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Port Authority - 9/11


Not to minimize the pain of the mourners, but there should be more discussion of the killers.


No, I'm not talking about  the people who flew the planes into the World Trade Center.  I'm talking about Port Authority management, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and EPA Christine Todd Whitman.


Both Giuliani, and Whitman said that there was no danger to working on the pile without protective equipment when anyone who has worked in a dusty environment knew perfectly well that one does not venture into such an area without proper protective equipment.


And Port Authority management should have been prosecuted on September 12.


Prior to 9/11, I worked at the WTC.  Fire drills were regarded as a joke by employees and Port Authority managers who oversaw them.  On one occasion, it took over an hour for everyone to assemble at the assigned exit points.


And let's not forget the fire exits locked with chains and padlocks by Port Authority police!


Ask retired FDNY Chief Wren who at the time was a captain at Engine 1 / Ladder 1 across the street what happened when he raised fire safety issues with Port Authority management.


Or ask the fire safety director whom I spoke with on 9/10 about being dismissed from an assignment on the tower with the observation deck because he said that there were too many people there to evacuate in an emergency.


Of course the fundamental design of the buildings were defective. Not merely because they collapsed, but because the Port Authority refused to follow two basic requirements of the NYC Building Code.


 In NYC, Fire stairs must be continuous from the roof to the ground floor.  But at the WTC, people on the top half of the building had to walk down to a mid-building mezzanine and then find other stairs to continue to the street.


Also, in NYC fire stairs must be enclosed in 2 or 4 hour fireproof construction - i.e., concrete, not sheetrock. And the doors must open into the stairs on every floor.


So yes, people should not have flown airplanes into the buildings.  But many fewer would have died had these not been Port Authority buildings.


If you are interested in the Port Authority's viewpoint, visit one of their airports.  There are multiple unlawful traffic signs.  The last time that I was in a terminal, there were locked fire exits.