August 02, 2004

One of the latest specific sites of terror warnings was structurally flawed when it was built. What with all the new (and rather specific) terror alerts in the last 24-48 hours, my memory was jogged. The Citigroup center, which stands about 4 blocks north of me, was a subject of some conversation back around 1998 or so. It seems that back when they built it in the 70's, there was a flaw that went unnoticed during design, permit and construction phases. The building was completed in 1977, and in 1978, the chief designer (William LeMessurier), discovered that the "skyscraper's bolted joints were too weak to withstand 70-mph wind gusts." Hmmmm... more inside