AMERICA UNDER SIEGE -- Terrorist Attacks Cripple Printers
The worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in our country's history left more than 6,500 people missing and presumed dead, reduced a pair of 110-story skyscraper buildings to an unimaginable pile of twisted metal and human debris, and left many Americans feeling more vulnerable than they had ever thought possible.
The multi-pronged terrorist attack of September 11 was unfathomable: four airliner hijackings, two of which resulted in collisions with the World Trade Center towers in New York City and a third that left a large cavity in the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Fortunately, it appears passengers thwarted a fourth kamikaze mission aimed at Washington, forcing down the plane some 80 miles south of Pittsburgh.
It has been learned that a passenger on one of the planes was Doug Stone, co-owner of Odyssey Press, a book printing specialist in Dover, NH.
Source of Evil
President Bush and the U.S. government have identified Saudi national Osama bin Laden at the core of a loosely connected network of terrorist groups responsible for the acts. Bush has promised Americans that bin Laden and those responsible for the spread of terrorism will be brought to justice, a campaign many observers predict will take several years to accomplish.
The recovery process—physically, emotionally, psychologically and economically—will likely take months and years as opposed to days and weeks. New York area printers have found that just getting to work, let alone functioning on a quasi-normal basis, is an arduous task.
R.R. Donnelley & Sons' financial division is located at 75 Park Place, across the street from the No. 7 World Trade Center tower. Donnelley's building, which was evacuated after the second tower was struck, also suffered damage and forced the venerable printer to relocate its offices to 99 Park Ave., near Central Station, which is home to another Donnelley office. The company will return to 75 Park Place, pending an inspection of possible structural damage.
R.R. Donnelley Logistics is functioning, sans 50 ZIP codes in Manhattan that are currently out of service.
Tanagraphics, a 32-year veteran in the city, which realizes a great deal of its work from affected businesses, is located a mere two miles from the area dubbed "ground zero." According to David Jurist, president of Tanagraphics, the focus of the company is to "deal with the reality of what's happened."
One way that was accomplished was through a prayer session the company had on the Friday following the attack. Employees joined hands on the fifth floor and recited the names of people who were missing.
"Cousins, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, friends," Jurist related. "There were too many names. People were carrying pictures around (of the missing)."
More Important Issues
IGI Earth Color, located midtown at West 34th St., did not reveal the extent of possible damage to employees or property, but reported that business activity was not its immediate concern. "Business takes a back seat at a time like this," notes Carin Mifsud, vice president and marketing director. "We're concentrating on supporting those who may have been affected."
Sandy Alexander of Clifton, NJ, less than 10 miles from ground zero, felt the sadness expressed by the city and the rest of the nation. "Some relatives of our employees, including New York City firemen, are not accounted for," states Jonathan Fogel, senior vice president and director of marketing for Sandy Alexander.
"Who knows what effect this will have on us. We haven't been thinking about the bottom line, but any company who supports any of the businesses in the city is going to be somewhat affected. But the last week or so, it's been tough to concentrate on business."
Mike Graff, a senior executive vice president with Sandy Alexander, was in Chicago at the PRINT 01 show when the attacks occurred. A firefighter who is a lieutenant with the New City volunteer fire department in Rockland County, Graff rented a car and drove back with several co-workers to New Jersey the following day, wanting to do whatever he could to aid in the rescue mission.
"I couldn't get our guy to drive home fast enough," says Graff, who phoned and actually spoke with a friend in one of the World Trade Center towers after it was struck. "I also have several friends who work for the New York City fire department."
Graff wasn't allowed to help at ground zero, but he covered for a Manhattan unit that lost 14 of its men. He praised his fellow comrades who entered the towers without regard for their own safety in order to rescue others.
Sandy Alexander is just one of many companies attempting to pick up the pieces and move forward. How long that could take is anyone's guess.
"The employees have been holding up well," Fogel advises. "As each day passes, we try to get closer to what we need to do. I don't think we'll ever totally get back to normal."
"It Was Like Watching TV"
A generation of Americans will remember where they were on the fateful morning of September 11, 2001, a day in which hatred lay two glorious New York buildings in ruins and burned a swath into a Washington landmark, costing thousands of people their lives.
For Tim Plumer Jr., business development manager for ePaper solutions at Adobe Systems, the day began uneventfully. He had scheduled a meeting to showcase Adobe Acrobat for Viacom at 42nd and Broadway, and was preparing a visual presentation when someone entered the room and announced that one of the World Trade Center towers had been struck by an airplane.
"My first thought was that it was an accident, that a little airplane was involved," Plumer recalls, echoing the initial reaction of many Americans.
Plumer walked across the office to the other side of the building and watched, incredulously, as a second explosion rocked the other tower.
"I still didn't think much of it until someone yelled, 'There's another plane,' " he says. "It was like watching TV, watching a movie. The explosions just kept getting bigger. I thought maybe a helicopter had gotten too close.
While the building Plumer was in was roughly five miles away from the World Trade Center, beautiful blue skies provided a crisp, clear view of the horror. He returned to the conference room to digest what he had witnessed.
"My initial reaction was to get away from the window, go away and process it," he says. "About 10 minutes after I had witnessed it, when I got back to the conference room, my stomach turned.
"There was a lot of chin rubbing when people realized what was happening."
It became clear to Plumer that talking about Acrobat or anything work related would be inappropriate. The meeting was quickly adjourned.
"For the next few minutes, the attitude was, 'Let's get the hell out of here,' " Plumer relates. "We were on the 51st floor, and it was one long elevator ride down."
Plumer eventually made it back to his hotel, where he used e-mail to establish contact with the world outside New York, as telephone and cell phone communications were unavailable. He watched the day's tragic events continue to unfold on television.
"Watching it only made me more sick, angry and lonely," Plumer adds.
Miraculously for Plumer, he was able to purchase a train ticket to Boston the next day at a self-serve machine at the train station, avoiding the lengthy lines. Upon arriving in Boston, he grabbed a bus and headed home to Gorham, ME, located west of Portland.
"Two things that struck me were, for one, how horrible the experience was and secondly, I feel a strange sort of bond with New York," Plumer notes. "Someone put it best; we're all New Yorkers, now."
AGC Helps NYC Printers
The affects felt by Manhattan-area printers, as well as metro area companies, following the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers was, to say the least, devastating.
According to Vicki Keenan, vice president of public affairs for the Association of Graphic Communications (AGC)—the PIA affiliate representing New York City and northern New Jersey—upwards of 30 area printers have been greatly affected in the aftermath of the attacks. Those most impacted are located on Canal Street, as well as the Hudson/Varick areas, and those based near the foot of the Holland Tunnel. She noted, at presstime, that the AGC hasn't been able to contact a few printers on West Street.
Communication is the biggest problem. Many companies within a close proximity of the World Trade Center area, which has been dubbed ground zero, were not able to return to their buildings until Monday, September 17. Telephone service has, not surprisingly, been spotty, especially with the volume of phone traffic being experienced by those circuits that were functioning.
"We've talked to a lot of members over the past few days," Keenan remarks. "It's been tough for them to get anything done, because they can't get trucks to their building. One printer even used a shopping cart to take work off the press, and walked it six to eight blocks to a delivery truck that he was able to rent."
Unfortunately, and sadly, many clients for area printers are in the financial markets and had offices in buildings that were either destroyed or rendered uninhabitable following the attacks. Some of the businesses there have been able to set up office accommodations elsewhere on a temporary basis, but establishing contact with them has been an uphill challenge.
Prior to September 11, area printers, prepress shops and trade binderies were already experiencing tough times, as layoffs in the advertising and publishing sector touched many of their clients.
According to Keenan, a number of North Jersey printers stepped forward to offer their facilities—presses, trucks and other amenities—for affected printers to use during open shifts. PIA affiliate members in New York state, New England and Philadelphia have also inquired as to how they can help.
For those companies that were impacted by the terrorist attacks, contact the AGC at (212) 279-2100 for questions pertaining to tax, economic and insurance assistance.