Fred Siegel: Stalled at Ground Zero
[Mr. Siegel, a professor of history at The Cooper Union for Science & Art, is the author of "The Prince of the City, Giuliani, New York & the Genius of American Life" (Encounter Books, 2006).]
The recent preventable deaths of two firemen in the toxic hulk of the Deutsche Bank building adjacent to Ground Zero casts a shadow on New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's hands-off managerial style. It also casts a light on Rudy Giuliani's handling of the 9/11 cleanup, and by extension his governing style as mayor.
Both the 9/11 cleanup (achieved with surprising, even defiant, speed) and the deconstruction of the Deutsche Bank Building (which is still standing six years after 9/11) have involved bitter controversies with the firefighters. Mr. Giuliani's imperative was to clear Ground Zero and thus defy the terrorists by returning the city to semi-normality as soon as possible. However, this admirable goal clashed with the firefighter's similarly admirable desire to continue searching for the body parts of their lost brothers. Mr. Giuliani stood his ground, earning the undying enmity of The International Association of Fire Fighters leadership, which has demonstrated its political muscle by dogging the former mayor across the presidential campaign trail. But Engine Company 24, which suffered heavy casualties on 9/11, lost two more men on Aug. 18 when a fire broke out at the Deutsche Bank building that still stands as a monument to bureaucratic gridlock.
The 9/11 attack produced "the pile" -- 16 acres of rubble 100-feet high covering over white hot fires that would shoot into the air as cranes lifted away the mountain of girders. Inspired by anger and unhampered by bureaucracy, by May 2002 the men in "the pit," American flags on their helmets, had, laboring heroically, cleared the site three months ahead of schedule.
It was too much to expect such an extraordinary effort to continue. Despite lofty rhetoric about confounding the terrorists by rebuilding quickly, what followed under the aegis of Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg was a quick return to business as usual. In the absence of strong leadership, New York's political culture of ferociously clashing interest groups and waltzing elephantine bureaucracies produced, subway repairs aside, almost nothing additional for five years. While the governor zigged and zagged, Mr. Bloomberg backed away from his Ground Zero responsibilities to focus on building a heavily subsidized source of congestion: a football stadium on the West Side of Manhattan....
Read entire article at WSJ
The recent preventable deaths of two firemen in the toxic hulk of the Deutsche Bank building adjacent to Ground Zero casts a shadow on New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's hands-off managerial style. It also casts a light on Rudy Giuliani's handling of the 9/11 cleanup, and by extension his governing style as mayor.
Both the 9/11 cleanup (achieved with surprising, even defiant, speed) and the deconstruction of the Deutsche Bank Building (which is still standing six years after 9/11) have involved bitter controversies with the firefighters. Mr. Giuliani's imperative was to clear Ground Zero and thus defy the terrorists by returning the city to semi-normality as soon as possible. However, this admirable goal clashed with the firefighter's similarly admirable desire to continue searching for the body parts of their lost brothers. Mr. Giuliani stood his ground, earning the undying enmity of The International Association of Fire Fighters leadership, which has demonstrated its political muscle by dogging the former mayor across the presidential campaign trail. But Engine Company 24, which suffered heavy casualties on 9/11, lost two more men on Aug. 18 when a fire broke out at the Deutsche Bank building that still stands as a monument to bureaucratic gridlock.
The 9/11 attack produced "the pile" -- 16 acres of rubble 100-feet high covering over white hot fires that would shoot into the air as cranes lifted away the mountain of girders. Inspired by anger and unhampered by bureaucracy, by May 2002 the men in "the pit," American flags on their helmets, had, laboring heroically, cleared the site three months ahead of schedule.
It was too much to expect such an extraordinary effort to continue. Despite lofty rhetoric about confounding the terrorists by rebuilding quickly, what followed under the aegis of Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg was a quick return to business as usual. In the absence of strong leadership, New York's political culture of ferociously clashing interest groups and waltzing elephantine bureaucracies produced, subway repairs aside, almost nothing additional for five years. While the governor zigged and zagged, Mr. Bloomberg backed away from his Ground Zero responsibilities to focus on building a heavily subsidized source of congestion: a football stadium on the West Side of Manhattan....