Embattled officials in charge of the ill-fated Deutsche Bank building demolition job will have to explain why the project is beginning 2008 as it did 2007 – at a standstill.
Frustrated by the lack of action, the City Council will convene Jan. 10 for a hearing on the toxic tower and the stalled efforts to finally take it down.
Major decontamination and demolition at the Ground Zero eyesore has been halted since an Aug. 18 blaze killed two firefighters and exposed a litany of regulatory failures.
A self-imposed November deadline to resume work at the building – which is contaminated with World Trade Center dust, asbestos and toxic mold – passed without a peep from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the city-state agency in charge.
“We need to know what is happening,” said Councilman Alan Gerson. “The building needs to come down as quickly and as safely as possible. Safety first, but every day the building stands, it presents a hazard.”
Gerson said he expects to grill Avi Schick, chairman of the LMDC, and Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler over the lack of progress.
The Fire Department, which neglected to properly inspect the building, at 130 Liberty St., will also be on the hot seat over its role there.
But officials involved in the project have more 2008 worries than a council hearing. The families of the dead firefighters have filed lawsuits, and the Manhattan district attorney has opened a criminal investigation.
Meanwhile, no company has yet been selected to replace the John Galt Corp., a shell company that racked up a slew of serious safety violations in the few months it was on the job.
Its allegedly lax attitude toward safety and proper procedure were blamed in the tragedy that killed firefighters Robert Beddia, 53, and Joseph Graffagnino, 33.
The company’s workers improperly removed the building’s standpipe system, leaving the men without water to fight the fire, investigators say. It further allowed workers to smoke on the job, a serious violation that was the actual cause of the fire, according to investigators.
Nearly six months after the fire, Bovis Lend Lease, the main contractor, hasn’t picked a new subcontractor to do the actual work of removing the remaining 26 floors of the building.
Both the company and LMDC declined to comment.
Workers for Regional Scaffolding, a firm that retained its contract though it shares executives with John Galt, removed a section of the building hoist elevator Dec. 14.
The next day, Bovis Lend Lease had to restore the hoist. The Department of Buildings issued a violation because there is still a stop-work order on the site.
Then, on Dec. 17, the building was cited again after debris fell from a rooftop crane. No further details were released.
cbennett@nypost.com