Ground Zero Arguing Again

The sound of rumbling you hear at the World Trade Center site isn't just from construction - it's the sound of egos. Senator Chales Schumer asked Mayor Bloomberg to commit $1.75 billion in Liberty Bonds to the project and dissed the Mayor's suggestion to put residential buildings - in other words, Schumer's strategy was "criticize and ask for money." Mayor Bloomberg said no way, considering the project could "come to a grinding halt." Schumer is also asking that the Port Authority move into Freedom Tower, which is more expensive (and might take the longest to complete) - oh, and he'd like WTC developer Larry Silverstein to slash his fee for managing the project. Yes, Schumer has been very, very busy. What Gothamist cannot believe is that it's almost five years after September 11 and there's still so much fighting about trying to rebuild the area.

Other issues: In terms of money, the Mayor said the WTC redevelopment will cost about $1 billion - approximately double earlier estimates, which keeps it in line with any construction project you do in the city - and that comes on the heels of news that fundraising has been difficult for the memorial. Relatives of September 11 victims protested the WTC memorial once again, saying its underground setting is inappropriate and possibly unsafe. Oh, and WTC dust might still be dangerous - our health officials just can't be sure, but they've decided to restart (after two years!) a program to monitor people who worked at the site.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on February 28, 2006 11:46 AM

Comments [rss]

Ace

Make the top floors of the rebuilt towers residential, see how long they're vacant.

Tim N.

I've always felt that nothing says "F*** You, Osama" like just putting the those damn buildings back up. Will they be vacant from the 40th floor up? Sure. But screw it, do it anyway. There's something to be said. And if they are half vacant, they're less inviting targets.

Going back into my idealistically-padded room now...

Jimbo

Maybe there's a reason for this disgrace. maybe they're just waiting for a proper cornerstone...like say Bin Laden in the center of 10 tons of concrete like a special treat.

Of course they could just be squabbling like mouthbreathing school children over something that, if it happened in say 1928, would have been rebuilt in 5-6 months just to show the bastards we meant business.

Brightliner

Hey, I did say it was silly. Besides truck bombs, they're fixated on knives at airport security. As if anyone with a knife could ever successfully hijack a plane again. I'd rather be stabbed jumping a hijacker than crashed into a building. At least I'd have a fair chance of surviving the former.

bert

Correct, the next terrorist attack will be completely unexpected. They'll probably try to rot this country from the inside out by completely stripping all of our values. They'll have an unsavory person come to power, then mislead the people in order to gain more power, the use our government to advance his group's personal agendas.

Wait a second...

sperryhall

To think that you are safe simply because a building is not a super skyscraper shows the short sighted we are and what short memories we have. The people that died in the Twin Towers on 9/11 died because the three stairways were clustered in the center of the building and might as well have been one stairwell. If the Twin Towers had been 50 stories the same thing would have happened had the planes struck the 25th floor. And as was mentioned most likely the next attack won't come from planes or even directed at office towers. We always look to the past. Between 1993 and 2001 everyone was fixated on truck bombs.

Brightliner

"Can't we just rebuild the twin towers, but bigger?"

Nope. As silly as it seems, there are too many workers and companies squeamish about being on a high floor after 9/11, despite the fact that passengers would never allow that to happen again (see United Flight 93). That's why other superskyscrapers previously planned for Manhattan (like the NYSE tower) were never built.

mrf

Fill it up, plant some grass, gently rope off the "footprints," and let's come back in 10 years and try this again.

powell x 2 = 0

"If everyone in the country pitched in 1 or 2 dollars, we could buy the GZ site and turn it into a nice park."

300 million people x $2 = $600 million

Damn Powell, either you can't count or you don't know the value of 16 acres of prime Manhattan real estate.

Ace

I get knocked down but I get up again

You're never going to keep me down

simion lok

I agree with Toby, stop all the BS and just put the twins back up. Why are we wasting all this time and money.

powell

If everyone in the country pitched in 1 or 2 dollars, we could buy the GZ site and turn it into a nice park.

Toby

Can't we just rebuild the twin towers, but bigger?

antiDoctoroff-Part II

Agreed... doctoroff is just in the admin to line up deals for when he is out of office and can collect...

antiDoctoroff

being interviewed on NY1 [typo]

antiDoctoroff

Bloomberg is only saying this stuff now because Daniel Doctoroff (Deputy Mayor) is telling him this. If you saw Doctoroff being interview on NY1 a few weeks ago, you'd see how slimy the guy was. Bloomberg always listens to Doctoroff.

Doctoroff recently came up with this idea to somehow receive some of the ground zero property to make luxury housing and retail shopping. This is the same man who led the NYC2012 Olympics bid, and the infamous West Side Stadium.

He is a zillionaire who, like Bloomberg, receives only $1 salary from the City. So why is he deputy mayor...............? To make New York better? Something tells me no.

MT

The only way this could be handled any worse or be any more at the mercy of special interest groups would be if the federal government were overseeing it.

Tim N.

Unbelieveable, yes, and disgraceful. The inertia and obstinant self-interest that surrounds the development of GZ is the perfect symbol for how the post 9/11 unity has been shattered by parties trying to exploit what they see as its true meaning.

And what it shows at the end of the day is our complete inability to listen to each other. The 9/11 families have their points, but should their points be adhered to to the exclusion of all others? There have to be commercial interests there to help support it, but do they have to carry the day over more meaningful gestures and constructions? It is sad that the one prevailing sentiment over those 14 acres is "I've got to get my piece, and it's got to be bigger than all the others..."

Like I said, it is a national disgrace.

PS: The over/under on when Pataki totally caves and throws out then entire plan for the memorial is three days, two if he gets out of the hospital today.