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June 21, 2008 -- New York's Bravest remembered one of their own this week: Fallen fire fighter Joseph Graffagnino was posthumously promoted to lieutenant.
A wholly fitting honor - though we can think of one better: Tear down the building that killed him.
Thursday's promotion ceremony marked 306 days since Graffagnino and fellow firefighter Robert Beddia perished while battling a blaze at the 9/11-scarred former Deutsche Bank building.
That's 306 days in which the building's remained at exactly the same height it stood on the day of the fire - even though officials from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. promised to have it down by the end of 2007.
To be sure, work is going on there - the LMDC finally won approval from the Department of Buildings to begin deep-cleaning the structure in late April. Once that's done, workers can resume dismantling the building's remaining 25 floors.
But plans for deconstruction - which contractor Bovis Lend Lease says it's months away from drafting - still require approval from a dozen-plus regulatory agencies.
Bureaucratic dithering and blame-shifting have kept the building standing for nearly seven years - sure proof of the old maxim that if everyone's in charge, no one is. What's needed is a long-overdue sense of urgency on the part of LMDC chief Avi Schick - and serious oversight from Mayor Bloomberg.
Quite frankly, we'd be surprised if the building ever comes down.
Anybody want to bet?
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