Meeting #2 Summary

I just returned to CT from the second information meeting that building management held, and I now remember exactly how much I dislike the West Side Highway. Why not take the FDR, you wonder? There's construction on that one, too. Ah well.

This meeting was far less attended than the first. This is could be because it was a Saturday afternoon, people are more scattered around the city now, or people are simply happy with the updates they're receiving from building management and the blogs. I just thought it was interesting how fewer people there were. Before the meeting, some of the folks organizing the tenant's association were handing out flyers, I'll post the contents of the flyer in a comment to this post. I also met Derek, the creator of the 90weststreet blog, and Stuart, who is a contributor and active commenter over there.

The meeting began as P---, the building manager, and a couple other building staff filed in while one resident was addressing a concern of his to the audience. We were later to discover that with them was representative of the Office of Emergency Management who has been working at the building since this began on Monday.

P--- began with a summary of the building status thus far, re-stating that the building should be ready by Tuesday. Here are the highlights:

• Gas service has been re-certified and reconnected to the building, and every apartment will be reconnected by the end of today. This means that if anyone is returning to their apartments to gather things, it is incredibly important not to turn on anything that uses the gas. Ovens and dryers should not be turned on, as this will release the gas into the apartment which could cause problems once the electricity comes back on.
• ConEd has brought in another generator to make sure the building is heated now that the temperature is dropping. There continues to be an elevator in use, and lights on in the hallways.
• Management has bought new pumps for the water system, and will be testing the water for potability. While the testing will be happening within the next couple of days, the resulting report will not be available until Wednesday.
• A large industrial cleaning company has been hired to thoroughly clean every surface of the flooded areas. All doors down there will be replaced, and all surfaces repainted. They are also looking into adding dehumidification and air purification to alleviate the sulfur odor that sometimes creeps in.
• All carpets throughout the building will be cleaned, although this is most likely going to happen after residents move back in.
• The same engineering firm that restored the building in 2003 has finished its structural report, finding no structural damage. This report will be available to residents on the website.
• The one utility that may not be fully restored by Tuesday is the phone service. This may take more time to reinstate.

P--- said that ConEd will be powering up the building starting today, and will be running tests tomorrow and Monday. Management will send an update out when the building is ready, leaving enough notice for those in hotels to settle their checkout times, etc.

P--- then took questions about the building situation, which really didn't bring any new information out, with one small exception. Because the Port Authority had no representative there this time, P--- talked briefly about the leverage this situation may give us in dealing with future problems with the Port Authority. Notably, this may help us reduce the noise that has grown louder and longer at the WTC site. P--- mentioned speaking with a reporter from WNYC about our building, and that reporter spoke directly to the Governor of New York about the situation between 90 West and the Port Authority. It will be interesting to see if this amounts to anything.

Speaking of the PA, P--- then read a statement from the PA that he had received only minutes prior to the meeting. This statement was essentially a lump sum settlement offer from the PA to the residents. They are willing to offer $750 per apartment per day we are not in the building. If we do move back in on Tuesday, this comes out to $6,000 per apartment (for a total of $2.46 million). This number is based on the PA's estimate of out-of-pocket costs. Anyone with costs more than this amount is welcome to bring receipts to the PA Claims Office at the Ritz Carlton. Of course, there are many details missing from this offer at the moment, but P--- assured us that building management would formalize it and present it to the residents as soon as they can. There were a few concerns about how long this would take, but residents, P---, and the OEM representative all said that they've had very positive experiences with the PA Claims Office thus far. A few more questions were fielded, but they mainly had to do with claims that residents wanted to make. The answer to all of these was to take it to the Claims Office.

Rent will not be charged for the days we're not in the building. Once everyone has moved in, management will sent out new bills that show this credit for December's rent.

At one point, the OEM representative spoke briefly in an effort to assure residents that everything would be worked out in a timely manner. He began by commending the efforts of the building management, and the residents cut him off with applause. The applause lasted a while.