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City Evacuates Area Near Collapsed Midtown Crane
By
Garth Johnston
Published Oct 29, 2012
Modified Oct 29, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Oct 29, 2012
Modified Oct 29, 2012
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During his evening press briefing on the state of Sandy, Mayor Bloomberg updated the city with his version of what is going on with that collapsed crane on West 57th Street. And that version is that you can prepare all you want, but "that doesn't mean that God doesn't do things, or that metal doesn't fail."
"The main tower seems to be well secured to building," Bloomberg reassured before noting that the only part in danger of falling is the boom. And if it were to fall, the city has taken lots of precautions: Steam is shut down and water and gas are being shut down nearby, "so in case [the boom] falls it doesn't start a fire or anything like that." And further the city has evacuated all the buildings on the north and south sides of 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh and all the exposed buildings on the north side of 56th Street as well as on the nearby avenues. That zone included "one large hotel, but the hotel industry has found spaces for the people there. We're sorry for the inconvenience, but better safe than sorry."
While making his update, Bloomberg defended the crane's operators, pointing out that "this crane was inspected on the 26th, as we [inspected] all the cranes in the city. This crane been used for a long time by a reputable company. we have no idea why that happened. It is conceivable nobody did anything wrong whatsoever and it was just a gust of wind." Further, he went on to say that crane operator Bovis is a "great company" whose "record is fine."
Bloomberg's statement that "all the cranes" in the city were inspected is at odds with comments made by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn earlier this evening when she told reporters that "spot checks were done, because you couldn't [inspect] every site."
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