By Julie Menin
The fire at 130 Liberty St. was a tragic reminder of the dangers associated with rebuilding our community six years after Sept. 11, 2001. Two firefighters, Robert Beddia and Joe Graffagnino, needlessly died at a building that has long sparked controversy. This terrible event should never have occurred, and it is of utmost importance to our community that we learn lessons from it that can be applied as we move forward with the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan.
One lesson that should be widely learned is that the communications of community boards, as the primary conduits for the expression of local community concerns, must not be ignored. Community Board 1 tried repeatedly to draw the attention of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and other agencies to critical concerns we had about the process. The responses we received were often cursory and unsatisfactory. For example, we urged the adoption of an emergency and community notification plan in October, 2005. The response we received from the L.M.D.C. was to “call 911” in the event of an incident or emergency with 130 Liberty St.
Unsatisfied with this answer, I wrote to then president of the L.M.D.C., Stefan Pryor, to press for the implementation of a codified community notification plan. I proposed a myriad of ideas that had emerged from discussions at Community Board 1, including phone trees, e-mail blasts, building captains and two-way hand-held radios. The letter received no substantive response.
On April 18, 2006, Community Board 1 unanimously passed a resolution expressing our serious concerns about the qualifications of Bovis Lend Lease’s subcontractor, John Galt Corporation. Specifically, the board questioned the poor safety record of John Galt and one of its affiliates. In addition, Community Board 1 had withdrawn from an open house sponsored by the L.M.D.C. on October 24, 2005, when that agency would not let the community ask questions publicly.
I was pleased to be appointed to the L.M.D.C. board in July as we need strong community representation on the board of L.M.D.C. at this critical time. But for over two years, Community Board 1’s repeated calls to have the chairperson of the community board sit on the L.M.D.C. board went unheeded, and the issues that Community Board 1 kept raising on this subject were not raised at the L.M.D.C. board meetings, where the L.M.D.C. unanimously voted to hire Bovis and John Galt despite clear and persistent warnings by the community. While the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has made clear that it is looking into the issue of why the prior L.M.D.C. board voted to hire John Galt and we will have to wait until those answers become public, it remains a tragic fact that the community’s voice was not at all represented on these critical issues.
This sequence of events clearly demonstrates the need for requirements at the state and city level for government agencies and authorities to respond to resolutions and other formal communications by local community boards. Such responses must be substantive and not brush-offs such as form letters. I intend to ask the Manhattan Borough Board — which is comprised of all Manhattan City Councilmembers and community board chairpersons — for an expression of support for such a proposal. Only with such a mechanism in place can we best harness the expertise and dedication that is present among the volunteers of the city’s 59 boards.
With regard to 130 Liberty St., the building must be safely and expeditiously decontaminated and demolished, and a plan must be developed without delay to notify the community in the event of an emergency. We initiated a review process within days of the fire, when Community Board 1 members met with local elected officials and government agencies. We worked closely with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, State Sen. Martin Connor, and Councilmember Alan Gerson’s offices to respond to this crisis. We also held with the elected officials a series of emergency public hearings following that meeting, where the presence of hundreds of Downtown community members at the first meeting alone served as a true testament to the dedication and concern Downtown residents have about our community.
Although we want the 130 Liberty St. building to be taken down, we have requested that it be done in a manner that is safe for the workers, first responders and the people who live and work nearby. The proper oversight, accountability and transparency must be in place so that the community does not have to choose between safety and speedy demolition. To this end, we have identified the following eight steps that should be implemented so that this job can be completed without any additional risk to the workers on site or the nearby community:
1. Completely seal and secure the damaged, contaminated building so that debris will not fall and risk additional lives.
2. Determine why the fire occurred and put in place a plan to prevent another. All government agencies and other parties should cooperate to the fullest extent with the investigation underway at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
3. Develop and implement a contingency plan for emergencies, and share it with the public in a public meeting and online. All relevant agencies should approve the plan and be kept informed of changes as work proceeds, so that, for example, the response team is given floor plans as they change.
4. Create a community notification and evacuation plan for city agencies to implement in the event of an emergency. Text messaging, a phone tree, reverse 911, televised announcements, e-mail blasts and other mechanisms should be considered. Reverse 911 was effectively used in the recent wild fires in California where the community was notified via automated message and that was followed by bullhorns, helicopter announcements and media advisories. Downtown residents and workers should be told whether to evacuate or stay in their homes or workplaces, whether they need emergency breathing apparatus, and whether a building is in danger of collapse. Such plans should utilize Lower Manhattan’s two Community Emergency Response Teams, which are trained and ready to help in an emergency.
5. The L.M.D.C. must develop and make public a timetable to decontaminate and demolish the building safely and expeditiously. L.M.D.C. and the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center should have regularly scheduled public meetings to update the community about the progress and address any concerns. The process must be open and transparent, with competitive bidding to select any additional subcontractors in connection with future work. All contracts and subcontracts must be made available to the public and should not include provisions permitting contractors to invoke confidentiality to avoid answering legitimate questions posed by members of the community whose health and safety depend on the quality of the work done.
6. Enforce vigilantly city building, construction, safety, and fire codes and regulations — including those prohibiting smoking on the construction site.
7. Separate the removal of contaminants from the demolition of the building so that these are done independently, as will be the case with Fiterman Hall, just north of the World Trade Center site. If the fire re-contaminated previously decontaminated areas, they must be re-cleaned and re-inspected prior to demolition. The impact of water damage from putting out the fire should also be assessed so that mold does not become an issue again,
8. Test residential and workplace areas in the immediate neighborhood for contaminants that may have been released during the fire and require any contaminated areas to be cleaned.
I believe these eight steps will go a long way towards assuring a safe process for taking down 130 Liberty St. But it is imperative also to make sure these recommendations are implemented not only there but also at Fiterman, 130 Cedar St., and 99 Church St., which are all slated for demolition in the coming months.
Unfortunately, our community has already been the target of two terrorist attacks. As our community moves forward, it is imperative, that our collective voice must be heard when crucial decisions are made that will shape our future as we continue to rebuild. Only in that way can we help to prevent such a senseless tragedy as the fire at 130 Liberty St. from ever happening again and ensure that the rapid development of the area is conducted in a way that does not threaten the health or wellbeing of Lower Manhattan’s residents and workers.
Julie Menin is chairperson of Community Board 1.
