The Port Authority released its letter and report to Governor David Paterson about progress at the World Trade Center site. The NY-NJ agency was given control of the site two years ago, but building at the site has been stymied by delays given the complexity and cost of the project.
Now, P.A. Director Chris Ward believes that everything's set to have the project move forward and noted the progress since his June report. But what we like best is the timeline with the "probabilistic" dates of completion (back in 2003, then Governor Pataki said Freedom Tower would be completed by 2008!) and the new projects costs. All told, the project will cost $1 billion more than previously estimated. Governor Paterson said of the report, "We know what we are building, how long it will take and how much it will cost."
The WTC Memorial will be mostly done for September 11, 2011 commemoration (the visitor's center might not be open in time), but it will cost another $75 million and the site will be surrounded by construction. This didn't make Mayor Bloomberg happy, who had previously written an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal demanding action at Ground Zero--he said, "Fully completing the memorial by the 10th anniversary of 9/11 remains our goal and this plan doesn't accomplish that."
