Wtc News

[RspctFrmCalgary]

A coalition of historic preservation groups accused World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein of making no effort to save the so-called Survivors Staircase. The now-battered stairs, which many in the north tower used to reach Vesey St. safely on 9/11, stand where Silverstein plans to build an office tower. The Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund, whose five groups include the Municipal Art Society and the New York Landmarks Conservancy, had been in talks with Silverstein and the Port Authority about ways to safeguard the steps. But the groups concluded, in a letter to Silverstein this week, that his tower is being designed by architect Norman Foster "as though the staircase had already been destroyed." A spokesman for Silverstein had no comment yesterday.

Yet another slap in the face.

As to the post previous to that one, well it just plain baffles me. Shaking my head in disbelief.

The remains, some as big as arm or leg bones,

[MIKESINDERS]

I wonder how those bone fragments got up on those roof tops?

[FlyingKiwi]

Sinders Rella.

(Ever hear of a bloke called Newton, he has started one of the best govmint conspiracies of all time, it implies everything drops downwards.)

Us conspiracy types are over here

[E40FDNYL35]

October 22, 2006 -- Fifteen more pieces of human remains - including a bone more than a foot long - were unearthed at Ground Zero yesterday after a new search for 9/11 victims kicked into high gear. The discovery came as a source said he wasn't surprised at the find - because the temporary road at the site was built on dirt scooped up from Ground Zero. A crew working with forensic experts yesterday also found wallets, shoes and cash at previously unsearched manholes near West St. The medical examiner's office painstakingly sifted through debris using a mesh - a technique used on archeological digs. The new hunt for 9/11 remains was prompted by the stunning discovery Thursday of more than 80 bones - some as large as 10 inches long. The number of remains found yesterday was confirmed by Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the city medical examiner, although she could not confirm the size of the bones. Skyler said the crew includes members of the FDNY, Con Edison, Verizon and the Port Authority. Mayor Bloombag ordered city officials Friday to search all the manholes in the area, which were covered over in 2002 to create a temporary service road to The Pit. Furious family members of 9/11 victims said they had lost faith in the city's competence. "If they were capable of doing the job, it would have been done over the last five years," said Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son, Christian, was one of 2,749 people who died on 9/11/01. He is one of the 1,150 victims whose remains have not been identified.

[E40FDNYL35]

October 23, 2006 -- The search for human remains at the World Trade Center site continued Monday after more than one hundred fragments and personal items were found in the last several days. A discovery by Con Ed workers doing routine excavation work on Thursday jump-started the search. The remains were found in a manhole along the western edge of the 16-acre site underneath a service road built in 2002. Six other manholes and utility cavities have been identified as places that may have been overlooked. Despite calls for construction at the site to stop, Bloombag said work will continue. "We're not going to shut down any construction," he said. "Construction is taking place on sites that have been thoroughly gone through and excavated, and we have to build for the future." Outraged family members want to know why the initial search was incomplete, and are now calling on the same federal agency who identifies remains of soldiers to join in the search. "We are not criticizing the work and the workers. We are criticizing the process, which is not working," said Diane Horning, whose son died on 9/11. "We have already got the best in the medical examiner's office, but you can't expect a fire fighter, as well intentioned as he might be, to have a skill level to find what an anthropologist could find," said Charles Wolf, whose wife died. "We have an anthropologist standing by at the Deutsche Bank building, but the problem there is that it has always been secondary. It has been if they run across them, we'll find it. It hasn't been primary. We need this ratcheted up to be primary."

[E40FDNYL35]

October 25, 2006 -- Workers found more human remains in a manhole next to Ground Zero that had been paved over after the attacks, officials said yesterday. Thirty-six more bone fragments from 1 to 6 inches long were discovered in the manhole on a West St. service road next to the former World Trade Center, officials said. Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner, said that brings the total to 150 remains found in a manhole that investigators believe was breached during the collapse of the towers. Nine manholes and three service boxes are being reinspected after Con Ed workers cleaning out the manhole made the surprise discovery late last week. So far, three manholes have been inspected, with six more to go. Some are buried many feet below the surface of the street. Work at the site was briefly put on hold Monday while the city tested the soil around the manholes for asbestos. The work resumed yesterday after the tests came back negative, officials said. Of the 2,749 people killed at Ground Zero on 9/11, 1,150 have not been officially identified by the discovery of remains.

[E40FDNYL35]

October 28, 2006 -- Stunned by the discovery of human remains near Ground Zero five years after the 9/11 terror attack, the city announced yesterday it will conduct a block-by-block search for more body parts in lower Manhattan.
The year-long effort will include hundreds of subterranean vaults, three abandoned buildings and the rooftops of an office tower and a hotel. The decision to launch an expanded search comes after the grim surprises of last week, when more than 200 bone fragments and personal effects turned up in an abandoned manhole on the western edge of the World Trade Center site.

Search will include:

Some 400 manholes from Barclay St. to Albany St. and from Broadway to the western edge of the World Financial Center.

The roofs of the Millenium Hotel and 1 Liberty Plaza. Both contain roof ballast, large rocks that were cleaned but not searched for human remains.

Two Verizon manholes in the middle of West St. next to the Trade Center site. Skyler promised to minimize traffic headaches by "doing this in the middle of the night if we have to."

The site of the former St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at 140 Liberty St. Trade Center debris may be compacted under asphalt that was laid down after the disaster.

Three buildings that were abandoned after the attack: the former Deutsche Bank, the Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall and 130 Cedar St. The searches at Deutsche and Fiterman already were planned before the new initiative. More than 700 bone fragments were found in the ballast of the Deutsche Bank tower in September 2005, years after the building had been pronounced clear.

The sites announced yesterday are in addition to seven other Con Edison manholes and three service boxes buried under a service road on the western edge of the Pit that have been targeted for search. The city now says it will dig up most of the service road and expand the search to underground vaults on other nearby streets, including Washington and Cedar Sts.

Of the 2,749 people who died when the twin towers collapsed, the remains of 1,150 have never been identified.

Looking for more


City will search roof of Millenium Hotel and 1 Liberty Plaza, both on Church St.

City will search interior and roof of 130 Liberty St., 130 Cedar St. at southeast corner and Fiterman Hall.

City will excavate 140 Liberty St., a plot between Liberty, Washington, Cedar and West Sts.

City will excavate much of the service road parallel to West St. running into The Pit.

[E40FDNYL35]

November 3, 2006 -- The city must widen its search for human remains at the World Trade Center site, including a grassy area that officials say wasn't cleared properly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, victims' families said yesterday. More than 150 relatives, holding loved ones' photographs, rallied on the perimeter of Ground Zero to urge the city to call in a military unit to find remains. "We shouldn't have to rally. We shouldn't have to beg," said Robin Audiffred, who has no remains for her husband, James. "You need to make it right. You need to do whatever it takes at this point." A lawyer for the Sept. 11 families, Norman Siegel, said that workers digging into a dozen manholes along a service road on the site's western edge have to tear up the entire road because more remains could be beneath it. He said that a grassy area near construction of a subway line on the site also has to be searched. Two officials involved in recovery work said debris from the attacks made it impossible to go through the area completely during the original search.

[E40FDNYL35]

November 16, 2006 -- The city set a timetable yesterday for expanding its search for remains at the World Trade Center. Starting this week, workers will begin searching the rooftop of the Millenium Hotel. Once that is complete, in about two weeks, workers will move to the rooftop of 1 Liberty Plaza. Then in December, workers will begin searching the grounds of the former St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at 140 Liberty St. and a section of the street known as "haul road," because it was used by trucks during the original cleanup effort. Sources who worked at the site five years ago have told The Post they expect many remains to be found at the site of the Greek church, since it was paved over after it was destroyed.

[E40FDNYL35]

November 19, 2006 -- The Freedom Tower found its footing yesterday.
Construction crews marked a major milestone in the redevelopment of Ground Zero, pouring the colossal concrete foundations for the central core of the 1,776-foot skyscraper. About 520 cubic yards of concrete - enough to cover a football field 31/2 inches deep - were trucked in from a plant in Queens and poured throughout the day, laying the groundwork for what many expect will become an iconic addition to lower Manhattan. "What we're doing here is not just building buildings, we're reclaiming New York City's skyline and making a testament to freedom," said John Cahill, a top adviser to Gov. Pataki. Hardhats started digging the foundation for the Freedom Tower in April, and the concrete foundation is scheduled to be completed during the next few weeks. Crews plan to begin installing giant steel columns - some of the largest in the world - by next month. The Freedom Tower, which is scheduled for completion in 2011, will be owned by the Port Authority under an agreement it finalized with World Trade Center site developer Larry Silverstein. Construction will continue through the winter, said Steve Plate, the chief engineer coordinating the behemoth project for the Port Authority. "This is history in the making," Plate said gleefully as concrete trucks rumbled by him in The Pit, about five stories below street level. By mid-2008, the lower levels of the skyscraper will begin to rise above street level, said Mel Ruffini, a project executive with Tishman Construction. "The men and women involved with this project are all dedicated to getting this building up as fast as possible," he said. Rebuilding at Ground Zero is expected to peak in 2009, when heavy steel and concrete work will be carried out simultaneously at the Freedom Tower and three other office towers.

[E40FDNYL35]

December 20, 2006 -- It's rising. The first steel columns were bolted into the foundation of the new Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site yesterday, including two that were signed by hundreds of people. Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloombag watched as a crane lifted a 25-ton steel column bearing the words "Freedom Tower" and workers bolted it into place. The construction crew cheered as the crane then lifted two other columns, both signed by hundreds of people last week in Virginia, where it was made, and at Ground Zero on Saturday. One of the workers was Brian Lyons, a superintendent with Tischman Construction Corp., which is building the 1,776-foot tower. His brother, Michael, was a firefighter who was killed on 9/11. Brian Lyons came to the smoking ruins that day to find him, and has been working at Ground Zero since. "I recovered his body right over there," he said, pointing to the south. "I feel closer to him when I'm here." Larry Silverstein, who is developing the site, said he's honored to have people like Lyons building the Freedom Tower. "It fills you with pride," he said. "They are so dedicated." The steel was produced in Luxembourg and then shipped to the Banker Steel Co. in Lynchburg, Va., where it was made into columns. Six more columns will be installed by the end of the year. "America's strength is evident in these columns of steel," said Pataki, on his last visit to Ground Zero as governor. "It's an emotional day," said Pataki, who leaves office on Dec. 31."There were good days and not so good days. But today is a great day. I'm extremely proud of what we've ended up with here."

[Res45cuE]

Thank you, E40!

I would like to thank you, E40, for keeping the nation's FF's abreast of the ongoing news at the WTC. Being in the NY area, we get to see it every day on the news and in newspapers. However, most of these guys outside the tri-state never get to see it.
On a bit of a bitter sidenote, I find it appalling that threads debating the color of shyte can get 100 replies, but serious issues like this get nary a second glance.
That's my rant and I'm stickin' to it.
Please keep up the great work.

[bacfire]

It gets plenty of second glances. I've been following it since it started. It's just that us folks out in the sticks can't add much to it (speaking for myself, of course).

I made my first visit to Ground Zero last weekend. I was there for the beam signing, but didn't sign. The whole experience was more than moving; emotional beyond my expectations. The temporary 9/11 museum next door to Ten House just tore me up. Had to walk outside a couple times to pull myself back together. After that, I had an emotional hair trigger for the rest of the day. If y'all haven't been to Ground Zero yet...go.

Barry

[E40FDNYL35]

October 21, 2007 -- SYRACUSE - Six years after she died in one of the planes that struck the twin towers, Laura Lee Morabito has been laid to rest. "It's somewhat surreal being in front of you after six years of my sister's death," said her brother Craig Defazio during a service at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Skaneateles in central New York. Friday's funeral was scheduled after Morabito's wedding ring was found and her remains, identified Sept. 12 through DNA testing, were returned to her family. Two memorial services had been held in 2001. This time, family members said, they would have the relief of burying her in St. Joseph's Cemetery near Auburn, N.Y. A military honor guard stood outside the church. Morabito, 34, was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston, which was hijacked by terrorists and crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. She was a national sales manager for Qantas Airways. Her remains were found in the initial recovery effort but could not be linked to her with the DNA technology used at the time, according to the New York City medical examiner's office.

[rescue10lt]

This might not be the most appropriate forum for this but under
the thread topic, maybe it is. I didn't know Brother Criscitiello, he sounds like he was like just about every other firefighter that was good at the job; a good guy, hands on, loved being with his family and the guys at work called him Joey Screwdriver because he was always fixing things around the firehouse. Sound familiar? Anyway, it said in his obit that he participated in the WTC recovery efforts. I don't know how involved the MFD was with the efforts but seeing how close Montclair is to Manhattan, probably pretty involved. Joseph Criscitiello was diagnosed on March 17 with gastric lymphoma, a “very rare” form of cancer that eventually caused his death.
Is there any connection? I don't know; maybe, maybe not. Not my call but it seems that too many folks who were there are going away too soon.
Like I said; I didn't know Joe but he was a Brother. I only grew up in Montclair, went to school there then left. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Jan and their son, Joseph, and his family.

JOSEPH J. CRISCITIELLO – 51 MONTCLAIR FIREFIGHTER

Mr. Joseph J. Criscitiello, 51, passed away on Saturday, October 20 at the Hackensack Medical Center, Hackensack. Arrangement made by the Biondi Funeral Home of Nutley, 540 Franklin Avenue. Relatives and friends are invited to attend a funeral Mass in his memory at Our Lady of the Lake Church, Verona at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 25. Cremation will be held privately. To send condolences, please visit www.biondifuneralhome.com and sign the Guest Book.

Mr. Criscitiello was born in Newark and lived in Verona for 20 years. He was a Firefighter with the Township of Montclair, Truck #1 for 18 years. He was also a truck driver with Zimmerman Oil Company, Montclair. Mr. Criscitiello participated in the 9/11 Recovery Efforts, and was a member of the FMBA Local #20, Montclair.

Mr. Criscitiello is survived by his loving wife of 25 years Janyce (nee Nicastro) Criscitiello; his son Joseph Criscitiello; his sisters Antoinette Borkowski, Denise Grill, and Gina D’Alessio; his brother Thomas, and his father Thomas Criscitiello. He is the son-in-law of Ralph Nicastro and his wife Helen; and brother-in-law of Gayle Nicastro. He was predeceased by his mother Margaret (nee Pagano) Criscitiello; his mother-in-law Evelyn Nicastro; and his brother-in-law Ralph Nicastro.

Donations in Joseph’s memory can be made to the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation Cancer Center, 20 Prospect Avenue, Hackensack NJ 07601.

E40FDNYL35; you doing a good thing by continuing to get the word out, keep it up. Once again; be safe out there, Brothers and let's get everybody home.

Lt. David Walters
Miami Fire Rescue