I always thought the Citigroup building was underrated, still hold true to it, I hope someone gives it some damn attention. I rarely here it mentioned on the forums when a discussion about NYC is taking place. Nothing better happen to it!

ABC News

Targeted Firms Say It's Business As Usual
Companies Identified As Terror Targets Say They're Working to Secure Buildings, Will Open Monday

http://a.abcnews.com/images/autowirestory/AP/NYLL10408012221.jpeg

NEW YORK Aug. 1, 2004 — The New York Stock Exchange made plans to have the mayor ring the opening bell and Citigroup Inc. told workers at its landmark skyscraper extra steps were taken to try to protect them from any terrorist attack.

Each of the workplaces identified as terrorist targets Sunday said they planned to conduct business as usual Monday despite a heightened alert.

Federal officials said the newest terror threats involve three New York-area organizations and two in Washington: Citigroup, the New York Stock Exchange, Prudential Financial Inc., the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Citigroup sent employees an e-mail telling them its security department is taking new, unspecified measures and is making "every effort to ensure your safety at all times and particularly in light of recent reports of possible threats and the upcoming Republican National Convention in New York City." The threat was posted for Citigroup properties in the New York area.

The New York Stock Exchange, one of the cited targets, said Monday would bring a regular trading session, with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ringing the opening bell "as symbol of his ongoing support," exchange CEO John Thain said in a statement.

"The safety of our employees, members, and everyone who works in the NYSE facilities is our No. 1 priority and is of the utmost importance to us," said Thain, adding that he had spoken with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Bloomberg. "Please be reassured that we remain vigilant and will keep you updated."

Wall Street, and a second street facing the exchange, have been closed to vehicle traffic since the 2001 terror attacks. The NYSE has said it can operate without its famous trading floor, thanks to a contingency floor in the city and a network of backup computer systems that could handle trades.

Prudential also expected employees of its Newark, N.J., headquarters to report for work as usual on Monday, spokesman Robert DeFillippo said.

Bloomberg echoed that sentiment, outlining a new anti-terror police squad that was posted at the Citigroup Center and other sites around the city.

"You should go about your business," the mayor said sternly.

DeFillippo said the company has been working closely with law enforcement and had increased its security before the threat.

"We had already put into place additional safety precautions. We've now increased that so that we can help ensure the safety of our customers and our employees based on this new information," DeFillippo said.

He declined to offer any specific security details.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly met with the security directors of 13 major financial institutions Sunday evening to discuss the intelligence reports about New York targets and to review police and private security measures in response to the intelligence. Police officials from the department's counterterrorism bureau and intelligence division also participated.

The 13 institutions are: Morgan Stanley Inc., the Nasdaq Stock Market, the American Stock Exchange, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Bear Stearns Cos. Inc., Wachovia Corp., American International Group Inc., Citigroup, MetLife Inc., JP Morgan Chase and Co., and the New York Stock Exchange.

Citigroup told workers to call its security department for further questions. But answers were hard to come by Sunday.

"Everything's up in the air," said Kyle Sciulli, a Citigroup security officer. —

I Hate Terrorists!!! Leave Us Alone!!!

at least leave the good looking buildings alone, and just blow up the ugly ones, but of course first they should get a license and a permit to destroy it. :D

Damn, the intel must have been pretty detailed for them to start spouting off specific buildings like that...

Let's hope nothing happens to our beautiful Citigroup...

at least leave the good looking buildings alone, and just blow up the ugly ones, but of course first they should get a license and a permit to destroy it. :D

What a stupid, childish think to say. Not humorous at all.

It's all political bullshit, all those terror warnings.
Can’t you Americans see what your government trying to do?

Every time the Democrats have a good week, immediately the Bush-government will warn the country about a possible attack. Just to make people afraid, because the polls show that terrified people vote Bush.

Haven't you recognized this pattern? It's so obvious. Every time, just look at when Kerry came out with Edwards as his running mate. Democrats a good week, and in the weekend came the report of a possible delay of the elections because of a possible terrorist attack.

But I do understand. You don’t know nothing about freedom of speech, all though it is written in your constitution. Still now one can say what they really want. Because, a democracy is missing and so is self reflection. I’m telling ya, all those big stations like Fox, you people get to see a quarter of what is really happening in the world. Free yourself from that censor.


Haven't you recognised this pattern? It's so obvious. Everytime, just look at when Kerry came out with Edwards as his running mate. Democrats a good week, and in the weekend came the report of a possible delay of the elections because of a possible terrorist attack.

NOOOOOOOO NOT CITICORP!

its one of my favourite scrapers :rant:

I'm glad we're informed of a specific threat this time instead of a general, vague warning.

It's all political bullshit, all those terror warnings.
Can’t you Americans see what your government trying to do?

Every time the Democrats have a good week, immediately the Bush-government will warn the country about a possible attack. Just to make people afraid, because the polls show that terrified people vote Bush.

Haven't you recognized this pattern? It's so obvious. Every time, just look at when Kerry came out with Edwards as his running mate. Democrats a good week, and in the weekend came the report of a possible delay of the elections because of a possible terrorist attack.

But I do understand. You don’t know nothing about freedom of speech, all though it is written in your constitution. Still now one can say what they really want. Because, a democracy is missing and so is self reflection. I’m telling ya, all those big stations like Fox, you people get to see a quarter of what is really happening in the world. Free yourself from that censor.


Haven't you recognised this pattern? It's so obvious. Everytime, just look at when Kerry came out with Edwards as his running mate. Democrats a good week, and in the weekend came the report of a possible delay of the elections because of a possible terrorist attack.

You should at least get your research done before making statements like that. It actually turns out that this is a result of a raid by our (Pakistani) forces, in a city about 45 kms out of our capital. Well they managed to capture one of the ringleaders of the 1998 US embassy Bombing in east africa. Hes obviously a key member of Al Qaeda, Pakistani intelligence agents then appeared to have found plans on this guys hardrive and emails about specific attacks against US and UK targets. They were probably what resulted in this terror warning elevation. Pakistani TV is currently showing more detail about this story, but here is an article from yahoo news about this.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=516&ncid=731&e=1&u=/ap/20040802/ap_on_re_as/pakistan_al_qaida

I think it's going to happen, and it's going to be bad. How could terrorists NOT want to disrupt the upcoming election?

It's interesting that Citigroup was mentioned as a target... I wonder if it's because of the building's unconventional base? I've never been too big of a Citigroup fan, but I would hate to see such an unusual building go.

As for the post about these terror warnings being a republican ploy: At this point I'm more fed up at all these conspiracy theorists that I am at the government itself. I'm getting to the point where I almost wish those nutty theories were true, because we may need a "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy to take over the world" in order to stay alive! Terrorists are real, and they would take over the world if given the slightest chance.

of course the ists want our country to suffer hell. i believe in warnings if they are specific enough, but if they only issue vague warnings like "oh, we are probably gonna be attack soon, be on the lookout for signs of activities." then it's not gonna help at all. all that it's gonna do is to create fear. and it does create speculation that it's all made up crap.

yeah, citigroup's base sure make it attractive to ists. i bet they are thinking that blowing up one of the bases will cause the building to collapse onto another skyscraper and create . i would not like it at all if the building has to go, it contributed so much to the midtown with its roof. oh what the heck, no attacks are cool in any way, they all suck, especially when ppl die...

This just makes ME want to kill every mutherfuckin terrorist alive. :gunz: And I'm normally a peaceful guy! Wasn't the Prudential Building in Newark also a target? This shows how big of scumbags these terrorists are, attacking Northern Jersey, how low can you get?????? ;) We NEED a right-wing conspiracy (similar to the one I'm in ;) ) to get rid of the mofo's. Citigroup would be a perfect target, blow up a part of the base and the whole block goes.

HasanB: do you want a green card or something?

And the rest: you americans need to get freed from your dictators. money is becoming a weapon of massdestruction in your country. Please save your selfs, or we have to do it. And that we would with the tactic of shock and awe.

but what am i talking, you guys have been so much indoctrinated. unsavable.

The EU save the US, sorry, if we can't help ourselves, you guys can't help us. Don't be so sure that you guys are out of the woods with terrorism.....You're ultra-liberalism has let so many arabs into your countries unchecked,(mabye things have changed, maybe not) nothing against arabs (I actually have a few friends from Pakistan that live on my block), but how do you know if some are families and some are extremists that want to blow up your country? You don't! And don't think that USA is the only target;extremists hate all Western Culture. Now don't think I'm brainwashed as a conservative, I live in NYS, one of the most liberal states in the nation, and for most of my life I was a liberal too!! But I converted when I thought when Saddam was captured "oh shit, this is good for Bush" and then I was like "wohhhhh did I just think that?" Went to confession, got my life straightened out!!
Became a conservative (not a Republican, I am an independent)

No hard feelings mate, hope all these terrorists burn in hell! :cheers:

They are targeting the Citigroup building (and possibly other Citigroup buildings) because it is a major financial institution. Look at the Prudential building in Newark and the buildings in Washington... they aren't exactly landmarks or anything. They are trying to ruin our economy, kill people, and affect the elections. Little do they know that knocking down some buildings will not ruin the economy. Plus, they think they can change the votes (do they not realize that a lot of Americans do not like Bush?), but their stupid plan could backfire on them, and everyone could vote for Bush just to piss them off.

I hope Morgan Stanley doesn't become a specific target, my aunt works for them. Most of my family either works near the Citigroup building or near the Stock Exchange so I hope they figure this out and stop it in time.

Images from the papers...

NY Daily News:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/137-FRONT_BIG.jpg

http://www.nydailynews.com/images/heads/head0802.jpg

Newsday:

http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2004-08/13656660.jpg

http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2004-08/13662287.jpg
People wait in line to pass through security checkpoints on their way to work at the Citigroup Center buildiing amid new terrorist threats.

http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2004-08/13661355.jpg
An officer with the New York Police Department's Emergency Service Unit stands guard outside the Citigroup Center building in Manhattan.

http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2004-08/13661272.jpg
A New York City police officer stands guard outside the Citigroup Building August 1, 2004 in New York City.

http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2004-08/13654484.jpg
Hercules CAT (Couunter Assault Team) from the Emergency Service Unit members Dets. Mike Reynolds, Rob Honeyman, and Vince Papasodero guard the CitiCorp building Lexington Ave. and 53rd St., Manhattan.

http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2004-08/13654513.jpg
A heavily armed police officer from the Hercules Unit patrols the perimeter of the Citicorp Building in New York, after federal authorities warned of a possible terrorist attack.

HasanB: do you want a green card or something?

And the rest: you americans need to get freed from your dictators. money is becoming a weapon of massdestruction in your country. Please save your selfs, or we have to do it. And that we would with the tactic of shock and awe.

but what am i talking, you guys have been so much indoctrinated. unsavable.

erm no i dont awais, i was merely stating the facts. Your psychotic rhetoric on the other hand pisses me off, it appears that youre the one whose been brainwashed by your extremist crap, its people like you who give our culture a bad name.

It's just so pointless. They don't seem to realize that we get stronger and more unified with each attack. The buildings would be rebuilt, bigger and better than before.

It's just so pointless. They don't seem to realize that we get stronger and more unified with each attack. The buildings would be rebuilt, bigger and better than before.

Thread over. :)

yeah, those lunatics just don't get it. how can they screw the election? all they can do is delay it. besides, all they gonna do is to cause us to turn to bush again (i'll stay with kerry, but those borderliners will turn the other way). if they really want to destroy us they gotta do it all at once. nipping at us bit by bit ain't gonna work.

targeting citigroup is just stupid, how's one building gonna affect the income of the economy? sigh, their extremist ideas are driving their minds stupid to the point where they can't even do basic logic any more. God save citigroup...

I suspect that this terror warning will bolster the Citigroup Center's already bona fide status as an exceptional work of architecture. Those who were generally unfamiliar with the building will probably come to appreciate it more now that it's been labeled a target, and they will start to see it as an enduring American symbol worth guarding. If there is any good to come of the warning (as far as the Citigroup Center is concerned), it might be that.

HasanB: do you want a green card or something?

And the rest: you americans need to get freed from your dictators. money is becoming a weapon of massdestruction in your country. Please save your selfs, or we have to do it. And that we would with the tactic of shock and awe.

but what am i talking, you guys have been so much indoctrinated. unsavable.

Hmmm.... "Save yourselves or we have to do it with shock and awe." Sounds like you're supporting the terrorists. It's foolish to listen to the arguments of somebody who wants to kill you, and the line between liberals and terrorists is getting blurrier. I was once a liberal. I did some research, and got so fed up with the attitudes of liberals like you, that right now I think I could consider myself conservative.

(That said, I'm not particularly fond of Bush. He's not a rocket scientist, and made numerous mistakes, diplomatically and in terms of military tactics, that will cost us in the long run. However, I don't know how much better Kerry would be.)


Re the quote about rebuilding:

Honestly, I don't think they'd rebuild Citigroup if it were destroyed. The Citigroup center, though a nice building, doesn't seem to be of any particular importance to the decision-makers, and it certainly has a smaller amount of support than the World Trade Center did.

However, I don't know what they'd build in it's place... They'd probably want to rebuild the office space, but anything built there would certainly loose the things that made Citigroup distinctive. Namely, the base.

As more skyscrapers go down, the likelihood of any of those buildings being rebuilt as it was will decrease.

the thing that is very very dangerous about citigroup is the support pillars at the base. If a truck bomb were to strike one, not only will the building collapse, but it send the building toppling to one side and possibly take out (or damage) many surrounding buildings.

yeah, i agree with u lucky 24. the building looks unstable, but recently they have reinforced the pillar that faces 53rd st so it won't buckle in case of an explosion. maybe they'll do the same (if they haven't yet) for the pillars that faces 54st st and lexington ave. it'll have to take a gigantic blast not reproduceable by a truck explosive to take it down.

If you try to take photos of the building now, will the guards come and take your camera away and detain you?

If you try to take photos of the building now, will the guards come and take your camera away and detain you?

Good question, but I'm not going near it yet to take pictures. They'll probably stop and question you, as it can be seen as suspicious behavior.

Im confused are we talking about CITICORP OR CITIGROUP as these are two very different buildings. Infact there is more than one citigroup tower in Nyc :?

Im confused are we talking about CITICORP OR CITIGROUP as these are two very different buildings. Infact there is more than one citigroup tower in Nyc :?

This one's known as the Citigroup Building (also Citigroup Center), here's the one we're talking about...

http://images1.fotopic.net/?iid=y3bdxg&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/500/24042004_0430Image0053.JPG

They wouldn't be going after this building because of the architecture. They would go after it because it is the headquarters of Citigroup, the largest financial company in the world, an as such, a symbol of America's financial might. It also doesn't hurt that one of Saudi Arabia's richest men owns 10% of Citigroup.

the architecture MAY have been one factor of the target. with the base resting on only for columns, it may fall on its side, damaging nearby buildings greatly

Jokingly the tower is being called the "safest office building in America" according to this NY POST excerpt...

Yup, Citigroup Center — one of the Al Qaeda targets and now half-jokingly called the "safest office building in America," thanks to the heaven-and-earth steps now being taken to protect the prism-topped skyscraper.

New piece talking about the history of the tower and the latest threats, interesting read...

MSN Slate

Citi-Cursed
The back story of al-Qaida's latest New York target.

http://img.slate.msn.com/media/1/123125/2079215/2093179/040803_CSM001621.jpg
Sound structure?

By Christopher Hawthorne
Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2004

Can a skyscraper be cursed?

That's the question that nervous Citigroup executives must be asking themselves this week after learning that their skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan has apparently been scouted by al-Qaida operatives as a possible target. After all, it was 26 years ago that the same building was the source of nearly a summer's worth of sleepless nights for officials at the company, then called Citicorp, after they found out that it was in danger of collapsing in a storm with high winds. At that point in New York's history, of course, the catastrophic effects of a skyscraper crashing to the ground could only be imagined, and the crisis produced a few jokes about the building falling onto Bloomingdale's.

The silver-colored 59-story tower, with its diagonally sloping top, was designed by the architect Hugh Stubbins in the mid-1970s. From the beginning, the Citicorp tower was unusual, if not exactly radical, structurally. Its site, at 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue, originally included an old church, St. Peter's; when Citicorp bought the plot it offered to rebuild the church in the same location, and to design the tower around it. To give the new church some breathing room, Stubbins and the structural engineers on the project hoisted their tower into the air above it. They connected the tower to the ground with nine-story-high columns, which are covered like the rest of the building in shimmery aluminum panels. (The columns are placed in the middle of each side of the building instead of at the corners.) The result is a skyscraper that looks like it's raised on stilts, hovering dramatically above the new St. Peter's and the pavement.

When the tower opened in 1977 as Citicorp Center, nobody had any reason to worry that Stubbins' solution had produced anything but a reliable piece of commercial architecture. But the following year an unusual sequence of events unfolded. First, the main structural engineer on the project, William J. LeMessurier (pronounced "Le Measure"), discovered that during construction some of the connections in the tower's wind braces had been bolted instead of welded. (Welding joints makes them stronger, but it also costs a lot more than bolting.) Then an engineering student in New Jersey whose professor had criticized the placement of the columns on the building called LeMessurier to ask a few questions for a research paper. The call prompted LeMessurier to go back and reassess his work on the tower.

After a long and involved series of calculations, he discovered, with dread, that the bolting and some other structural anomalies had combined to leave the building shockingly vulnerable to high winds hitting it at a 45-degree angle–vulnerable enough that a so-called 16-year storm (one, in other words, that could roughly be expected to arrive once every 16 years) might be enough to topple it. He took the news to Citicorp execs, who set about repairing the building as quickly as possible, with workers tearing apart office walls to reach the steel frame and welding the connections at night. As hurricane season neared, the company sent out press releases manufacturing benign reasons for the new construction, and a newspaper strike helped keep the real story out of print.

At least for a while. If these events sound familiar, it's because they were the subject of a long article in The New Yorker in 1995 by Joe Morgenstern—probably the only suspenseful magazine story ever written about structural engineering. Morgenstern, now the film critic for the Wall Street Journal, reportedly heard the cliffhanger about the skyscraper at a dinner party many years after the fact. His piece about the incident, "The Fifty-Nine-Story Crisis," painted LeMessurier as a kind of hero, the protagonist of a story about a professional and moral test. The story, Morgenstern wrote in the concluding paragraph, "speaks to the larger question of how professional people should behave." The article was for a while on everybody's lips. Paramount bought the movie rights.

If the recent news reports are to be believed, it was soon after the piece was published that al-Qaida began casing the building. Might its unusual history have made it more attractive to the terrorists as a target? It's tough to say.

On one hand, it does seem possible that al-Qaida picked the building because, in addition to its self-evident symbolic value, its gigantic exposed columns at street level make it appear highly vulnerable to a car or truck bomb. It's well known and hardly surprising that al-Qaida pays careful attention to the precise weaknesses of its architectural targets, from the American embassies in Africa that were bombed in 1998 to the World Trade Center towers themselves. On the other hand, you could also argue that the drastic fortification of the building's structure—if only against the wind—might have already been enough to give would-be attackers pause. If that's the case, then LeMessurier's willingness to own up and fix the tower's problems may have prevented more than just a meteorological disaster.

http://img.slate.msn.com/media/1/123125/2079215/2093179/040803_JS005183.jpg
Bright, shining ... target?

Interesting arcticle. Thank you for posting it.

All those people who are killed under Bush's undemocratic regime, they will be revenged. That's how the world goes.
For every american life bush has taken 12 others. And that is why poeple hate the us. Because they think they are worth more then any other living creature on this planet.
Like 5,5 billion people think: Your shit!

And @ HasanB: Whose culture? What ar you talking about? Am I giving Holland a bad name?

It depends Awais, here is what you said earlier: "Please save your selfs, or we have to do it. And that we would with the tactic of shock and awe." Now it all depends on what you mean by "we". With your screen name being Awais i presumed you were a muslim, if you are then by your comments you are giveing Islam a bad name. If you are not, then i am sure that any Dutch person on here may well agree that indeed you are giving Holland a bad name. In fact in my opinion, you are giving whoever you represent a bad name. Your comments are quite sad and immature.

All those people who are killed under Bush's undemocratic regime, they will be revenged. That's how the world goes.
For every american life bush has taken 12 others. And that is why poeple hate the us. Because they think they are worth more then any other living creature on this planet.
Like 5,5 billion people think: Your shit!

Bin Laden said something very similar.

Go ahead and keep ranting and raving... The things you say speak more about the sickness of your ideology than any response that anybody could give.

Now that this warning's been all over the news, I don't think anything's going to happen. The terrorists never attack when people are expecting them to, and they have all the time in the world to pick an optimum moment for carrying out their plans.

Yeah, Awais, you sound like a terrorist to me...you're reiterating everything Osama Bin Hidin' has been saying... :gunz:
Even though yesterday they caught 3 terrorists about 5 miles away from my house.... :D

NY1

More Details Emerge About Al Qaeda Attack Plans

AUGUST 09TH, 2004

More details have been revealed about Al Qaeda’s possible plans to attack financial institutions in New York City, New Jersey and Washington.

According to Time Magazine, computer files seized in Pakistan last month – which led, in part, to last week’s orange alert – show a plan to attack the Prudential building in Newark by driving a limousine packed with explosives into the building's parking garage.

The files also contain surveillance reports, some updated this year, of four other U.S. buildings. According to Time, Al Qaeda members felt the International Monetary Fund and World Bank headquarters in Washington were too difficult to reach because of heavy security.

But the surveillance reports also said that the Citigroup building in Midtown is held up by steel, load-bearing walls, making it vulnerable to collapse, the report said, like the World Trade Center. Al Qaeda members also labeled the New York Stock Exchange as "fragile,” Time says.

Time also reports that Pakistani intelligence found plans to use speedboats and divers to attack New York Harbor before November's elections. Using tourist helicopters is also mentioned.

I just think it's a shame how NYC has managed to be turned into such a sanitized, police state because of this nonsense. The poor city is under seige from too many sides...the municipal government that has bankrupted it...the terrorists....the Bush administration.






KGB

I really dont beleive these current terrorist threats. Apparently the american economy is at its lowest in a long time.. the government is just trying to increase the economy by issuing threats and telling the people to "spend their money as usual". its worked before, so thats why they are doing this.

What a stupid, childish think to say. Not humorous at all.
say what you want, I still think it was a good post.
If you didn't get it, it was meant that the only "terrorists" I allow are destruction companies.
Now if you didn't get that one, go...

If I were a terrorist, would I be talking about freedo, and the basics of democracy.
What a bullshit (I know, this is a word that they censor on yout tv and radio's, but in my country we can say it in all the freedom we have!

And @ HasanB: saying things like: 'you're so immature' doesn't do anything to me.

Don't forget people: Bush has killed more people in this world then Osama bin Laden has. So there isn't a bigger threat to mankind then Bush.

I hope things will change with Kerry.

Alright, I've been saving this one for a long time for the thread...

Right now concerning the thread topic, I don't give a shit about Bush, Osama, Kerry, Hussein or any of them. All I care about is the places being affected in the threat and that happens to be the Citigroup Center, one of the prominent buildings that shape up our skyline.

If the threat is fake, fine, but no one knows.

actually only Al-Quaeda does

NY1

Citigroup Center Shops Suffer Under Heightened Alert

http://www.ny1.com/Content/images/live/67/132163.JPG

AUGUST 17TH, 2004

The heightened terror alert has caused a major decline in business for the shops in the Citigroup Center in Midtown.

The building was one of five in the New York City area and Washington singled out in a recent terror warning based, in part, on Al Qaeda surveillance reports uncovered in Pakistan.

While the supposed target is the financial business in the tower, tight security has kept visitors out of the retail space and Citigroup’s atrium. And according to the New York Times, that has cost them a lot of businesses.

The paper cites several examples, including an upscale restaurant which closed for a week-and-a-half because business was so slow.

Executives from the building's management company told business owners at a meeting that they hoped to reopen the space to the public within days, but they wouldn't offer any more specifics.

Newsday
August 20, 2004

Citigroup atrium reopens after alert

Associated Press

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-08/13906180.jpg
Morning commuters walk by the New York-based Citigroup Center on Lexington Avenue as tenants wait to pass through a security checkpoint line on Friday. Citigroup's atrium has reopened to the public for the first time since Aug. 1 when the government issed a 'high' level terror alert for specific financial buildings in New York, Washington and Northern New Jersey.

When Ann Hemlock heard Citigroup was reopening its public atrium Friday, she bought a newspaper and rushed to her usual spot in the indoor plaza in midtown Manhattan.

"It's my refuge," she said, taking a seat near her favorite cafe. "I've missed it."

She was one of a small number of people who returned to Citigroup Center's atrium, which was closed to the public Aug. 2 after a government warning that it was one of five financial institutions in New York, Newark, N.J., and Washington, D.C., at high risk of a terrorist attack.

Boston Properties, manager of Citigroup's 59-story tower, reopened the atrium's main entrance to the public at 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue at 7 a.m. after installing an X-ray machine to scan visitors' bags.

Police who have been posted around the building since the warnings remained on guard in reduced numbers as the public trickled in.

Store owners and managers inside the two-story atrium said they hoped the mall's reopening would improve sales in what has been an achingly slow month.

Dennis Liberatos, the owner of Market Cafe, said he depended largely on public traffic and suffered a 65 to 70 percent drop in business since the terror warnings.

"I had to go into my emergency money to pay the employees," Liberatos said. "We're not going to be able to survive like this." The huge street-level atrium is filled with tables and chairs and is ringed by stores and restaurants. Despite the reopening, most of those chairs sat empty Friday.

Federal authorities announced Aug. 1 they had learned that al-Qaida wanted to attack high-profile financial targets using a car or truck bomb.

Along with Citigroup Center, the federal government named the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank buildings in Washington, D.C., and the Prudential Financial Inc. building in Newark, N.J., as possible targets.

The next day, building managers closed the atrium to the public, leaving building employees sole access to the stores.

Robert E. Selsam, senior vice president of Boston Properties, said he was confident in Citigroup Center's security measures and optimistic the public would return to the atrium.

"I don't think New Yorkers will be afraid or intimidated," he said. "Our goal is to get the place back to normal in the next several weeks." Selsam said he planned to open an additional entrance to the atrium in the next few weeks.

Andreas Papandreou, part-owner of Cucina Gourmet, said he was worried he would have to lay off employees if the public stayed away.

"Hopefully people will come back," he said, his cafe nearly empty Friday morning.

Papandreou said his sales dropped nearly 80 percent during the 18-day period and he has had to assign his staff to work fewer shifts.

The atrium's two biggest stores, Barnes & Noble and City Sports, haven't been hit as hard because they have additional street-side doors.

Selsam said Boston Properties has decided to keep those stores' atrium-side entrances closed for now. He said he hoped to reopen their atrium-side entrances in the next few weeks.

At least one business closed for most of the duration of the atrium's closing.

Maria Sausa, owner of Verdict Supper Club, an upscale restaurant with seating for 75, said she filed an insurance claim for the loss of business, but worried she wouldn't be compensated since the building wasn't attacked.

"It's rough right now," she said as her sole lunchtime customer sat at the bar.

In recent weeks, "We opened one day and sold a cheeseburger," she said, expressing concern that an atmosphere of fear about terrorism in the city would continue to drive business away.

But Hemlock, who's been coming to the atrium for coffee and a roll for years, said she felt safe and was glad to be back. "They're very security-conscious here," she said. "It's very nice."

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

glad to hear the good news!

too bad i didn't have the opportunity to visit citigroup's atrium during last year's visit to nyc. but im definitely visiting there the next time i step into the city.

NY1

Three Men Charged With Targeting Financial Buildings

APRIL 12TH, 2005

Three men have been indicted on charges they targeted financial institutions in New York City and New Jersey for possible attack.

The men are already in custody in England, where they face related charges. They were arrested last year in a separate investigation.

The suspects, Dhiran Barot – an alleged senior figure in Al Qaeda – Nadeem Tarmohammed and Qaisar Shaffi, are charged with three conspiracy counts and providing material support to terrorists.

"The defendants are charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against persons within the United States,” said Deputy Attorney General James Comey, “with conspiracy to provide and conceal material support and resources to terrorists, with providing and concealing material support and resources to terrorist, and with conspiring to damage and destroy buildings used in foreign and Interstate commerce."

Investigators found evidence the three men had scouted the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup Building in New York, the Prudential Building in Newark and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, between August 2000 and April 2001.

Last summer, federal officials raised the terror alert level specifically at those institutions, citing evidence of surveillance by Al Qaeda.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Tuesday that he is happy with the work local and federal law enforcement officials are doing to protect the city.

“As you may recall, this plot was uncovered by the excellent work of a New York City police detective and his partner, an FBI agent working both in the United States and abroad, and I want to commend our federal partners for continuing to pursue any threats to New York City through the criminal justice system,” Kelly said.

Kelly added the indictments are important because it sends a message to terrorists that if they perform this type of surveillance, the city won't forget it. Kelly says even if the suspects are not put on trial here in the United States, their indictment is symbolic.

"I think it is important, both substantively and symbolically important, that you come here you do this type of surveillance, we are not going to forget," said Kelly.

Bloomberg agreed.

"The fact that the federal government continues to pursue those who threaten this country and threatened them in the past, is very good for going forward and making sure that any terrorist understands we will not walk away," Bloomberg said. "We
will hunt them down no matter how long it takes and no matter where they are."

One of the suspects is identified as a senior Al Qaeda member. Prosecutors say he scouted targets in the United States for Osama Bin Laden in the months before 9/11.

As for security in the city, officials say both the companies affected by last year's threat and the NYPD should not forget that they will always be a hot spot and their high level of security should reflect that.

U.S. prosecutors plan to seek all three men's extradition to the U.S. once their trial in England is over.

off with their heads!

HasanB: do you want a green card or something?

And the rest: you americans need to get freed from your dictators. money is becoming a weapon of massdestruction in your country. Please save your selfs, or we have to do it. And that we would with the tactic of shock and awe.

but what am i talking, you guys have been so much indoctrinated. unsavable.

Either you've been watching to Michael Moore too much or you're brainwashed yourself by the European media. The EU media tends to put America in a bad perspective with every move they make. And here is were the hate against america comes into play, almost every european bases their opinion on what is said about america in the media. But we tend forget what the United States has done for us; the US liberated us from the fucking Germans, the war in kosovo etc...

And the greater danger may as well be here in Europe. Like vlad says, we're letting in terrorist suspects unchecked. Here in Holland it's paradise for them, they can do almost anything here. We just let the suspects walk and dissapear. And when they strike, we question ourselves afterwards how this could have happend. We have to act harder against terrorism here in the EU. But it's getting better.

I have to agree with Vlad.