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The the powers that are involved wtih Ground Zero planning got a shock when construction company Bovis Lend Lease submitted an appraisal of how much it'll take to build the World Trade Center Memorial - and the price tag is close to $1 billion. On the upside, it can known as the "most expensive memorial ever in the United States!" Governors Pataki and Corzine and Mayor Bloomberg say they want to keep the cost to $500 million, which is still less than the estimated $672 million cost for the memorial a few months ago. In terms of the money that's there for the memorial, there is a total of $430 million - $130 million in donations, $200 from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, and $100 million from the Port Authority. The new question posed: How will the memorial's design be revised in order for it to be built?
The NY Times reports that the new cost analysis was conducted when bids from constructions for just the footings seems very high. Well, that's what happens when memorial officials estimate the cost of building something - and of course, there's finger-pointing about who came up with the first $490 million number. What's the rule of thumb with estimates, anyway? Always go to a contractor for an estimate, put another 20% on it, and then you're almost in the ballpark? And remember way back when there was a competition for the memorial design?
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It's Cinco de Mayo. Are you drunk already? You've got some misspelled words and repeated 'the' in the first sentence.
If we can't build a fitting memorial with the $130 million already raised (plus the state government contributions) then we can't build a fitting memorial.
"the terrorists" won.
foreigners love it when americans bicker over things like this, that is why they hate us. we are (as a people) babies.
This is seriously absurd. It's just (or should be) a couple of water fountains. $1 billion is enough to pay every one of the 3000 victims over $330,000 each. Maybe we really should just turn the whole site into one big greenspace park, with some modest indentations where the "footprints" are. Oklahoma City got it right, and only cost $29 million. This whole fiasco reveals the utter failure of American civic leadership. Nice job, terrorists.
I love Gothamist, but you guys seriously need to do something about the typos.
Why can't their 'memorial' be, say, feeding starving people or providing vaccinations in a country that can't afford it?
September 11th has turned into McTember 11th. It's a total marketing tool used to sell stupid bumper stickers and promote war mongering. This business about $1 billion for a memorial is absolutely ridiculous, as is $500 million. Yes, a terrible thing happened but let's be realistic. If there is $500 million to play with, spend $50 million on the memorial and the rest on public schools.
New York: Just re-build the freakin' WTC at a reasonable cost please. Stop the pettiness, stop the fighting, quit overpricing and just RE-BUILD a safe building for us to return to.
IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK????
I like the site as it stands now and secretly enjoy watching tourists wander helplessly, looking at an empty hole, trying to figure out what happened. Like I did on 9/11.
The Port Authority and Governor Pataki have done everything in their power to derail the building of the Memorial. This has become completely about politics and power. The pricetag for the Memorial is actually reasonable compared to the $2 billion price tag for the new PATH station at the WTC site. Pataki's leadership has been as laughable as his Presidential ambitions.
Nathan: Pataki is an easy target but he is hardly the cause of the problem with the memorial. The problem is the families, their insatiable lust for control and overblown grieving. Get over it.
The big hole in the ground is more poignant than the underground parking garage, I mean memorial, they want to build. The whole thing is a boondoggle that will be poorly done. That will be George Elmer's legacy.
"This has become completely about politics and power." -and money of course.
I totally agree with #11... the families are making things far more complicated than they should be. People deal with losing loved ones everyday... I never understood why they deserved millions in compensation and why they were ever given such power (well that one I can answer, politics). Lets get on with this, just build already. And even 500M is too much for a set of fountains and a wall of names... there are far better ways to spend our tax dollars and this is def not one of them. They should get this down to 50M.
The problem isn't leadership. It's the legal system that allows one person to dominate (think NIMBY). If we had a strong leader driving this memorial that person would merely replace Pataki as a lightning rod.
Apparently "It takes a village" only applies to paying taxes. Being civil and making compromises is too much to ask.
Here's an idea:
Take the $1 Billion, give every WTC surviving child a college scholarship fund; give any surviving spouse the opportunity to earn a college degree or graduate degree; then give the remainder to each town that lost someone in the WTC as a scholarship in memory of each victim.
The annuity that would drive such scholarships would allow that name to be memorialized in perpetuity.
What more fitting tribute than keeping their names and memories alive for generations to come, all whilst ensuring an education for all WTC survivors and others in need?
So, they should get a free college education on top of the million they just got?
Get over it, WTC people! Get a life
Breed show cats, whatever you kooks do with too much time on your hands.
Stop pasting that 8 x 10 photo on your chest, we see it clear enough already, don't make it bigger.
DO NOT give the WTC Families any more money! They've already blackmailed us for millions. $1 billion plus many million$ to maintain this thing in perpetuity? I can't believe anyone wants this thing. Seriously, are those freaking holes meant to still be there in the year 2100 or whatever? It's beyond absurd.
The contractor's rule I've always gone by is: the final project costs twice as much as the estimate and takes three times as long.
Grant, you forgt to provide a quintessential example: Boston's "Big Dig".
On the upside, it can known as the "most expensive memorial ever in the United States!"
Is there a memorial that actually cost more somewhere in the world? How depressing...
I think its way too big to begin with and not just overpriced. Compare this to the memorial at Pearl Harbor and tell me this isn’t overkill.
It can have just as much of an impact on people as a smaller one. They should take an example from the design of the Vietnam Memorial.
Simple, yet powerful
the memorial looks pretty awesome. Just build the fucking thing already.
Haha...I'll build them amemorial for 1/2 a billion...what a joke...someone will get rich off this and me (a tax payer) will end up footing the bill...I mean c'mon seriously...a memeorial should cost 20k or so...bulid a 150 story building and put a sign on it thats says on this site blah blah blah...
javster,
Well, there's always the Giza Necropolis, better known as the pyramids. Adjusted for 4500 years of inflation, I bet those things would be outrageously expensive.
$500 Million is about $200,000 per casualty. Are they kidding?