watch, 09/11/07)
  
• Toxins Released at Deutsche Bank ... A small amount of toxic dioxin leaked from former Deutsche Bank building last month, following a fatal fire that led to the deaths of 2 firefighters. EPA officials say the release of dioxins a week after the blaze didn't reach dangerous levels. Nevertheless, the officials have ordered the building sealed immediately. An EPA spokeswoman says it's the first time its sensors have detected dioxins. State officials declined to comment on the report. Dioxins are a group of chemicals that come from plastic. (WNYC, 09/11/07)
  
• Jim Riches, FDNY Deputy Chief ... Deutsche Bank was a terrible tragedy. The standpipe being broken is criminal. LMDC and Bovis were required to maintain the standpipe operational. Where were the site safety managers of Bovis and daily inspections by them? .... We will protest around the states to let everyone know the Rudy failed to prepare for the WTC attacks. He failed miserably before, during and after 9/11. No drills at WTC from 1993 to 9/11/01. Radios failed in 1993 and again in 2001. Command center at 7 WTC. No unified command, No interoperable radios FD and PD. 911 operators telling people in South Tower to stay put even before plane hit South Tower, yet FD commanders at scene were calling for its evacuation. Lying about quality of air, and not obtaining proper face fitted respirators until Nov 2001 leading to 70% of 1st responders with 9/11 illnesses while Rudy was too busy to lift a finger to help them because he was making tens of millions of dollars capitalizing off 9/11. His legacy will be thousands of sick and dying first responders. ... (Gotham, 9/11/07)
  
• 6 Years Later, 9/11 Health Questions Linger ... (Washington Post, By E.J. Mundell, Sept. 11, 2007)
  
• Police Union To Offer 9/11 Follow-Up Via Health Screen Vans ... Of the 34,000 New York City police officers who responded to ground zero in the days and months following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, only about a third have been screened for health problems by the city's main World Trade Center monitoring program, according to statistics quoted by a police union. As lawmakers consider reopening a fund to treat first-responders and others with illnesses related to the terrorist attacks that occurred six years ago today, police unions have been encouraging more of the police officers who were there to have their health checked. As a part of that effort, the Sergeant's Benevolent Association informed The New York Sun it is planning to send a van to visit each police precinct around the city starting next year so that police officers can be screened for illnesses without having to leave work. ... (NYSun, by Sarah Garland, Sept. 11, 2007)
  
• Cornell Study Examines Long-Term 9/11 Effects ... No matter where they were or what they were doing, all Americans were affected by the events of Sept. 11, 2001. A recent Cornell study has examined the specific effects of the tragedy on those who were in New York and in close proximity to the World Trade Center towers when they collapsed. The Cornell study, which examines those individuals who were in Manhattan and witnessed the attacks, found that those people may have experienced trauma on a significant enough level to change the way their brains process and react to emotional experiences. Emotionally and physically healthy individuals who have experienced trauma such as Sept. 11, but have not been clinically diagnosed with a stress-related disorder, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, may still exhibit many of the symptoms of PTSD. These symptoms can include difficulty sleeping, distressing memories, and avoidance of the site even several years later. The appearance of these symptoms in a seemingly healthy and resilient individual can be indicative of the long-term effect that trauma may have on people’s brains. The study, conducted four years after the attacks, by Barbara Ganzel M.S. ’99, Ph.D. ’02, compared the brain scans of healthy individuals who were within one-and-a-half miles of the twin towers with those of other healthy individuals who were over 200 miles away at the time the towers fell. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the researchers were able to see how the brain responded when exposed to emotional stimuli; photographs of actors displaying fearful faces and calm faces. When exposed to the stimuli, individuals who were in the vicinity of the towers showed hyperactivity in their amygdalae, the part of the brain that judges emotional intensity and generates fear related behavior. In contrast, those individuals that were over 200 miles away when the attacks occurred exhibited normal behavior in their amygdalae when exposed to the same stimuli. “The findings of the study suggest that even a number of years later, there might be subtle, yet real, changes in the brain following exposure to trauma,” Ganzel said. (The Cornell Daily Sun, By Alyssa Goldschmidt, Sep 11, 2007 )
• EPA: Toxins leaked into air after Deutsche fire ... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the release did not reach dangerous levels but ordered the building, which was badly damaged in the Aug. 18 fire, sealed immediately. What bothers EPA officials is this appears to be the first release of the highly toxic substance from the Liberty St. tower since it was nearly destroyed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "We raise it as an example because we had not detected dioxin from any of our monitors in the past," EPA spokeswoman Mary Mears said. "The detection simply reinforces our position that there is an ongoing potential for contaminants being released into the environment and a need to reseal the building as soon as possible." The state Lower Manhattan Development Corp. has resisted resealing the tower, claiming unspecified "regulators" told them the building must be shored up before it can be resealed. That has left the building open to the elements since the blaze that killed two firefighters there three weeks ago. "We're very concerned about this dioxin release," Julie Menin, chairwoman of Community Board 1, said. "This is the first time we're hearing about it." ... On Aug. 27, a monitor on the 15th floor of the northwest corner of the building registered an unprecedented level of 0.12 nanograms of dioxin per cubic meter of air. The next day it was higher, at 0.18 nanograms. That's still below the 0.25 nanograms EPA considers unsafe, but the agency was concerned because it was the first dioxin release detected at the building. "I recommend this action to prevent an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health and the environment when any work is performed at 130 Liberty St.," EPA Regional Director Alan Steinberg wrote to LMDC Chairman Avi Schick. (NYDaily News, by Greg B. Smith, Sept. 11, 2007)
  
• Bellevue Program Aims To Help Residents Affected By 9/11-Related Illnesses ... Before 9/11 Margrily Garcia says the worst health problem she ever had was a cold. But six years later the 34 year old paralegal, whose office was located just a few blocks away from the World Trade Center site, was recently diagnosed with sarcoidosis, an inflammation that produces tiny lumps of cells in different organs of the body. While it's a condition that can be mild in most people, it disturbed her heart rhythm. Now she has a pacemaker. “All of this at 34, so you can only imagine how disconcerting it is for me,” says Garcia. “It's just like my life ever since World Trade Center has been just like spiraling. I'm glad to be alive and that I'm getting such good treatment from these doctors, but you know when you look back and you compare the quality of life. It's very disconcerting.” Also diagnosed with asthma and allergies, Garcia bounced from doctor to doctor before finally getting the treatment she needs through Bellevue Hospital's World Trade Center Environmental Health program. Since the Trade Center attacks, the doctors at the hospital have seen about 1,600 residents, students, office and cleanup workers. In the short-term, doctors are able to give patients like Garcia treatment. But the director of Bellevue's program says the challenge continues to be when it comes to 9/11 related health concerns, they're still dealing with a lot of unknowns. “This is the problem we're faced with: that many people get sarcoid. It's not an uncommon disease,” says Bellevue World Trade Center Environmental Health program director Dr. Joan Reibman. “So the question is: are we seeing an increase in sarcoid? Is it related to WTC dust exposure? How can we figure that out? And that's why it's so important to have research projects to help us.” Sixteen million dollars in funding from the city over a five-year span is allowing Bellevue to expand services. But Reibman says it’s federal funding that's needed to maintain treatment programs and get more research done to fully understand what the extend of World Trade Center related diseases may actually be. (NY1, by Kafi Drexel, Sept. 11, 2007)
  
• Feds: Deutsche Bank cleanup may be unsafe ... For the second time in less than two weeks, a federal regulator has lashed out at the state agency that owns a contaminated lower Manhattan skyscraper, accusing the agency of ignoring environmental risks in the wake of a deadly fire at the building. The Environmental Protection Agency, in a Sept. 7 letter, raised concerns about the clearing of debris and other repairs and cleanup being done by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation at 130 Liberty St., where an Aug. 18 blaze killed two firefighters. "I am concerned that these work activities ... in this breached building may cause a release of contaminated dust and debris," EPA Regional Administrator Alan Steinberg wrote to LMDC Chairman Avi Schick. The former Deutsche Bank building, heavily damaged and contaminated in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was being decontaminated and demolished when the seven-alarm blaze broke out last month, likely sparked by a worker's cigarette, officials believe. The original demolition required EPA approval because of the toxins in the building, and requirements included sealing the structure to prevent contaminants from escaping into the air. Since the fire, the EPA, the LMDC and city officials have been meeting twice a day to hammer out the safest way to resume demolition work at the building, as well as how quickly the structure should be resealed. Air quality tests show the air is safe, city and federal officials say. "EPA has been there since the day of the fire and it's EPA's position that the building be resealed while these other issues are addressed," said Pat Evangelista, the EPA'S World Trade Center coordinator, at a community meeting last week. A spokesman for the LMDC declined to comment Monday. All demolition work has been suspended, but Schick said last week that the work being done at the building now aims to make it safer for first responders, including clearing debris blocking stairwells. He said that the fire safety work must be completed before the structure is resealed, while EPA officials contend the two things can be done simultaneously. "The shoring-up work needs to be done before the resealing," Schick said at a community meeting last week. "We are focusing on the safety issue first." (amNY.com, by Karla Schuster, Sept. 11, 2007)
• Editorial: Help our heroes ... Some 10,000 are suing the city and its cleanup contractors, threatening the companies with bankruptcy. Congress put $1 billion in an insurance fund to cover such claims. But that's not nearly enough, and the money will be available only after costly, years-long court battles. By stepping in, the government could spare thousands needless anguish and send a message that, in the event of another attack, responders will not be left in the cold. Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Jerrold Nadler and Vito Fossella have drafted legislation to reopen the fund, as well as to extend care to responders through so-called centers of excellence. They include Mount Sinai Medical Center and affiliated hospitals, and the FDNY medical office. Pelosi did not endorse the bill, saying she wants to study a number of proposals. We look forward to her conclusions with impatience, for the 9/11 health crisis continues to swell. Mount Sinai's consortium has screened more than 20,000 people, more than half of whom still need treatment, and has treated 6,000 patients for Trade Center-related disease, such as asthma and pulmonary fibrosis. Bellevue Hospital is treating 1,400 downtown residents and office workers. (NYDaily News, Sept. 11, 2007)
• EPA: Small Amount Of Toxins Released Following Deutsche Bank Fire ... EPA officials have ordered the former Deutsche Bank building at the World Trade Center site to be sealed immediately, after they say a small amount of toxins was released into the air following last month’s fire. officials say the amount of toxic chemicals released hasn't reached dangerous levels. But the agency has told the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation that demolition work at the building must stop until the building is sealed. Sources tell NY1 that the Fire Department is working on administrative changes in the aftermath of the fire. Those changes could include more streamlined sharing of information between the Department of Buildings and the Fire Department. ... (NY1, by Kafi Drexel, Sept. 11, 2007)
  
• LMDC/TRC Letter to EPA ... (September 11, 2007)
• Cancer ends his fitness life after toil at the Pit ... Sept. 11 is still killing our heroes. Frank Macri, a 52-year-old housing cop from Queens, died a week ago today after a five-year battle with lung cancer - and his family insists his illness was caused by the long hours he spent working at Ground Zero. "Frank never smoked," Macri's wife, Nilda, told the Daily News. "He ate well. He worked out every single day since he was 14." On the day the World Trade Center towers came crumbling down six years ago, Nilda Macri endured an excruciating eight hours before she discovered her heroic husband was still alive: He just barely escaped getting buried. "I was so blessed that he survived," Nilda Macri said. After being treated for minor injuries, Macri was back at Ground Zero two days later, doing his part in the hunt for survivors, she said. He spent more than two months amid the toxic fumes swirling around Ground Zero and at no point did he complain about his assignment - even after he experienced a bout of vomiting one day that lasted nearly 30 minutes. Dreadful news hit the family less then a year later: the man known for his extraordinary health was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. No one who knew Macri well doubted the deadly disease came from anything but the many hours he spent at The Pit. It was a conclusion, she said, that was shared by his doctors. As she prepares to file line-of-duty death benefits, Nilda Macri is uncertain city officials will agree. "They're still in total denial over everybody with cancer," she said. Her husband endured repeated bouts of radiation and chemotherapy after receiving his diagnosis five years ago. Even after it spread to his vertebrae, there were times when it seemed the man nicknamed "Gym" had his cancer under control, but then doctors discovered cancer cells in his spinal fluid last month. For the first time, Macri's weakened body was not responding to chemotherapy. .... (NYDailyNews, by Rich Schapiro, Sept. 20, 2007)
• Report: Half of kids near Ground Zero have breathing problems ... More than half of the children closely exposed to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks developed breathing problems in the years after the catastrophe, according to new information collected by city health officials. Some 53% of kids enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry experienced new or worsened shortness of breath, sinus problems or wheezing in the three years after 9/11. Of the 3,184 kids registered, 180 were diagnosed with asthma. Nearly half of kids in the registry — 45% — were caught in the dust cloud, a significant factor in developing new asthma and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Half witnessed a disturbing event that day. The findings were published on a city-sponsored Web site launched yesterday for New Yorkers and others whose health was affected by the attacks. Although it’s too soon to say how many of the children’s breathing problems became chronic, “the environmental impact of 9/11 was substantial for everyone [below Canal St.]. We’ve seen with adults and this reminds us that it was for children, too,” Deputy Health Commissioner Lorna Thorpe said yesterday. The site also includes previously unreleased information from the registry about lower Manhattan residents. In the two to three years after 9/11, respiratory and psychological symptoms were most common among adults who returned home before Sept. 14 or after Dec. 19, 2001. Fewer than one-third of adult downtown residents had returned home by Sept. 19. Just over half reported being caught in the dust cloud, according to registry data. The site can be found at www.nyc.gov/html/doh/wtc/html/home/home.shtml. (NYDaily News, by JordanLite, Sept. 10, 2007)
• Still breathing the horror of 9/11... this week's Government Accountability Office report indicates that there are still open wounds from that day. The GAO report is titled "World Trade Center: EPA's Most Recent Test and Clean Program Raises Concerns That Need to Be Addressed to Better Prepare for Indoor Contamination Following Disaster." It was obvious from the start that many offices and residences were contaminated due to the collapse of the World Trade Center. With dust-filled apartments, many residents left the area. Funds were provided for the cleaning and testing of these buildings littered with asbestos, lead, glass fibers and pulverized concrete. Despite cleaning efforts, approximately 1 percent of the residences were still affected by asbestos. The community raised concerns about how the pre and post testing took place, demanding to know what was tested and where it was tested. The EPA finally responded with a second look/program. However many problems with that testing program are now coming to light. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., pointed out that many of the community's concerns were also raised by the EPA's Ombudsman Robert Martin. Mr. Martin's concerns got someone's attention besides New York City workers and residence, as his office was locked and his files confiscated. The Ombudsman's Office suffered a "reorganization", and no one heard from them on this topic again – death by reorganization. Then the Scientific Advisory Committee added its voice to the community concerns about the testing, pointing out that it did not even take place for some substances such as Mercury. The committee also revealed that there were no tests in areas that were surely affected such as parts of Brooklyn. Again, no meaningful government action took place. What is worse is that the testing did not include most offices, nor did it test the buildings as a whole, such as testing the HVAC systems. The testing also did not include areas such as under beds or behind refrigerators. .... What is of more concern is how the EPA failed to educate the people who were living and working in the shadow of the World Trade Center as to the true nature of the contamination. They released only the test figures on asbestos and other contaminants after they had cleaned a building. Of course, for the contaminants that were never tested, no figures have been released. We have all heard about "sick building syndrome," but the 9/11 contamination brings this syndrome to a whole new level. Rep. Nadler also pointed out that the EPA cannot say with certainty, "that not even a single building in the area is free of World Trade Center contamination." He argues that many people in New York will "become sick because of lingering environmental toxins in their homes, workplaces and schools." ... (WorldNetDaily, by Ellen Ratner, Sept. 10, 2007)
• Health Concerns At Center Of 9/11 Anniversary ... In Foley Square Sunday, a vigil was held to remember those still suffering from exposure to the toxic fumes following the terrorist attacks. "They are all sick; all three of my children are chronically ill," said lower Manhattan resident Mariama James. Speaker after speaker talked of the health problems of thousands on the same day a new report by city health officials revealed that more than half of the children closely exposed to the terror attacks developed breathing problems in the years following the catastrophe. Some 53 percent of the children enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry experienced new or worsened shortness of breath, sinus problems, wheezing or asthma. Nearly half of the children in the registry -- 45 percent -- were caught in the dust cloud. The findings were published on a city-sponsored Web site launched Sunday for New Yorkers with 9/11 health problems. At the vigil in Foley Square, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan) said a bill he's about to introduce to provide medical coverage to first responders and others faces an uphill battle. "I do believe it will be enacted. It may not be enacted while this president is president, but it will be enacted because the American people ultimately will recognize the moral debt they owe," Nadler said.(cbstv, by Magee Hickey, Sept. 10, 2007)
• Magazine Article Says White House Covered Up Crucial 9/11 Health Info .... A magazine article set to be released Tuesday paints a grim picture of the effect the 9/11 attacks had on the environment in Lower Manhattan. In the October issue of "Discover" magazine, an article uses personal stories, EPA documents and scientific research to show the health effects of 9/11 on everyone other than first responders. The report says important health information was held back by the White House, keeping New Yorkers in the dark about the dangers they faced. "Proper testing was never done in New York, which, the natural conclusion becomes then that there must be many pockets of Lower Manhattan that still remain to be cleaned appropriately,” said “The 9/11 Cover-up” writer Michael Mason. “The office buildings were contaminated, they were never tested and cleaned, and we were exposed to stuff that there was no reason for us to be exposed to,” said Robert Gulack, who worked in the World Trade Center. “This was purely and simple, a government foul-up." The article says up to 70 percent of first responders are sick from toxins in the air. It says if that rate of illness holds true for those who lived and worked near the site, up to 300,000 New Yorkers could eventually become sick because of 9/11. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency is expressing more concern about demolition work at the former Deutsche Bank building. In a letter released Monday, the city's EPA representative told the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation that the work at the site has to stop until toxins can be contained. The building had been sealed off until last month's deadly fire. The EPA says while toxin levels haven't reached danger points yet, they still might if the work there kicks up dust. State officials have said they want to make the building safer for first responders. Both sides are expected to hash out an agreement about how to proceed soon. Sources tell NY1 that the Fire Department is working on administrative changes in the aftermath of the fire. Those changes could include more streamlined sharing of information between departments. (NY1, Sept. 10, 2007)
  
• Pelosi Announces Support For Re-Opening Federal 9/11 Victim's Fund ... A day before the September 11th memorial ceremonies, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Governor Eliot Spitzer walked among cranes and jackhammers as they toured the World Trade Center site Monday. Pelosi also took the opportunity to announce her support for reopening the federal Victim's Compensation Fund to ensure treatment is provided to ground zero workers who have fallen ill as the result of breathing in toxic dust from the fallen towers. ... Mayor Michael Bloomberg puts the price tag of treating workers who are currently sick and who may become ill at $393 million a year. “We have to make sure that, God forbid, if there's another emergency people are willing to show up to rescue and recover others,” said Bloomberg.... (NY1, Sept. 10, 2007)
  
• Pelosi Due Here To Meet Spitzer at Ground Zero -- Big New Outlays Are Planned for Post-9/11 Health Care ... On Wednesday, the House Education and Labor Committee will convene a hearing to evaluate whether the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration protected workers from safety and health hazards at ground zero. The committee will also examine the role of New York City in protecting rescue workers following the attacks. ... (NYSun, by Elizabeth Solomont, Sept. 10, 2007)
• ‘Living’ with 9/11 ... FOLEY SQUARE. New Jersey resident Celia Correa, an administrative assistant whose job was relocated to 88 Pine St. in October 2001 worked there until July 2004, when she became too sick to continue. “I had some kind of digestive problem, like acid reflux. I had a rash. I was treated with Cipro a couple of times,” Correa told Metro at yesterday’s vigil. “I was going from specialist to specialist.” She was finally diagnosed with a lung disease — “basically, I have scarred lungs,” she said. Correa finally went to the Bellevue Hospital’s WTC Environmental Health Center, which treats residents, office and cleanup workers. “They gave me medicine that helped me get better for a while,” she said, “but it can’t do anything more for me now. They need more funding for research.” ... U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler told the crowd last night that “the government has betrayed” and “refused to pay the health care” for the Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers, as well as the people who live and work in Lower Manhattan. ... (Metro, by amy zimmer, Sept. 10, 2007)
  
• WTC Medical Monitoring Program Sees Steady Flow Of Patients ... (NY1, Sept. 10, 2007)
  
• Beyond Ground Zero ... There was pain in Mariama James’ voice as she described how 9/11 has affected her. When she returned to her apartment near the World Trade Center that September day six years ago, her children were covered in white dust. Now, all three of them, including one she was pregnant with at the time, take five medications a piece for the allergies and respiratory problems they developed following the tragedy. .... Shortly after 9/11, Beyond Ground Zero began addressing the health impacts of the World Trade Center collapse on the predominantly immigrant, low-income communities of Chinatown and the Lower East Side. But Tamano said that since politicians and the media have focused much of their attention on sick first responders and recovery workers, many residents’ stories remain untold. Take Fung Mei Ng, a Chinatown woman who since 9/11 has suffered from migraines and shortness of breath because, she said, the government told her the air in her neighborhood was safe to breathe despite a foul odor that permeated it for months. .... (NYPress, Sept.10, 2007)
  
• . . . AND A JOB FOR MIKE ... Going beyond the long-term health effects of 9/11, it remains that focused leadership is essential if Ground Zero reconstruction is to remain on schedule. And with Gov. Spitzer grievously crippled by self-inflicted wounds, the only practical source of that leadership is Mayor Bloomberg. Job One: The swift dismantling of the Deutsche Bank building. ... (NYPost Editorial, Sept. 10, 2007)
  
• THE DUST AT GROUND ZERO - The 9/11 attack has claimed a whole new set of victims: thousands of firemen, policemen, construction and other workers who are now ill - maybe permanently - because they breathed the toxic dust on the "pile" at the World Trade Center. Katie Couric reports. Kyra Darnton is the producer. ... (CBS TV, Sep. 9, 2007 )
  
• Rally at Ground Zero Aims to Build Support for 9/11 Health Care Legislation ... Several hundred union workers and elected officials, including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, rallied near ground zero yesterday in support of federal legislation that would provide long-term monitoring and treatment for people exposed to dust in Lower Manhattan during the 9/11 cleanup. “The fact that men and women are ill and not being helped here is a national disgrace,” said Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, one of the sponsors of the bill, which has bipartisan support. “We are the wealthiest nation on earth; the least we can do is provide health care for the men and women on 9/11. They were here for us. We need to be here for them.” ... “In 9/11 we gave compensation for those families who lost their loved ones,” Ms. Maloney said. “We need to give compensation to the men and women who made a decision to run into flaming buildings to help others while others were running the other way. These are the real heroes and heroines, and they deserve compensation.” Mrs. Clinton, taking time away from her presidential campaign to attend the rally, appeared to stake out a position similar to that of Rudolph W. Giuliani as the real 9/11 candidate. “From the first moment that I came to ground zero on the day after the attacks on our city and our country and saw the conditions under which the firefighters and police officers and E.M.T.’s and paramedics were laboring,” she told the crowd, which included many of the 9/11 first responders. “I knew we were going to have problems, that people would get sick, and that people would die from what they were exposed to. And I pledged to myself, and I pledge to all of you, that I will stay with you every step of the way until we get every single person the health care they deserve.” Doing that, she added, “will be my highest priority, whether I am your senator or I am your president.” Mrs. Clinton drew cheers from the crowd and posed for several pictures with labor leaders before leaving the stage. Both she and Mr. Giuliani are expected to return to ground zero on Tuesday to commemorate the attacks. .... (NYTimes, by Ray Rivera, Sept. 9, 2007)
  
• Hundreds Attend Candlelight Vigil for 9/11 Victims .... Just two days before the sixth anniversary of September 11th -- many are puasing to remember the victims lost -- in the terror attacks. Hundreds turned out tonight for a canlelight vigil in lower Manhattan ... (wcbstv, John Metaxas, Sept. 9, 2007)
• Mayor Announces Launch Of WTC Health Website ... Also on the website is a report on kids suffering from their exposure to the September 11th attacks. About 50 percent of the more than 3,100 kids enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry developed breathing problems three years after the attacks. The registry cites health issues such as shortness of breath and wheezing. The report also says nearly half of the kids were caught in the dust cloud, which led to new cases of asthma and posttraumatic stress disorder. (NY1, September 09, 2007)
  
• Lawmakers Gather For Health Care Labor Rally Downtown ... The bill would provide long-term medical monitoring, treatment, and financial compensation to anyone exposed to the toxic dust and debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center. The bill would include first responders and rescue workers, construction workers and volunteers who helped clean up the site. But it would also cover residents, students, office workers and others who were in the area. ... (NY1, September 09, 2007)
  
• Near Ground Zero, Baby Carriages and Busy Shops .... “It’s frustrating for the residents here,” said Ms. Latifi, 38. “I have so many customers that have moved because of the noise and the air quality.” ... (NYTimes, by Patrick McgGeehan, Sept. 9, 2007)
  
• Daily News probe finds WTC contractors with mob ties, fraud ... Seven contractors cited for everything from mob ties to tax fraud to fatal accidents are getting a slice of the $16 billion reconstruction at Ground Zero, a Daily News investigation has found. The problem firms are found every day working the bulldozers, cranes, jackhammers and pile drivers rebuilding the site of the World Trade Center. All of the companies work for the Port Authority, the Dormitory Authority or the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. on taxpayer-funded contracts worth millions of dollars. The list starts with the John Galt Co., the shell company at the heart of growing investigations into the Aug. 18 fire at the Deutsche Bank tower that killed two firefighters. Galt has ties to Safeway Environmental, a company with a lousy safety record that has been barred from city work because one of its directors is a reputed mob associate. The News found six companies with issues: QUADROZZI CONCRETE: Last week, a steady convoy of Quadrozzi Concrete's distinctive yellow and orange trucks delivered cement to the Freedom Tower job. Six months before the Sept. 11 attacks, the city Department of Environmental Protection rejected Quadrozzi's request to be an approved city supplier, citing then-owner John Quadrozzi Sr.'s ties to the Luchese crime family and other concerns. In 2004, Quadrozzi Sr. died and the company was taken over by his son, John Jr., who was owner of an affiliate that refused to answer a subpoena from city investigators vetting a permit application. In October 2004, Quadrozzi Jr. reapplied to the city for approval as a supplier. Last year, Quadrozzi Concrete withdrew the request without explanation. He did not return calls on Friday. That withdrawal came after the January 2005 indictment of Constatine Quadrozzi, then a vice president of Quadrozzi Concrete. He was charged with dumping toxic waste into Newtown Creek. In June 2006 Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Demarest dismissed the indictment. The judge found that although Quadrozzi had knowledge of the illegal dumping, he'd fixed the problem so no further prosecution was necessary. The district attorney has appealed. PAL ENVIRONMENTAL CORP.: In 2005, PAL Environmental signed a consent order admitting it had illegally disposed of toxic office equipment from the notorious Deutsche Bank tower at 130 Liberty St. For four months in 2004, PAL shredded computers and furniture at the contaminated site without obtaining a permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation. This meant DEC did not monitor the job. Instead PAL monitored itself, providing the state with data it said showed no toxins leaked into the neighborhood. In August 2005, the state DEC dismissed criminal violations against PAL after owner Salvatore DiLorenzo agreed to take "full responsibility" for claims arising from the illegal shredding and paid a $10,000 civil fine. The Dormitory Authority, which is paying PAL $16.3 million to clean out Fiterman Hall behind 7 World Trade Center, was aware of this violation. DiLorenzo did not return calls. LETICIA INC.: The black and white trucks hauling dirt from Ground Zero Wednesday had an unusually un-macho name - Leticia Inc., named after company president Leticia Rojas. In April 2006, Rojas' husband, Manuel Mier, signed an affidavit promising "for the remainder of my life" to stay out of his wife's trucking business - Leticia Inc. That's because Mier is a felon who pleaded guilty to using Leticia Inc. and other companies in a wide-ranging tax fraud scheme. He was sentenced to a year in jail and owes $523,000 in back taxes and penalties. In April 2006, Rojas signed an agreement with the city Business Integrity Commission promising to keep her husband out of the company. (Mier is allowed to work for Rojas' real estate company, MEM Realty LLC). Rojas agreed to hire a special monitor picked by the city to ensure her husband doesn't get a dime. Because of the monitor, the Port Authority allowed her company to work at Ground Zero. On Friday Rojas said, "Why do you care about this?" and hung up. TESTA CORP.: Testa Corp.'s bright yellow cranes dominate the southeast end of Ground Zero. In April, Pamela Ciampi, whose family owns Testa, pleaded guilty in Boston Federal Court to dodging $250,000 in federal income taxes. Investigators had seized records from Testa and Ciampi's other firm, PT Corp., both of Lynnfield, Mass., in a probe of sham women- and minority-owned firms. That followed a July 2005 citation by federal regulators charging Testa with 15 job safety violations after a 190-foot tall steel craneway collapsed during a Testa demolition job, killing two workers. OSHA slapped Testa with $60,000 in penalties, alleging that Testa did not do an engineering survey to determine the craneway's stability. In July 2005 Testa agreed to a $16,800 settlement. A Testa executive who would only give his first name, Tim, said the Port Authority was aware of the craneway accident when it was hired. LAQUILA GROUP: The firm is an offshoot of Laquila Construction whose owner, Dino Tomassetti Sr., has long-time ties to the mob, the FBI says. Several informants have told the FBI Laquila Construction paid off mob-controlled unions so it could inflate profits by using nonunion help. Tomasetti Sr. pleaded guilty to one count of construction labor fraud in April. Laquila Group - owned by Dino Tomassetti Jr. - was hired by developer Larry Silverstein to do excavation for the Freedom Tower. The Port Authority took over the job this year. When investigators discovered Laquila Group was renting equipment from Dino Sr.'s company, a monitor was put in place and Dino Sr. agreed to stay away from the job. The monitor, Toby Thacher, says the elder Tomassetti donates equipment to his son for the $35 million Freedom Tower job. Laquila Group executives did not return calls. JUDA CONSTRUCTION: Juda Construction has agreements with both Westchester County and the city of New York barring any interaction with a former Juda owner, Joseph Attonito, his son, Thomas, or any of their companies. Joseph Attonito is a convicted felon. Law enforcement sources have said he was associated with organized crime. His son, Thomas, was convicted of perjury in 2003 for trying to hide from regulators his father's interest in another company, Whitney Trucking. Juda has no such agreement for its work at Ground Zero, where last week Juda's white dump trucks hauled dirt from the Freedom Tower excavation site. An employee answering the phone at Juda declined to comment and said owner Nicholas Paniccia was not available. (NYDaily News, by Greg B. Smith, Sept. 9, 2007)
  
• Labor leaders rally for WTC victims' medical and financial aid ... Labor leaders and lawmakers rallied at Ground Zero yesterday in support of legislation that would give medical and financial assistance to victims of 9/11-related illnesses. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan/Queens), Vito Fossella (R-Brooklyn/Staten Island) and Jerrold Nadler (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan) plan to introduce the bill on Tuesday, the anniversary of the attacks. The 9/11 Health and Compensation Act would guarantee coverage to first responders and volunteers who were exposed to toxic dust and provides for health monitoring and treatment for those who lived, worked or went to school in lower Manhattan after the attacks. ... (NYDaily News, September 9th 2007)
  
• Downtown's upswing ... Meanwhile, over in the public sector, the cursed Deutsche Bank building looms over Ground Zero as a symbol of government ineptitude, the price tag of the Port Authority's far-too-fancy, vastly overpriced PATH train station has zoomed out of control and Fiterman Hall, a City University building damaged beyond repair on 9/11, has been idle for so long that the structure appears to have sprouted trees.Gov. Spitzer and Bloomberg must force action on the Deutsche Bank building and Fiterman Hall. Both are disgraceful impediments to a rebirth that starts at Ground Zero ... (NYDaily News Editorial, September 9th 2007)
  
• MAYOR BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEW 9/11 HEALTH WEBSITE: Those with Health Concerns Can Visit nyc.gov for Latest Information and Resources ... (Press Release, Sept. 9, 2007)
• One more 9/11 victim to be named on 6th anniversary of attacks ... The addition of Felicia Dunn-Jones, a 42-year-old civil rights attorney caught in the dust cloud that enveloped lower Manhattan on the day of the attacks, to New York City's Sept. 11 death toll occurred in a year that sharply focused on post-Sept. 11 illness - and the legacy of the cleanup of ground zero - more than ever before. That legacy was painfully altered by the unearthing of several hundred human remains from streets and sewer lines around the trade center site, which officials acknowledged were missed the first year. Doctors published more studies establishing direct links to respiratory illnesses and the exposure to the mixture of pulverized concrete, asbestos, mercury and other toxins that wafted over ground zero for close to a year. One study showed a powerful connection to sarcoidosis - the lung-scarring disease that killed Dunn-Jones - and city firefighters. "I don't think anyone's questioning any more how many thousands of people are sick," said David Worby, who represents close to 10,000 plaintiffs suing the city and contractors who oversaw ground zero's cleanup. More than 100 of his plaintiffs have died, he says. City officials have argued that more research is needed before the true health effects of Sept. 11 can be proven. But they significantly changed their position this year, commissioning a health panel that concluded in February that treating the ailments of exposed workers could cost close to $400 million a year. ... Three months later, city Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch surprised many by adding Dunn-Jones' name to the official Sept. 11 victims' list. ... (Newsday, Amy Westfeldt, Sept, 8, 2007)
  
• Rally for 9/11 bill to treat ailing first responders, residents ... Politicians and labor leaders gathered Saturday at ground zero to support federal legislation aimed at providing medical coverage to first responders and others afflicted by toxic dust and debris after the World Trade Center attack. The rally was timed to coincide with the upcoming sixth anniversary of the attacks, when three members of New York's congressional delegation will introduce the bipartisan 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. Democrats Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, along with Republican Vito Fossella, will bring the bill to Congress on Tuesday. "The heroes of 9/11 responded immediately when our country was attacked, but when these same heroes needed help, our government dragged its heels," Maloney said. "Thousands are sick and that's a fact." The bill would cover first responders and rescue workers, construction workers and volunteers from the nine-month cleanup of the rubble from the twin towers. It would also provide health monitoring and treatment for local residents, students and others who were in lower Manhattan after the attacks. Joining the politicians were representatives from the New York City Central Labor Council, the New York Building & Construction Trades Council and the New York State AFL-CIO. "We will not forget," said U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton. "We're going to rescue the rescuers." (NYNewsdasy/AP, Sept. 8, 2007)
  
• OP-ED: Giuliani’s Ground Zero Legacy ... He has never acknowledged that it might have been better if he had focused less on getting the disaster site cleared away fast, and more on getting all the workers out in one piece. Recently, he had the temerity to claim that he’s a victim, too. “I was at ground zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers ... I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I’m one of them,” he said last month during a campaign stop in Cincinnati. ... (NYTimes, by Gail Collins, Sept. 8, 2007)
  
• Downtown Emergency Notification Plan Meets Criticism ... In the wake of the Deutsche Bank building fire last month—and complaints by nearby residents that they were left in the dark about what to do or where to go—city officials announced at a Community Board 1 meeting on Sept. 5 that a Downtown emergency notification system is in the works But the plan, which is meant to allow easy communication between residents and safety workers in the event of an emergency, met with skepticism from many in the audience, who called it too vague and too slow in coming. In the third of three community meetings between high-level officials and community members following the fire, Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler said the responsibility for communicating with Downtown residents in the event of an emergency will lie with the Office of Emergency Management’s Watch Command in Brooklyn. The command is the central point of communication in an emergency, monitoring all radio traffic and helping city, state and federal responders talk to each other. “The advantage of using OEM is that they’re there 24-7,” Skyler said, adding that the watch command has the capacity to quickly send e-mails to a Lower Manhattan mailing list, alerting people to developments. Skyler said the city is also looking into other communication technologies, and that he expects a more comprehensive emergency notification plan to be developed by the end of the year. In addition, Lower Manhattan Development Coordinator Avi Schick offered to fund an automated “robo-call” system, like that used by telemarketers and political campaigns, to be used until the city’s more comprehensive system comes on-line. “We’re going to give out Community Enhancement Project Grants next month,” Schick said. “We can think of no better community enhancement than to get this project up and running.” Schick told the board that the LMDC is hiring more personnel to improve communication with the community, and is also prepared to pay for CB1 to hire its own staffer to stay abreast of developments at the 130 Liberty St. site. But many residents attending the meeting, still angry that it has taken years for officials to respond to their demands for a notification system, were not mollified by the promises to create a notification system under the Office of Emergency Management. “I’m an angry, frustrated worker, and I don’t have any hope that this is going to be any better,” said Rachel Snyder, who works on Maiden Lane. “The people in charge of coming up with the new plan are the same ones who have failed us before.” ... Schick said more structural work must be done before the building can be sealed, and that other agencies’ concerns about firefighter safety must be weighed against the EPA’s desire to seal the building immediately. Asked to respond, the EPA World Trade Center Coordinator Pat Evangelista said, “It is EPA’s position that the building be resealed while these other issues are being addressed.” The EPA letter also objected to what it called Schick’s “preliminary position” in recent confidential clean-up negotiations that the LMDC “implement a new sampling plan” and “revisit abatement procedures” in the building’s abatement plan. At the community board meeting, residents worried that the LMDC might be trying to weaken environmental precautions at the site. “There will be no dialing back of environmental controls,” Schick said. “You have my word here tonight we are going to continue to abide by city and state regulatory activities.” Schick added that the LMDC is “seriously considering” completing the clean-up of the building’s toxic materials before preceding with its deconstruction. (Tribeca Trib, By Nick Pinto, Sept. 7, 2007)
• Accuracy of 9/11 Health Reports Is Questioned ... (NYTimes, by Anthony DePalma, Sept. 7, 2007)
• Stalled at Ground Zero ... The recent preventable deaths of two firemen in the toxic hulk of the Deutsche Bank building adjacent to Ground Zero casts a shadow on New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's hands-off managerial style. It also casts a light on Rudy Giuliani's handling of the 9/11 cleanup, and by extension his governing style as mayor. Both the 9/11 cleanup (achieved with surprising, even defiant, speed) and the deconstruction of the Deutsche Bank Building (which is still standing six years after 9/11) have involved bitter controversies with the firefighters. Mr. Giuliani's imperative was to clear Ground Zero and thus defy the terrorists by ... (WSJ, by Fred Siegel, Sept. 7, 2007)
• Reps. Maloney, Nadler & Fossella to Introduce Bipartisan 9/11 Health and Compensation Act ... WASHINGTON, D.C. –On the eve of a major rally at Ground Zero in support of health care and compensation for 9/11 responders, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Congressman Vito Fossella (R-NY) announced that they will introduce comprehensive, bipartisan legislation to address the health impacts of the 9/11 attacks.  The lawmakers intend to formally introduce their bill next week. The Maloney-Nadler-Fossella 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which is strongly supported by the New York State AFL-CIO, would ensure that everyone exposed to the toxins of Ground Zero has a right to be medically monitored and anyone who is sick as a result has a right to treatment; expand care to the whole exposed community, including residents, area workers and students, and to the thousands of people who came from across the country to respond to the 9/11 attacks; provide compensation for economic damages and losses by reopening the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund; and build on the expertise of the Centers of Excellence (currently at the FDNY, Mt. Sinai Hospital, Bellevue Hospital, Queens College, SUNY Stony Brook, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey), which are providing high-quality health care to thousands of responders. The bill would also require the federal government to collect data about and research the extent and severity of WTC-related illnesses.  Specifically, the legislation would establish and fund Coordinating Centers of Excellence to collect and analyze data, coordinate outreach, and develop medical monitoring and treatment protocols; and require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to conduct or support research about conditions that may be WTC-related, and about diagnosing and treating WTC-related conditions. ... (News Release, Sept. 7, 2007)