One Year Later And All They Get Is A Memorial

Today is the one year anniversary of the tragic Deutsche Bank Building fire that claimed the lives of two of New York's Bravest. The two men, Joseph Graffagnino and Robert Beddia will be memorialized at their firehouse in SoHo. Yet besides that, not much is being done about what happened that terrible day.

Oh sure, safety has improved, don't get me wrong on that. The New York Post tells us all about it and that the godforsaken building will probably stand for another year. What I am ticked off about is getting justice for them. It wasn't just one negligent construction worker that set up these conditions, it was the whole damn city.

From The NY Daily News:

"The issue of fire watch and reviewing the fire watch was extremely important, as were any other safety issues," he said. "They served as one component of a system in which job-site issues were monitored and corrective action taken as necessary."

Other city, state and federal inspectors regularly trolled the site, yet none stopped the practices that led to the fatal blaze.[...]

The Fire Department, which failed to inspect the tower every 15 days as required by law, now says it meets the 15-day target on 93% of buildings.

"It was the perfect storm last year: a contaminated building being taken down by a shady company, and our guys weren't doing the inspections," one FDNY source said.

So now the building is being taken down and every piece removed is quadruple checked. To some that is justice, that things at the site are being done in a safer manner. To me that just seems like they are covering their asses now. For the families, friends and firefighters across the city, those responsible need to be held accountable, no matter how high the blame goes up on the chain of command.

2.2 Million Excuses And Counting

That is the amount of money that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation is spending (along with the city) to retain outside legal help in the aftermath of the Deutsche Bank Building fire. More than six months after the blaze that claimed the lives of two firefighters, much remains to be answered. The funds are being used to help those that are being targeted by D.A. Robert Morganthau which sounds normal, but where are the funds coming from?

From The NY Times:

Michael Murphy, a spokesman for the development agency, said it would seek to recover the costs of the outside legal counsel through insurance policies on the project, and through claims stemming from its contract with Bovis.

But other potential costs — and more work for the outside lawyers — loom.

As the Times points out, those costs include lawsuits from the victims' families and ultimately more legal fees. Regardless, Murphy says that the money could possibly come from the insurance companies but are they really going to part with millions in compensation? Out of all the experience I've had with recovering insurance money....I'm going to take a small leap and deduce that the taxpayers of New York will ultimately pay for the legal fees and especially for the demolition. Unless of course someone can convince me otherwise.

A Sad Day In SoHo

Sad news to report from SoHo this afternoon, an accident atop the construction site for the illegal and future Trump SoHo has fatally injured one worker. According to individuals in the area with good positions across the street, a wet cement hopper was being hauled up to the 42nd floor when it suddenly opened and unleashed the cement, partially collapsing two floors and knocking the worker to his death. This terrible tragedy is being deflected by Trump's office and I'm sure he is doing his best to keep the illegal project going as fast as possible.

From The Gothamist:

Update 2:56PM: EMS, NYPD, FDNY, OEM, and DOB are on the scene. Reader Scott who had been looking out his window when the incident occurred wrote:

I watch that crane all day long and happened to be looking right at it when the accident happened. It was carrying a hopper full of wet cement up to the top floor to presumably be poured into plywood molds for the columns or floor up there. As the hopper just barely passed the top corner of the building, it was brought over the top of the building and it simply opened up and dumped all of it’s contents on that corner. The wet cement rained down, collapsing the top two floors on the corner and a lot of debris went into the safety net.

I think it’s important to note that the crane did not appear to do anything wrong. It did not appear to strike the building at all or have any problems. I think the fault was in the wet concrete hopper. It simply opened up for no reason and emptied all the wet concrete out at once.

Of course all of this could have been avoided, but the Donald is just too greedy. Many complaints have been lodged before and during this monstrosity is being constructed. Trump even gave the go-ahead despite it being above an ancient burial ground. What a sick bastard. What a terrible tragedy that this had to happen, when it easily did not have to.