The New York Times, June 13, 1998, pp. A1, B8.
Preparing for Worst, Giuliani Is to Build Blastproof
Shelter
By Kit R. Roane
Having tamed squeegee men and cabbies, murderers and
muggers, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani is now bracing for a
whole other order of urban treachery and cataclysm by
building a $15.1 million emergency control center for his
administration -- bulletproofed, hardened to withstand
bombs and hurricanes and equipped with food and beds for at
least 30 members of his inner circle.
The ambitious project, which will sprawl over 46,000 square
feet of one of the smaller buildings of the World Trade
Center complex, will be big enough to accommodate at least
50 different city, state and Federal agencies and will
allow them to coordinate response to disasters from the
smallest sewer explosion to the largest nerve gas attack.
Among its amenities will be backup generators in case of
power failures, a storage tank with enough water to last at
least a week and technology that will include a secure
"red" phone for the Mayor and video-conferencing
capabilities so that he can talk to and see the President
of the United States if necessary. Construction is to begin
soon, and city officials said it would take several months
to complete the center, plans of which were approved by the
City Planning Commission in December and obtained yesterday
by The New York Times.
On the 23d floor of the building, the center will be across
the street from the famous Twin Towers, the target of a
terrorist truck bombing in 1993 that left six dead, wounded
more than 1,000 and shattered the notion that American
cities were immune to such attacks. But city officials said
the location was ideal since the building lacked a basement
and was already well fortified because it houses the New
York bureau of the United States Secret Service.
Saying that the facility is "not a bunker" meant merely as
a safety haven for the Mayor, Jerome M. Hauer, head of the
city's Office of Emergency Management, asserted that New
York City's emergency response system had become a model
for other cities and that the planned center was a natural
next step in keeping that lead.
"This is something the city has needed for a long time, a
state-of-the-art center with a sophisticated communications
system that is survivable so the city can continue to
function," he said. "If there is a citywide ,blackout, a
hurricane, a blizzard, this is the facility that will allow
us to keep working, to make sure that people are not in
jeopardy."
Colleen Roche, a press secretary to Mayor Giuliani, said
that financing for the command center would come out of the
fiscal 1999 capital budget. But the news of the center's
construction troubled many in city government, especially
City Council members like Sheldon Leffler, chairman of the
Public Safety Committee, who said they found out about the
project only after being contacted by a reporter. Some said
the existing command center on the eighth floor of police
headquarters had functioned admirably during storms,
blackouts and a terrorist attack.
Ms. Roche denied that the financing was done in secret.
"It's clearly laid out in the budget for anyone to inspect
and review, " she said. " I would point out that there are
some members of the Council who claim to have not known
that they voted for a tax increase either."
Councilwoman Kathryn E. Freed, whose district will house
the new center, questioned whether the investment was
prudent when the Mayor has threatened to cut financing for
centers for the elderly, city hospitals and services for
the poor.
"At a time when the Mayor is screaming and yelling about
pork in city government and trying to cut city services
that keep libraries and day care centers open, it seems
bizarre to me that the city would be putting nearly $16
million into a rented space that the city doesn't even
own," Ms. Freed said. "Making a $16 million improvement to
another guy's building? I sure hope this is a 99-year
lease."
City officials said that the $1.4 million annual lease on
the space ran for 20 years.
The facility will be built at 7 World Trade Center, a
47-story building chosen for its proximity to City Hall and
One Police Plaza and because of its sturdy nature, Mr.
Hauer said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, law enforcement
officials said that the new center would be bulletproof,
able to withstand the shock of some bomb blasts and have a
ventilation system that could be closed in the event of a
biological or gas attack. They said telecommunications in
the center would also be able to withstand the blow of a
nuclear assault.
Mr. Hauer confirmed that the center would also withstand
150-mile-an-hour hurricane winds and function during
extreme flooding. In case of disaster, he said, more than
100 top representatives from government, law enforcement
and utilities will be organized in modules, connected by
high-tech computer systems and almost invincible
telecommunications lines and guided through videoscreens,
computer mapping and a global positioning system that can
pinpoint the proximity of disaster to every sewer line,
water main and subway tunnel in the city.
The center would have a place to cook and enough beds to
allow at least 30 residents to sleep, including top city
officials and members of Mr. Giuliani's family, said a city
official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Mr. Hauer
said there would be enough food for at least seven days and
enough fuel to power the facility through a four-day
blackout.
The Mayor would have a bit of privacy as well because the
center will be built with a separate area where he can meet
with select commissioners, a room with a pullout couch for
him to sleep and a shower separate from the others. While
the furniture would be ergonomically designed and the
lighting selected to prevent headaches, Mr. Hauer said that
the center was more austere than it might sound.
"We were very cautious about what we were spending," he
said. "We wanted to be comfortable because this is a
stressful environment, but nothing is opulent." And while
there would be room for the Mayor's family to visit, Mr.
Hauer said the Mayor's bed would be a couch.
"If there was a citywide blackout, we want to make sure
that it is easy for people to work and that includes making
it easy for them to eat and use the bathroom," he said.
Although it would only be in alert mode during crises, Mr.
Hauer defended the price of the facility by saying that
when the city was running smoothly it would be used to host
training seminars and conferences for emergency response.
But the plans are far more elaborate and expensive than
those of other major cities. Philadelphia saved money by
placing a similar center in an existing fire building,
which has its own water well, and spent only a few hundred
thousand dollars on communications equipment and computers.
Los Angeles, which has had to contend with disasters
ranging from mud slides, forest fires and earthquakes to
riots, converted a 4,000-square-foot bomb shelter built as
part of the civil defense program in the 1960's for $1
million in 1980. Since then, the city has updated the
computer and communications equipment for $2 million,
according to Dean Levenworth, a city spokesman.
Currently, the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management is at
100 Church Street, where it shares space with two other
mayoral agencies. The Emergency Operations Center, which is
staffed in all emergencies, rests a few blocks away in
Police Headquarters, in a cavernous room lined with giant
overhead television monitors and city maps.
[End]
Preparing for Worst, Giuliani Is to Build Blastproof
Shelter
By Kit R. Roane
Having tamed squeegee men and cabbies, murderers and
muggers, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani is now bracing for a
whole other order of urban treachery and cataclysm by
building a $15.1 million emergency control center for his
administration -- bulletproofed, hardened to withstand
bombs and hurricanes and equipped with food and beds for at
least 30 members of his inner circle.
The ambitious project, which will sprawl over 46,000 square
feet of one of the smaller buildings of the World Trade
Center complex, will be big enough to accommodate at least
50 different city, state and Federal agencies and will
allow them to coordinate response to disasters from the
smallest sewer explosion to the largest nerve gas attack.
Among its amenities will be backup generators in case of
power failures, a storage tank with enough water to last at
least a week and technology that will include a secure
"red" phone for the Mayor and video-conferencing
capabilities so that he can talk to and see the President
of the United States if necessary. Construction is to begin
soon, and city officials said it would take several months
to complete the center, plans of which were approved by the
City Planning Commission in December and obtained yesterday
by The New York Times.
On the 23d floor of the building, the center will be across
the street from the famous Twin Towers, the target of a
terrorist truck bombing in 1993 that left six dead, wounded
more than 1,000 and shattered the notion that American
cities were immune to such attacks. But city officials said
the location was ideal since the building lacked a basement
and was already well fortified because it houses the New
York bureau of the United States Secret Service.
Saying that the facility is "not a bunker" meant merely as
a safety haven for the Mayor, Jerome M. Hauer, head of the
city's Office of Emergency Management, asserted that New
York City's emergency response system had become a model
for other cities and that the planned center was a natural
next step in keeping that lead.
"This is something the city has needed for a long time, a
state-of-the-art center with a sophisticated communications
system that is survivable so the city can continue to
function," he said. "If there is a citywide ,blackout, a
hurricane, a blizzard, this is the facility that will allow
us to keep working, to make sure that people are not in
jeopardy."
Colleen Roche, a press secretary to Mayor Giuliani, said
that financing for the command center would come out of the
fiscal 1999 capital budget. But the news of the center's
construction troubled many in city government, especially
City Council members like Sheldon Leffler, chairman of the
Public Safety Committee, who said they found out about the
project only after being contacted by a reporter. Some said
the existing command center on the eighth floor of police
headquarters had functioned admirably during storms,
blackouts and a terrorist attack.
Ms. Roche denied that the financing was done in secret.
"It's clearly laid out in the budget for anyone to inspect
and review, " she said. " I would point out that there are
some members of the Council who claim to have not known
that they voted for a tax increase either."
Councilwoman Kathryn E. Freed, whose district will house
the new center, questioned whether the investment was
prudent when the Mayor has threatened to cut financing for
centers for the elderly, city hospitals and services for
the poor.
"At a time when the Mayor is screaming and yelling about
pork in city government and trying to cut city services
that keep libraries and day care centers open, it seems
bizarre to me that the city would be putting nearly $16
million into a rented space that the city doesn't even
own," Ms. Freed said. "Making a $16 million improvement to
another guy's building? I sure hope this is a 99-year
lease."
City officials said that the $1.4 million annual lease on
the space ran for 20 years.
The facility will be built at 7 World Trade Center, a
47-story building chosen for its proximity to City Hall and
One Police Plaza and because of its sturdy nature, Mr.
Hauer said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, law enforcement
officials said that the new center would be bulletproof,
able to withstand the shock of some bomb blasts and have a
ventilation system that could be closed in the event of a
biological or gas attack. They said telecommunications in
the center would also be able to withstand the blow of a
nuclear assault.
Mr. Hauer confirmed that the center would also withstand
150-mile-an-hour hurricane winds and function during
extreme flooding. In case of disaster, he said, more than
100 top representatives from government, law enforcement
and utilities will be organized in modules, connected by
high-tech computer systems and almost invincible
telecommunications lines and guided through videoscreens,
computer mapping and a global positioning system that can
pinpoint the proximity of disaster to every sewer line,
water main and subway tunnel in the city.
The center would have a place to cook and enough beds to
allow at least 30 residents to sleep, including top city
officials and members of Mr. Giuliani's family, said a city
official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Mr. Hauer
said there would be enough food for at least seven days and
enough fuel to power the facility through a four-day
blackout.
The Mayor would have a bit of privacy as well because the
center will be built with a separate area where he can meet
with select commissioners, a room with a pullout couch for
him to sleep and a shower separate from the others. While
the furniture would be ergonomically designed and the
lighting selected to prevent headaches, Mr. Hauer said that
the center was more austere than it might sound.
"We were very cautious about what we were spending," he
said. "We wanted to be comfortable because this is a
stressful environment, but nothing is opulent." And while
there would be room for the Mayor's family to visit, Mr.
Hauer said the Mayor's bed would be a couch.
"If there was a citywide blackout, we want to make sure
that it is easy for people to work and that includes making
it easy for them to eat and use the bathroom," he said.
Although it would only be in alert mode during crises, Mr.
Hauer defended the price of the facility by saying that
when the city was running smoothly it would be used to host
training seminars and conferences for emergency response.
But the plans are far more elaborate and expensive than
those of other major cities. Philadelphia saved money by
placing a similar center in an existing fire building,
which has its own water well, and spent only a few hundred
thousand dollars on communications equipment and computers.
Los Angeles, which has had to contend with disasters
ranging from mud slides, forest fires and earthquakes to
riots, converted a 4,000-square-foot bomb shelter built as
part of the civil defense program in the 1960's for $1
million in 1980. Since then, the city has updated the
computer and communications equipment for $2 million,
according to Dean Levenworth, a city spokesman.
Currently, the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management is at
100 Church Street, where it shares space with two other
mayoral agencies. The Emergency Operations Center, which is
staffed in all emergencies, rests a few blocks away in
Police Headquarters, in a cavernous room lined with giant
overhead television monitors and city maps.
[End]