| danny burstein 2005-06-27, 10:02 am |
| June 24, 2005 By ERIC LIPTON and JIM DWYER
Time for Drastic Changes in Tall Buildings? Experts Disagree
The day had been one of utter confusion, panic, even death. Terrorists had
attacked the largest buildings in New York. And for months afterward, a task
force of senior government officials met to reflect on the event, and to study
how to make tall buildings safer. In the end, they produced a document calling
for fundamental change in how they are built and operated.
The date of their report was Feb. 22, 1995, two years to the week after the
first attack on the World Trade Center. More than six years later, on the
morning of the next attack, very few of the recommendations had been put into
effect. "It just didn't happen," said Patricia Lancaster, now the city
buildings commissioner.
Yesterday, a federal agency released a 10,000-page draft final report on the
collapse of the World Trade Center, including a set of recommendations for
fundamental changes in the next generation of skyscrapers, and for emergency
response. Having been struck twice, New York City has already passed Local Law
26, which anticipates and surpasses many of the federal recommendations. But
faced with opposition from the real estate industry, the city has not required
wider staircases........
rest at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/n...n/24towers.html
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