Q&A
Discussion on 9/11 aftermath and FOIL requests for related documents
4:21:05
·
5 min
Council Member Gale A. Brewer questions Randy Mastro about the aftermath of 9/11, including health issues for workers and residents, and a FOIL request for documents related to the city's knowledge of hazards during that period. Mastro commits to reviewing the issue if appointed as Corporation Counsel.
- Brewer highlights the ongoing health issues faced by 9/11 survivors and workers
- Discussion of a FOIL request for a memo about potential liability claims related to 9/11
- Mastro commits to reviewing the issue and doing 'the right thing' if appointed
Gale A. Brewer
4:21:05
Thank you.
4:21:06
I'm gonna ask a longer question and then some short ones about 911.
4:21:12
The aftermath, as you know, of the 911 attacks has affected thousands of people, workers, and students who were there ground 0, that fateful day, and many of the mistakes of that period have come home to roost, and we know why because so many more people have died.
4:21:27
There have been a Whitman then had an EPA in addition and the Bush administration and the Giuliani administration claim the air was safe to breathe when it was not, as we all know.
4:21:38
At least partially as a result, as of today, more people have died in the year since he attacked and died on the day itself.
4:21:46
From all of the respiratory issues, cancer, and other fatal diseases.
4:21:51
And I think I'm particularly concerned about this and was responsible with Governor Cuomo for getting the extra memorial for these individuals.
4:22:00
To her equipment credit governor Whitman has since apologized for her statement.
4:22:05
I don't know of any similar apology from mayor Giuliani.
4:22:10
The remaining residents and survivors of the attacks are interested deeply in what the city knew about the hazards of that period and when they knew it.
4:22:20
Nadler, Maloney, and Mel Goldman, all members of congress have pressed the issue since those early days, but they've been rebuffed.
4:22:28
And now more than 2 days 2 decades later as we're approaching the 23rd anniversary of the attacks.
4:22:37
A group, as you may well know, 911 Health Watch.
4:22:42
Has filed an f freedom of information foil requesting among other documents a copy of a memo to then deputy mayor Robert Harding from his assistant in early October set saying that the city faced as many as 10,000 liability claims connected to 911, including toxic tort cases that might arise in the next few decades, which, of course, has come to bear.
4:23:11
Come to bear.
4:23:13
The Adams administration has thus far refused to release the memo.
4:23:18
The law department, which you seek to head up says that potential liability prevents release of the memo and in response to the foil.
4:23:27
The DEP and emergency management officers respond saying they actually have no relevant documents from that period.
4:23:35
We don't believe them.
4:23:37
And now there's an article 78 lawsuit through 911 healthwatts against the administration seeking to overturn that for old denial.
4:23:46
I realize that you can't comment at any current litigation and I'm not asking you to.
4:23:51
But I do want to list the reasons to deny a foil request, and I don't think any of them that I will list quickly fall under denial.
4:24:01
So you obviously have those exempt from disclosure by state or federal statute, those which if disclosed would constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy, those which if disclosed would impair contract awards or collective bargaining, negotiations, those containing trade secrets, not the case.
4:24:21
Those compiled for law enforcement purposes, those which if the schools would endanger life or safety, those containing examination questions are answers, interagency or interagency materials, which are neither statistical nor factual, those which, if disclosed, would jeopardize the security of an agency's computer technology, traffic control signal photographs.
4:24:47
Not of the above.
4:24:48
So my question to you, based on that list, to any of those statutory reasons, to your practice, attorneys, I encompass using potential liability as a reason for denial of a foil request.
4:25:02
And I think you can't understand why families of those who volunteer to find victims' remains at ground 0, only later to die, might want to understand what those in charge, what those in government actually knew about the working conditions and living conditions in around the pit of ground 0.
4:25:22
And I think you know this is a very, very major issue.
Randy Mastro
4:25:28
I really appreciate the question.
4:25:32
And it's true that I can't, and it wouldn't be responsible of me to opine on issues that are in active litigation But if I'm fortunate to have this position, I commit to you counselwoman that I will review that issue and thoroughly assess it, and do what I think is the right thing to do regardless of where the city has been right now.
4:26:01
9:11, I was not in the administration on 9:11, but so many friends died that day.
4:26:12
And for me, what's happened to so many New Yorkers since what happened to my friend Rudy Washington who will be here, who was down there every day for a month and suffered, suffered near fatal health consequences that the Bloomberg administration refused to acknowledge.
Gale A. Brewer
4:26:35
Well, Soles Adams,
Randy Mastro
4:26:36
I I I'm just trying to explain to you how this is personal.
4:26:42
And we had to go public with his issues to get the Bloomberg Administration at a point in which he unemployed to give him the health care for that exposure when he was deputy mayor.
4:26:54
So it's personal to me to look into this issue, and I commit to you that it will be highest priority if I'm fortunate enough to have this position.