Unveil Demolition Plan For Tainted BMCC Building; Damaged on 9/11

Mayor Bloomberg announced Nov. 13 the decontamination and demolition of Fiterman Hall, a Borough of Manhattan Community College building that was badly damaged on 9/11 before it was even able to operate as a learning center.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow SLATED FOR DEMOLITION: After seven years of financial and logistical wrangling, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the demolition of Fiterman Hall, a part of the Borough of Manhattan Community College in lower Manhattan, will commence early next year. Like the Deutsche Bank building, it was heavily damaged during the 9/11 attacks.

At the lower Manhattan campus along with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and City University of New York Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, Mayor Bloomberg said he expected decontamination to be concluded early next year and the building to be taken down by the fall. Mr. Silver promised that its replacement would be erected by 2012. The city provided $139 million in capital funding for the $325-million project.

'Invest in Infrastructure'

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Finally ready to proceed.

"Even in tough times, the way to come out of fiscal crisis is to invest in infrastructure and development — responsible development — and at the same time invest in the next generation of New Yorkers, and that's exactly what this symbolizes," Mr. Stringer said.

When asked why it has taken seven years since the attacks for the demolition to take place, Mr. Bloomberg cited the delay in reaching a deal with insurance companies.

"It was a long and torturous negotiation," he said. "But I think the answer is it's over, and now we're going ahead."

Paul Stein, who is the health and safety chairman of Division 199 of the Public Employees Federation, said he believed that CUNY and the state would be more responsible in demolishing Fiterman Hall than the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was in overseeing the Deutsche Bank building demolition, where a fire killed two Firefighters in August of 2007.

'Doing It Right'

"One of the most important things that CUNY has done right from the beginning is that they decided that they would complete the decontamination before the demolition," said Mr. Stein, who has been outspoken about safety issues on several downtown projects including Fiterman Hall and the Deutsche Bank building. "The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, over the objection of the community, decided to decontaminate and demolish [the Deutsche Bank building] on different floors at the same time. That was a major error in judgment on the part of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and their contractors, and it contributed to the tragic deaths of the two Firefighters."

Mr. Bloomberg acknowledged that not doing both simultaneously would give the impression that the project was moving slowly because actual demolition would not take place for several months, but he was confident the process would be on schedule.

"They've kept the community informed about all of the progress and what their procedures are so that people don't feel in danger," the Mayor said.

Mr. Stein agreed that CUNY has involved community members and unions who had safety concerns in the planning process, which wasn't done by the LMDC during of the Deutsche Bank building demolition.

PAUL STEIN: Learned from LMDC's mistakes.