"Who is John Galt?"

This is a phrase I'm hearing a lot these days--and not because I've ever read Ayn Rand's book. (Though it is on my list.) I've walked by the name John Galt every day on my way to and from work. Perhaps if I had read the novel it would have caught my eye, but instead I, like most everyone else, walked right by it without a second, third, or forty-sixth glance.

The name John Galt appears on a sign outside the building next door to mine. The building that is not currently being taken down, as there is a stop-work order pending the investigation of the fire last Saturday. John Galt appears just below and to the right of the name Bovis. Now that name I do recognize. It is, after all, nearly twice the size of John Galt's name on the sign. When the building was scheduled to be taken down, the contract was finally awarded to Bovis Lend Lease, who then sub-contracted John Galt to do the actual demolition.

But who is John Galt?

We'd like to believe he's a visionary engineer and inventor, as in Rand's novel. The savior of mankind. Rather, it turns out that the deeper meaning of the question in the context of the everyman's helplessness in Rand's book is more correct--"Don't ask important questions, because we don't have answers."

There aren’t a whole lot of records, public or private, that explain who John Galt is. There is no record of employees, no record of clients, no record of past projects, or even current projects. In fact, it seems that the only reason to believe that John Galt is even a real firm is that it appears, just below Bovis, on the sign outside of 130 Liberty St.

As the investigations into what went wrong with the fire on Saturday continue, more and more damning details are emerging. The standpipe that failed to bring water up to the floors that were burning? Disconnected in the basement. The fire-resistant plywood (wood?) that was supposed to seal off the floors from each other? Burned quickly and efficiently, spreading the fire to nearly ten floors. John Galt, the firm doing the work?

Not exactly.

In reality, the workers doing the work, the experts, and the managers are all from the Regional Scaffolding and Hoisting Company, which even shares its address with John Galt. The Regional Scaffolding and Hoisting Company has never demolished a skyscraper before, as their name might suggest. The executives running the show are from the Safeway Environmental Corporation, which was already removed from a 130 Liberty St. contract because of questions about its integrity. John Galt is a facade, behind which these less qualified and less honest companies hide. And just in case you were wondering, Safeway lost its earlier contract on the building because it was hiding information that one of its owners was a convicted Gambino family associate. Oops.

But, with a 41-story skyscraper, years vacant since it was damaged beyond repair and filled with toxic chemicals, dust, and mold, no one else wanted the job of taking it down. There were a few contractors bidding for it, but all but one were eliminated for various reasons. When it came down to it, it was Bovis with the contract, and only the mysterious John Galt actually asking to do the work.

Now as the city wades through the mire of under the table agreements, failed inspections, and hidden information, the building is once again sitting and waiting for its end.

Read more here.