New building provides safer start

By Nick Trougakos

Published: April 17, 2005

Looking at the Oklahoma City National Memorial has never been difficult for Diane Dooley, even though she was nearly killed in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, where the memorial now stands.

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When Dooley and her co-workers from the Veterans Benefits Administration moved into Oklahoma City's new federal building in December 2003, across the street from the memorial, she did it without reservation.

"It's been wonderful," Dooley said. "It is just a beautiful building. Our office space is very nice. It's starting to feel like home. It's starting to feel comfortable."

A number of federal agencies were in need of a new home after the April 19, 1995, bombing.

The new federal building was dedicated in May. Many of the agencies have moved into the three-story, horseshoe-shaped structure at NW 6 and Harvey.

While some workers balked at the building's proximity to the memorial, Dooley said she embraced it from the start.

"Our office faces the memorial," Dooley said. "I think it's beautiful. For me it's just a reminder that I'm still blessed enough to be on the Earth."

Dooley is likely still here because she stepped into a stairwell in the Murrah Building a split-second before 9:02 a.m.

The force of the blast blew the stairwell door off its hinges, crushing Dooley's wrist.

Stepping into the stairwell likely enabled her to tack 10 wedding anniversaries onto the 15 she already had shared with her husband, Jim.

That meant daughter Keely, getting ready to celebrate her fourth birthday in May, would even have a chance to be around.

"I've had 10 years that other people didn't have," Dooley said.

Difficult transition
While looking at the memorial stirs positive emotions for Dooley, others have found accepting what the landmark stands for as difficult.

Fifteen employees of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, an agency that lost 35 workers in the bombing, refused to move into the federal building and were relocated to a satellite office.

"It was just dumbfounding," HUD employee Joe Chicoraske said of the decision to move into the new federal building. "I was at a complete loss as to the thinking processes involved in them wanting to send the survivors into the original crime scene, where the mass murder occurred."

Forty-four HUD workers accepted the change and moved into the new building.

"It's fine," said Michael Reyes, a lead management analyst for HUD who survived a four-story fall but lost his father, Tony, in the bombing. "The people that moved in here were very happy to move."

Reyes said he has never been bothered that the memorial is across the street, in plain view from HUD's third-floor training room.

More than a year after settling in to his new office, Reyes said he has taken comfort in the building's security features.

A safer campus
Federal officials have touted the federal campus as the country's safest. The walls are made of thick concrete and steel, and the windows are treated so they will not shatter in an explosion. The building is set back from nearby streets and is surrounded by thick, metal barriers to keep vehicles away.

Security officials staff the public entrance and metal detectors also are used. The security presence is a welcome feature, Dooley said.

"I didn't feel secure in the Murrah Building," Dooley said. "We didn't have any security. It's been quite a difference."