60 Hudson Street Foes Gird for Another Round

By Carl Glassman
JUNE 2, 2006

Pressing ahead in their long battle against the building they call a "virtual tinderbox," more than 60 Tribeca residents came together last month to fill their war chest and boost morale.

The May 15 gathering was at Edward's Restaurant on West Broadway, a block from the feared building, 60 Hudson Street. It came three weeks before the group's best hope of victory in their bid to end the building's storage of an estimated 80,000 gallons of diesel fuel.



On June 7, the community group, Neighbors Against N.O.I.S.E. and their lawyer, Norman Siegel, are scheduled to go before the city's Board of Standards and Appeals (B.S.A.) for the second time to argue against a waiver given by the Department of Buildings that allows an otherwise illegal amount of fuel to be stored at 60 Hudson Street. The building houses equipment for dozens of telecommunications companies, and the fuel is for their backup generators.

Crowded inside the narrow restaurant, the group listened as Siegel and others rallied them to the fight, pleading for a show of force in front of the B.S.A. commissioners and for the resolve not to give up.

"It's good to be right, it's good to be bright," Siegel told them. "But the most important ingredient is stamina. You gotta outlast the bastards. This is a marathon."

Tim Lannan, president of Neighbors Against N.O.I.S.E., declared the fund-raising event a success. He said that the group raised half of the $50,000 that it needs to continue making its case.

"In the past, most people have either signed petitions or shown up at events. But they never contributed," he said. "So part of the trick is to move people from moral support to dollar support."

At the first B.S.A. hearing in January, Siegel, expert witnesses, and representatives of local elected officials argued that the Buildings Department legalized a health and safety threat when it said that the building's owner, GVA Williams, could keep as many as four tanks per floor in a five-floor area. City code allows only one tank per floor.

The Department of Buildings stipulated a number of safety measures, including the housing of the generators behind fire-resistant walls. But Siegel argued that the storage practice posed a hazard similar to the conditions at the original 7 World Trade Center, which some believe collapsed on Sept. 11 from a fire that was fed by stored fuel. Sixty Hudson Street, considered a potential terrorist target, is said to contain more diesel fuel than the former 7 World Trade Center building.

The second B.S.A. hearing was arranged after the commissioners requested more information from the Buildings Department.

The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. on June 7 at 40 Rector St, in the Board of Standards and Appeals Hearing Room E on the sixth floor.