A former manager at the 9/11 Memorial was fired for raising health and security concerns at the site, he said in a lawsuit filed yesterday.
As facilities director, Thomas Cancelliere alerted his bosses that the water in the fountains carried bacteria linked to Legionnaire’s disease, the exit gates were too narrow and there were no security checks at a public parking garage below the room where the memorial’s millions of visitors are screened, the suit said.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Cancelliere’s concern for the safety of visitors was not shared by his supervisors,” who told him the issues weren’t his responsibility or were being addressed, even though they weren’t, the suit said.
The 9/11 Memorial had no immediate response. The suit seeks unspecified damages under the state whistleblower-protection law.
Cancelliere, 67, was fired last month in what his bosses said was cost-cutting but he calls retaliation, according to the suit, filed in a Manhattan state court. No one else was axed at the time, it said.
The nonprofit memorial foundation spent $28 million last year and is ramping up to lay out $60 million a year once an accompanying museum opens, including about $12 million a year on security.
Through his lawyer, Cancelliere declined to be interviewed.