When the World Trade Center is at all involved in discussion, security almost always becomes the center of the conversation.
After two successful attacks on the World Trade Center, no one wants to sign off on security measures that have the potential of being breached in the future, according to a recent New York Times article.
As a result, barriers, gates, fences, and checkpoints will surround the new structure-despite the objections of locals.
A group of Lower Manhattan residents is taking a stand against what they call “fortresslike” security measures by suing the New York Police Department. They claim the security plan for the new World Trade Center will leave the complex in “fortresslike isolation” and the
surrounding area “as impervious to traffic as the Berlin Wall.”
NYPD plans to close streets in and around the trade center to normal through traffic. To enter the zone, vehicles must be screened-some even subject to search. Only vehicles having demonstrable business at the World Trade Center or previously deemed trustworthy will have access.
Drivers that currently pass through the area on a regular basis will be able to enroll in a “Trusted Access Program.”
The 12 residents and one shop owner in the suit, set to file under the name of WTC Neighborhood Alliance, that the plan is “flawed by faulty analysis and its rejection of alternative measures.”
In response to the impending lawsuit, NYPD has issued a statement:
“Car and truck bombs pose very real and serious risks. Indeed, the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center was a truck bomb, and the security plan guards against vehicle bombs by screening automobiles.”
If you have questions about this lawsuit, feel free to contact my office. As an experienced New York attorney, I am happy to discuss the potential options and outcomes of the case.