Remembering the WTC…
In the fall of 2000, Merritt & Harris, Inc. (“M&H”) was retained by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (the “PA”) to perform a complete property condition assessment of New York’s World Trade Center (the “WTC”). The result was the publication of a lengthy and voluminous report which was presented by the PA to the firms that were then bidding on the proposed leasing of the WTC. Because of their intimate knowledge of WTC and the relationships with many PA employees developed during the evaluation, M&H staff members were particularly touched by the tragedy of 9/11. The following is an excerpt from the Merritt & Harris, Inc. newsletter, Observations, Spring 2002 issue, which focuses on the actions of two M&H staff members (both are still important members of the firm).
M&H Heroes
Joe Marciano, PE, of our Mechanical Engineering Group, spent September 12, 2001, at ground-zero directing fire fighters and rescue workers to airshafts and little-known hatchways. Marciano had spent many hours from September to December of the previous year exploring the complex as a member of Merritt & Harris’ assessment team. During the course of the day, Joe realized that firm was in possession of diagrams and plans for the complex that might be extremely helpful, as the originals were lost in the collapse. He called back to our office and Bill Doody, our CFO, gathered the documents and proceeded to deliver them to the ground-zero command center. Both of these men took on considerable personal risk, and we are proud of their selfless actions.