66 JOHN 59 MAIDEN LANE

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document Fax:212-361-1724 Apr 10 2003 02:39 P.04 DEP ECB

At 66 Jolm St. Bomb Scare Stirs Fife Safety Fears y By DEIDRJE MoFADYEN i- . lyben a bomb score preeip- / Stated the evacuation of e6 John St. in lower Manhattan on Feb. 21, workers from the Department of Consumer Af­ Obw* fairs' adjudication division on the nth floor descended the stairs with others from that end of the building. ....... The first workers to roach the bottom,' however, could not open the emergency exit . door .to the street. Afraid of being crushed, they yelled to the people streaming down . the stairs above them to I freeze. "Thank goodness they

I stopped,” said one Adminis­ trative Law Judge .who wit- __________ _ nessed the incident GLORIA JOHNSON: Tuff Found Alternative Exit ■ of safety violations.’ The workers eventually doors that could block access got out through another exit to exite in an emergency, and after people on the second a circuitous command sys­ door heard them banging on tem in which personnel on the stairwell door ana let the Maiden Lane aide of the them back in. - building make all the deci- The workers and their Bums. Keep Abreastof union say that impassable “We've had four or five Civil Service AcHvliIea exits ore among a litany of chances to' fix these prob­ and Job Vacauielss safety hazards that they have lems,'’ said one worker. 'Next ByHavIns repeatedly brought to the at­ time, we might'not .be so tention of building manage­ lucky.” • THE CHIEF-LEADER ment and dty officials. Hearing oflicers at 68 John "After a veer of complain­ St. adjudicate complaints Mal/edto Your ing, to walk down to a fire from the public about alleged Momo S2 Wooks for V exit and find a locked door is violations of building hedth .r appalling,* said Senior Ad­ and safety codes. “That’s the ONLY922 . ministrative Law. Judge ironic part,” said Civil Ser­ Ende.. Cheek er Mansir Ilene Shifrin, the only work­ vice'Bar Association Presi- er among the half-dozen in­ dent Gloria Johnson, whose' terviewed last week for this union represents them.' article who was willing to "Here the Environmental •tsswssas^’ speak on the record. Control Board Administra­ City workers, who inhabit tive Lbw Judges sre working Vw-—a. Tw mil mnmar w»ut 13 floors on the John St aide in a building full of fire and of the large bifurcated pri­ safety violsuons.” 277 BROADWAY vate office complex, complain '■ Consumer Affairs officials New York, N.Y. 10007 of an inadequate public .ad­ Bay that they take the work- dress system, a maze of in­ ternal electronic' security . (Continued on Pages)-

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