By
Editor-at-Large
Although a downtown high-rise building purchased by the City in 2016 as a new space for over 1,000 staffers was closed down last year over asbestos exposure, a greater threat to people in the building could have been uncontrollable fires.
A lawsuit filed this week by a senior City staff engineer claims he warned his superiors about non-functioning heating, air conditioning, and fire systems in the 101 Ash Street building beginning in late 2018, more than a year before the City began moving up to 1,100 staffers into the building in January 2020, but his warnings and those of several outside vendors were ignored by City departments, putting staff and the public at risk.