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Rebuilding NYC - News - June 2004
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Rebuilding NYC






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June 2004

Controversy Rages Over Jersey City's Proposed 9/11 Memorial - Jun 30, 2004
Chances are there would have been some degree of opposition sooner or later had anyone suggested building a 10-story, 175-ton nickel-surfaced teardrop suspended within a bronze-clad tower on a pier across the water from the World Trade Center site as a 9/11 memorial. (New York Times)

Pataki Asks Bush to Use Unspent Tax Breaks on Rail Link - Jun 30, 2004
Gov. George E. Pataki has asked President Bush to allow New York to use billions of dollars in unspent Sept. 11 aid to build a rail link connecting the former World Trade Center site to the Long Island Rail Road and Kennedy International Airport, according to the governor's aides. (New York Times)

New Study Confirms Harsh Economic Effects of 9/11 - Jun 30, 2004
The World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11, 2001, cost the city's economy 143,000 jobs a month and $2.8 billion in lost wages in the subsequent three months, a far greater impact than could be attributed to the recession that had begun earlier that year, according to a study to be published today by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. (New York Times)

Cash Found at Ground Zero Given to Victim's Father - Jun 30, 2004
A small wad of bills found in the debris of the World Trade Center has finally found its way home to the family of a firefighter who died on 9/11. The remarkable journey of these folded $10s, $5s and $1s Ñ a total of $74 Ñ ended at Police Headquarters on Monday after James Boyle received a call saying that DNA tests confirmed they belonged to his son, Michael. (New York Post )

Bush Will Not Visit Ground Zero - Jun 30, 2004
President Bush will make no visits to Ground Zero during this summer's Republican National Convention, his campaign manager said yesterday. But he was quick to note that the president's not making the trip does not indicate any lack of respect. (New York Post)

Bloomberg Asks Cheney for More Security Cash - Jun 30, 2004
Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent a half hour at the St. Regis Hotel yesterday dunning Vice President Dick Cheney for more homeland security cash before switching the subject to their childhood baseball card collections. (Newsday)

The History of Ground Zero: From 1600s to July 4, 2004 - Jun 29, 2004
When ground is broken for the Freedom Tower next Sunday, it will be just the latest chapter in nearly four centuries of rich history. (New York Times)

Train Stations Installing Bomb-Proof Garbage Cans - Jun 28, 2004
A growing number of bomb-proof garbage bins have sprouted at Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station in an effort to thwart any plans by terrorists to put explosive devices inside them, officials said. (New York Post)

New Study Looks at Cancer Link for Ground Zero's Rescue Dogs - Jun 28, 2004
After the 9/11, about 100 search dogs from across the country and Canada who participated in the cleanup were contacted by word of mouth and through dog handler groups. Through local vets, a new study looks at blood samples, X-rays and general physical attributes to judge the health of the dogs. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Two 9/11 Groups Join Forces - Jun 28, 2004
Two Sept. 11 groupsÑSeptember Space and The World Trade Center SurvivorsÕ NetworkÑhave joined forces to collaborate on programs and outreach. The SurvivorsÕ Network is a group formed by people who worked at the WTC or were in the vicinity during the terrorist attack, and are still suffering from the affects of it. This group is now moving to 520 Eighth Ave., the headquarters for September Space, a nonprofit that provides support services to people traumatized by the attack. (Crains New York Business)

9/11 Commission: Qaeda Operatives in US Knew of 9/11 in Advance - Jun 27, 2004
The FBI long has contended that not a single al-Qaida operative in the United States collaborated with the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks. Yet the commission investigating the attacks has identified two Muslim men who may have had advance knowledge of the plot. The commission found that two hijackers got substantial help from Mohdar Abdullah and Anwar Aulaqi after settling in California in 2000. The bipartisan panel created by Congress said it cannot discount the possibility the men knew the hijackers' plans. (Associated Press)

Assemblyman Says Governor Reroutes NYC Security Funds to Suburbs - Jun 27, 2004
A top Democrat is criticizing Gov. Pataki for redirecting millions of dollars in anti-terrorism aid from New York City and other high-need urban areas to the suburbs. Assemblyman Scott Stringer (D-Manhattan) said Pataki last year redirected as much as $19 million of the $125 million earmarked for New York City, with $12.5 million going to the MTA, and $2 million each going to the suburbs of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties. (New York Post)

Brooklyn Street Renamed for Firefighter Killed on 9/11 - Jun 27, 2004
The corner of 48th Street and Seventh Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, was renamed Saturday for Firefighter David DeRubbio, one of the fallen heroes of 9/11. (NY1)

Motorola Still Under Fire for 9/11 Radio Failures - Jun 27, 2004
Motorola's most passionate critics are families of New York City firefighters who died in the World Trade Center's collapse on Sept. 11, 2001. They say many firefighters never heard orders to evacuate the burning towers because their radios weren't working properly--a charge Motorola denies. (Chicago Tribune)

Some Rebuilding Groups Shutting Down, Other Face Financial Challenges - Jun 26, 2004
In the months after Sept. 11, a wide array of organizations sprang up in the wake of the attacks with the purpose of rebuilding Ð literally, financially, culturally Ð Lower Manhattan. Over two years later, many of the organizations have folded or largely completed their projects. (Downtown Express)

Commuters Happy With Silver's Decision on South Ferry - Jun 26, 2004
South Ferry subway commuters were happy to hear that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had dropped his opposition to the stationÕs planned renovation Friday in exchange for $15 million worth of improvements to Battery Park. (Downtown Express)

Amidst Public Frustration, Ground Zero Environmental Panel Debates What To Do - Jun 26, 2004
Members of the public told an Environmental Protection Agency panel on Tuesday that the agency was losing time and jeopardizing their trust in its efforts to determine whether World Trade Center toxins remain in their communities. Residents and workers voiced their frustrations about the pace of the panelÕs inquiry during public comment periods at the June 22 meeting. (Downtown Express)

Son of Highest Ranking Firefighter Killed on 9/11 Becomes Lieutenant - Jun 25, 2004
Firefighter John Feehan became an FDNY lieutenant yesterday, surrounded by his family and a cadre of fellow fire-eaters. But the event was bittersweet because his father, the man who inspired him to join the FDNY, wasn't there. His dad, First Deputy Commissioner William Feehan, was the highest-ranking FDNY official killed in the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center. (New York Post)

Head of Victims Compensation Fund Questions its Formula - Jun 25, 2004
With his work now complete, the special master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is questioning the formula used to determine the awards. (NY1)

Freedom Tower Cornerstone: A 20 Ton Slab from Adirondacks - Jun 25, 2004
A 20-ton slab of stone from the Adirondacks will be the cornerstone of the new Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site. (NY1)

What is the Freedom Center? - Jun 24, 2004
people behind the Freedom Center, one of the cultural institutions chosen this month to occupy ground zero, have spent much of their time so far insisting on what the nascent museum is not. What is less clear is what the institution will be. (New York Times)

New Security Push on Subways Asks Straphangers to Contribute - Jun 24, 2004
The MTA is ratcheting up its efforts to secure subways and commuter trains from terror attacks by expanding an awareness campaign encouraging riders to notify cops if they see a suspicious package or unattended bag, officials said yesterday. (New York Post )

Victims Compensation Fund Releases Final Numbers - Jun 24, 2004
The final numbers are in Wednesday, and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund says it has authorized payouts to more than 5,000 people totaling almost $7 billion. (NY1)

Firefighter Restores Motorcycle to Honor Memory of Colleague Lost on 9/11 - Jun 24, 2004
It started with a simple wish to learn to ride a motorcycle, and when tragedy claimed the life of one of New York's Bravest, one of his brothers decided to help make his dream come true. (NY1)

Port Authority Presents "Much More Than Just a PATH Station" to Public - Jun 24, 2004
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey presented plans to the public in Jersey City Tuesday night for the permanent World Trade Center PATH station. (New Jersey Journal )

Jersey City Cools to Russian Sculptor's Offer of 9/11 Memorial - Jun 24, 2004
When an internationally known Russian sculptor offered last year to erect a 100-foot-tall Sept. 11 memorial on the waterfront opposite the World Trade Center site, the mayor of Jersey City embraced the idea as befitting a city that lost 40 residents in the attack. But with opposition from the city's new mayor and from community groups who consider the teardrop-themed sculpture simplistic and overly imposing, a resolution to accept the offer has been withheld from Wednesday night's City Council meeting, leaving its future in doubt. (WNBC)

In Continuation of Feud Over Security Funds, Congressman Rips Bloomberg - Jun 23, 2004
The Ohio congressman dissed by Mayor Bloomberg for sinking a homeland security bill lashed back yesterday. "It's unfortunate that instead of really working with the Congress on the war against terrorism, the mayor instead chooses time and again to play these silly press games," said Rep. Bob Ney's spokesman Brian Walsh. (New York Daily News)

Bloomberg Explains His Lunch Offense on Security Funds - Jun 23, 2004
Diss my city and there will be political ramifications, a tough-talking Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday. The mayor was explaining why on Monday, he barred Ohio Rep. Bob Ney from a Republican congressional campaign committee get-together that had been scheduled at his Upper East Side townhouse. (Newsday)

In One Case, Proof that 9/11 Caused Health Problem - Jun 22, 2004
After the hijacked planes struck the twin towers on 9/11, Julio Roig was among thousands of downtown workers who poured into the narrow streets from nearby buildings to watch the raging fires. He is one of the few people to demonstrate a direct link between a post 9/11 illness and toxic dust from Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)

Bloomberg Cancels Republican Fundraiser in Feud over Security Funds - Jun 22, 2004
A fund-raiser in Mayor Bloomberg's home for the National Republican Congressional Committee was abruptly dropped yesterday in a growing feud over the allocation of federal funds to fight terrorism. (New York Post )

Trauma Cases Related to 9/11 Continue to Emerge - Jun 21, 2004
An average of 179 firefighters a month - new cases all - seek help from the FDNY's counseling services unit to deal with Sept. 11-related trauma, according to the unit's director, Malachy Corrigan. (New York Daily News)

South Asians Still Suffering Economically Because of 9/11 - Jun 21, 2004
The South Asian community, which is yet to recover from the economic tailspin that began after the September 11 attack, is experiencing severe economic difficulties in New York City, a study contends. (rediff.com)

A 20-ton Granite Slab Will be Focus of July 4 Ceremony at Ground Zero - Jun 20, 2004
Rather than breaking already broken ground at the World Trade Center site on July 4, Gov. George E. Pataki will instead preside as a cornerstone is laid for Freedom Tower - more than 20 tons of garnet-flecked granite from the Adirondacks. (New York Times)

Daniel Libeskind's Shrinking Role at Ground Zero - Jun 20, 2004
People involved with the redevelopment of downtown say Daniel Libeskind has ample reason to be disappointed; in the year since he was anointed Architect on High, his influence, control and stature have steadily diminished. (New York Times)

Convention Gives City a Chance to Showcase Post 9/11 Security - Jun 20, 2004
This summer's Grand Old Party - the Republican National Convention - is New York's chance to showcase its post-9/11 appeal, but the challenge will be selling that message through the noise about security and protesters. (New York Daily News)

Downtown Welcomes Back Ground Zero Farmers Market - Jun 20, 2004
On June 17, commuters and residents welcomed four farmers back to the World Trade Center site for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001. The tables of fresh strawberries, apples, blueberries, lettuce, tomatoes, squash and cherries Ñ set up on the corner of Church and Vesey Sts. immediately north of the PATH station entrance Ñ seemed to fill a void that went deeper than peopleÕs cupboards. (Downtown Express)

Planned Transportation Improvements Spur Real Estate Upswing Downtown - Jun 20, 2004
After a long lull, the commercial real estate market is gaining momentum Downtown, industry experts say. Lower ManhattanÕs comparatively low rents, planned transportation improvements and government incentives are among the factors driving the recent upswing. Shrinking office stock in Midtown has also spurred firms to expand or relocate to the area. (Downtown Express)

Chock Full O' Nuts Removes Twin Towers from its Cans - Jun 19, 2004
Half-asleep coffee drinkers may not pay much attention to what is on the coffee can, but in redesigning its product, Chock full o'Nuts removed the World Trade Center. (New York Times)

Twin Towers' Resistance to Wind Questioned in Report - Jun 19, 2004
The World Trade Center's designers may have severely underestimated the forces that wind exerted on the twin towers, leading them to design skyscrapers less able to handle the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal report says. (Associated Press)

House Votes Down New York's Security Funding Initiative - Jun 19, 2004
Mayor Bloomberg blasted an early morning House vote yesterday that rejected an effort by New York-area lawmakers to funnel homeland security dollars to high-risk cities. (New York Daily News)

NYC Drops out of National Association of Counties Over Homeland Security Dispute - Jun 19, 2004
New York City has dropped out of a national group of local governments that Mayor Michael Bloomberg accused of being a "pork barrel" lobbyist for rural areas on the issue of homeland security funding. (Newsday )

Fire, Not Planes, Caused WTC Collapse, Say Federal Investigators - Jun 19, 2004
The federal agency investigating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center says it was likely fire, and not the impact of the hijacked planes that crashed into the twin towers, that caused the buildings to collapse. (NY1)

Victims Compensation Fund Sparks Question: Will Government Pay Next Time? - Jun 18, 2004
As the Victims Compensation Fund ends, questions linger, none graced with easy answersIs the genie out of the bottle, requiring us to compensate the unfortunate each time the monsters strike? Or may we pick and choose among victims? Whatever Congress's intention, whether to be generous to grieving families or to spare the airlines potentially ruinous lawsuits, was its hasty creation of the compensation fund a mistake? (New York Times)

Congressman Calls for Full Reopening of Statue of Liberty - Jun 18, 2004
The Statue of Liberty should be reopened to her crown - not just to her feet - by July 31, Rep. Anthony Weiner said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Judge Denies WorkersÕ Compensation for Man Claiming Stress Caused by Watching 9/11 - Jun 18, 2004
A financial analyst who worked blocks away from Ground Zero on 9/11 and claimed he could not return to his job because of post-traumatic-stress disorder cannot collect workers' compensation, a state appeals court ruled yesterday. The state Supreme Court Appellate Division unanimously ruled that Joseph Betro's problems did not arise from his job, noting that he voluntarily hung around to watch the tragedy unfolding. (New York Post)

9/11 Widower Pushed to Make Victims Compensation Fund Fair - Jun 18, 2004
After Charles Wolf's wife, Katharine, died at the World Trade Center, he became a leading critic of the 9/11 compensation fund. Wolf even set up a Web site dubbed "Fix the Fund" to attack what he called overseer Kenneth Feinberg's stinginess. (New York Post )

Widow of Firefighter Accepts Money from Fund, Angrily - Jun 18, 2004
For Marian Fontana of Brooklyn, accepting a settlement from the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund was a deal with the devil. The widow of firefighter Dave Fontana is, of course, grateful for the nearly $1 million she received as compensation for his death. But she's still angry about the process. (New York Post )

9/11 World Trade Registry Now Largest in US History - Jun 18, 2004
The World Trade Center health registry has passed the 40,000 member mark, making it the largest public health registry in U.S. history. (NY1)

In Wrenching Detail, Commission Recounts Morning of 9/11 - Jun 18, 2004
The nation has relived that morning countless times since Sept. 11, 2001, but never with the harrowing detail and minute-by-minute drama of the staff report released Thursday by the independent commission investigating the attacks. The 29-page report recounts a frenetic 149 minutes unlike anything ever faced by the nation's aviation and military defenses. And it details moments both of unflinching calm, like actions by the air traffic controllers who managed to orchestrate the landings of all 4,500 flights aloft, and of maddening miscommunications, mangled coordination and broken chains of command. (New York Times)

9/11 Commission Questions Nearly Every Aspect of Response to 9/11 - Jun 18, 2004
For most of 2002, President Bush argued that a commission created to look into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks would only distract from the post-Sept. 11 war on terrorism. Now, in 17 preliminary staff reports, that panel has called into question nearly every aspect of the administration's response to terror, including the idea that Iraq and Al Qaeda were somehow the same foe. (New York Times )

Administration Was Thrown Into Chaos On 9/11, Says Commission - Jun 18, 2004
Offering an extraordinary window into the government's chaotic response on Sept. 11, 2001, the commission investigating the terrorist attacks detailed on Thursday a series of communications breakdowns at the White House and the Pentagon that were so severe that military commanders did not tell fighter pilots that they had been given the authority by Vice President Dick Cheney to shoot down hijacked planes. (New York Times )

9/11 Commission: Iraq Not Involved in Attacks - Jun 17, 2004
The staff of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks sharply contradicted one of President Bush's central justifications for the Iraq war, reporting on Wednesday that there did not appear to have been a "collaborative relationship" between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. The assertion came in staff reports that offer a chilling, richly detailed chronology of the Sept. 11 plot and rewrite much of the history of the attacks. (New York Times)

Kevin Rampe, Consensus Builder - Jun 17, 2004
An accommodating ego, a thick skin, a Type A work ethic, an optimistic world view. If the traits, discordant as they may seem, make the man, Kevin M. Rampe appears to have the right stuff to act as chief facilitator of a 9/11-mandated mission, the reconstruction of ground zero, which should come with a warning label. Danger: prepare to get chewed out, worn out and burned out. P.S.: that's how you'll know you're doing the job right. (New York Times)

Victims Compensation Fund Ends Tasks, But Controversies Remain - Jun 17, 2004
The federal Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund may be closing its doors, but a number of controversies remain. Despite the fund's efforts to dissuade people from suing the airlines and others, 108 lawsuits have been filed in federal court, along with an unknown number of personal injury claims. (Newsday)

9/11 Commission Will Scrutinize Air Defense on Last Day of Hearings - Jun 17, 2004
The 9/11 commission is focusing on the nationÕs air defenses on its final day of hearings Thursday, asking whether one or more of the hijacked airliners could have been intercepted if military jets had been scrambled faster. (NY1)

9/11 Families Want More Detailed Version of Plot from Commission - Jun 17, 2004
The narrative of the Sept. 11 terrorist plot unfolded in fresh, chilling detail on Wednesday, complete with maps and photographs. But for some listeners - family members of those who lost their lives in the attacks - the story was not nearly comprehensive enough. (New York Times)

American Air Defense Was Unprepared for Attacks, Says 9/11 Commission - Jun 16, 2004
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks has found that the Pentagon's domestic air-defense command was disastrously unprepared for a major terrorist strike on American soil and was slow and confused in its response to the hijackings that morning, according to officials who have read a draft report of the commission's findings. (New York Times)

Almost Three Years and $7 Billion Later, Victims Compensation Fund Completes Work - Jun 16, 2004
Nearly three years after establishing a fund to compensate the families of Sept. 11 victims, the federal government said yesterday that it had completed the task and that it would end up paying more than 5,000 families almost $7 billion. (New York Times)

The Man Behind the Victims Compensation Fund - Jun 16, 2004
No one lived as deeply in the emotional and financial complexities of the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund as the person who designed it and became its public face: Kenneth R. Feinberg. (New York Times)

To Victims of 9/11, One Lawyer Couldn't Say No - Jun 16, 2004
Thousands of lawyers helped Sept. 11 families. Many accepted a family or two; a few took on as many as half a dozen. But Daniel Kramer accepted about two dozen cases that were submitted to the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund - far more than anyone else, according to a fund official. (New York Times)

For One 9/11 Widow, Somber Acceptance of Victims Compensation Fund - Jun 16, 2004
Like many who lost loved ones in the collapse of the World Trade Center, Grissel Rodriguez-Valentin had her doubts, initially, about the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund. But her gradual acceptance of the program was emblematic of how an overwhelming majority of families, in the painful end, reluctantly decided that even a program they viewed as flawed was a better option than an individual lawsuit against the airlines or the owners of the twin towers. (New York Times)

9/11 Commission Starts Last Round of Hearings - Jun 16, 2004
The commission investigating the September 11, 2001, attacks opens its final round of hearings Wednesday in Washington, focusing on the terroristsÕ planning and how the country's air defenses responded. (NY1)

Tapes From Hijacked Planes Reveal That Ground Personnel Muffled Attacks - Jun 16, 2004
Am FBI-organized briefing in New Jersey two weeks ago was attended by about 130 family members of victims. Previously unavailable calls from passengers and crew were to be played for families of victims of the four infamous flights that were turned into missiles by terrorists. Who knew what, and when? And what did the airlines and federal officials do about it? (New York Observer)

Green Market Returns to World Trade Center Site - Jun 15, 2004
New York blueberries, homegrown lettuce and fresh-baked bread are making their return to the World Trade Center site for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001. Four green market farmers will set up tables of homegrown produce on the north side of the entrance to the WTC PATH terminal starting Thursday. (New York Daily News)

Victims Compensation Fund Deadline Is Tonight at Midnight - Jun 15, 2004
With one day to go before the deadline, the fund set up to compensate victims of 9/11 has paid out close to $6 billion Ñ more than $3 billion more than its overseer's original estimate. The Sept. 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which closes at midnight in accordance with a congressional mandate, has authorized $5.9 billion in payments to the families of injured or killed World Trade Center workers. (New York Post)

Lincoln Center Weighed Heavily in WTC Arts Selections - Jun 15, 2004
When it came time early this month for a final decision on the cultural presence at the World Trade Center site, city and state officials' focus was in large part on what would be best for a cultural site some five miles to the north Ñ at Lincoln Center. (New York Times)

Janitor Tells of Encounter With 9/11 Hijacker - Jun 15, 2004
A hero janitor who helped victims escape from the World Trade Center's north tower before it collapsed told the 9/11 panel that he came across one of the hijackers in the building a few months before the attack. (New York Daily News)

Plans to Memorialize 9/11 Victims at Fresh Kills Prove Controversial - Jun 14, 2004
Fresh Kills was the world's most colossal dump when the city closed it in early 2001. And now that the Department of City Planning is developing a master plan for turning its 2,200 acres into a vast and innovative new park, it is could become the world's most controversial trash heap. The problem is not how many soccer fields to build or whether to plant oak trees or magnolias. Rather, a battle is looming over a comparatively tiny area of the vast landfill and the city's intention of preserving the painful memories of what happened here. (New York Times)

Final Round of 9/11 Commission Hearings To Be Held This Week - Jun 13, 2004
The 9/11 commission will meet Wednesday and Thursday in Washington to focus on the terrorist plot and the government's immediate response. (NY1)

Victims' Compensation Payouts Near $6 Billion - Jun 12, 2004
The fund for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks has already agreed to pay out nearly $6 billion as the unprecedented program nears its final day of operation next week. (Associated Press)

Seven World Trade Center Rises - Jun 12, 2004
Seven World Trade Center is rising rapidly. In the following report, NY1's Amanda Farinacci takes us on an exclusive tour of the under-construction building, with a view from the top and from developer Larry Silverstein. (NY1)

Chosen Arts Groups Lay Out Plans for Ground Zero - Jun 12, 2004
Four arts groups -- The Joyce dance theater, The Drawing Center, Signature Theater, and the new Freedom Center -- laid out their plans for their new downtown locations last week, after being picked by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to move to Ground Zero. (Downtown Express)

House Speaker Predicts More Federal Funds for 9/11 Transportation Projects - Jun 12, 2004
The speaker of the House said Monday that he thought Congress would approve additional 9/11-related money to fund Lower Manhattan transportation projects. Asked by Downtown Express if he thought there would be more aid beyond the federal $21.4 billion package for New York, Rep. J. Dennis Hastert, speaker of the House of Representatives, said: ÒI think there will be some more. Some of that is for transportation.Ó (Downtown Express)

Lower Manhattan Development Corporation President Hopes for New Sources of Funding for Rail Link - Jun 12, 2004
The president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation gave few clues last week about how the agency might distribute its remaining $1 billion, telling Downtowners only that officials hoped little, if any, would go toward the proposed rail link to J.F.K. airport. (Downtown Express)

Cultural Institutions Picked for World Trade Center Complex - Jun 11, 2004
Pledging to reinvigorate cultural life in Lower Manhattan, state and city officials yesterday announced the selection of arts groups devoted to dance, theater and drawing, along with a museum celebrating freedom, as the cultural anchors for the World Trade Center site. (New York Times)

Judge Rebuffs 9/11 Families Looking to Sue - Jun 11, 2004
A judge yesterday barred the families of six 9/11 victims from suing. Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled that families had waived their right to sue by filing claims with the Victims Compensation Fund. (New York Daily News)

In Arts Complex Competition, Underdogs Come out on Top - Jun 11, 2004
Failing to tap a big-name cultural institution for Ground Zero, redevelopment officials announced yesterday that four less well-known organizations were selected yesterday to occupy future new buildings at the site. (New York Post)

Sharpton Pushes For Diversity in Ground Zero Construction - Jun 11, 2004
The Rev. Al Sharpton plans to lead a march from Ground Zero to City Hall on June 21 to convince World Trade Center development officials to steer more construction jobs to blacks and Latinos. (Newsday)

Last Uniformed Officer Found Alive in WTC Retires - Jun 10, 2004
Rescuers pulled Lt. John McLoughlin from the wreckage about 22 hours after the twin towers collapsed, making him the last uniformed person rescued from the site where 2,749 others perished, said the Port Authority, which owns the trade center complex. In a ceremony punctuated by tears and cheers, McLoughlin -- leaning on a cane for support after undergoing 30 operations on his legs -- bid an emotional goodbye to his co-workers during a ceremony marking his retirement. (Associated Press)

Wall Street Firms Work With New Realities - Jun 10, 2004
In the weeks and months after 9/11, three CIOs working next door to the World Trade Center found they had to be strong leaders to get their companies back online. Now back in the city, they don't make business continuity plans. They live them. (CIO Asia)

9/11 Commission's Draft Report Avoids Criticism of Individuals, Goes After Intelligence Agencies - Jun 09, 2004
Hoping to avoid partisan attacks, the Sept. 11 commission has drafted a final report that avoids placing blame on individuals in the Bush or Clinton administrations but sharply criticizes the FBI and intelligence agencies for missteps prior to the catastrophe. (Associated Press)

On Centential of General Slocum Disaster, 9/11 Gives New Perspective - Jun 08, 2004
The fiery sinking of the paddle-wheel steamboat General Slocum was the city's deadliest disaster before the destruction of the World Trade Center. More than a thousand innocents - mostly German immigrant women and their children, on a picnic excursion - perished in the East River calamity on June 15, 1904. "For many years, this was the tragedy that we forgot,'' said Kathleen Hulser, public historian of the New-York Historical Society. "But faded memories can be renewed, and this one was, after the greater disaster of Sept. 11.'' (New York Times)

Ground is Broken at Battery Bosque, With Help of Lower Manhattan Development Corporation - Jun 08, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Parks Department broke ground Monday at the Battery Bosque, in an effort to transform the run-down area into a lush green space. More than $8.5 million has been allocated for the project, which will include money for a new carousel. (NY1)

Activists Take Up Cause of Pakistani Caught in Post-9/11 Roundups - Jun 06, 2004
On a cloudless autumn day three years ago, Ansar Mahmood, a pizza deliveryman for a Domino's near here, took a few hours off from work to snap pictures of the Hudson River amid the foliage, to send home to his family in Pakistan. That moment marked the end of Mr. Mahmood's brief American dream, as he stumbled into a vortex of fear, politics and deportation proceedings. But the moment also thrust him into the embrace of a local community of peace activists who took up his cause with a gritty intensity. (New York Times)

Cultural Institutions for Ground Zero To Be ChosenThis Week - Jun 06, 2004
Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Pataki plan to announce this week which cultural institutions will be included at the World Trade Center site, a major breakthrough following months of contentious debate, the Daily News has learned. (New York Daily News)

Bloomberg Calls on Homeland Security Chief to Stand Up to Congress on Funds - Jun 05, 2004
Michael R. Bloomberg called yesterday on the homeland security secretary, Tom Ridge, to stand up to Congress over what the mayor has repeatedly characterized as its efforts to shortchange New York City on anti-terrorism money. (New York Times)

9/11 Families Hear Tapes from Planes' Last Moments - Jun 05, 2004
Family members who lost relatives gathered at a New Jersey hotel for the 3 1/2 hour-long, closed-door briefing with federal officials. Participants estimated that about 130 people attended. Justice Department letters sent to family members said they would hear tapes of cell phone calls between the passengers and family members or co-workers on the ground. The tapes were said to include calls made by American Airlines Flight 11 flight attendants Betty Ong and Amy Sweeney before their plane hit the World Trade Center. (Associated Press)

Police Officers Sue City for 9/11 Illnesses - Jun 05, 2004
Two NYPD detectives are claiming in a new lawsuit that the city failed to protect them from toxic fumes at Ground Zero and from 9/11 debris at Fresh Kills landfill. (New York Daily News)

Planned Barrier Between Memorial, Battery Park City Removed - Jun 05, 2004
Officials with the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. said Wednesday that the proposed wall blocking the World Trade Center memorial from Battery Park City has been removed from the design, satisfying a neighborhood concern about the plan. (Downtown Express)

Sound Booth at Memorial Center Will Preserve 9/11 Memories - Jun 05, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development CorporationÕs board on Wednesday approved a $500,000 payment to StoryCorps and SeptemberÕs Mission to set up an oral history booth at the World Trade Center site by the three-year anniversary of the attack. The interviews will become part of the archives of the interpretive center that will be located under the W.T.C. memorial, said Anita Contini, vice president of memorial and cultural affairs for the L.M.D.C. The Library of Congress will also keep the records. (Downtown Express)

Religious Group Center Across from Ground Zero - Jun 05, 2004
The faith-based organization New York Disaster Interfaith Services, which has been involved in assisting victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center, dedicated a disaster resources and training center to the Manhattan law firm Chadbourne & Parke on May 25th following a series of donations by the company over the past two years. (Downtown Express)

For Survivor, 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Grant is Bittersweet - Jun 04, 2004
Deborah Mardenfeld had the sad distinction of being one of the most gravely injured New Yorkers to survive the attacks of 9/11. Hit by falling debris from the second plane that slammed into the World Trade Center, she spent more than a year in hospitals, trying to regain the use of her badly damaged legs. Now, Ms. Mardenfeld has been awarded roughly $8.6 million by the federal September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, which says it is among the largest of the 4,127 payments it has agreed to make so far(they total more than $5 billion). (New York Times)

FBI Criticizes NYPD for Stealing Glory in Terrorist Arrest - Jun 04, 2004
New York's FBI director has put his anger at NYPD officials into words - firing off an internal memo that blasted them for hogging the credit for last week's terrorist arrest. (New York Daily News)

Bob Kerrey Speaks About the 9/11 Commission - Jun 04, 2004
Bob Kerrey, former U.S. senator, currently president of New School University and member of the federal 9/11 commission, gave the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce his views Tuesday on the World Trade Center attack and on his career since he came from Nebraska in 2001 to head the New School. (Downtown Express)

Fulton Street Subway Station Receives Praise - Jun 04, 2004
The $750 million design for a new subway center at Fulton St. and Broadway received glowing praise from resident leaders and transportation advocates at the opening unveiling May 26, but mixed reviews an hour later from some of the small businesses the new center will displace. (Downtown Express)

Kentucky Woman Quilts 9/11 Tribute - Jun 04, 2004
Nearly three years after the attack on the World Trade Center, Mary M. Henderson wants to let the cityÕs firefighters know she hasnÕt forgotten their sacrifice and loss. The Kentucky grandmother spent more than a year cross-stitching the names and company affiliations of all 343 firefighters who died on 9/11 onto a king-sized quilt. Now that itÕs done, Henderson, 48, would like to deliver her red-white-and-blue tribute to the firefighters in Ten House across from ground zero. (Downtown Express)

9/11 Environmental Panel Considers Next Move - Jun 04, 2004
The Environmental Protection AgencyÕs goal of retesting Lower Manhattan apartments by the end of June seemed remote as the agencyÕs expert panel grappled with how to measure lingering contamination from the World Trade Center collapse. At its third public meeting on May 24, the 17-member panel of government and independent experts continued discussing whether World Trade Center dust has a chemical fingerprint that would distinguish it from normal urban grit. This so-called signature would help scientists determine what, if any, contamination remains from the World Trade Center collapse. (Downtown Express)

Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Approves General Plan for World Trade Center - Jun 03, 2004
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation set the stage yesterday - that is, if all the needed money can be found and all the inevitable lawsuits can be won - for the full-fledged redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. The corporation board unanimously affirmed a general project plan, leaving open the possibility of restoring parts of Dey and Cortlandt Streets but perhaps turning a block of Washington Street into a truck security checkpoint. It also certified that the environmental review was complete. (Not all its critics agree, saying that the review did not sufficiently account for the impact of other large downtown projects.) (New York Times)

Advisory Council Calls for 'Powerful' Artifact to Mark Entrance to Underground Museum - Jun 03, 2004
A "powerful, visible" artifact from Ground Zero should mark the entrance to the World Trade Center Memorial Center, an advisory panel said yesterday. That recommendation was one of several made by the Memorial Center Advisory Committee in a draft released yesterday by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. The memorial center will be located underground at the southwest corner of the memorial site. (New York Daily News)

Ground Zero Museum Should Honor Each Victim: Advisory Council - Jun 03, 2004
The Ground Zero memorial museum should include touching tributes to each victim, including their personal effects and images, an advisory panel recommended yesterday. Such personal and moving memorials would be in addition to a "factual" account of the terrorists who killed the nearly 3,000 victims. (New York Post)

Fire Chief Urges 9/11 Commission To Avoid Unfair Criticism of FDNY - Jun 03, 2004
Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta had a tough message for the 9/11 Commission during yesterday's Medal Day ceremony: Don't knock the FDNY. (New York Post)

Two More Streets May be Extended Through World Trade Center Site - Jun 03, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has opened the door to extending two more downtown streets through a portion of the World Trade Center site. At a meeting Wednesday, the LMDC revealed that Cortlandt and Dey streets, which at one time ran all the way through the 16-acre site, now have a shot at being extended westward to Greenwich Street, allowing greater connectivity at the site. (NY1)

Man Pleads Guilty to 9/11 Con - Jun 02, 2004
A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty yesterday to inventing a dead wife in order to scam World Trade Center charities out of $100,000. (New York Post)

Silverstein, Libeskind Battle Over Ground Zero Cash - Jun 02, 2004
Behind the scenes at Ground Zero -- and with just one month left before construction begins on the Freedom Tower, developer Larry Silverstein finds himself entangled in a dizzying web of financial stopgaps, bitter feuds with architects and scrambling to reassure his landlord heÕs the man to rebuild. A series of letters Ñ obtained by The Observer Ñ that the Libeskinds and their lawyer sent to the Silverstein camp over the course of the last month reveal just how personal this dispute has become, and how hard feelings from last yearÕs design conflict are still lingering. (New York Observer)

West Street Tunnel Plan a Waste, Says New Study - Jun 02, 2004
The $860 million plan to build a tunnel under a four-block stretch of West Street has been deemed one of the most wasteful highway projects in the country, a new report says. (New York Post)

As New York Fumes, Wyoming Says It Needs Antiterror Funding Too - Jun 01, 2004
It is hard to imagine there are many terrorist threats in a place where tumbleweeds regularly blow down the streets, as they do in Cheyenne, Wyoming's largest city and state capital. For those who doubt, however, Wyoming officials point to the two men, thought by the state police to be white supremacists, who were stopped while carrying nine pipe bombs in the rented trailer attached to their rented truck. Wyoming officials disposed of the bombs using a robot bought with a federal antiterrorism grant. That grant was part of the very antiterrorism program that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg recently called "pork barrel politics at its worst." (New York Times)

World of Golf to Become Transit Center's Casualty - Jun 01, 2004
The latest project unveiled for Lower Manhattan, the Fulton Street Transit Center, will connect four subway stations under a crystalline glass dome. It will also almost surely doom the World of Golf in its building at 189 Broadway. (New York Times)

9/11 Commission Exposed Problems in Rescue Effort - Jun 01, 2004
The city's response on Sept. 11, 2001 wasn't the picture of coordination that former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and his emergency leaders painted for the 9/11 commission, the panel's staff concluded. Newsday offers a look at some of the conclusions reached, and detail developed, by the staff or in testimony before the commission in New York last month. (Newsday)

Port Authority Police Had Problems on 9/11 As Well - Jun 01, 2004
With all the focus on the city's fire and police agencies, the role of the Port Authority Police in the Sept 11, 2001 response seemed almost overlooked during the 911 Commission hearings. About 200 Port Authority cops responded to the crisis, and 37 officers and supervisors were killed -- the largest single-day loss of life for a police department in the country's history. While the department played a key role in evacuations, the 911 Commission staff found in a preliminary report that its response was hampered by the same kinds of problems that the city police and fire departments experienced. (Newsday)