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Deutsche Bank Accident Angers Residents
“These guys from LMDC walk around giving us these big reassuring lines about how incredibly safe everything is,” said Mary Perillo, who lives on the 8th floor of 125 Cedar St., which is 12 stories high. “We’re just lucky it didn’t come through our roof.” The pipe fell through the roof of Ladder 10 Engine 10, across Greenwich St. from the Deutsche Bank Building, reportedly striking within a foot of a firefighter. Following the incident, the Department of Buildings (DOB) and the LMDC halted deconstruction of the 41-story building. Many residents, while angered by the incident, were not surprised. “It’s what we’ve been afraid of,” said Pat Moore, a 3rd floor resident. “But this is fairly minor compared to the potential accidents that could happen.” “I knew something was going to fall,” said Diane Blell, who lives on the 11th floor. “It was inevitable. We’re just sitting ducks down here.” Two firefighters received minor injuries from the accident. They were treated at New York Downtown Hospital and released, according to the LMDC. “It rocked the whole building,” said one of the injured firefighters, who would only identify himself as Sal. According to several firefighters who asked not to be identified, the 3-inch wide steel riser pipe punched a hole through the firehouse roof and pierced the 6-inch concrete ceiling of the second floor, protruding about five feet into a stairwell. The pipe is said to have narrowly missed one firefighter, who dove forward when he heard the noise and landed against the wall, hurting his shoulder. A second minor injury occurred when a firefighter dove down the stairs, hurting his knee. “It sounded like a small bomb,” a firefighter said. “I really thought we were under attack again.” According to some residents of 125 Cedar, the pipe was not the first projectile to fly off the former Deutsche Bank building. Mark Scherzer and his partner Peter Davies live in the penthouse. In early May, they found a chunk of concrete, about six inches to a side, on their terrace. Scherzer said that in April he had contacted the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center (LMCCC), which oversees the coordination of Downtown construction, with concerns about the deconstruction process. He complained that when dumpsters are lowered from the building, they are often overly full, with no lids or netting to keep objects from falling. Following the pipe accident, the DOB issued a violation to the John Galt Group for “failure to safeguard the public and property.” Galt is a subcontractor of Bovis Lend Lease, the construction company contracted to take down the building. Last year, Community Board 1 passed a resolution opposing the Galt contract for the work, citing lack of experience and news reports of ties to organized crime. CB1 called on the LMDC to “only use companies with appropriate qualifications and experience” for abatement and demolition. It noted that the John Galt Group obtained their asbestos removal license only shortly before they were hired on the project. “It’s unbelievable that this happened with all the safety precautions in place,” said Catherine McVay Hughes, chair of CB1’s World Trade Center Redevelopment Committee, which wrote the board’s resolution. “We have to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.” The first serious accident occurred in March 2006, when a worker fell 40 feet from the building, and survived. The John Galt Group consequently received three serious violations from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Avi Schick, the LMDC’s new chairman, told the Trib that the LMDC and the LMCCC “have gone to extraordinary effort and expense to put the safety of the local residents and businesses first.” He said he expected the results of an investigation by the DOB and the LMDC into the cause of the accident in “a matter of days.” “We are working to find out what additional measures on top of the existing safety measures we might have to implement,” he said. The deconstruction is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. In the meantime, the residents of 125 Cedar Street are hardly reassured. “I try to avoid being close to the building when it’s very windy,” said resident Mary Dierickx, “but in the normal course of living, I am nearby all the time.” “I avoid Albany and Greenwich when I can,” said Mary Perillo, “but going to the Number 1 train, you have no choice.” For Mark Scherzer, whose patio is wide open to falling debris, potential danger feels even closer to home. “As I told the LMCCC,” he said, “I would like their advice as to when it might be safe to go out on the patio and water the plants.”
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