WTC Developer Silverstein Gets $21 Million To Do Nada

If you want to sigh just a little more about the development of the World Trade Center site, here you go: The Daily News reports, "The Port Authority is paying Larry Silverstein $21.5 million to develop the Freedom Tower - even though he has absolutely no role in building the 1,776-foot icon." Even though Silverstein handed over control of the building site to the Port Authority, the agency has been paying him $500,000/month in "development fees" and will keep receiving them until the middle of next year, which the News helpfully points out is the equivalent of "2.7 million George Washington Bridge tolls or 12.3 million PATH fares." The fees were written into the 2006 agreement, which also says the Port Authority can request Silverstein's company's help, but the News says the agency has never done so. The Port Authority says it's siply abiding by the contract, while Silverstein's spokesman told the paper, "We believe our expertise in office tower construction would be of tremendous value in getting the 1 World Trade Center project back on schedule, and our team remains at the Port's disposal."

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By Jen Chung in News on April 14, 2009 5:50 PM

Comments [rss]

Shinobi Shaw

The comments on this thread surely give me hope that people are at least aware of the corruption and uber greed of the elite.

At times it feels like most people aren't even aware that this country is no "meritocracy," and the "american dream" is just a lie to shield the fact that there is indeed an aristocracy in this country that surely wants to keep the status quo while pillaging and raping the people.

The Man Bat

Larry "just pull it..." Silverstein.

Sivan Kurzberg.

Google my name.

leftylib

This is outrageous.

Schwartzie

Come on. It's not like Silverstein unilaterally came up with this contract and forced a meek and fearful Port Authority to sign it!

Silverstein is in business for himself so it should come as no surprise that he'd push for the best deal he can get for himself in any negotiation. (How many of you have told your bosses to reduce a raise so your colleagues could have bigger ones?)

The real scandal here (and it's not even scandalous at this point because it happens every blinking day) is that the state-level authorities in New York--MTA, PANYNJ, etc., etc.--are supposed to be careful stewards of taxpayer money and providers of efficient and cost-effective services, yet consistently drop the ball and aren't held accountable for their failings.

Rob T Firefly

In the interest of saving the city's precious money in these difficult times, I hereby volunteer to sit on my ass and look stupid for 1% of what he's charging.

Shinobi Shaw

Don't worry Larry, Karma is going to get you in the long run. What comes around, goes around.

books

he's like 90 years old, karma aint getting him.

you look at history and see the plebs and the serfs and the lords who ruled over them and you like to think everything changed, but it hasent. the rich and powerful have created this belief system that the country, this city belongs to the people, but it doesnt. It the same setup as always it always was.

Jen S

"Throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world, the High, the Middle, and the Low. They have been subdivided in many ways, they have borne countless names, and their relative numbers, as well as their attitude toward one another, have varied from age to age; but the essential structure of society has never altered. Even after enormous upheavals and seemingly irrevocable changes, the same pattern has always reasserted itself, just as a gyroscope will always return to equilibrium, however far it is pushed one way or the other."