The Lead

My former PSB colleagues,

I've been thinking of all of you since I heard this tragic news. Am so glad to hear that all of you are safe and accounted for. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to all our Minnesota friends.

Greg V

Nothing particularly eloquent here -- just a little more detailed description for those of you who might be interested.

As mentioned last night, all PSB employees are accounted for. This is one of the most popular commuting routes for our team. We spent several hours yesterday evening calling home and emergency numbers are were extremely relieved when everyone finally was able to be “checked off the list.”

If you’ve been to our offices, you’ll appreciate the description. About 2 blocks outside the window facing opposite downtown you can see a section of road slanting down into the river. A haze of gray dust and a plume of dark smoke floated up from the site. As of midnight, there were five rescue vans and two helicopters in our back parking lot. There were a half dozen news crews in our front parking lot. About a dozen rescue boats were speeding up and down the river alongside the building. All streets within about an 8 block radius were cordoned off. Between us and what’s left of the bridge is (thankfully) the Minneapolis Red Cross headquarters, which was the staging area for all triage. An amazing mix of police, fire, EMT and other local emergency response personnel were on the scene last night and will be again this morning. We were a bit busy ourselves, but occasionally we caught glimpses of the coordination, and it was incredible, as was the professionalism of everyone involved. Gold Medal Park across the street (a block further away from the wreckage than our building) was packed with people trying to catch a glimpse. The Twins, who play at the Metrodome a few blocks away, decided to continue with their game last night – figuring that it would be best to keep the fans there rather than have them milling about the site. In hindsight, it was an extremely smart move that greatly helped keep folks out of the way of rescue workers.

Because our office location is in the thick of the rescue and treatment efforts, we’ve elected to close the office for today and have our employees work from home wherever possible. We need to stay out of the way of people who have way more important jobs than us.

I've been riveted to the media since a friend brought this tragedy to my attention last night. I thought of you all immediately and appreciate the update. It's hard not to evaluate the crisis and media response efforts when I watch the news. All those years of training and preparing key messages are put to the test by key leaders in the city, state and country.

I remember tearily and vividly that I was almost at our PSB St. Paul office when I heard the news on 9/11 and how well our team pulled together in that Trade Center conference room. I'm always thankful for my PSB friends and family. Blessings to you all.

Thanks for posting about this. Glad the PSB family is all accounted for.

I thought of you all immediately upon getting news of this tragedy and am so relieved to hear all of my PSB friends are safe.

You've all been in my thoughts - I am so thankful to hear that everyone is safe.

I've been thinking about all of you. I was so glad to see your message when I checked your site last night.

Glad to know the PSB team and families are all safe. What a terrible thing for the beautiful Twin Cities.

Thanks for the update. You have all been in my thoughts and prayers, and it's good to know that everyone is safe. I can't even imagine what it was like for those of you still in the office last night, witnessing this tragic accident from the east and north side windows.