Results tagged “internationalfreedomcenter”

Thank you, NY Times, for updating us on the activities of George Elmer Pataki. Although Pataki has been out of politics, he still spent $1.4 million from his political action committee on "Broadway theater tickets, gatherings at the Yale Club and payments to political loyalists and advisers."

Families of 9/11 victims are at it again. Not content after getting rid of the the International Freedom Center they are now trying to halt construction of the one thing that actually seems to be moving along at Ground Zero: Santiago Calatrava's PATH station (a station the Post calls "controversial" to which our response is "don't you mean soaring? And controversial for what? The planned shopping area?"). Seems that they are upset over an extra platform that the station didn't have before 9/11, as the new platform would stretch into the footprint of the south tower.

Quelling the controversy simmering over the museum's intentions, Governor George Pataki officially evicted the International Freedom Center from the World Trade Center site. His statement read, "Since June, we have offered the International Freedom Center (IFC) the time they needed to clarify their intentions and work with stakeholders to reach a consensus There remains too much opposition, too much controversy over the programming of the I.F.C., and we must move forward with our first priority, the creation of an inspiring memorial." And while Governor Pataki offered to helop the IFC find another location in Manhattan, the museum issued a statement saying, "We are deeply disappointed that the will could not be found to continue the development of the International Freedom Center at this hallowed site. We do not believe there is a viable alternative place for the IFC at the World Trade Center site." So there will be no IFC anywhere!

If not the Freedom Tower, or the WTC Memorial, there always seems to be something wrong with Ground Zero rebuliding, and the latest part of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's plan at the World Trade Center to be mired in controversy is the International Freedom Center. The IFC was originally supposed to be a place where people would learn about tolerance and diversity (though steering clear of September 11 events, because that would be displayed elsewhere), but then various parties got upset when it was revealed that the IFC would have exhibits on "man's inhumanity to man". Lately, Senator Hillary Clinton has spoken out against the center, which might mark the first time the Post and the junior Senator have something they can agree about. What's most dispriting is the haphazard way organizations or planned spaces at the WTC have occured, generating such vitriol and confusion on the part of the public.

-The mystery of the lone 9/11 fatal shooting remains unsolved.