BOMA/NY Documentary Records Trials of Sept. 11's Everyday Heroes

NEW YORK CITY-A largely neglected aspect of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center has been brought to the forefront by the New York City chapter of the Building Owners and Managers Association International. The evacuation and recovery of the buildings that once circled the stricken towers is now the subject of a 73-minute documentary movie, hosted by Guardian Angels founder and president Curtis Sliwa

The movie, entitled “Everyday Heroes,” takes viewers through the morning of the attacks as seen from the building managers and engineers on such Downtown assets as One Liberty Plaza, the World Financial Center, 111/115 Broadway and 90 West St. It then recounts the still-ongoing task of clean-up and restoration of the buildings.

“Despite a tragedy beyond imagination,” Sliwa begins the documentary, “building employees across New York stood by their posts, risking their own lives to save the tenants in the towers above them–and those fleeing the World Trade Center. “While the police and firefighters fought to save the Twin Towers,” he continues, “the other buildings at Ground Zero—covered in burning jet fuel or smashed by airplane debris and flaming steel from the Twin Towers–the other buildings fought the battle on their own.”And not one employee left,” Sliwa points out. “Each fulfilled their responsibilities to the letter and beyond–porters, engineers, security officers, management–carrying water and administering first-aid under battlefield conditions, calming thousands of tenants and helping them to safety in blinding smoke, and then going back in to protect the very buildings themselves against further damage.”

In introducing the film to the BOMA luncheon crowd, president Vincent A. Fantauzzi (Insignia/ESG), stated that he was “never so proud of our industry,” as when he first saw the documentary, which was produced for $125,000 in a fast-track mode. The original idea was floated to BOMA board members in April, and funding–provided by members and non-members alike–started in June. The executive producers are members Ed Fallon of Brookfield Properties and Anthony Lifrieri, formerly with 111/115 Broadway Capital Properties.

According to a spokesperson for BOMA, the film will be made available to all of the group’s local organizations around the nation, and it is currently being shopped to national cable stations, some of which have expressed interest in the story.