If the lunchtime behavior of the hard hats at Ground Zero is any indication, reconstruction may take a long, long time. And someone might get hurt. Badly.
Workers are spending their lunch hours getting sloshed, pounding beers and slamming shots of hard liquor before getting back to work, according to The New York Post.
Just before noon, dozens of hard hats put their helmets aside and head over to a bar on Murray Street – about two blocks away from what has become one of the most controversial construction sites in city history – and get their drink on.
The Post caught three workers red-handed (and red-faced, no doubt) after pounding eight drinks apiece in less than 60 minutes before heading back to work, the paper reported.
Despite a staunch zero-tolerance policy for drinking on the job, the workers' lunchtime booze-fest snuck under the noses of agency safety authorities, who have carried out a plethora of sweeps since assuming control of the site three years ago.
Workers' lunchtime happy hours are a regular thing, apparently. Post reporters followed around construction workers for a week, watching them head to bar and pub-lined avenues at about 11:45 a.m. for their hour-long break. Two weeks ago, reporters spotted three men slam down two shots of whiskey and three beers each before returning to work, candidly talking about their drinking habits on the job.
"We don't have to worry until someone severs a hand," one of the pals teased, according to the Post.
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The following Wednesday, the same three buds went back to the bar during lunch and ordered the same set of cocktails. On Thursday, things went into frat-party mode; they each downed four shots of hard liquor and four beers in less than an hour, which would likely make them more than a little bit tipsy by the time they got back to work, the Post reported. Looks like the dudes frequent the bar often; the bartender knows their names.
These three guzzlers aren't the only ones working on the construction site that have a penchant for lunchtime boozing, however. The Post spotted five other hard hats at a bar on Murray Street, tossing back three beers apiece, and then saw one of the workers standing precariously on a steel beam amid an iron framework that will be part of the Freedom Tower. Some other goons were even foolish enough to let a Post photog snap their pictures as one of their friends called them "degenerates" for being in the bar "every day," the paper reported.
Naturally, the Port Authority is miffed by the allegations.
"Our inspector general's office does weekly sweeps looking for inappropriate behavior, and if any worker is caught violating our policy, we confiscate their World Trade Center ID cards and work with our contractors on appropriate disciplinary action," a spokesman told the Post.
The site employs more than 700 workers. Developer Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have tried for months to renegotiate Silverstein's lease to build three skyscrapers at ground zero. Silverstein wants the Port Authority to guarantee over $3 billion in financing for two of his towers. The agency has said it can only afford to back one.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been brokering talks between the sides -- saying the memorial could miss the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
