Responding to pressure from Governor Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg, the Port Authority is promising to finish the 9/11 memorial in time for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack that felled the twin towers. In June, Paterson said the redevelopment of the 16-acre site was over budget and behind schedule, and he ordered the Port Authority to hammer out a plan to get at least part of the job done by 2011. Port Authority officials had called that an impossibility, but sources tell the Times that Port Authority director Christopher Ward will release a report on Thursday outlining a way to finish the $610 million memorial in two years and eleven months. (See the renderings.) more ›

The Port Authority released its status report of sorts about World Trade Center rebuilding, and it's a document (PDF) that grimly forecasts lots of patience and money--along with the difficulties--needed to see the whole thing through and. more ›