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US HQ falling apart
Bloomberg - cut-paste - no url | 12/5/01

Posted on 12/05/2001 7:14:10 AM PST by NativeNewYorker

United Nations, Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Mice roam in the

cafeteria of the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan, and

office windows leak, workers said.

Netting in the General Assembly hall protects diplomats from

falling ceiling tiles, much of the complex is inaccessible to

physically disabled people and there are no fire sprinklers.

Some UN employees told their union representatives they never

heard the order to evacuate after the World Trade Center attack

because the public address system didn't work.

The UN, with its green-tinted glass facade, looks like a

glistening gem on the East River. In fact, the almost 50-year-old

facility is in such poor condition that Assistant Secretary-

General Toshiyuki Niwa said New York City building inspectors

would close it if they had jurisdiction over what is officially

international territory.

``This is a middle-aged building, which is outdated from the

point of view of safety codes and health considerations,'' said

Niwa, head of the department that manages the complex. ``There are

environmental hazards, such as asbestos, and it is the only high-

rise building in New York City without a sprinkler system.''

The UN, considered a state-of-the-art design when it was

built for $67 million from 1949 to 1952, hasn't been upgraded

since then, officials said. The world organization's treaty with

the U.S. government indicates the facility should be able to pass

inspection, although the pact lacks an enforcement provision.

``You can see mice running around the cafeteria and they get

in offices that are near the other dining rooms,'' said J.

Fernando Astete, a vice president of the Staff Union of the United

Nations who has worked for the organization 36 years. ``I have

mouse traps set up in my office.''

 

Leaks, Crumbling Concrete

 

A UN Capital Master Plan proposes that diplomats from 189

member nations vote next year to spend at least $964 million to

renovate the 2.7 million-square-foot complex, which consists of

six connected structures, including the General Assembly hall and

the 39-floor Secretariat building, where most of the more than

4,200 employees work.

``Staff members and visitors have a lower chance of survival

during a fire, consume more energy at higher costs and face

greater obstacles to accessibility than they would at comparable

modern buildings in New York,'' according to the master plan.

``The buildings are experiencing major leaks, falling concrete,

cracked pipes, exploding steam valves, electrical feeder failures

and inaccurate fire alarm signals.''

If the General Assembly votes for the repairs, the work would

be financed by a mortgage, an interest-free loan or payments from

member nations, according to the master plan.

 

Repair Costs

 

There was no opposition when the General Assembly approved

the master plan last December. The U.S. General Accounting Office,

the auditing arm of Congress, endorsed the proposal in a report

released in June, and the Italian architecture firm Renato Sarno

won a $40 million design and engineering contract for preliminary

work.

The alternative is to spend $1.6 billion over the next 25

years on piecemeal repairs, said Joseph Connor, UN Under-Secretary

General for Management. Even that amount wouldn't solve the issue

of energy costs that are projected to rise to $28 million annually

in 2027 from the current $10 million because of inefficient

heating and ventilation systems.

``This building represents a great international institution

and needs to be looked at with pride, said UN Ambassador Jagdish

Koonjul of Mauritius. ``But unfortunately, it is badly in need of

renovation. I was here in 1978 and have just come back this year

and I can see the deterioration.''

 

Asbestos Removal

 

Most of the electrical, plumbing and heating equipment is

original to the building, officials said. Some dials in the

basement that regulate the temperature have two settings: summer

and winter. Workers said their offices are often either

uncomfortably hot or cold.

Repairs are expensive because almost every project requires

removal of asbestos -- a carcinogen -- and because many

replacement parts must be hand made in a UN shop.

The condition of the buildings hurts staff efficiency and

morale, workers said.

``We have no room in our offices, soot comes down from the

ceiling and covers everything, so your clothes get dirty, and you

can't do things like video conferencing because of the wiring and

equipment,'' said Marc Labelle, who works in the UN's conference

services department.

Most of floors of the main UN Secretariat building are a

honeycomb of small offices whose walls can't be moved to adjust to

the needs of a changing workforce. The Department of Peacekeeping

Operations, which has expanded 49 percent in the last three years

to 497 workers in New York, is spread over five locations in three

UN buildings, officials said.

 

Air Quality

 

Labelle and leaders of the UN staff union said workers worry

most about the air quality.

``I think asbestos is a huge problem,'' said staff union

President Rosemarie Waters, noting that the substance is in

ceilings, floor tiles and doors.

UN officials said asbestos is a concern, although tests have

shown the air is safe.

Anxiety reached a new level recently as anthrax cases spread

in the U.S. Niwa said workers on the 30th floor were alarmed when

white dust floated down on them from an office ceiling. One test

produced inconclusive results, and about 20 employees were given

the drug Cipro. Tests eventually showed that the white substance

was more of the soot some workers wipe off their desks.

``You are breathing soot every day,'' Astete said. ``It is

very worrisome.''


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
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1 posted on 12/05/2001 7:14:10 AM PST by NativeNewYorker
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To: NativeNewYorker

Thank you!
Let's make this the shortest fundraiser ever.
5 days into the fundraiser and we are 62% there.
We can be finished in 3 more days
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2 posted on 12/05/2001 7:17:02 AM PST by WIMom
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To: NativeNewYorker
The vermin that run around the building are nothing compared to the vermin that occupy the offices.
3 posted on 12/05/2001 7:19:24 AM PST by Alberta's Child
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To: NativeNewYorker
How awful!

Condemn the building and evict the tenants.

4 posted on 12/05/2001 7:20:55 AM PST by Madame Dufarge
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To: NativeNewYorker
I suggest that the UN close down temporarily and move all of its operations to Switzerland during the renovations.

We should have the building renovated and ready for their return when ... oh, let's say "When hell freezes over"? Or is that too soon?

5 posted on 12/05/2001 7:21:29 AM PST by BlueLancer
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To: NativeNewYorker
Sounds like a good time to build a new UN center. I think it should be in Kabul, or that island we did the atomic tests on.
6 posted on 12/05/2001 7:22:20 AM PST by steve50
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To: NativeNewYorker
From the title, I thought there was an actual problem! Boy! Am I relieved, it's just the UN. Who cares.
7 posted on 12/05/2001 7:25:27 AM PST by Judith Anne
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To: NativeNewYorker
When I took part in a conference at the UN as a delegate from the Fordham Model United Nations, I noted how much the building reminded me, at least in the interior (the exterior is still impressive, especially when viewed from Long Island City) like a poorly constructed pulic school from the 50s (it smelled like one too). It does not surprise me that the center for Mr. Rockefeller's dream for a better world is now falling apart. I still think we should knock it down and build some condos.
8 posted on 12/05/2001 7:25:34 AM PST by Clemenza
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To: BlueLancer
It is!!
9 posted on 12/05/2001 7:25:52 AM PST by Telit Likitis
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To: NativeNewYorker
I say, let the freakin UN crumble to the ground! All Osama's little friends play their stupid spin games there....

LET IT ROT!

10 posted on 12/05/2001 7:26:03 AM PST by KLT
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To: NativeNewYorker
The building is kept this way on purpose so all of the thrid world diplomats will feel right at home.
11 posted on 12/05/2001 7:26:13 AM PST by aomagrat
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To: NativeNewYorker
Re-locate it to Somalia.

I hear there's plenty of parking.

12 posted on 12/05/2001 7:27:33 AM PST by Dallas
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To: NativeNewYorker
yet another blatant example of hypocrisy. I'm certain the UN would like to force other countries to live up to a building code, while they themselves occupy the most dangerous building on earth.

Kind of like those who push for public transportation spending, but when you ask them if THEY ever take the bus, they respond with a sheepish "no" and give an excuse as to why they cannot.

13 posted on 12/05/2001 7:28:09 AM PST by GuillermoX
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To: Clemenza
I'm sure it smells because no one there takes a shower and they all smoke.

What other office building in the USA allows smoking ondoors? yuck

14 posted on 12/05/2001 7:30:04 AM PST by GuillermoX
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: NativeNewYorker
Why doesn't Kofi & Co. just hire some of that cheap Sudanese labor to come and fix up the dump? /sarcasm with heavy sighs...
16 posted on 12/05/2001 7:32:27 AM PST by eureka!
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To: Clemenza
You have a 39 story building with no sprinkler system?

This place is a death trap. This always happens when there is no controlling legal authority, to borrow a phrase from Algore. NYC has one of the most stringent building codes and enforcement operations in the country. And right there on their little island is a building that does not have to comply.

If the fecal matter ever hits the rotary ventilation device and there is a major fire, who will have to answer the call? You got it, the Fire Department of the City of New York. And yet, no FDNY code enforcement official has probably even seen the inside of that building. New York City should notify the UN forthwith that if there is a fire, they should dial the weather channel and check for rain, because it is not worth it for the City to risk the life of firemen if the UN will not even bother with basic life safety improvements or sprinkler upgrades.

These guys can't even run a building, and they want to run the world!

17 posted on 12/05/2001 7:34:08 AM PST by gridlock
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To: NativeNewYorker
Note:

The U.N. building is NOT on U.S./New York property...so it reflects the values of the rest of the world...which is shabby and "ghetto-like" to us. I'm glad it's in New York for this reason too...it sticks out like a sore thumb here...as do the people and their values from elsewhere. Had this taken place elsewhere in the world, it would not have made the news.

Freedom rings, doesn't it.

18 posted on 12/05/2001 7:34:54 AM PST by PoorMuttly
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To: Alberta's Child
Great .. let's tear it down and move the headquarters where it belongs ... say 1000 miles off the coast New York
19 posted on 12/05/2001 7:37:21 AM PST by clamper1797
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To: gridlock
The sad thing is that probably half the people who work in that building are American citizens, and are being subjected to sub-third-world conditions and imminent risk because the UN considers itself to be a world apart.

Nobody wants to spend money on facilities management. But if you don't, the problems don't go away, they just get worse. Everybody in the world has figured that out, except the UN. What does it say about an organization that is trying to chart the course of the future of the world, when they cannot even fix the ceiling in the lobby in less than 20 years?

20 posted on 12/05/2001 7:38:46 AM PST by gridlock
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