Fears Halt Search At WTC Bank

New York Daily News ^ | 6/09/08 | DEREK ROSE

[kattracks]

Though the official recovery effort at the World Trade Center site ended May 30, firefighters scouring two buildings adjacent to Ground Zero have removed remains of about a dozen people in the past week.

But one large building across the street from the site — 130 Liberty St., owned by Deutsche Bank — still has not been fully searched, largely because its owners fear the process could stir up dangerous contaminants believed to be throughout the building.

"We are working in close cooperation with the City of New York to agree on a joint plan for the removal of the debris in the most expeditious and environmentally safe manner possible," said Rohini Pragasam, a spokeswoman for the bank.

The human remains were found in 90 West St. and 130 Cedar St., two office buildings badly damaged on Sept. 11. They were searched after the attacks, but only thoroughly reexamined in the past several days.

"Work is basically continuing down there," said Joseph Cestari, a Fire Department spokesman.

There was a more thorough search last week at 90 West St. after visits with search dogs suggested more remains might be found, officials said. So far, firefighters have located bone fragments and a jawbone.

Last fall at 90 West St., recovery workers found the remains of two people in an elevator, along with large sections of one of the hijacked airplanes, officials said.

A hole had been blown through the roof of 130 Cedar St., and workers focused a search Friday on upper floors with broken windows, the Fire Department said.

Officials said they were unable to gain easy access to the buildings because of the work at Ground Zero.

With News Wire Services

[lentulusgracchus]

I looked for 130 Cedar Street on the Newsday interactive map, here, and it looks like there couldn't be a "130 Cedar" since Cedar terminates at the previous cross-street, Greenwich.

The No. 90 West Street address is shown on their interactive map (there are photos) as a substantial office building from the turn of the century which would have been prominent in contemporary photos. Both it and the bank building at 130 Liberty St. had their sprinklers go off, apparently for days, and then got rained in on, and now have biohazard problems with molds that got established in them. The damage would have been caused by the wreckage of AA Flight 11, the first aircraft, which would certainly have set sprinklers off and probably shut down the elevators as fire alarms usually do. Somebody has some explaining to do about the bodies in the elevator.

[VA Advogado]

I cant see how the enviromental risks can be any worse in that building than for the rest of the site where the WTC buildings actually collapsed.

[wtc911]

I observed the damage to 130 Liberty up close while working GZ in the days immediately following the 11th. A five story high section of the south tower outer wall had been blown out in the collapse and was embedded vertically like a hatchet in the middle of 130. I don't know exactly which floors were impacted, there was a lot of scary stuff going on at the time, but I would guess that it ran from about the 14th floor down to about the eigth. My son and I stood on a peak in the pile during one of the frequent work stoppages (that were called for whenever silence was needed to listen for signs of life). A guy next to me whispered and pointed. That's when I saw 130 Liberty and the damage. We stared at it in dread and awe. The building on the corner of Liberty and West street was still burning, flames coming out of the top floors. We knew people were dead in there. Then the whistle blew again and we went back to work. I am surprised that they are just now finding the remains.

I made my first trip back to GZ since 9/14/01 last week. Because of our work we, my son, wife and I, were allowed down into the site by the NYPD. We were all either survivors, eyewitnesses or day two workers. We said a prayer at the base of the iron-beam cross, stared in silence at the hole where so much happened to us and where we all lost people we know. My son, both a GZ survivor and volunteer walked off a bit deeper by himself. After about ten minutes we said our final good-byes and crossed back to where the tourists were crowded on the other side of Church Street. Many stared, wondering what right we had to enter the site. No one asked us. I think that the answer showed.

[SC Swamp Fox]

This is the first post I have read of yours.

Sir, welcome to FreeRepublic.

"Aim small, miss small."

[finnman69]

These are US Army Corps Of Engineers photos of 130 Liberty Street, Deutsche Bank's heavily damaged building. I have done work in this building(architectural) and had several projects anhiliated on 9/11. There is a dangerous mold problem as 25% of the building's windows were destroyed and the sprinklers went off. In an attempt to dry the building out the heat was turned on which created a perfect medium for growing mold. The building really got its ass kicked and DB I talked to tole me they are trying to determine if the building can be repaired(interior finishes and ductwork are all contaminated). In any case it will have to be stripped down to its frame and floor slabs, and a new curtainwall will need to be installed. If the mold is really really bad, they will rip the whole tower down.

I know the building manager for DB who rode out both collapses in his 2nd floor office which fortunatelty faced West. there used to be an elevated plaza and bridge on Liberty Street which connected to the WTC complex. There also used to be a lobby under the plaza. you can see from the pic in the lower right corner its all gone. You can also see a 2 story lobby that opened on to this plaza(1 revolving ddor frame is left). I would not be surprised at all if there were body parts at 130 Liberty still.

[finnman69]

I also think these are some of the most amazing pics I have seen of the WTC damage. In addition I have seen pics taken by recue crews upstairs looking out through offices that are now outside.

[finnman69]

Here is the burned out sheel of 90 West Street. It used to be a beautigul terrocotta clad ornate building

I think these remind me of WWII pics.
Here you can see 130 liberty nd 90 West for comparitive size.

[stlnative]

Click on my Profile (my name) to find links to the Army Corps of Engineers pictures of WTC and the Pentagon... the links are at the bottom of my profile page. There are hundreds and hundreds of photos to see if you have not yet seen them. My hubby has nearly 30 years in with the Army Corps of Engineers, but was not sent to the WTC or Pentagon after 9/11.

[sixmil]

I looked for 130 Cedar Street on the Newsday interactive map, here, and it looks like there couldn't be a "130 Cedar" since Cedar terminates at the previous cross-street, Greenwich.

130 Cedar is actually right next to 90 West. If you look really close at the picture with the crane, you can see it in the background. You can see it much better here to the left of the 90 West building. If you were ever down in the area and saw an 'Amish Market' grocery store, that's the building.

[lentulusgracchus]

Thank you both for the links.

I hadn't visited New York except for airport changeovers since 1971, when WTC was a-building. I had a modest travel ambition to return some time to visit the Statue of Liberty and have dinner at Windows on the World, since my last visit had included visits to the Museum of Natural History and the Empire State Building. As a boy, I once crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and the George Washington Bridge in the same day, but that was 1957, when my military family returned via the Navy Yard from a 2-1/2 year tour in Canada, en route the Midwest. In the "good old days". I remember seeing the reserve fleet tied up near the Jersey shore when our ship came in, row on row of heavy cruisers and grizzled old battleships, tied up there since the Big Show, looking like the naval equivalent of the toughest bar on earth. Now I wonder if it was such a smart idea to turn them all into Chevettes.