September 11: 6th Anniversary Commemoration Events
Corzine Won't Talk to the Times, But His Doctors Will
The NY Times' Lawrence Altman, a reporter who is also a doctor, writes about NJ Governor Corzine's medical treatment after his April 12 car accident. For any medical procedure (or procedural) buffs, it's an illuminating look at how medical professionals react to treating high-profile medical figures all while just trying to do the best job they can.
On The Mend - And In Track Pants - It's Corzine!
NJ Governor Corzine showed the Associated Press that he's doing pretty well, sitting up (in red track pants, which is rather Fidel-ish) and reading his many get well cards. These are the first photographs of Corzine since he was in a car accident that left him critically injured and with 15 broken bones. Earlier this week, Corzine was still stuck in bed, but now he's able to leave bed and sit up. The cards look like they are from NJ school children; we hope that if they're making the cards during the school day, then there better be seat belts also drawn on them somewhere!
Mayor Bloomberg, Seat Belt and Safe Speed Believer
With the NJ State Police confirming that NJ Governor Corzine's SUV was going 91 MPH on the Garden State Parkway during a crash that left a seat-beltless Corzine critically injured, it was only natural for reporters to ask Mayor Bloomberg his thoughts. And the NY Times' Diane Cardwell says that his "nanny tendencies...were on full display"
Extra, Extra
- And Real Worlder Kevin Powell (RW New York, circa 1992) isn't running for Congress anymore - don't get any ideas, Eric Nies!
Freedom Tower Construction Starts Today
Or at least that's what World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein promised yesterday, now that he and the Port Authority have agreed on terms that divvy up control of Ground Zero's various components. "I have instructed our construction team to mobilize into the site tomorrow so that we can begin construction of the Freedom Tower immediately," he told the media. The Port Authority says that the eastern section of the WTC site will be excavated by next year, in order for Silverstein to start building his towers (Towers 2, 3, and 4 in the plan). At this point, (Gothamist can barely remember what's supposed to be at Ground Zero, so we've been going back to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's website about the WTC site - but we're not sure if all the changes have been updated on it.)
Port Authority Plays Deal (or No Deal) with Silverstein
The government powers that be when it comes to the World Trade Center site - NY Governor Pataki, NJ Governor Corzine and NYC Mayor Bloomberg - have worked out a plan that was presented to WTC developer Larry Silverstein in hopes of getting the Ground Zero rebuilding off the ground. The deal is for Silverstein to build Freedom Tower (but the Port Authority would control it) as well as giving him control of three additional buildings and a mall along Church Street, with an opportunity to buy the mall later, and limiting how much his developer's fee is - plus promising 1 million square feet of tenants. And somewhere in there, concessions from Silverstein would translate into $100 million for the WTC Memorial. If he doesn't agree to that, then he gets $50 million in cash, plus Tower 5, which is worth $250-300 million. The third option is for Silverstein to argue this out in court. Yes, Gothamist wishes there was a flow chart with clip cart of Silverstein, Pataki, et al. too.
Some Political Mutterings and Utterings
- Turns out Mayor Bloomberg and NJ Governor Corzine teamed up to convince Pataki to rework any sort of Ground Zero proposal to Larry Silverstein. And re: the NY Times' mention of past NY-NJ spats, we wish we remembered how Mayor Koch "once symbolically boarded up the entrance to the Holland Tunnel over the loss of jobs to New Jersey."
Ground Zero News: Bones Found, Clandestine Meeting Had
While the goverment tries to dole out punishment to someone who may or may not have had anything to do with the September 11 attacks in Virginia, it turns out at that demolitions workers found bone fragments on the roof of 130 Liberty Street - aka the Deutsche Bank building. According to the medical examiner's office, there were 74 human remains samples, and the ME's office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove told the NY Times, "This is the largest find from the Deutsche Bank, and I would not be surprised if additional quantities of remains are found there. They are still doing the cleanup." Which concerns some victims' families, who are worried that some workers won't know what to preserve while doing clean-up. The Deutsche Bank is in the middle of being carefully deconstructed, with the LMDC hoping all the work will be done by next spring.

