Monday September 8, 2008, 5:05 am
Dislodged fireproofing took part of the blame for the collapse of the towers, according to federal investigators. The Building Managers and Owners Association says the drawing up of the safety measures, which include luminous, glow in the dark signage in stairwells in case of power failure, is a "knee-jerk" reaction: "“We put up buildings to make a profit. If the numbers don’t work, it won’t happen.”

But, a supporter of the stiffer code even admitted that the collapse of the towers was "a singular event,"

My take? The resistance is fueled first by the bottom line, but secondly, because I believe a lot of knowledgeable construction industry people know that there was something fishy about the fact - and the way - the towers fell.

Still and all, improved safety materials and signage can't be a bad thing. For the government's own General Services Agency to stand with for-profit building owners and managers against public safety measures is reprehensible.

Monday September 8, 2008, 5:25 am
Sounds like greed to me...

Monday September 8, 2008, 5:50 am
It's not a new thing at all! If you remember the movie "The Towering Inferno", the building codes (ignoring them/scrimping on materials, etc.) were to blame for more lives lost than was necessary. It was only a movie, but it is based on factual attitudes and poor business practices that harm the public...it's all about money, not safety and public welfare.

Monday September 8, 2008, 6:08 am
Interesting article Cathy . In Australia tonight they had a doco on the towers and what caused tower 7 to collapse. The fire fighters say fire , others say it was deliberate.

Thankyou for your post .

Monday September 8, 2008, 6:11 am
Truth be known most buildings aren't built very well, neither are our bridges that keep collapsing all around the country... I remember the Hyatt Regency disaster here in Kansas City over 25 years ago, when the walkways collapsed during a party. A lot of people were killed. It was a horrible disaster. People trapped underneath the rubble several levels high. I believe it was New Year's Eve.

Monday September 8, 2008, 6:12 am
Not sure how the collapse of three towers was a singular event. Heaven help us they can't even count...surely it was a triple event.

We know that frequently the high death toll in earthquake regions is blamed on poor building standards. Cutting corners costs lives.

But we learn nothing...we seem happy with ignorance, shoddy workmanship and cheapness to maximise profits...Ancient Rome was bedevilled by this problem until they put a few builders to death...Tacitus says that sorted the problem. That and the use of marble.

Monday September 8, 2008, 6:22 am
sounds like cost cutting and greed to me. How would they like to be in that stairwell when a fire breaks out.

Monday September 8, 2008, 6:32 am
It's greed.Thank you.

Monday September 8, 2008, 6:39 am
There comes a time when the cost over rides the benefits. I'm not saying this is the case here, but I have to agree with Regina, I honestly believe there are other things involved in the collapse of the towers other than the crash and the fire. Those of you who have read my missives here know I am not a conspiracy theorist by any means.

The people who build these structures are in it to make money. There are codes which are updated on a regular basis for commercial and residential buildings. Living here in Hurricane Central, we know how some of those changes can help, but we also know the costs involved.

The knee-jerk reactions are part of the problem. IF our country is going to defend and protect us, we needn't worry. Now to protect us from the government is the story.

Cost cutting is not necessarily greed. It's business. Short cuts, IE weak cement, bad steel, etc, is not cost cutting. It is illegal and makes the contractor liable. Let's not lose sight of that.

The last I checked, we are a capitalist nation, of business and industry. They have to draw a line somewhere. How much is a business going to pay in rents? They are the ones who will eventually pay for these improvements. That is what the developers are looking at. They have to remain competitive and yet safe.

Monday September 8, 2008, 7:20 am
Thanks for this imformative story, it spaeks the truth. Noted with thanks Cate.

Monday September 8, 2008, 8:24 am
THANKS, CATE.......

Monday September 8, 2008, 8:49 am
Thanks Cate. Nothing that man can build will last forever,but it does seem that his greed lives on.

Monday September 8, 2008, 10:34 am
Noted, thanks Cate.

The GSA(General Serivice Administration) is the same agency who paid $600.00 for a $5.50 screw driver, never asking the reason that a regualar screw driver cost so much money. They are no longer awarding government contracts to private developers, or who are involved with the Real Estate Industry as they used to be. I used to work for a private contractor who told me if I really wanted to make some serious money in the building trades was to bid on government contracts with the GSA. He told me that GSA rarley checked the validity of the price of a bid new construction or to renovate older builings. My boss told me that I could get as much as $35,000.00 for a job that would most likely cost around $6,000.00. Not bad I'd say, but the problem I had is that I didn't have the start up money needed to buy the equipment I would need to go into business for myself. But if I did I would have taken the que from my boss and did what he told me to do, and today I would be a very wealthy man. They say opportunity only knocks once, and if this is true then I blew my opportunity. I figure if I was menat to be wealthy I would be. Opportunities would have been available in any field I wanted to get involved with. But this is another story for another time.

Getting back to the twin towers and the reason they fell in the first place. I have yet to discover what had happened to the planes that allegedly hit the towers. Where did they go? Even on broadcast news footage on the morning of 9/11 never showed a tail of any plane protruding from where it hit any of the towers. Did they simply evaporate? I doubt they did.

The Bush administration hired a company to explain away the controversy regarding the fall of tower 7, which was four blocks away from the other towers that were allegedly hit by planes. They concluded at the end of their investigation that this was the only time in history that a building collapsed from a hydrocarbon fire. We have seen on the news cars that have been rigged with bombs explode and immediately be engulfed in flames. My question is: What prevented these cars from melting from a hydrocarbon fire? Why do we see the steal shell of the vehicle after the fire has been extinguished? Jet fuel is very similar to the gas we use in our vehicles. The only difference is the Octane rating. Jet fuel has a 105 Octane rating, while the highest Octane rating you can purchase for your private vehicle from Sunoco is 100 Octane. So Sunoco sells hydrocarbon fuel that is only a 5 Octane rating below jet fuel. I'm not sure if they sell still sell the 100 Octane gas at their stations anylonger. But whenever I wanted to clean out all the carbon in my older cars I would buy the 100 Octane gas and take my car out on the highway and go for it. I reached speeds in excess of 105 miles per hour for a short time, and believe me when I say that the 100 Octane did an excellent job at cleaning my cars engine.

There is no way a hydrocarbon fire can take down a building as large as the twin towers without help from another source. I have spoken to firemen who are very familiar with these types of fires, and they have disagreed with the official report, and espcially with the final report from the company that Bush hired to put to rest the rumors that tower 7 was brought down by a controlled demolition. There is no other explanation, and you can believe that whomever the Bush administration hired to do an independent investigation is going to give Bush the results he wants to hear. The investigation in itself is cause to be suspicious. If we believe that the twin towers fell because of a fire then we have been cruelly hoaxed into believing the official version of the story.

It is pure greed that the construction industry does not want to comply with the new safety standards that have been implemented. I find it very reprehensible that the GSA has sided with developers to fight the new safety standards. So what if it costs them more money in the long run, but I doubt they would lose tenants over a few dollars more for rent. They are just using this complaint as a reason not to comply with the new safety standards. They should not only be concerned with revenue, but also with safety for the occupants of their buildings who rent space to run their businesses from. Safety should always trump the dollar, but in this economy it doesn't.

Years ago during the days of Prodigy before the Internet became public there were chat rooms that were available to use to interact with other users. In one the chat rooms I ran into a man who was complaing about the alleged new American with Disability Act that Bush's daddy signed into law in 1991. He was complaining about how much it would cost him to put wheel chair ramps onto some of his buildings. I became very angry with what he was saying so I left him a message saying this: "Go to a medical supply store and rent a wheel chair. Then go to a town where no one knows you, and park your car where it wasn't obvious. Take the wheel chair out of your car, sit in it and then wheel yourself to a building that was not wheel chair accessible, and see how people will offer to help you get into the builiding. When you finish doing this, write me and tell me how you made out." I did not ever hear from this man who owned a construction company, nor did I ever see him in the group again. He left the group, and I tried to find him, but never could. He closed his account because of the challenge I offered him. I know he did not rent a wheel chair and do what I suggested, but I did embarass him enough to get him to think about what I had challenged him to do.

The wheel chair ramps were about money and how much it would cost him to have them installed because of the new laws that were passed. Every city and town must have curbs that are wheel chair accessible and so do public buildings. The same applies to the new safety laws that developers don't want to comply with because of the cost to implement, and comply with the law. They would rather sacrifice safety for a larger profit. I have proved this time and time again.

One of former in-laws is in the construction business. He builds apartment complexes and townhouses, and is extremely wealthy. I know he is at least a billionaire by now. Short story: One day when I was married to his neice we were invited to his multi million dollar home not far from where we live. In fact I live in one of the first apartment complexes he built years ago. Well anyway, while eating dinner he began to complain about a ten cent rise in price for a can of Cranberry Sauce. I was living from a disablity pension at the time, and still am to this day. It took great contraint from me not jump up and start screaming at him because of his complaint over a ten cent rise in price, that had no effect on him at all. He could well afford the lousy ten cents per can. While he was earning millions I was receiving $465.00 a month from SSD. That same ten cents affected me far more than it would ever affect him. I had to wait an entire year before I got a small increase in my SS benefits. While he made millions in a month. I will not ever forget how stingy this man is, and I will not ever forget how big business works. They are in it for as much money as they can make. They care less about safety regulations and complain when the housing codes are upgraded and they have to comply with the new codes or have their apartment units and townhouses condemned if they don't comply. My former in-law sold his share of the business and went into business for himself. His company is: The Joe Mullin's Comapany, however, he still receives his shares of the profits from the apartment complexes he sold. In fiscal year 2005 CMJ made $300 million in profits, and the property where I live looks like an inner city ghetto. I know how the building trades operate, as I have worked in the trade for most of my life. I know the ins and outs of the business, and I know just how cheap these people really are. If the company where I live were not threatened they would have not ever upgraded to the new safety codes. They were forced to do so, and they didn't like it.

I had a problem at one time with the legal department of CMJ and they threatened me. I took their letter of threat to the fire department, and gave it to the firechief. He told me there wasn't anything he could do about the parking conditions in the complex. I told him that he could. I told him that the ADA was in the complex measuring the parking spaces and making sure there were firelanes where no parking was allowed. As it turned out the ADA discovered that the parking spaces were illegal, and had to be done over. Handicapped parking spaces had to be made van-wheel chair accessable, and no parking signs had to be put up designating Firelane No Parking. It was me and the letter that the lawyers who threatened me to have me evicted for complaining about the conditions of the complex. I cost the company 100s of thousands of dollars, and CMJs lawyers never bothered me again. I took their letter and used it against them. Now that's what I call exercising your rights as a tenant.

We can all do the same with the GSA sending them e-mails, letters, and telephone calls to make their lives miserable if they support the developers over building safety. This is something we can do, and we have the power to do it. So I will be one of the first to send a letter of complaint to the GSA and blast them for siding with Big Business, and I hope you will do the same. As a rule there is usually an e-mail address for the person who wrote the article, so if all else fails you can send an e-mail to the person who reported this story in the New York Times....

Monday September 8, 2008, 11:59 am
The stricter building codes are a good
idea anyway, but to say "as a result of 9/11"?.
Please.
Never before in history has a fire collapsed a
steel-frame building, and then it happens three
times in one day?! WTF?!
I wish, if the government insists on lying to us,
that they would not insult our intelligence at
the same time.
Thanks, Cate.
noted.

Monday September 8, 2008, 12:08 pm
We can't be surprised by all this. Bush is doing everything he can think of for big business. Probably fears he can't get a job any place due to his failed presidency so he is creating favors to call in. However, he reminds me a lazy kid so it will probably a title with pay and not actual work as he has clearly shown he can not play well with others and has to have his own way or else

Monday September 8, 2008, 12:26 pm
Give me any building that is less than 5 stories, and I will be happy. Have had a good life so far because I have not been forced to live or work in one; I feel they are generally unsafe. Anyway, we all know it's about the money, right? Thanks for update, Cate, nothing like a government that cares about its people....

Monday September 8, 2008, 12:55 pm
Jet fuel, if I am correct is a combination of kerosene and gasoline. Kerosene comes from coal, and gas from crude. Neither one has the heat ability to take down steel building supports. The majority of people have no working knowledge of such things, and also don't believe that thermite was used. There was no one except the demolition crews in those buildings at night, free rein to set up the explosives. Baby Brother Bush was the Security head, so the Towers should fall on his head and then on his brother.

Monday September 8, 2008, 2:23 pm
Noted, thanks Cate. I watched a show on the ABC here in Australia last night regarding the Twin Towers and Tower 7, it gave both sides of the story regarding a conspiracy to bring these buildings down. May all those innocent people (including many Australians) who died R.I.P.

Truth and Justice must Prevail!
“The truth is great and shall prevail,
When none cares whether it prevails or not” – Coventry Patmore

Monday September 8, 2008, 2:45 pm
Black Tiger,
When the Twin Towers were built in the 60's,
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) signed off on
the quality of the structural steel.
After 9/11, they requested and recieved a piece
of the structural steel from Ground Zero, for
re-testing.
They began by testing the exact same fuel used
in the jets. UL could not get the fuel to burn
any hotter than 1800 F.
They tested the steel, and found that it began to
glow red-hot at 2500 F., it became "plastic" at
3000 F., and it melted at 4000 F.
Firefighters around the world have said that the smoke
coming from the Towers at the time of the collapse was
indicative of an oxygen-starved fire. There was no great
conflagration of flames going on inside the towers.
Controlled demolition.

Monday September 8, 2008, 3:03 pm
This I believe Tim it was a set up by the hands of our own goverment, The building code had nothing to do with that day on the twin towers or the other planes. They want us to think it was a terriost attact but i and others know who the real terriost is behind it all. It was a demolation that brought them down. Thanks Cate. The truth will be reveled.

Monday September 8, 2008, 3:04 pm
$100K reward says our government ran 9/11. I haven't updated the site for awhile and there are lots of evidence I still haven't included, but believers of the Government/Corporate media Big Lie can pick up an easy $100K (ha,ha) by starting here http://www.911Reward.org.

There are always ways to improve High rise safety, but unless you require buildings to be demolish proof from Thermite and other planted explosions, you will never prevent another 9/11.

However a full honest independent investigation of 9/11 would help! Also a free press that did not collaborate with and give a free pass to the real terrorists might discourage such incidents. A 100% public financed election system that focused on issues rather than personalities and where wealth & corporate money no longer controlled the candidates and the election system, would help keep the public from electing terrorists in the first place! A better education system that valued critical thinking rather than memorization of "correct" answers might produce a general public that might be able to look away from "reality" TV long enough to notice that in reality terrorists have seized our government and done so for many many years!.

Monday September 8, 2008, 3:14 pm
It is not even arguable that tower 7 was taken down. Old man millionaire Larry Silverstein said it was taken down.

From Larry Silverstein, WTC 7, and the 9/11 Demolition

Larry Silverstein, the controller of the destroyed WTC complex, stated plainly in a PBS documentary that he and the FDNY decided jointly to demolish WTC 7 late in the afternoon of 9/11. In the documentary "America Rebuilds", aired September 2002, Silverstein makes the following statement;

"I remember getting a call from the, er, fire department commander, telling me that they were not sure they were gonna be able to contain the fire, and I said, 'We've had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is pull it.' And they made that decision to pull and we watched the building collapse."

In the same program a cleanup worker referred to the demolition of WTC 6: "... we're getting ready to pull the building six."

There can be little doubt as to how the word "pull" is being used in this context.

Monday September 8, 2008, 3:42 pm
The towers fell because they blew them up? To regulate against that, you have to bring the culprits to justice, don't you?

Monday September 8, 2008, 3:55 pm
Sounds like greed to me. That almighty dollar yet again putting lives in danger. Thanks Cate.

Monday September 8, 2008, 3:57 pm
Wow. It's a sad day in this country when cost always outweighs improving safety standards.

Monday September 8, 2008, 5:14 pm
Money greases the palms of the corrupt.

Building safety should always be top priority whether for a homeowner or a high rise.

9/11 was an inside job!

I do not claim to know the reasons why the puppet masters would do such a dirty thing. However, it is nothing new.

Monday September 8, 2008, 5:48 pm
Wow, Cate, you can sure get people drummed up and commenting!

Ok, I just want people to be aware that corps./businesses all find a way to scrimp to say a penny here and there at the cost of our human safety. We once had a fire in my daughter's bedroom when a electic plug next to her bed sparked! We were so lucky her dog sleeps by her to alarm her. What was the cause? The builders had put in non-wired electric outlets rather than the safer (10-cents more) plugs in our house!! 10-cents that could have cost the life of a child! Know what's even worse about all this? Building code didn't specify that the builders must use the safer ones!

This can happen with all kinds of things - including your cars.

Monday September 8, 2008, 10:46 pm
It's greed.

Tuesday September 9, 2008, 2:09 am
LAST CALL FOR ILLICIT ACTIVITIES! THE GOP IS LEAVING THE WHITE HOUSE, SO IF YOU HAVE ANY LAST CALLS FOR BANK BAILOUTS, REDUCTION IN BUILDING CODES, NEED TO DESTROY ANY PROTECTED HABITATS, ETC., THIS IS YOUR LAST CALL.

They're all trying to get their dirty work done in these last few months. Haven't you noticed?

Thanks, my friend, for this info.

Mary

Tuesday September 9, 2008, 2:10 am
A(greed), current building codes and those in the past can be directly liked to greed.
Remember Hurricane Andrew in 1992? The number of homes which were destroyed because building contractors paid off Miami-Dade county inspectors? Allowing them to use inferior building practises. Granted, Andrew was a cat 5, however, homes built earlier in the century remained standing. I was there and saw the destruction of these newer built homes, but all of the older 'Fla.' homes were intact.

Tuesday September 9, 2008, 2:49 am
I HAVENT FORGOTTEN AND I WISH PEOPLE WOULD PULL THEIR HEADS OUT OF THE SAND. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE HUGE PLANE THAT SUPPOSEDLY HIT THE PENTAGON? I SEE THEY HAD THE NAMES OF PASSENGERS AND A CEREMONEY FOR THEM BUT WHAT ACTUALLY DEALING WITH PROFF DID THEY FIND? I NO THERE WAS NO PLANE LEFT .I FEEL SORRY FOR TH E FAMILIES WHO HAVE NEVER GOTTEN THE WHOLE TRUTH. I SEE ONE OF THE LAST SURVIVORS FROM THE TOWERS COMMITED SUICIDE THE OTHER DAY BUT WILLIAM RODRIQUES THE JANITOR THAT WORKED THERE FOR OVER 20 YRS. AND SAVED MANY PEOPLE IS STILL TELLING HIS STORY I BELEIVE ABOUT THE BOOMS BELOW THE 1ST FLOOR AND ALL THE BOOMS AND BANGS THAT HE SAYS WERE NOT AIRPLANE EXPLOSIONS I HAVE LISTENED TO HIM ON ALEX JONES MANY TIMES CHRIS

Tuesday September 9, 2008, 2:55 am
I FORGOT TO AD THAT SILVERSTIEN THE OWNER OF THE TOWERS AND BLDG 7 HAD TOOK OUT DOUBLE THE INS IN CASE OF A CATASTROPY NOT LONG AT ALL BEFORE THEY FELL. THERE WAS ASBESTOS IN THE TOWERS AND IT WAS GOING TO HAVE TO BE REMOVED TO KEEP THEM OPEN A VERY EXPENSIVE JOB. ALSO HOW MANY REMEMBER IN HIS INTERVIEW WHEN HE SAID" I TOLD UM TO PULL IT" TEXTBOOK LINGO FOR DEMOLITION WORK WITH EXPLOSIVES ON BLDG 7 . ONE DAY WE WILL LOOK BACK AND THE TRUTH WILL ROLL OUT IT ALWAYS DOES CHRIS

Tuesday September 9, 2008, 4:11 am
I doubt that day will ever be forgotten. And I for one would really like to know the truth, but I doubt that will ever happen.

Tuesday September 9, 2008, 4:17 am
Noted.

Tuesday September 9, 2008, 9:08 am
Cate -- How soon we forget -- seems to be a recurring theme for Georgie Boy and his agency
robots -- why not spend extra dough to make buildings safer? -- why not spend extra dough to further protect humvees to make our troops safer? -- why not spend extra dough
to build stronger levees to make coastal residents safer? -- why not pull our troops out of Iraq
and use the dough we save to rebuild/improve our infrastructure to make our citizens safer as well as the troops themselves and the Iraqi people? -- WHY NOT?

Tuesday September 9, 2008, 10:25 am
It all comes down to money. Tall buildings scare me. That's why I never go above the 4th or 5th floor at a hotel or other site if I don't have to. There should be accountability regarding the construction of buildings. I do believe there are many mysteries that won't be solved. We will never forget those who died on September 11. It is imprinted our minds.

Wednesday September 10, 2008, 11:14 am
Part of the same administration that wants to send more troops into war without equipment to fight it with, without health care for the troops, without pay for the troops, without the GI Bill...Greed, Greed, Greed. China will be marching in here to repossess us if this administration continues. That's where Greed will get these people.

Wednesday September 10, 2008, 2:10 pm
If we can't protect buildings higher than a fire truck can reach with water,they shouldn't be built.There are many buildings abandoned or falling down.RECYCLE BUILDINGS TOO!!!!JUST A THOUGHT ON COMMON SENSE.

Wednesday September 10, 2008, 2:31 pm
"The last I checked, we are a capitalist nation, of business and industry."

Yup, Patrick, and that is a big part of the problem. Greed has over-run common sense in business and good business practices/ethics. Because of the last 18 years (and especially these last 8) in this country of capitalism-gone-wild, I no longer trust ANY business or corporation. None. They are all in it to **** us, the consumer/customer/client/buyer/patient. Caveat Emptor ought to be emblazoned on everything sold in this country and over every office doorway now.

I have nothing against modest (operative word here) profit made by anyone. I do have something against individuals, companies and corporations that care solely for their bottom lines and screw the people.

As for high-rise buildings. Spending a little more to insure that occupants are safe should be a priority, not their bottom lines. So they'll only make 5 million instead of 15, that is still a profit and not so obscene.

Saturday September 13, 2008, 1:09 am
Read the comments on here by Tim Redfern folks, short, sweet, and to the point... and true!