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  • 5/15/2008, NY1, Steel Disc Falls From Ill-Fated Former Deutsche Building (Click Here)
  • 5/2/2008, Lower Manhatten Info, Decontamination Work Resumes (Click Here)
  • 5/1/2008, NY Times by David W. Dunlap, Demolition to resume at Building where Firefighters died (Click Here)
  • 2/21/2007, NY Times by WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and CHARLES V. BAGLI As Fire Inquiry at Ground Zero Grows, So Do the Legal Bills (click Here)
  • 2/13/2008, SARAH GARLAND in the New York Son, Family of Deutsche Blaze Victim Sues (click here)
    2/12/2008, NY Post, Tom TOPOUSIS, CHIEF POSTED AT DEUTSCHE (click here)
  • 2/11/2008, NY Post Editorial, Gang that Can't Demolish Straight (Click Here)
  • 2/7/2008, Amy Westfeldt, AP in Newsday, Govt releases new plans to take down WTC tower after fatal fire (Click Here)
  • 2/6/2008 EPA Letter about new Plan for Deutsche Bank (click here)
  • 2/1-7/2008, Downtown Express, E.P.A. says it waited 5 months for Deutsche demo plan By Julie Shapiro (Click Here)
  • 1/23/2008, AP in SI Advance,New system to detect breach in standpipe at Ground Zero building(click here)
  • 1/23/2008, KARLA SCHUSTER in Newsday, Fatal Deutsche Bank fire building to be razed (Click Here)
  • 1/15/2008, Chuck Bennett, NY Post, Report: Deutsche Bank Standpipe Wrong Color (Click Here)
  • 1/14/2008, Associate Press in SI Advance, FDNY modifies inspection schedule after skyscraper blaze that killed Staten Island firefighter (Click Here)
  • 1/14/2008, John Sullivan, NY Times, Fire Department alters its inspection schedual (Click Here)
  • 1/13/2008, The Gothamizt, FDNY Relaxes Building Inspection Guidelines (Click Here)
  • 9/8/2007  The Gothamist, Fire Chiefs: Twice-Monthly Inspections Are Not Feasible (Click Here)
  • 9/8/2007 Al Baker in NY Times, Fire Chiefs Say Inspection Rule Defies Reality (Click Here)
  • 1/13/2008, Ginger Otis, NY Post, FDNY slacks off on Bldg. Inspections (Click Here)
  • 1/13/2008, WNYC, Deutsche Bank Investigation Targets Subcontractors (Click Here)
  • 1/12/2008, Amy Westfeldt in Newsday, WTC skyscraper fire probe focuses more on contractors than govt (Click Here)
  • 1/11/2008 - 1/17/2008, Josh Rogers in Downtown Express, Mum’s the word as Deutsche firm is selected (click here)
  • 1/10/2008:  Murray Weiss in the NY Post, DA EYES DEUTSCHE MONEY 'FRAUD' (Click Here)
  • 1/9/2008: LMDC Press Release, NEW SUBCONTRACTOR SELECTED FOR 130 LIBERTY STREET (Click Here)
  • 1/9/2007: Douglas Feiden in the NY Daily News, New Firm to raze Deutsche Building  (click Here)
  • 1/9/2008, CHARLES V. BAGLI and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM in the NY Times, Demolition to Resume at Deutsche Bank Site (Click Here)
  • 1/8/2008: Eliot Brown in the NY Obesrver,State Enlists Less Scandal-Ridden Contractor to Finish Deutsche Bank Job (Click Here)
  • 1/8/2008: Theresa Agovino In Crains Subcontractor named for Deutsche Bank razing (Click Here)
  • 1/8/2008  Noise (Click Here)
  • 1/3/2008, Editorial in the NY Post, The Bunglers are Back (Click Here)  "One hundred thirty-eight days. That's how long it's been since Aug. 18, when a hellish blaze at the former Deutsche Bank building killed two firefighters and temporarily (or so New York was promised) halted the demolition of the building - so grievously damaged on 9/11."
  • 1/2/2008, ANTHONY RAMIREZ in the NY Times, Council Plans Session on Deutsche Bank Fire (Click Here)
  • 1/1/2008,CHUCK BENNETT in the NY Post, COUNCIL WILL RAISE CAIN OVER FAILURE TO RAZE DEUTSCHE BLDG.(Click Here)
  • 12/28/2007 - 1/3/2008, Josh Rogers, Downtown Express,  Deutsche violations and questions keepmounting
  • 12/28/2007, Ari Paul, The Chief Leader, Stoke Deutsche Bank Feud, FDNY Leaders tell Cassidy: Quit Lying (Note: See President Cassidy's Letter by Clicking Here)
  • 12/21/2007, Bob Hennelly, WNYC No New Developments for Toxic Downtown Building The former Deutsche Bank building, severely contaminated on 9/11, was supposed to have been demolished by the end of this year.
  • 12/20/2007, Editorial, NY Post, Tear it down already
  • 12/18/2007, Mark Yost, NY Post, STIFFING THE FDNY GOV'T PUNTS ON HI-RISE TRAINING
  • 12/17/2007, Sarah Garland, the NY Sun, Demolition of Former Bank Building Could Be Delayed
  • 12/13/2007, Chuck Bennett, NY Post, DEUTSCHE BANK STILL IN STRIFE
    • Nearly five months after the inferno at the former Deutsche Bank building killed two firefighters, the FDNY's safety recommendations haven't been followed and work cannot resume, officials said yesterday.Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said the FDNY has not "signed off" on the project - a major obstacle in finally demolishing the ugly reminder of 9/11. "We are not going to get into too much of this, but I can say concerns are being addressed," Scoppetta said after a City Council hearing yesterday on the FDNY's new building-inspection program. After the Aug. 18 blaze at 130 Liberty St. it emerged that the FDNY failed to conduct regular inspections of the building. As a result, the department increased its weekly inspections citywide and also stationed a battalion chief at the former bank building full-time. Avi Schick, the embattled chief of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., said in October that work to remove the remaining 27 floors of the abandoned building would resume last month. Schick has yet to publicly set a new date. Sources say wrangling between the LMDC, the state agency in charge of the project, and its contractor, Bovis Lend Lease, is causing delays. The LMDC declined to comment.

  • December 12th, 2007 NY 1, Council Holds Hearings On Deutsche Bank Fire 

  • December 12th 2007, JONATHAN LEMIRE, NY Daily News, FDNY honcho wary of inspections

     

  • November 28, 2007, Marcia Kramer, WCBS, NYC Fire Safety Compromised By FDNY Inspections  Emergency Service Response Times Delayed By New Requirements
New York City's move to increase fire department building inspections in the wake of the Deutsche Bank fire has reportedly created chaos, delaying some units responding to emergencies. Union officials tell CBS 2, it could endanger lives.

Still to come is the report on the former Deutsche Bank building fire on Aug. 18, which also killed two firefighters, Joseph Graffagnino and Robert Beddia. Investigators have decided this fire also resulted from numerous building code and safety violations. City Hall's response to the Deutsche Bank fire was to transfer and humiliate three dedicated fire commanders. Nobody at the Department of Buildings was touched, even though the agency had so abjectly failed to enforce its own code. Buildings is always let off the hook," a leading fire expert said last week. In the past three years, building violations have resulted in the deaths of six firefighters. Fire inspections are sharply increasing, but you have to wonder about the city's true commitment when you read page 88 of the 174-page report on the 99-cent store fire. The report notes that under "current procedures" firefighters who discover a building code violation send an "A-8 referral form" to the FDNY Field Communications Unit, which then calls 311 the same way a civilian might "Note: the DOB inspectors are not aware that these 311 generated complaints are initiated by the Fire Department," the report says. With serious violations, firefighters submit an "A-8 for Priority Transmittal" to a battalion chief, who faxes it to the field communication office. "A-8's for Priority Transmittal are then handled in the same manner as regular A-8's," the report says. In other words, even if firefighters had discovered the building code violations before these double tragedies, the most urgent message to the Building Department would have been received like just another 311 call.

It changed the name of the department's inspection program from Apparatus Field Inspection Duty (AFID) to the Building Inspection Safety Program (BISP).  John Bosco, the lawyer for and brother of Capt. Peter Bosco, one of the three fire officers who were reassigned after the Deutsche Bank building fire, also blasted the changes in an e-mail, saying the most notable difference was a new acronym for inspection duties. "Cool name change, Scoppetta," he said. "However, didn't you forget something while you were busy thinking about what to name the new baby? The defects in the FDNY's building inspection program that were exposed by the tragic August 18, 2007 fire at the Deutsche Bank building were that FDNY still lacks a plan to inspect toxic buildings and the local firehouses lack the ability - no training or safety gear - to safely do the inspections."

 

With the establishment of LMDC, developers no longer had to worry about the City’s urban planning process, (ULURP), nor did developers have to worry about the City’s building codes. After all, the City no longer has jurisdiction. Most importantly, what the City Council thinks is no longer relevant including the City Council’s call for more affordable housing in Lower Manhattan.

Everything’s being done after the fact, including holding three scapegoats from the field in limbo.  Somebody is going to have to own up.

The inaction of LMDC is telling enough of how they cared for the safety in that damaged building. Instead of confessing to the obvious, LMDC and the city are trying their best to escape blame by throwing taxpayer dollars to attorneys that might or might not get them off from being held responsible. This is a cowardly act to say the least. Both the LMDC and city agencies should quit this crap and stand up to be held accountable. Those two dead firefighters and their families deserve as much.
The EPA released two separate statements Friday by regional administrator Alan J. Steinberg charging that the state owner of the former Deutsche Bank tower had "abandoned the review and acceptance process" before changing plans to clean and dismantle the building.
Yet, according to John Bosco -- Great Kills attorney and brother of Capt. Peter Bosco -- the changes fail to address the challenge of inspecting toxic buildings. 

"How can Mayor Bloomberg blame Capt. Peter Bosco and his battalion and division chiefs for failing to inspect a toxic building when the FDNY still, after all of these years, has failed to come up with a plan to inspect toxic buildings? Something is not fair here," he said, commenting on the changes.


"The buildings at Ground Zero were owned by the state and Port Authority and therefore were never under FDNY jurisdiction," ... the FDNY Fire Prevention Manual, which says that any checks on state or federally owned buildings would be only "courtesy inspections." ... the minutes of a May 18, 2007, FDNY meeting that had been called to address safety hazards at the bank site after a pipe from the tower fell through the roof of the Engine 10 firehouse. ... the memo - which reads, "The demolition of 140 Liberty Street ... would be under the jurisdiction of the DOB [Department of Buildings]" - ... Peter Bosco has steadfastly insisted that FDNY inspections of the toxic tower had stopped long before he took over the Engine 10 command in December 2006.

 

So, come Monday morning we can expect to see them restored to their original assignments, right?  Sure.

Fiterman, a Borough of Manhattan Community College building at 30 West Broadway, was heavily damaged and contaminated on 9/11 when 7 World Trade Center collapsed into it. Since then, plans to decontaminate and dismantle the 15-story structure have been delayed numerous times due to insurance wrangling and financing shortfalls

FDNY Battalion Chief Jim Riches nearly died of respiratory failure after working at ground zero. He says he wants to go to trial. "They don't want to admit their guilt because they didn't give us respirators at ground zero and they lied about the quality of air," Riches said. "I want to go to court."

CBS 2 spoke to many who now say they are dead men walking

The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the state agency that owns the site, wants to resume demolition next month.
Jack McDonnell, president of Local 854, said, “It was the FDNY’s responsibility to insist that all rebuilding efforts be placed before the FDNY at every stage. FDNY leadership abdicated control to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and did not exercise their authority.”


"In the past couple of months, the department has been criticized by the media - and in fact by some of our own members," Chief Cassano said in this speech. "But through all this, the department has remained strong."

Law-enforcement sources say Charlie Maikish, the former chief of the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, is the man who can answer many questions about what went wrong during the demolition of the 9/11-scarred tower

The scandal-scarred subcontractor fired from the Deutsche Bank demolition job after two firefighters died in an August fire is demanding to be paid $19.6 million for the work, according a new lawsuit.

Delays in tearing down the blighted building, which was supposed to have been demolished by the end of this year, are impacting the timelines of other redevelopment projects.

... his blow of losing his father comes at a time when, with Chief John McDonald and Capt. Peter Bosco, the younger Fuerch was relieved of his command after Firefighters Joseph Graffagnino and Bobby Beddia died in the Deutsche Bank building.  These men were made scapegoats by a panicked Commissioner Nick Scoppetta. The fact that they were disciplined is outrageous But I am confident of one thing.DA Robert Morgenthau will find out the truth. And if McDonald, Fuerch, and Bosco don't get their commands back, I will scream 'til someone chloroforms me.

"Business and building owners who think they can ignore fire safety rules had better think twice, because we will hold them accountable under the law," said Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta.

"There are so many errors that took place that nobody's being held responsible for," said Joseph Graffagnino Sr., whose namesake son was one of two firefighters killed in the Aug. 18 blaze."I think it's going to come out, but it's going to take time," he added.

The owner of a condemned ground zero skyscraper says work will resume next month to take down the building that was ravaged by a fatal fire nearly two months ago.Avi Schick, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, says workers should finish resealing the former Deutsche bank tower later this month.
For another version of the same story, See also, Work on charred skyscraper to resume next month at Staten Island Live.

 

IN OUR POSTING BELOW ABOUT THE New York firefighters and officers unions coming out publicly yesterday, there is mention of a memo written by the Ladder 10 officer advising HQ of the necessity for a definite fire plan for the Deutsche Bank building.  Firegeezer has obtained a copy of that memo, along with the Department’s belated fire plan which was issued 32 months later….after the fire.

Meanwhile, Eyewitness News has obtained a memo from December 2004, in which a division commander was urged by the captain of the fire house next to the bank building to develop a standard operating procedure for dealing with a fire or hazardous material situation at the contaminated and condemned building.  No such plan apparently was created.  There is now a plan, which was reportedly written days after the fire.