It's arguably one of the most beloved ways the city remembers the September 11, 2001 attacks—the Tribute in Light, which has beacons of light shimmer from lower Manhattan into the sky starting at dusk on September 11 and fading away at dawn on September 12. But the funding for the installation has run out! more ›

The sister of the 23-year FDNY veteran who died during the Deutsche Bank building last August is suing city agencies and contractors, citing their "wanton, willful, and reckless conduct" in his death. more ›

Yesterday morning's rain caused a recently installed sewer main to burst, flooding the basement and parking garage of a Battery Park City luxury apartment building. Water levels reached up to 20 feet. Not only were car owners greeted with news that their vehicles were either submerged or floating on top of sewer water, hundreds of tenants at 90 West Street were evacuated. Fire officials explained that, per WNBC, "rain flooded a re-routed sewer pipe,... more ›

Lawyers for the families of Joseph Graffagnino and Robert Beddia, the two firefighters who died in the August 18 Deutsche Bank fire, have filed notices of claim to sue city and state agencies for up to $180 million. The lawyers are claiming that the "reckless, willful and wanton actions and inactions" of the various agencies, including the FDNY, Port Authority and Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, caused the fatal response to the blaze. The Deutsche Bank,... more ›

Yet another depressing fact revealed about the Deutsche Bank demolition in the wake of two firefighters' deaths. The NY Times reports that contractors had created an emergency exit plan through sealed stairwells, but the firefighters didn't know about the plan. Fire department spokesman Francis X. Gribbon told the Times, “The Fire Department was not involved in creating this plan, specifically — and most importantly — with regard to the sealed staircases. We were not notified about it. We were not consulted about it.” more ›

From yesterday evening to dawn this morning, the ethereal September 11-light installation Tribute in Light beamed into the skies from its downtown perch. Designed by artists Julian LaVerdiere and Paul Myoda, architects John Bennett and Gustavo Bonevardi of PROUN Space Studio, architect Richard Nash Gould, and lighting designer Paul Marantz and produced by the Municipal Art Society and Creative Time, the lights were first seen in March 2002 for a month and then became part of the September 11 anniversary fabric, shining from dusk till dawn. more ›

It's been just about two weeks since the 7-alarm fire at the Deutsche Bank building, and the city and state are still trying to figure out how to proceed with the WTC-dust contaminated building's dismantling. The Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation asking for the building to be sealed up "to protect public health and the environment." It was only when the EPA had given its approval for a deconstruction plan last September that the officials were able to develop a timeline for the building's dismantling. The LMDC, which has been presenting a "new, less restrictive plan" for demolition, only said that the plan will "assess and address all potential risks to those who live and work near the building, first responders and others." more ›

Yesterday, firefighters and the community were in Bay Ridge to remember Joseph Graffagnino, one of the firefighters who died while fighting last Saturday's 7-alarm fire at the Deutsche Bank building. The building, which was in the process of being dismantled, has been described as a deathtrap, what with the contractors using flammable materials, a broken standpipe (which couldn't deliver water to the fire), and a lack of FDNY inspection. more ›

The FDNY did not inspect the Deutsche Bank building every 15 days, "as required by city rules for buildings being demolished" (NY Times). This revelation, coupled with the fact that the FDNY did not have a plan to go into the burning building, prompts the Post to demand that Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta leave his post. more ›

The Fire Department is investigating whether standpipes failed to bring firefighters water to help fight a seven-alarm fire that broke out on the 17th floor of the Deutsche Bank building on Saturday. The cause of the fire, which spread between the 14th and 26th floors of the lower Manhattan building, is also unclear, though the FDNY suspects it may have been caused by a cigarette or a faulty electrical panel. more ›

Day One doesn't mean everything changes, but Governor Spitzer's administration has now offered a new idea for the so-called survivors' staircase at Ground Zero. The NY Times reports that the stairs would be kept "whole and intact" and "set into a long flight of steps leading from the visitors’ center at ground zero to the underground World Trade Center memorial museum, which is to open in 2009." And the Times has this picture of the model! more ›

Uh-oh. The Santiago Calatrava-designed World Trade Center PATH transit hub is now estimated to be $1.2 billion over budget by the construction company's contractor. Previous estimates pegged building the critically-praised "bird-like" structure at $2.2 billion in 2005, after the Port Authority approved a revised design. Why the high estimate? Labor costs and materials. more ›

, which chronicles these affairs from the point of view of the novel design team with which he collaborated. He also chucked a few zingers in the direction of the architect David Childs and former Governor Pataki. Left relatively unscathed was the developer Larry Silverstein, owner of the acclaimed new building (7 World Trade Center) in which the event was held. more ›

Oh, to be a child again! The NY Times has a story about the city's efforts to develop a new playground concept for lower Manhattan. The city has been working with designer David Rockwell on a playground that would include things like foam blocks, water, cardboard tubes, burlap bags, ramps, climbing nets and even "play workers" to help kids, uh, play.

Developers of the Lower Manhattan project envision groups of children collaborating, for instance, loading containers with sand, hoisting them up with pulleys and then lowering them down to wagons waiting to be wheeled off to another part of the park. more ›

The Deutsche Bank at 130 Liberty Street will start to be dismantled today. The 41 floor building's demolition strategy was approved in September, after many years of planning, toxin finding, and searching for human remains (the World Trade Center's south tower fell into the building). The Department of Buildings signed off on the permits this week, but the permits are only to remove the facade. The AP reports, "On Friday, workers will begin removing the glass windows and metal column covers that make up the facade of the building's top four floors. After that, the steel and concrete skeleton of those floors will come down." more ›

Oh, SNAP! In year-after-Katrina interview with 60 Minutes, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin mentions the lack of development at Ground Zero when pressed by reporter Byron Pitts about post-Katrina New Orleans progress. And it's an effective smack to city and state officials. Here's how the CBS News site explains the exchange:

On a tour of the decimated Ninth Ward, Nagin tells Pitts the city has removed most of the debris from public property and it’s mainly private land that’s still affected – areas that can’t be cleaned without the owners' permission. But when Pitts points to flood-damaged cars in the street and a house washed partially into the street, the mayor shoots back. "That’s alright. You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair."

Just weeks before the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the agency created to manage the rebuilding process, has announced it has ended its "mission" and will close soon. The NY Times' David Dunlap explains that the mission included "selecting a master plan and a memorial design for the trade center site; allocating more than $2.7 billion in federal grants, including support for downtown residents and businesses; financing park renovations and cultural programs; and planning the revitalization of Fulton Street, from river to river." Which is certainly more generous than our initial thought and a good reminder of what the LMDC has done, as we've come to regard it as a puppet for Governor Pataki and muddling through the redesign of Freedom Tower and the WTC Memorial. The Times article has good quotes that show the pros and cons of the agency, with many hopeful that one less agency means more action and less bureaucracy. more ›

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has approved the scaled down design for the World Trade Center Memorial . Last week, builder Frank Sciame had released plans for a revised and less costly plan that has been generally welcomed. But one thing that hasn't been resolved is how victims' names will be featured - the LMDC will have to decide on that later. more ›

Last week, builder Frank Sciame met with Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg to discuss possibilities for the downsizing/costcutting of the World Trade Central Memorial. Some ideas kicked around were to remove the waterfalls and move the victims' names aboveground, and today, a new plan was revealed. The waterfalls are still in, but the names will move aboveground. There will be space underground for contemplation, but there will only be one below-grade entrance, not two, to the museum and visitor's center. more ›

Ever since one contractor estimated it would cost $1 billion to build the World Trade Center Memorial, it's been a downhill process at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Actually, it was probably downhill from earlier than that, but the $1 billion price tag helped prompt cover stories about the memorial mess, create more teams to figure out a solution, and lead to the resignation of the WTC Memorial Foundation president. Anyway, the WTC Memorial's builder, Frank Sciame, presented new memorial designs Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki. Note that it's the builder presenting cost-cutting options - not the deisgners, though Sciame did meet with them, including original WTC Memorial designer Michael Arad, to develop ideas. Some of Sciame's options for cost-cutting include eliminating the waterfalls, displaying the victims' names aboveground, not around the pools, and removing one of two underground entrance ramps. Bloomberg and Pataki do want to keep the waterfalls, but it sounds like the the names will go aboveground - which would quiet criticism from victims' families who have wanted them aboveground all along. more ›

The NY State Democratic Convention is taking place in Buffalo today and tomorrow (the NY State Republican Convention is in Long Island on Wednesday and Thursday), and the gloves are coming off as the Democrats are looking to grab the Governor's house. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the Democratic frontrunner for the gubernatorial nomination, called the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation "an abject failure". Well, of course he would say that - didn't recently resigned LMDC chairman John Whitehead claim Spitzer had threatened him on the phone? Spitzer didn't mince any words: He called what's happening downtown an "Enron-style debacle." The LMDC said that Spitzer was continuing his vendetta against Whitehead, and Governor Pataki's spokesperson also used the word "vendetta" when criticizing Spitzer's words about a World War II veteran on Memorial Day, no less. Whitehead might be a WWII veteran, but a better question would be, what got done at Ground Zero? more ›

If there's something politicians know how to do, it's to convene a committee! The NY Times focuses on how everyone wants new plans to bring the WTC Memorial budget down - there's that much agreement. But the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has one committee working on it...and Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg created another committee to work on ideas! Double the thinking, infinite times the resentment! The LMDC team includes the builder Bovis, whose $1 billion estimate of the memorial caused a lot of the agita that prompted these committees, while the Pataki-Bloomberg team, "Memorial and Master Plan Design Commitee," has memorial designers and architects, Michael Arad, Peter Walker, and Max Bond, plus WTC "master planner" Daniel Libeskind and rival builder Frank Sciame. At any rate, the LMDC committee is planning on having a couple of new ideas by next week. Hmm, maybe the LMDC can time a new memorial design by July, which is about three years after the WTC memorial competition ended. more ›

A couple weeks ago, an episode of Penn & Teller's Bullsh*t! centered around the many fights at Ground Zero. The show criticized the slowness of bureaucracy (hello, PatakI) and the designs selected for Ground Zero, including the memorial. The show also filmed one of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's Family Rooms, where victims' families members can "observe the site in quiet contemplation." Well, this upset other victims' families who have besieged the LMDC with complaints. A firefighter's father wrote, "I am outraged that this sacred Family Room was violated in so despicable a manner and would like you to send my utter disgust to whoever was responsible." (It seems as though Anthony Gardiner of the WTC Family Advisory Council let them in.) Another family member who is on the LMDC added, "In addition to violating the protocols of no media in the Room, this incident was even more troubling because the name of this program is Showtime's Penn and Teller 'Bull----.'" Aside from any agreements that the Family Room would remain private and away from cameras, Gothamist wonders if the family members actually saw the show, because the show seemed to support many of the family members' claims (the designs are terrible, the process sucks, how are we going to remember loved ones, etc.). more ›

The lawsuit trying to stop the building of the WTC Memorial has been thrown out by a state Supreme Court justice. Victims' families group was upset that the memorial design would not preserve the footprints of the World Trade Center, and said the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation didn't consult with them. Justice Shirley Kornreich disagreed, saying the LMDC "exhaustive[ly]" worked with other groups during the process. As the AP reports, Kornreich's ruling states, "[The agency continues to consult with family members] in what can only be described as a commendable and sensitive manner, despite the fact that the obligation to consult ended long ago.'' Well, that's one bit of good news for the LMDC - and now this means the foundation for the memorial, which will be offset from the footprints, can get its concrete, although Gothamist suspects with all the memorial problems, there are still some design changes to come. more ›

If you want to be thoroughly depressed by the rebuilding process at Ground Zero in a matter of pages, versus a matter of years, Gothamist highly recommends reading New York magazine's cover story about the WTC Memorial and its architect, Michael Arad. It's an exclusive interview where Arad spill his guts about the process, but also gets worked over as one of the many egos in cast of a million egos and billion interests. Arad seems to have clashed with all the important players - original WTC redesign architect Daniel Libeskind, the firm Davis Brody Bond which is the associate architect, the LMDC, "partner" Peter Walker (who designed the landscaping elements for the memorial), you name it. For instance:

Arad immediately started behaving as if he had a powerful public mandate, which didn’t exactly put him in the right frame of mind to negotiate with Libeskind about fitting the memorial into the master plan. Libeskind, for his part, was enraged that Arad’s design had won. It effectively obliterated his original design for the memorial, which called for the area to remain a sunken pit with an open lawn at the bottom. “I will fight this!” he yelled during his first meeting about it with the LMDC. “I am the people’s architect!”

Almost two years ago, Governor George Pataki helped to lay the 20-ton, Adirondack granite cornerstone for the Freedom Tower. And it wasn't until just this past month that the financial bickering between Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority were finally sorted out so construction could begin in earnest. more ›

The former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, former deputy secretary of state under Reagan, and Pataki contributor John C. Whitehead will resign from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the World Trade Center rebuilding organization, today. Whitehead was placed in the role of LMDC chairman by Pataki four years ago, and has had a lot of troubles, given the issues with WTC leaseholder Larry Silverstein, government officials, government agencies and victims' families all squabbling. Whitehead said, "This is the toughest leadership job I've ever had. We've accomplished a lot. Lower Manhattan is a very different animal today than even before 9/11. I wish there weren't as many problems right now. But I'm 84, and I need to be relieved." We're on the fence about Whitehead - he's Pataki flunky, but the WTC rebuilding has been a terrible mess and you can't pin it just on Whitehead. more ›

Another signal that the World Trade Center memorial is mired in a big mess: The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, which has been raising money for the memorial, is stopping their fundraising efforts as they try to under the cost of the project. Last week's revelation that construction firm Bovis estimated the cost to be near $1 billion, and everyone was all sorts of upset. The foundation said, "It's only fair to donors to be able to expressly say how their money will be used and how much the project will cost," and said the foundation would continue once "the foundation, the city, the state, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were all 'on the same page,'" per the NY Times. Well, the city, NY state and NJ state want the foundation to continue their job, with Governor Pataki's office saying, "The mayor and the governors are already on the same page. The memorial foundation should focus on their most important task - fundraising." more ›