WTC Memorial Foundation Leader Resigns

The head of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation has resigned, after months of controversy over the memorial's ballooning costs and lower-than-expected fundraising. To be fair, many of these factors seem to be out of Dykstra's control, considering how many players (we're tempted to say a cast of hundreds) bickered over the situation. The NY Times printed this excerpt from her resignation letter:

There is general agreement that the multiplicity of authorities and the unclear roles has made it difficult for anyone to move expeditiously...Perhaps it would help if there was one less player. Therefore, it is with sadness and regret that I hereby tender my resignation, effective immediately.

Snap. Most recently, she had announced she was going on a 15 city tour to raise money for the memorial. Dykstra was the city's former Commissioner of Consumer Affairs; we wonder who will have the mettle to deal with all the disparate parties involved - from elected officials to agency heads, designers to contrastors, family members to the public. Here are our posts on the WTC Memorial.

And reader Michael sent us these pictures from Ground Zero, which apparently has some radiation going on. Michael surmises it might be radon testing, but at Ground Zero, who knows?!

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

By Jen Chung in News on May 26, 2006 6:02 PM

Comments [rss]

Spec

Sorry, Michael is wrong. The radiation in question is X-rays. They are used to peer at steel inside concrete and to evaluate welds.

Brooklyn Book Worm

Gretchen Dykstra has a difficult personality -- as a professional tour guide I saw her imperial approach in establishing a new test for guides -- but she also can get things done. She was the first president of the Times Square BID and accomplished a great deal: extra sanitation collections, expanded pedestrian lanes, extra marketing efforts, opening the Times Square Visitors Information Center. Her tenure as Consumer Affairs Commissioner involved mostly consolidating the initiatives of her predecessors, but this is important work, too.

I can appreciate her frustration at the Memorial Foundation. Her field of action was so severely restricted that she could not really do her job. It's similar to the resignation of Agnes Gund after Governor Paraki killed hopes of a Freedom Center and Drawing Center at Ground Zero. Do these nominally independent groups control their own future, or do politicos hold the trump cards?

Neither Gretchen Dysktra nor any other effective manager is going to sign on to a job that involves little more than ass-kissing. Let's actually assign responsibility, and judge the person assigned responsibility accordingly.