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As Charitable Funds Expire, Questions About Long-Term Needs Remain - Sep 9, 2004
An astonishing $3 billion was raised to help the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and nearly all that money has been spent, the bulk of it handed over in cash grants, some without regard to financial need. Three years later, some are wondering whether this was the best way to make use of this unprecedented charitable windfall. (New York Times )

Trade Center Veterans Plan Cooperative Restaurant - Sep 7, 2004
Memory can make a bitter dish, but a group of 50 waiters, cooks and busboys who once worked at the Windows on the World restaurant are intent on honoring 73 colleagues who died when the twin towers collapsed by opening what may be New York's first cooperatively owned restaurant. (New York Times )

Cantor Fitzgerald Sues Saudi Arabia Over 9/11 - Sep 4, 2004
Cantor Fitzgerald, the brokerage firm that lost 658 employees in the Sept. 11 attack, has sued Saudi Arabia, charging that the kingdom "provided funding and material support and substantial assistance" to Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. (New York Times )

September 11 Fund Prepares to Close - Aug 31, 2004
The September 11th Fund will close in December, having awarded more than $500 million in grants to 100,000 people affected by the 2001 terrorist attacks. (Associated Press)

9/11 Aid for Small Businesses Going Unused - Aug 30, 2004
With four months remaining in a 9/11 program intended to pour $155 million into small businesses that move to or stay in Lower Manhattan, a third of the money remains to be awarded or pledged. (New York Times )

Religious Group Call for More Aid to 9/11 Victims, Families - Aug 30, 2004
A local religious organization says it wants more help for victims and families of 9/11. (NY1)

Comptroller Warns of Shortfall in Federal 9/11 Aid - Aug 25, 2004
Comptroller William Thompson asserted Tuesday that the city may not receive as much as $5.2 billion in World Trade Center aid. In a report issued days before the start of the Republican National Convention here, Thompson says the funding is in jeopardy because of long-term delays and a "failure to monitor the progress" of parts of the aid package. (Newsday)

Parents to Lead Ceremony Honoring 9/11 Victims - Aug 17, 2004
The ceremony commemorating the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack will closely follow the script for last year's event. But officials said yesterday that there would be a change in the cast: instead of the victims' children taking center stage, the victims' parents and grandparents will. (New York Times)

Watchdog Group Recommends Diversifying Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Board - Aug 15, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has failed to allocate its federal 9/11 recovery funds in a transparent way and has given undue preference to big businesses and organizations with ties to its board members, according to a report released this week by a budget watchdog organization. (Downtown Express)

City Well on Its Way to Receiving Its $20 Billion in Federal Aid - Aug 12, 2004
Less than three weeks before the Republican National Convention comes to town, a report released yesterday says the Bush administration is well on the way to providing all the $20.5 billion it promised the city after the World Trade Center attacks. (Jersey Journal)

Pataki Signs Lower Manhattan Construction Act - Aug 11, 2004
New rules are being implemented for construction projects in downtown Manhattan, with the intention of ensuring high-quality work is done in a timely manner. (NY1)

Traffic from Terror Alerts Costing City - Aug 6, 2004
Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed concern yesterday that grinding traffic from terror-related restrictions on bridges and tunnels might have affected the city's finances. (Newsday)

For New York, Terror Alert Has Economic Consequences - Aug 3, 2004
Prompted by warnings from Washington that Al Qaeda might try to strike New York's financial heart again, more-visible security measures returned to New York yesterday as the city responded to apparent threats against specific buildings for the first time. The stepped-up measures led to worries that the security delays and psychological effects of the terrorism threat will act as a brake on a city economy that is just beginning to rev up after a prolonged slump. (New York Times)

Feds Plan to Extend Environmental Testing - Aug 1, 2004
Community members and scientific experts applauded an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to expand testing for 9/11 contaminants to residences and workplaces north of Canal St. (Downtown Express)

Cantor Fitzgerald Finds New Home in Midtown - Jul 27, 2004
Nearly three years after 658 Cantor Fitgerald employees were killed in the attack on the World Trade Center, the stock and bond trading company has found a new home five miles from ground zero, on the East Side of Manhattan. Cantor signed a lease last week to move into space now occupied by Bloomberg L.P., the business information company founded by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, at Park Avenue and 59th Street, where Cantor plans to erect a monument to the co-workers who died in the Sept. 11 attack. (New York Times)

Another 9/11 Victim Identified - Jul 24, 2004
The medical examiner's office has identified another victim of the World Trade Center attacks: Mildred Rose Naiman, 81. (New York Post)

9/11 Commission Report to Criticize NYC Response - Jul 20, 2004
Confusion between city police officers and firefighters during the World Trade Center attack will reportedly be a major topic in the scathing final report the federal 9/11 commission is expected to release on Thursday. (NY1)

Libeskind Sues Silverstein Over Design Fee - Jul 14, 2004
Just a week after the Freedom Tower cornerstone was laid in place, Daniel Libeskind, the master planner of the World Trade Center site, yesterday sued Larry A. Silverstein, the tower's developer, for $843,750 in architectural fees that Mr. Libeskind says he is owed. (New York Times)

Citigroup to Move Employees from Lower Manhattan - Jul 13, 2004
Citigroup is moving more than 1,000 employees to New Jersey from Lower Manhattan, according to government officials and real estate executives, in a major realignment that raises new doubts about the pace of economic rejuvenation downtown. (New York Times)

Convention Planners Fear Train Bombing - Jul 11, 2004
Security planners for the upcoming political conventions are highly concerned about a train bombing and are taking unprecedented steps to safeguard subway and commuter lines in host cities New York and Boston. (Newsday)

Silverstein Wants to Use Remaining Liberty Bonds for Ground Zero - Jul 9, 2004
World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein wants all of the $3.5 billion or so that's left of the Liberty Bonds to go directly toward rebuilding the site. He may need it. (New York Daily News)

I Had to Settle Family Feuds, Says 9/11 Fund Chief - Jul 6, 2004
The man who divvied up the $6 billion compensation fund to relatives of the Sept. 11 attacks said he had to resolve some pretty prickly disputes among feuding family members. (New York Daily News)

Ceremony Marks Symbolic Start to Ground Zero Construction - Jul 5, 2004
New York took the first tangible step to recover its place at the pinnacle of the global skyline in a ceremony that was held within the trade center's foundation, in bright sunshine but far below street level, where bedrock begins. With many questions unanswered, symbolism was the order of the day at the hourlong ceremony. (New York Times)

Freedom Tower Cornerstone Laid - Jul 4, 2004
A 20-ton slab of granite, inscribed to honor "the enduring spirit of freedom," was laid Sunday at the World Trade Center site as the cornerstone of the skyscraper replacing the destroyed towers. (Associated Press)

City Prepares Cops for Chemical Attack - Jul 4, 2004
Behind the gates of a former Brooklyn grade school, the NYPD is mustering an army of 10,000 cops that will be ready to march into the chaos of a chemical, biological or nuclear terror strike - just in time for the upcoming Republican National Convention. (New York Post)

Mayor Backs Governor on Converting 9/11 Cash - Jul 1, 2004
Michael R. Bloomberg will support Gov. George E. Pataki's proposal to use billions of dollars in unspent Sept. 11 aid on building a rail link to connect the former World Trade Center site to the Long Island Rail Road and Kennedy International Airport, the mayor's aides said yesterday. Mr. Pataki has personally lobbied President Bush, a fellow Republican, to provide hard cash in place of a $5 billion tax-break package that Washington established to help spur construction in Lower Manhattan after the terrorist attacks. (New York Times)

Silverstein Executive Wants to Use Liberty Bonds at Ground Zero - Jul 1, 2004
During testimony at the first in a series of City Council hearings on funding for Lower Manhattan redevelopment, John Lieber, senior vice president of World Trade Center LLC, a Silverstein Properties company, issued a call that the funds remaining in the Liberty Bond pool should be allocated and preserved for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. That call was echoed by Community Board 1 and the Downtown Alliance. (Globe St. )

Pedestal of Statue of Liberty to Open August 3rd - Jul 1, 2004
Visitors will be able to again enter the Statue of Liberty on Aug. 3, after being closed for nearly three years of safety and security improvements, the National Parks Service said yesterday. (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)

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)

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 Manhattan’s 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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

On Centential of General Slocum Disaster, 9/11 Gives New Perspective - Jun 8, 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)

West Street Tunnel Plan a Waste, Says New Study - Jun 2, 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)

City, Federal Government Debate Use of $4 Billion in Rebuilding Funds - May 27, 2004
The White House, city officials and lawmakers have held private talks to see if they can reallocate unused money President Bush promised the city after the 9/11 attacks, The Daily News has learned. The secret negotiations have focused on giving the city more flexibility to spend some $4 billion in unused funds. (New York Daily News)

Police Department Gives Officers Guide for Identifying Terrorists - May 18, 2004
The Police Department has issued a pocket-sized reference card for patrol officers detailing guidelines it says are designed to help them spot terrorists. The department tells its officers to watch out for people with drivers' licenses from more than one state, passports from more than one country, and identification papers with different names and people videotaping or photographing bridges, tunnels, utilities, landmarks and government facilities. (New York Times)

Liberty Bond Extension Moves Through Congress - May 14, 2004
A five-year extension of Liberty Bonds for post-Sept. 11 construction in New York is headed to congressional negotiators after the Senate unanimously approved it as part of an international tax bill. The program to provide $8 billion in tax-exempt bonds, originally estimated to cost the government about $1.2 billion as part of more than $20 billion in federal aid to the city, is set to expire at the end of 2004. (Associated Press)

Port Authority Asks Silverstein How He’ll Rebuild - May 14, 2004
The owner of the World Trade Center site wants details from leaseholder Larry Silverstein on how he plans to pay to rebuild the site following a loss in a court case that had aimed to double his insurance payout. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is committed to working with Silverstein Properties ``to find out what their financial plan is for the rebuilding of the entire site,'' authority spokesman Steve Coleman said. (Associated Press)

Freedom Tower Will Break Ground on July 4 - May 6, 2004
Groundbreaking for the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower - the signature new building at Ground Zero - will take place on the Fourth of July, Gov. Pataki said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Rebuilding Officials Say Insurance Verdict Won't Limit Development - May 1, 2004
A court decision may have left World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein billions short of the cash he needs to redevelop Ground Zero, but officials said yesterday plans will move along - with or without him. (New York Daily News)

Westchester Picks 9/11 Memorial - Apr 30, 2004
Westchester County unveiled the winning design on Thursday for its own Sept. 11 memorial, a soaring sculpture with 109 intersecting steel rods, each representing a victim who lived in the county. The memorial, named "The Rising," was designed by Frederic Schwartz, an acclaimed Manhattan architect and a founder of the Think team. Think's entry in the master plan competition for ground zero was the runner-up in that contest. The Westchester memorial will be built at Kensico Dam Plaza, a county-owned park in Valhalla. Unveiling is scheduled for Sept. 11, 2005. (New York Times)

Midtown Retail Rates Surpass Pre-9/11 Levels - Apr 29, 2004
Midtown retail asking rents have not only returned to pre-Sept. 11 levels but have surpassed them. In the spring of 2004, according to the Real Estate Board of New York’s spring retail report, asking retail rents in midtown averaged $125 per square foot. That tops the $122-per-square-foot average midtown rent in spring 2001; the terrorist attacks helped bring prices as low as $107 in the fall of 2001. Downtown and midtown south have yet to recover, according to REBNY. Downtown retail asking rents are averaging $59 per square foot, compared with $60 in the spring of 2001. Asking rents for midtown south retail space are averaging $75 a square foot, still shy of pre-Sept. 11 levels of $78. (Crains NY )

Broadway Ticket Sales Back to Pre 9/11 Levels - Apr 29, 2004
Broadway ticket sales have been soaring on the Great White Way. Tourists are back in numbers not seen since before Sept. 11. A more diverse range of productions than at any time in memory is attracting new audiences. An unusually large number of smash-hit musicals is bringing in crowds. (Crains New York )

How Will the 9/11 Insurance Case Affect Commercial Real Estate? - Apr 28, 2004
So, One or Two: besides the not insubstantial sum of $3.6 billion, what difference will it make? A fascinating one. Commercial landlords across the city have to be feeling torn. Of course, they want to see their colleague Larry Silverstein emerge triumphant, a patrician warrior hero with an unfathomable bundle of cash in hand. But if he does, then they smell trouble. (Slatin Report)

Juror Asks to Leave 9/11 Insurance Trial - Apr 28, 2004
A juror's unofficial request to be excused from the trial over insurance coverage at the World Trade Center sent a tremor through the courtroom yesterday during the sixth day of jury deliberations in the multibillion-dollar case. (New York Times)

New York Keeping Ground Zero Out of Olympic Bid - Apr 22, 2004
Ground Zero is so close to New York's Olympic bid-city headquarters, it's impossible not to think the two are intertwined. But bid officials, right from the days following Sept.11, said they would not use the terrorist attacks for sympathy in trying to win the 2012 Summer Olympics. (The Gazette )

Suit Attempts to Stop Use of Liberty Bonds For Queens Power Plant - Apr 19, 2004
Five New York lawmakers plan to file suit today to keep a proposed power plant in Queens from getting $400 million in state Liberty Bonds, The Post has learned. The company that wants to build the plant, SCS Energy, has received preliminary approval for the bonds from the New York Liberty Development Corp., a quasi-governmental entity set up by the state. The legislators say the tax-free funds should not go to a project that has nothing to do with rebuilding lower Manhattan. (New York Post)

Jury To Begin Deliberations On World Trade Center Insurance Suit - Apr 19, 2004
It will probably take more than 90 minutes for the judge to deliver a complex set of jury instructions this morning in the bitter multibillion-dollar court battle between developer Larry A. Silverstein and insurers over what coverage was in effect at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. But after hearing 10 weeks of testimony, the jury will begin to deliberate over matters that will ultimately dictate how much insurance money will be available to rebuild the sprawling trade center complex. (New York Times)

Downtown Has One Billion Dollars in Federal Funds Left - Apr 18, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation board voted on Tuesday to earmark $176 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds — most of which will go to buy and demolish the Deutsche Bank building. If the money is allocated, it will leave about $1 billion to pay for a competing set of priorities for Lower Manhattan including affordable housing, park space, part of a rail link to J.F.K. Airport and the Long Island Rail Road, a new school, a recreation center and cultural facilities. (Downtown Express)

Closing Arguments Begin in Silverstein Insurance Trial - Apr 15, 2004
Closing arguments began after a contentious, 10-week trial that World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein hopes is the first round in a bid to collect twice the $3.5 billion insurance policy he took out on the center, one for each tower that fell on Sept. 11, 2001. (Associated Press)

Group of 9/11 Families Thanks Condoleezza Rice for Testimony - Apr 14, 2004
A group of 9/11 families has released an open letter thanking National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice for her testimony to the commission probing the attacks and saying it should end "the incredible notion" that President Bush knew 9/11 was coming and did nothing. (New York Post)

Bloomberg: Reopen Statue of Liberty Completely - Apr 6, 2004
A week after Mayor Michael Bloomberg attended a ceremony in which federal officials announced that the Statue of Liberty would remain closed to visitors, he said Monday the statue should be reopened, even if each tourist is escorted by a police officer. (Associated Press)

Health Concerns Keeps Some Businesses Away From Downtown - Apr 2, 2004
When Gov. George E. Pataki announced plans 21 months ago to move 750 to 1,000 state employees to Lower Manhattan, he said he was doing so to show confidence in its viability as it struggled to rebuild. The only problem is that 425 State Health Department employees do not want to go. They are concerned about health conditions at 90 Church Street, the Art Deco tower at the edge of ground zero where the state is negotiating a lease. (New York Times)

Downtown's Economy Looking Strong - Mar 31, 2004
The reluctance of many New Yorkers to reside and work downtown because of what happened there — terrorist attacks and the ensuing loss of 3,000 lives — has just about vanished, according to real estate and city sources. Indicative of this: •Surging housing prices,up an estimated 10% to 12% year over year, and a steady flow of new residential construction,with a lot of it on a luxurious scale. •Major jobs recovery, with 78% of the nearly 9,900 jobs lost since the Septmber 11 attacks in 2001 having been regained as of March 2003, according to the Partnership for New York City. It further notes that 72 of downtown’s largest companies have made commitments for an average 10 years that will result in the retention of 60,000 jobs, while federal incentives for smaller firms have enabled 1,352 businesses to create and retain an additional 23,293 jobs. •A slew of new stores, resulting in an estimated 6% to 8% increase in retail space since 2002. One sign of the recovery of Lower Manhattan is the rebound in $1 millionplus condominium sales at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Battery Park, just a heartbeat away from where the twin towers once stood. A Ritz Carlton spokeswoman describes interest as strong, with only eight apartments left of the 115 offered for sale on the 15th to 40th floors perched above the hotel portion. (New York Sun)

Victims Compensation Fund Saving City $500 Million - Mar 31, 2004
The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund will likely save the city more than $500 million by averting lawsuits, the head of the fund said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

City Wonders Whether It Will Ever Get Promised 9/11 Insurance Funds - Mar 25, 2004
A long-running legal stalemate between New York City and federal emergency authorities surfaced at a congressional hearing Wednesday, as New York officials questioned when a promised $1 billion insurance fund will be established. City officials have been frustrated by the yearlong talks with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over the agency's position that the city may have to pay $350 million in legal claims brought by workers at ground zero before the government steps in to pick up the rest. (Newsday )

Silverstein Testifies in Insurance Trial - Mar 24, 2004
Just a day or two after the Twin Towers fell on 9/11, a friend warned World Trade Center landlord Larry Silverstein that he "was facing a major insurance] problem," the developer told a jury yesterday. After six weeks of testimony from witnesses for 13 insurance companies fighting over the size of his WTC payout, a subdued Silverstein took the stand for 24 minutes in his $7 billion lawsuit against the insurers. Silverstein said he started to focus on the insurance ramifications of the disaster on Sept. 12 or Sept. 13. (New York Post)

Silverstein Avoids Contempt of Court Charge - Mar 23, 2004
The developer Larry A. Silverstein narrowly escaped a civil contempt charge yesterday in the seventh week of a trial pitting him against his insurers for billions of dollars he seeks to rebuild the World Trade Center. (New York Times)

Rebuilding Funds Going To Organizations Run By Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Board - Mar 22, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation board has handed out at least $19.6 million in the past year to organizations run by LMDC board members — raising questions about the federally funded corporation’s ethics and priorities. When former New York Stock Exchange CEO Richard Grasso was on the LMDC board, the corporation gave the stock exchange about $10 million to get rid of its jersey barriers and put up attractive security systems, like the iron gates Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg unveiled this winter. In July, the LMDC board voted to give $4 million to the Alliance for Downtown New York for “streetscape improvements” from Battery Park up to City Hall Park. Carl Weisbrod, an LMDC board member, runs the Downtown Alliance. (New York Sun)

Disagreement Over How To Spend $1.2 Billion In Federal Rebuilding Funds - Mar 21, 2004
here is only $1,163,955,348.58 left. Though that sounds like a lot, it is not enough to cover the many claims on the federal grants for rebuilding Lower Manhattan. These competing claims expose something of a divide between the established downtown, an unalloyed business hub, and the emerging downtown, with its residential overlay. It is not that businesses and residents disagree on the broad goal of creating a lively mixed-use area. But they may struggle over the spending needed to get there. (New York Times)

Judge Bans Silverstein From Insurance Trials - Mar 19, 2004
A Manhatan Federal Court judge barred World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein from being a spectator at his $7 billion insurance trial after the developer violated a gag order. Chief Judge Michael Mukasey said he was holding Silverstein in civil contempt for conducting a news conference Monday. (New York Daily News)

Senators Tell FBI Director To Return Ground Zero Souvenir - Mar 18, 2004
Four senators are calling on the FBI to return a Tiffany globe lifted from Ground Zero to the mother of the 9/11 victim it belonged to, The Post has learned. The letter, to be sent today to Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director John Mueller, also demands the return of "every other souvenir that FBI agents took from the rubble of Ground Zero," officials said. (New York Post)

Silverstein Faces Contempt Of Court Charge In Insurance Trial - Mar 17, 2004
World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein's big mouth has landed him in hot water with the federal judge who's overseeing his $7 billion insurance lawsuit. Judge Michael Mukasey will hold a contempt-of-court hearing tomorrow to see if comments the real-estate honcho made about the case broke a gag order barring him from talking to the press. (New York Post)

Artists Struggling After 9/11, Survey Finds - Mar 15, 2004
They are, to a large extent, the same worries that have always been voiced by New York City artists: the rents are too high, the pay is too low, and if things don't get better soon, I'm going to have to go. But according to a new survey released last week, those problems have only grown in the two and a half years since the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. (New York Times)

Tribeca Film Festival Receives $3 Million Pledge From Lower Manhattan Development Corporation - Mar 12, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Thursday announced a two-year, $3 million commitment to the Tribeca Film Festival, which was the first major event to be held in Lower Manhattan after the September 11th attacks and has attracted hundred-of-thousands of visitors and millions of dollars in revenue to the downtown area since it debuted in 2002. (Newsday)

Responses To Calatrava's Proposed Tower Downtown - Mar 6, 2004
Architect Santiago Calatrava, who wowed many Downtowners with his design for the World Trade Center train station when it was unveiled in January, may be on his way to doing the same with his proposed 835-foot slender tower design in the Seaport announced on Wednesday. The residential design described as “townhouses in the sky” received favorable reviews from some local residents who have opposed other large-scale projects in the neighborhood. (Downtown Express)

Silverstein Has Already Spent $1.3 Billion Of Insurance Money - Feb 26, 2004
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein has already spent about $1.3 billion of the insurance money he received to cover the destruction of the trade center complex, according to a published report. At least $623.7 million in business interruption insurance has gone toward Silverstein's debt service, legal fees and lease payments to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing court documents and people familiar with the situation. (Associated Press)

College Acquires New Space, To Replace Building Damaged On 9/11 - Feb 16, 2004
The Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Fiterman Hall is still severely damaged from 9/11, but across the street, the school has just signed a 10-year lease so their students can move from temporary trailers back to regular classrooms this summer. (Downtown Express)

Memorial's Pools May Not Be Exact Outline Of Tower Footprints - Feb 12, 2004
Of all the symbolic designs at the World Trade Center site - the Wedge of Light, the 1,776-foot skyscraper, the birdlike PATH terminal - the most straightforward seemed to be the idea of pool-filled voids that would demarcate the outlines of the twin towers. But at ground zero, nothing is ever quite what it seems to be. And it appears that the voids will be smaller than the tower footprints they are supposed to represent. (New York Times)

An Emotional Start To World Trade Center Insurance Battle - Feb 10, 2004
A lawyer for Ground Zero developer Larry Silverstein choked up yesterday as he described the impact of the 9/11 attacks in front of a federal jury, accusing the Twin Towers insurers of "trying to rewrite history" to escape a nearly $7 billion payout for the disaster. (New York Post)

Insurers Say Fax Proves That 9/11 Was A Single Event - Feb 10, 2004
On September 12, 2001, with four of his colleagues missing and presumed dead, Silverstein Properties insurance manager Robert Strachan faxed a letter to lenders and the Port Authority. From the start of the court case over how much insurance money Larry Silverstein is entitled to, the lead lawyer for the insurance companies, centered on the Strachan fax. (Newsday)

State Comptroller To Audit PATH Construction Costs - Feb 8, 2004
State Comptroller Alan Hevesi will audit the Port Authority's $566 million World Trade Center PATH station construction job to see whether cost overruns were justified and whether the project had proper oversight, his office says. (New York Post)

Jury Set For World Trade Center Insurance Case - Feb 5, 2004
A Manhattan federal judge yesterday named five women and seven men to a jury in the $7 billion legal fight between developer Larry Silverstein and his Twin Towers insurance companies. (New York Post)

Bush To Seek Extension For Liberty Bonds - Jan 31, 2004
President Bush plans to ask Congress to extend until 2009 the Liberty Bond program, which provides tax-free financing to help New York City rebuild after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The program permits the state and city to issue a total of $8 billion in tax-exempt bonds for commercial and residential construction projects, primarily in Lower Manhattan. Financing with such bonds lowers the cost of the projects. (New York Times)

Memorial Will Cost Over $350 Million - Jan 15, 2004
It will cost more than $350 million to build the "Reflecting Absence" memorial at Ground Zero, a top development official said yesterday. The preliminary estimate includes the cost of building the tribute's signature reflecting pools and waterfalls, the park, and an underground museum that will contain 9/11 artifacts, such as a crushed fire engine or the last steel column to be removed from Ground Zero. (New York Post)

Starting Over: A Firm Rebuilds After Being Hit Hard On 9/11 - Jan 14, 2004
When the planes slammed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, few companies were as hard-hit as a small, close-knit firm called Sandler O'Neill. Of the 83 people in the office that morning, only 17 got out alive. Employees lost mentors, assistants lost bosses, friends lost friends. This is the story of what happened next. (Fortune)

Freedom Tower Struggle Far From Finished - Jan 13, 2004
It's not unusual for developers, politicians, and architects to clash over real estate projects in New York City. But there's never been anything like the battle over the World Trade Center site. (Fortune Magazine)

Setback For Silverstein In Insurance Suit - Jan 1, 2004
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein suffered a setback yesterday in his legal bid to collect two insurance payouts totaling $7 billion by defining the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the towers as two events. Manhattan federal Judge Michael Mukasey ruled that jurors at the Feb. 9 trial can be told of a recent appeals-court ruling that found that Silverstein's contracts with three of the insurance companies involved in the dispute made it clear a terror attack would constitute only one occurrence. (New York Post)

Community Board One Debates Liberty Bond Extension - Dec 31, 2003
Community Board 1 is backing an extension of the tax-free Liberty Bond program but opposes using more of the money on residential buildings because members say it is encouraging too many small, luxury-rent apartments. (Downtown Express)

Tourists Return to New York - Dec 29, 2003
The tourists are back. Official statistics are hard to come by. But for the last week, more than 1,000 tourists a day have been dropping by NYC & Company's Visitor Information Center, a level not reached since before Sept. 11, 2001, a spokeswoman said. (New York Times)

$1.2 Million in 9/11 Aid is Returned - Dec 27, 2003
A major program to help small businesses in Lower Manhattan recover from the Sept. 11 terrorist attack has taken back $1.2 million in erroneous payments it made to 66 companies, according to the state agency administering the program. The agency, the Empire State Development Corporation, said the money was recovered from businesses that were found to have been overpaid, in some cases because financial information they submitted did not hold up in audits, though their applications were not necessarily fraudulent. (New York Times)

Freedom Tower Now Has a Design, But No Tenants - Dec 20, 2003
"The first firm to sign a lease will get huge media attention," said downtown real estate broker Brad Gerla of CB Richard Ellis. But right now, downtown leasing is dismal. Freedom Tower developer Larry Silverstein, who also is building and marketing 7 World Trade Center, isn't finding takers for that property. (New York Daily News)

Freedom Tower Will Be A Boon For City Economy - Dec 20, 2003
The skyscraper planned for the World Trade Center site is expected to provide the city with one of its biggest economic boosts since the original WTC was built three decades ago. The greatest impact, at least initially, will be felt by the city's construction industry, which is anticipating that at least 2,000 jobs will be created for the building of what's known as the Freedom Tower, which is to be the world's tallest building (Newsday)

Freedom Tower Is Unveiled - Dec 20, 2003
After fervent public debate over how to mend the New York City skyline and a five-month effort by competing architectural giants that was one part collaboration and two parts quarrel, the design of the first tower of the new World Trade Center was unveiled yesterday. The torqued and tapering skyscraper, called the Freedom Tower, would rise some 70 stories, then dematerialize in its upper reaches among cables, windmills and antennas before piercing the clouds at 1,776 feet. At this height, it might be the world's tallest building upon completion in 2008 or 2009. (New York Times)

Regent Hotel on Wall Street to Close in January - Dec 18, 2003
The Regent Hotel, the Greek Revival landmark at 55 Wall Street, was once home to the fledgling New York Stock Exchange, to Herman Melville when he was a deputy customs inspector and to Citibank as it rose to national prominence. Reborn in 1999 as the Regent Wall Street hotel, the Regent ballroom and the 55 Wall restaurant, it has been a social and political hub ever since. It is preparing to close on Jan. 17 after one of the shortest runs of any deluxe hotel in the city's history. It is a victim not only of the attack on New York — through which it resolutely stayed open, sheltering and feeding victims, workers and neighbors — but of an economy that was souring even before Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times)

Kids of 9/11 Victims To Get Cash From State - Dec 18, 2003
The state's World Trade Center fund is handing out the rest of its cash to children who lost a parent in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, officials said yesterday. The fund has roughly $4 million left and will spread the proceeds to about 2,800 children who lost parents in the terror attacks of 9/11, Gov. Pataki said. The fund also will dole out up to $3,000 a person to those certified by the American Red Cross as being injured in the attacks. (New York Daily News)

Schumer Wants to Use Federal Rebuilding Funds for Kennedy Rail Link - Dec 17, 2003
Weighing in on a fractious debate over transportation priorities in Lower Manhattan, Senator Charles E. Schumer offered a plan yesterday to pay for the construction of a much-discussed rail link from downtown to Kennedy Airport without any state or local money. (New York Times)

Democrats Protest Use of Liberty Bonds for Queens Power Plant - Dec 13, 2003
A group of Democratic lawmakers yesterday denounced New York State's offer to a Massachusetts-based energy company of $400 million in tax-exempt Liberty Bonds, which are intended to revive Lower Manhattan after the attack on the World Trade Center. A state-run agency administering the Liberty Bond program announced on Thursday that it had awarded the bonds to Astoria Energy to help finance the 1,000-megawatt power plant it seeks to build in Astoria, Queens. (New York Times)

Liberty Bonds Issued to Queens Power Plant - Dec 12, 2003
A massive new power-plant project in Queens, opposed by a group of city politicians, got $400 million in Liberty Bonds yesterday, sparking calls for a federal probe. The bonds were approved by the New York Liberty Development Corporation (NYLDC), which is considering issuing an additional $200 million in bonds to back the proposed 1,000- megawatt plant in Astoria. (New York Post)

Concern Over 9/11 Health Registry - Dec 11, 2003
Some Lower Manhattan residents continue to feel shortchanged by the city’s World Trade Center Health Registry, even though anyone who lived south of Canal St. on Sept. 11, 2001 is eligible to enroll. Nearly 30 local residents and workers attended a forum on the health registry last Thursday at the Downtown Information Center at 25 Broad St. Some participants told assistant health commissioner Dr. Polly Thomas that the interview portion of the registry seemed geared toward emergency workers. If residents are not asked detailed questions about their experiences on and after 9/11, then the study will not be able to address their potential long-term health concerns, some residents fear. (Downtown Express)

Assemblyman Doesn't Want Liberty Bonds Used for Queens Power Plant - Dec 7, 2003
A Queens assemblyman is threatening legal action to stop the backers of a proposed power plant from using New York Liberty Bonds to fund the troubled project. "This is a continuing pattern of preferential treatment over more worthy projects," said Assemblyman Mike Gianaris, a Democrat from Astoria, who's weighing a lawsuit to block the bond issue. (New York Post)

Jordanian King to Advise Police Department on Terrorism - Dec 6, 2003
For the first time in NYPD history, a foreign head of state will visit Police Headquarters and address the department's brain trust about terrorism and international affairs, The Post has learned. Under tight security, King Abdullah II of Jordan will speak to an assembly of supervising cops above the rank of captain on Monday at the third session of a lecture series begun by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. (New York Post)

Corporate Incentive Program Being Rewritten to Focus on Lower Manhattan - Dec 6, 2003
A deal has been struck to renew a major corporate incentive program that will help lure jobs to lower Manhattan from outside the city, The Post has learned. The Relocation and Employment Assistance Program, known as REAP, will provide companies with $3,000 per job for 12 years if they come to downtown from outside the city. (New York Post)

Host Marriott Gets $370 For Loss at Ground Zero - Dec 4, 2003
Host Marriott Corp., the owner of the New York World Trade Center Marriott and New York Marriott Financial Center, announced yesterday that it has received about $370 million worth of insurance payments, resolving virtually most of its outstanding issues relating to the Sept. 11 attacks. The announcement comes about two months after Bethesda, Md.-based Host Marriott entered into an agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to surrender the site and terminate a 99-year lease that was to expire in 2094. (Newsday)

Liberty Bonds Should Focus on Downtown, Says Rebuilding Official - Dec 3, 2003
A top downtown rebuilding official took a swipe at City Hall yesterday, saying it was "a mistake" to use tax-free Liberty Bonds outside lower Manhattan. The comment was the sharpest yet in a fight brewing between Gov. Pataki's office and Mayor Bloomberg over how to spend $8billion in bonds created to spur downtown development after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack. (New York Daily News)

Disputed Sports Museum Totes Itself as Boon to Post 9/11 Economy - Dec 3, 2003
A project called the National Sports Museum has been selling itself as a way to spark New York's economy post 9/11. Its supporters speak of getting funding from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. But those interested in starting a different sports museum in the city are not crazy about the idea. (New York Times)

New Money for Security, Appearance Downtown - Nov 27, 2003
The heavily guarded area around the New York Stock Exchange will be beautified, and its security revamped, with a $10 million grant announced yesterday by state and city officials. (New York Post)

PATH Station at Ground Zero Reopens - Nov 24, 2003
The World Trade Center PATH Station opened at 2 p.m. yesterday, after a $323 million, 16-month reconstruction, to applause and tears along the platforms and aboard the trains. On the sides of the cars, ruby-red "WTC" destination signs glowed once again. (New York Times)

Street in Queens Renamed for Firefighter - Nov 24, 2003
Hundreds of people gathered at a street corner in Queens yesterday to rename a street after firefighter Carl F. Asaro, who was killed at the World Trade Center. The intersection of 147th Street and Willets Point Boulevard in Whitestone, where Asaro was born and raised, now bears his name. (New York Post)

New York Times seeks Liberty Bonds For New Building - Nov 13, 2003
The New York Times' development partner, Bruce Ratner, is seeking $150 million in Liberty Bond, to help finance the newspaper's new midtown tower. But an executive at the Empire State Development Corporation, one of the two main government agencies controlling the purse strings of the Liberty Bonds, doesn’t think Mr. Ratner’s gambit to use federal 9/11 program money to save the Times tower is going to work. (New York Observer)

Queens Museum of Art to Replace WTC Model With Miniature Tribute in Light - Nov 11, 2003
Twin pale-blue laser beams will replace the miniature replica World Trade Center towers that still stand in the Panorama of the City of New York at the Queens Museum of Art. The Tribute in Light, named in honor of the WTC victims of the terrorist acts of Sept. 11, is scheduled to be complete within the next three months. The Panorama, a scale-model of the entire city, is a permanent exhibit at the museum, where currently a red, white and blue ribbon is intertwined around the model towers. (Newsday)

- Nov 11, 2003
(Select one or type in another)

Downtown Businesses Benefit from Wall Street Upturn - Nov 10, 2003
After three years of penny pinching, the cash is finally flowing again on Wall Street. "Suits are coming back to the financial and banking area, so our business is pretty much flying," said Neil Schleimer, a wardrobe consultant at Men's Wearhouse downtown. "We expect a very good fourth quarter." The store, located across from the World Trade Center, closed for two months after 9/11, but has seen 20 percent gains in sales since last year. (New York Post)

Con Edison Rebuilds Power Substations Destroyed on 9/11 - Nov 9, 2003
The reconstruction of the World Trade Center site took a small but symbolically important step forward yesterday as Con Edison began to rebuild two power substations that were destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Three electrical transformers were lowered by crane into cavernous vaults beneath what will once again become 7 World Trade Center. The transformers, each nearly 85 tons and 20 feet tall, are the first of 10 transformers that will be placed beneath 7 World Trade Center in the next few years, said Michael Clendenin, a spokesman for Con Edison. (New York Times)

Trade Center Design Gets Down to the Finest Detail - Nov 8, 2003
After months of dealing in broad concepts, the planners of the new World Trade Center are devising guidelines that will prescribe the actual forms of the buildings — in inches and feet, metal and stone. A recent draft of the guidelines by Studio Daniel Libeskind, the master planners of the site, dictated the shape and size of every office tower so precisely that other architects would have had little leeway to pursue significantly different designs of their own. (New York Times)

Cost and Timetable for Rebuilding Lower Manhattan In Question - Oct 30, 2003
As Gov. George Pataki prepares to make a major speech today on rebuilding the World Trade Center, he faces questions about the master plan, the cost and the timetable. The overall cost of the project seems to have risen. The source of the money remains unclear. And as Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff noted in a letter to the Port Authority released Tuesday, no clear cost estimates or schedule has been made available. (Newsday)

Chinatown Store Founded in 1891 Succumbs to Effects of 9/11 - Oct 26, 2003
Last month the 32 Mott Street General Store, Chinatown's longest continuously operating store, became the latest victim of the economic troubles that have gripped this community since Sept. 11, 2001. City marshals came and evicted Paul Lee, who had fallen badly behind in his rent. For more than a century, Lee's family worked at the store. It is clear now that the store, long a stop on Chinatown walking tours, will not be reopening. (New York Times)

WTC Legal Battle Costs Larry Silverstein $100 Million - Oct 7, 2003
Larry Silverstein has spent close to $100 million so far on the mammoth legal battle with his Twin Towers insurers - and has told officials he needs another $80 million a year to pay for lawyers and other expenses, according to court papers and other sources (New York Post)

Cost of Rebuilding Ground Zero Skyrockets - Sep 29, 2003
When federal, state and local government officials agreed to spend billions to rebuild the World Trade Center site, they signed on to repair damage to infrastructure and transportation in an effort to spark private reinvestment in the area. Over the past two years, that original scope expanded to include a range of other expenditures that could reach $1 billion. (Newsday)

Developer Loses Ruling in Trade Center Insurance Dispute - Sep 27, 2003
Larry A. Silverstein, the developer who controls the commercial leases at the World Trade Center site, suffered a major setback yesterday in his effort to collect $7 billion in insurance payouts by having the Sept. 11 disaster considered as two separate terrorist attacks. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected Mr. Silverstein's argument that as a matter of law, the two planes that struck the trade center constituted two attacks requiring two insurance payouts. In addition, a separate ruling, involving three companies that insured the trade center, could make it more difficult for Mr. Silverstein to press his claim against 18 other insurance companies. (New York Times)

Time Granted in Dispute Over Insurance for 9/11 Site - Sep 26, 2003
The developer Larry A. Silverstein, who controls the commercial leases at the World Trade Center site, and the Port Authority have one month to settle their dispute with a lender over insurance proceeds needed to rebuild the complex. (New York Times)

Historic Law Firm Staying Near WTC - Sep 18, 2003
One of the city's oldest and most prestigious law firms will remain in lower Manhattan - and move into more spacious offices near Ground Zero, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday. Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft LLP signed a lease for 450,000-square-feet of space at One World Financial Center, the mayor said. (New York Post)

Scattered on 9/11, Some Financial Jobs Will Not Return - Sep 14, 2003
Two years after the terror attack forced Wall Street firms to disperse thousands of employees to suburbs, most of the firms have come back, either to their old homes or to new ones. But many of their workers remain in offices from Connecticut to central New Jersey.  In several cases, the move to strengthen backup sites has cost New York significant numbers of jobs. (New York Times)

9/11 Fraud Cases Involve Money Meant for Businesses - Sep 14, 2003
Federal authorities in Manhattan are prosecuting at least a half-dozen cases in which people are charged with swindling nearly $600,000 from government programs intended to help Lower Manhattan businesses recover losses from 9/11 and to encourage residency in the area. (New York Times)

Businessman Charged in 9/11 Grant Scam - Sep 9, 2003
A fraudster tried to cash in on the Sept. 11 attack by claiming $270,000 in federal grant money set aside for affected businesses - even though his company was located 205 miles from Ground Zero, the feds charge. (New York Post)

Downtown Grants Found to Favor Investment Firms - Sep 8, 2003
More than a third of the emergency grant money intended to help small businesses in Lower Manhattan survive after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack went to investment firms, financial traders and lawyers, a result that some New York legislators who helped secure money for the program say they never envisioned. (New York Times)

Comptroller Warns City Could Lose 9/11 Aid - Sep 4, 2003
New York City is in danger of losing nearly $4 billion of the more than $21 billion that President Bush had promised to it for recovery from the 2001 terrorist attack, the city comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., said yesterday. Mr. Thompson said the city would get the money only if federal and state government agencies hastened the funds' distribution and revised the aid programs. (New York Times)

Comptroller: 9/11 Economic Losses Lasting Longer Than Estimated - Sep 3, 2003
New York City's recession persisted for a 10th straight quarter from April to June, with economic losses from the 9/11 terrorist attacks lasting longer and cutting deeper than previously estimated, according to a report yesterday from city Comptroller William Thompson. The city's seasonally adjusted payroll-job figures dropped by 10,600 in the second quarter of 2003 - the third-worst rate among 20 major cities across the country. (New York Post)

Downtowners Air Views at Neighborhood Workshop - Aug 14, 2003
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has about $1.3 billion left to spend, and last week Downtowners compiled a giant wish list for the money that included more jobs and fewer hassles from rebuilding construction. Those were among the suggestions raised on Thursday at the sixth and final brainstorming session sponsored by the L.M.D.C. for Lower Manhattan residents and workers. Last Thursday’s meeting was held for an invitation-only group of about 75 community members from Tribeca, Soho and Little Italy. (Downtown Express)

Silverstein Negotiating Lease on Trade Center Mall - Aug 8, 2003
Ground Zero developer Larry Silverstein wants control over the whole rebuilt site - including the mall. Silverstein, who holds a 99-year lease on the World Trade Center site's once-and-future office towers, has begun negotiations with Westfield America to buy out the rights to operate the retail portion of the planned complex, sources said yesterday. Officials at Westfield, which ran the below-street-level concourse before the Sept. 11 attacks, don't like the plan for rebuilding the shopping mall - with hundreds of square feet of space stacked above ground. Although the company has denied wanting a lease buyout, sources said Westfield has approached several potential buyers - including City Hall. (New York Daily News)

U.S. Frees $54 Million in 9/11 Business Aid - Aug 7, 2003
Federal officials approved more than $54 million in aid yesterday that more than 2,200 small-business owners in Lower Manhattan had been waiting for - often anxiously and angrily - after a 9/11 recovery program ran out of money. The funds, made available by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, will allow the state to finally send out checks to the businesses, which had qualified for the aid after applying for it in the weeks before the deadline on Dec. 31. (New York Times)

Chinatown Anger Boils Up at L.M.D.C. Meeting - Aug 7, 2003
Last Thursday night, there were two separate protests in Chinatown on neighborhood issues related to the aftermath of 9/11 — and at a neighborhood workshop organized by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, frustration and anger were the dominant emotions. (Downtown Express)

City Leaves Key Tribeca Project Unprotected Against Speculators - Aug 6, 2003
In late July, officials held a press conference at Thomas Paine Park, near Ground Zero, to announce a $50 million federally funded program to build 300 units of downtown affordable housing for working families. As welcome as the new construction is, the announcement struck many of lower Manhattan's current moderate-income residents as a prickly paradox. A day later, a couple hundred tenants, mostly from Independence Plaza North, the 1,329-unit, city-supervised-and-subsidized, three-tower project on Ground Zero's border, rallied on the steps of City Hall to support a bill just introduced by Council Speaker Gifford Miller. The project's 3,500 residents were notified in June that new owner Laurence Gluck - just 24 hours after he completed his $100 million purchase of the complex - had filed papers to withdraw the project from the Mitchell- Lama program, a move that would free him to charge sizzling market rents. That could potentially cost downtown a thousand more affordable units than what the ballyhooed announcement promises, making Tribeca the latest example of the ongoing loss of tens of thousands of affordable apartments citywide, caused by conversions like Gluck's. (Village Voice)

Downtowners Brainstorm at L.M.D.C. Workshops - Jul 31, 2003
With about $1.3 billion of federal money left to spend, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has begun a series of invitation-only neighborhood workshops to get feedback on how best to use the money. The first two of six brainstorming sessions were held in the Financial District and Battery Park City last week (Downtown Express)

Small WTC Firms Face New Fund Delay - Jul 28, 2003
Small businesses near Ground Zero awarded federal aid to help them rebound from the Sept. 11 attacks won't get the sorely needed money this month as promised. The state Economic Development Corp., which controls the cash, has delayed the payouts again - threatening many of the companies' survival, Crain's New York Business reports. The state has told the 2,000 businesses awaiting grant money that the funds will arrive in August. The companies, most of which applied for the grants right before a Dec. 31, 2002, deadline, were initially told they'd get the cash several months ago. (New York Daily News)

9/11 Payment Issues Are Argued in Appeal - Jul 23, 2003
A small army of lawyers took the long-running battle over insurance claims at the World Trade Center to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit yesterday as they argued over issues that will determine how much money is available for rebuilding the vast commercial complex. Larry A. Silverstein, the developer who controls the World Trade Center lease, has argued that he is entitled to a double payment of nearly $7 billion because two planes hit two towers in what he describes as two separate "occurrences" on Sept. 11. (New York Times)

At Helm of Trade Center Site, as He Always Planned to Be - Jul 21, 2003
Last week, Mr. Silverstein's high hopes of early 2001 seemed, if anything, too modest. He emerged victorious in the struggle for control of ground zero, elbowing aside Daniel Libeskind, the architect whose design for the trade center site was chosen by Gov. George E. Pataki. Suddenly he seems to have ascended to the lofty circles occupied by real estate giants with names like Durst, Resnick, Ross, Roth, Rudin and Zuckerman. (New York Times)

Where the WTC stands: Financing clouds original vision - Jul 19, 2003
Three months ago, Gov. Pataki stood before business leaders in lower Manhattan and set an aggressive timetable for rebuilding Ground Zero. He wanted architects to begin designing Daniel Libeskind's 1,776-foot spire by this month. The steel for the tower would be in place by Sept. 11, 2006, the fifth anniversary of the attacks. Pataki acknowledged the goals would be tough to meet. Here's a rundown of where things stand and what major decisions lie ahead: (New York Daily News)

9/11 Kin Rip PATH For 'Tainting' Holy Ground - Jul 20, 2003
A group representing 9/11 victims' families says Gov. Pataki has allowed construction on the footprints of the Twin Towers and wants Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton to sponsor a federal law to prevent further "desecration" of the World Trade Center site. (New York Post)

Developer Wants 9/11 Bonds for Times's Project in Midtown - Jul 17, 2003
The New York Times Company's development partner in building the newspaper's new headquarters on Eighth Avenue has asked city officials for $400 million in tax-exempt bonds that were designated for rebuilding New York after the attack on the World Trade Center. The developer, Forest City Ratner, has told city and state officials that it needs the special federal financing, known as Liberty Bonds, because it is nearly impossible in the current economic environment to obtain a conventional construction loan for its portion of the planned 52-story tower. (New York Times)

Chinatown Struggles To Overcome Triple Blow - Jul 9, 2003
In Chinatown, a series of random blows has struck in recent months. First came the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, which led to a lockdown for rescue efforts that sealed off the neighborhood's narrow and usually crowded streets. Then, the economic downturn and war in Iraq took their toll on businesses. The neighborhood took another hit this spring when the SARS virus began spreading to other parts of the world from the Far East and visitors to Chinatown started staying away yet again. (Newsday)

Outdoor Cafe Plans For Former Cab Area - Jul 8, 2003
A former Grand Central Terminal taxi pickup area - shut down after 9/11 because of security concerns - will be converted to an outdoor cafe area in mid-July, following a sprucing-up, MTA officials said yesterday. (Newsday)

Bikers On Their Way Upstate In Ground Zero Independence Ride - Jul 5, 2003
Bikers were off to an early start for the "Second Annual Ground Zero Independence Ride." The ride reunites construction workers and union members who worked side by side for 10-months during rescue and recovery operations at the site. (NY1)

Lawsuits By Members Of Uniformed Services Skyrocketed After 9/11 - Jul 1, 2003
Although the total number of claims has decreased over the past year, the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have triggered a flood of legal claims by workers against the city, according to a report released by City Comptroller Bill Thompson Tuesday. (NY1)

Going's easier as PATH station reopens - Jun 30, 2003
The PATH train is one stop closer to lower Manhattan - but still five months away from rolling into Ground Zero. New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey reopened the Exchange Place station in Jersey City yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Developer Wants Architect's Skyscraper Relocated - Jun 29, 2003
Developer Larry Silverstein wants to move the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower envisioned for Ground Zero to a different corner of the site, sources told the Daily News. According to architect Daniel Libeskind's plans, the skyscraping spire is supposed to be built at the northwest part of the 16-acre site, near the corner of West and Vesey Sts. (New York Daily News)

FEMA's 9/11 Office Winds Down - Jun 28, 2003
Since September 11, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's field office has seen nearly 200,000 applicants come in for aid, but that once-long line has dwindled to a bare trickle, and FEMA says it will shutter its remaining storefront operation sometime in the next month. (Newsday)

Feds Sue Insurers Over 9/11 Damage - Jun 27, 2003
The federal government has filed suit against an insurance company for failing to reimburse it for millions of dollars in losses and damages incurred at a lower Manhattan post office on Sept. 11, 2001. (Newsday)

Judge for Silverstein Case Resigns - Jun 25, 2003
The federal judge presiding over developer Larry Silverstein's fight to double his insurance payout from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is resigning. Manhattan Federal Court Judge John Martin said yesterday he is fed up with a criminal justice system he called unjust - and conceded he wants to earn more money after 13 years on the bench. (New York Daily News)

Independent Terrorism Commission Makes First Document Request - Jun 19, 2003
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks has made sweeping requests for documents from the Bush administration and White House that go beyond the information provided during Congress' review, officials disclosed Wednesday. (Associated Press)

Hospital Opens Counseling Center Overlooking Ground Zero - Jun 17, 2003
Behind windows overlooking the World Trade Center site, a quiet office decorated in serene colors offers free therapy for those with lingering Sept. 11 trauma, including acupuncture for stress and a Chihuahua for comfort. (Newsday)

Advocates Press for Affordable Housing Downtown - Jun 18, 2003
In a desire to revitalize lower Manhattan as quickly as possible, federal grants and tax-free bonds are being awarded for rebuilding projects. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was given $2 billion in grants for various revitalization projects, and has spent $700,000 million so far. Housing advocates say they would like to see part of the remaining $1.3 billion spent on housing for low or moderate income people. (Downtown Express)

Borders Reopening Downtown - Jun 11, 2003
Borders is back. Twenty months after Sept. 11, 2001, the book and music store has returned to Lower Manhattan, where its flagship location at 5 World Trade Center was destroyed as a result of the terror attack. The new store, in a historic building at 100 Broadway at Pine St., will open Thursday, June 12. (Downtown Express)

Housing Bonds Approved - Jun 11, 2003
As residents worried that the community’s resources would be strained by the flood of new housing planned for Lower Manhattan, the city Housing Development Corporation last week approved one Liberty Bond project for apartments south of the trade center site. The agency approved $77.5 million in tax-exempt Liberty Bond financing for 398 apartments in a 27-story former commercial building at 90 Washington St. It is the first Liberty Bond project to have received final authorization from the Housing Development Corp., which has agreed to consider an additional 10 residential proposals. (Downtown Express)

Residential Grant Deadline Passes - Jun 4, 2003
The application period for the $281-million residential grant program administered by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation ended last Saturday to mixed reviews, with critics charging the program with discrimination against moderate-income residents and supporters hailing it as crucial to the revitalization of Lower Manhattan. (Downtown Express)

Unions Use 9/11 Defense - May 21, 2003
City union leaders said yesterday the city's workforce should not be blamed for the soaring cost of fringe benefits, and cited the Sept. 11 terror attacks among the causes. (New York Post)

Federal Aid Helps Repopulate Lower Manhattan - May 13, 2003
An unprecedented program that uses federal anti-poverty dollars to lure people to live in neighborhoods near ground zero has been credited with helping repopulate lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks. With a May 31 application deadline approaching, some 38,000 households - about 80 percent of those eligible - have applied for grants of up to $14,500. (Associated Press)

Lower Manhattan Remains Economically Depressed - Apr 6, 2003
Neighborhoods surrounding Ground Zero remain shut off, neglected and in disrepair at a time when construction within the World Trade Center site is proceeding at an accelerating rate. Eighteen months after 9/11, more than a dozen streets in lower Manhattan and the Financial District remain barricaded for security and construction reasons - impeding commerce and discouraging development, according to those who live and work there. (New York Post)

Rental Bargains In Areas Near Ground Zero - Apr 6, 2003
There are still rental bargains in some residential areas surrounding Ground Zero, according to realtors. And prices could be heading further south there thanks to a saturated citywide rental market and the prospect of more apartments becoming available. (New York Post)

Still, Tourists Not Spending At Ground Zero - Apr 6, 2003
Tourists are expected to make Ground Zero their prime destination in the city again this summer, but that may not make the coming months any brighter for struggling downtown businesses, according to the city's tourism bureau. (New York Post)

Bloomberg Says State Vies for Security Money the City Needs - Apr 4, 2003
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg made his differences with Gov. George E. Pataki public yesterday, suggesting that the governor is trying to claim a share of federal money that the city needs to defend itself against terrorist attacks. ``We can make a convincing case, I think,'' Mr. Bloomberg said, ``that when you catch an Al Qaeda member, in his or her pocket there's a plan to attack New York. Not to attack any one state, not to attack other cities. " (New York Times)

Wall Street Power Brokers Warn That Downtown Rebuilding Must Happen Soon - Mar 31, 2003
Top Wall Street power brokers have sounded an urgent alarm over snail's-pace redevelopment downtown and the area's abominable working conditions. Ken Chenault, Stan O'Neal and Tom Renyi - the CEOs respectively of American Express, Merrill Lynch and Bank of New York - warn in a confidential memo that downtown New York faces imminent catastrophe if its rejuvenation remains stalled by political paralysis. (New York Post)

Insurer Considers Major Move to Downtown's Empty Office Spaces - Mar 27, 2003
The Health Insurance Plan of New York is negotiating to move its headquarters and 1,600 employees to Lower Manhattan from Midtown in one of the biggest office deals in the past two years. HIP's potential move to an office building on the East River, at 55 Water Street, would be a boost for the downtown economy, where thousands of layoffs in the financial industry and corporate relocations have left a lot of office space vacant. HIP's offices are now at 7 West 34th Street and 132 West 31st Street. (New York Times)

Downtowners Debate Merits of Liberty Bonds - Mar 27, 2003
Nearly a year after Congress announced it would create $8 billion in Liberty Bond financing for Lower Manhattan development, about one-quarter of the bonds have been earmarked for use. The bonds represent a tax-exempt investment, not cash, and developers benefit from a lower financing rate over time. If all $8 billion were used, it would cost federal taxpayers an estimated $1.2 billion over 10 years, and some have suggested that the unused money set aside to support the bonds would help Lower Manhattan more if it was invested in transportation improvements. (Downtown Express)

9/11 Small-Business Grants Exceed Approved Financing - Mar 19, 2003
The biggest 9/11 program aiding small businesses in Lower Manhattan has approved payments totaling $49 million more than the amount allotted to the program, and state officials are scrambling to come up with the extra money. (New York Times)

Job Losses in New York City Since 9/11 Continue to Grow - Mar 14, 2003
The national recession and the attack on the World Trade Center cost New York City 47,000 more jobs than previously believed, bringing the city's total job losses to about 223,000 in the last two years, according to new data released yesterday. The State Department of Labor, which released the revised job loss figures, also reported that the unemployment rate in the city edged up in January, to 8.6 percent from 8.5 percent in December. (New York Times)

Activists Oppose New Liberty Bonds for Downtown Market-Rate Apartments - Mar 7, 2003
Another $48 million in Liberty Bonds is likely to be approved for new market-rate apartments in downtown Manhattan, angering housing advocates who say the federal tax-exempt bonds should do more to help low- and moderate-income residents. Liberty Bond housing projects are required to set aside just 5 percent of the apartments for moderate-income residents. But housing advocates say that doesn't go far enough and is at odds with the HFA's mission. (Newsday)

City Is Seeking Bigger Role in Rebuilding - Mar 7, 2003
The Bloomberg administration has proposed a broad restructuring of the city-state agency overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, city and state officials said yesterday. The plan would give the city more authority over the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site and billions of dollars of federal recovery money, they said. The plan would transfer the development corporation's planning, design and development staff to a city agency and would give the city and the development corporation's board joint authority over the development of cultural programs at the trade center site. (New York Times)

Port Authority's New Budget Reflects the Times - Feb 21, 2003
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey yesterday approved a $5 billion expense and capital budget not much larger than last year's, reflecting the region's flagging economy and the new security and rebuilding demands on the agency since the attack on the World Trade Center. (New York Times)

Federal Government Allots $90 Million for Ground Zero Health Study - Feb 12, 2003
The feds will set aside $90 million to pay for health screening for hundreds of firefighters and other heroes who rushed to Ground Zero after 9/11, officials said yesterday. The funding should insure that Mount Sinai and other hospitals can study and track the long-term health of scores of first responders - some of whom are beginning to report lung and breathing woes they attribute to Ground Zero. (Select one or type in another)

White House in Tentative Deal on New York 9/11 Rescue Package - Feb 7, 2003
The Bush administration has tentatively agreed to provide up to $980 million that New York City and state officials had counted on to help close multibillion dollar budget deficits, according to New York and federal officials involved in the negotiations. The agreement taking shape would give about $350 million to the state and about $630 million to the city, with fewer restrictions than normally govern such emergency aid. The money would be drawn from the federal funds that had been allocated in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times)

After Long Delay, New York Submits Plan for Terror Aid - Jan 31, 2003
Nearly a year and a half after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pataki administration has finally told the federal government how it plans to spend hundreds of millions of available dollars to make New York State better prepared to deal with future terrorist attacks. The submission of the wish list comes after months of unexplained delays and considerable secrecy. The delays had left New York lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans alike, concerned that the indecision had not only left the state vulnerable, but had also compromised the state's ability to petition for more money from Washington. (New York Times)

Judge Rejects Insurer's 9/11 Claim - Jan 30, 2003
A federal judge in New York yesterday rejected an insurance company's attempt to classify the Sept. 11 terrorist attack upon the World Trade Center as an act of "vandalism and malicious mischief" so that it can be considered one assault and not two separate incidents. The insurance company, Allianz, is one of more than 20 companies that insured the Twin Towers leaseholder Larry Silverstein. (Newsday)

Tourists Coming, But Not Spending - Jan 29, 2003
The tourists who visit the World Trade Center site every day are not spending money downtown - a fiscal crisis that can be solved only with the addition of theaters and museums, the city's tourism marketing organization said yesterday.   The tourists who visit the World Trade Center site every day are not spending money downtown - a fiscal crisis that can be solved only with the addition of theaters and museums, the city's tourism marketing organization said yesterday. (New York Post)

Forum on Lower Manhattan’s Future Focuses on Retail - Jan 23, 2003
So far, there's no widely accepted solution to developing a strong retail sector in lower Manhattan, but about 50 residents, developers, retailers and advocates raised a host of possibilities at a Tuesday night forum at Pace University. (Newsday)

9/11 Program Finally Gets Flood of Requests for Help - Jan 18, 2003
A flood of last-minute requests to the biggest program aiding small businesses and nonprofit groups in Lower Manhattan in the wake of the World Trade Center attack has pushed the amount of aid approved to more than the $481 million allotted for the program, according to the state agency that runs the program. Beyond that, 1,700 applications remain to be processed. Although the grants have surpassed the allotment, whatever amount is ultimately needed will be provided, Empire State's chief operating officer, Kevin Corbett, said yesterday. (New York Times)

Silverstein To Seek $400 Million in Tax-Free Liberty Bonds - Jan 14, 2003
Developer Larry Silverstein, who owns the lease to the World Trade Center site, will try to raise $400 million in tax-free Liberty Bonds for the reconstruction of 7 World Trade Center, it was revealed yesterday. This is because he apparently must spend half the insurance proceeds on the building just north of Ground Zero to pay off the mortgage. This news was not made public until the beginning of the public hearing held by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation yesterday, drawing criticism from those who feel rebuilding officials are being too secretive. (New York Post)

High-Tech Research Center Planned Near Ground Zero - Jan 11, 2003
A high-tech research center will rise in lower Manhattan, with the help of a $3 million state grant, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said yesterday. The new Institute for Advanced Studies in Software and Information Technology will be based in the Ground Zero area, Silver said. A specific site hasn't been chosen yet. The center will be a collaboration that will include organizations such as the City University of New York, New York University, and private software and development companies. (New York Daily News)

Report Criticizes FEMA's Handling of 9/11 Economic Claims - Jan 8, 2003
An internal review of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's performance after the Sept. 11 terror attack has concluded that the agency should have been more flexible and fair in helping people with economic losses. The agency also needs to coordinate better with other government agencies and charities in future disasters, the review concluded. (New York Times)

After 9/11, a Torrent of Money, and Anger - Dec 30, 2002
In the months after nearly 2,800 people died in the terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center, the Bush administration pledged $21.4 billion to address the emergency. More than 15 months later, some $4.5 billion to $5 billion has made its way from Washington to New York. Many victims, elected officials, business executives and others are both confused and angry about why, more than a year after the most serious terrorist attack on American soil, less than a quarter of the federal government's promise of financial assistance has been realized. (New York Times)

Trade Center Plans Exhibit Helps Retailers at Winter Garden - Dec 26, 2002
Let there be ...Christmas lights adorn the World Financial Center's Winter Garden, where World Trade Center designs are on display. The exhibit of nine new World Trade Center designs at the Winter Garden has been a holiday gift to several merchants at the World Financial Center. The plans have attracted thousands of visitors since they went on display last Thursday - bringing welcome foot traffic to the shops and restaurants that ring the Winter Garden. (New York Daily News)

WTC Grant Deadline Approaches - Dec 26, 2002
It's last call for downtown businesses looking for a shot of cash. The World Trade Center Business Recovery Grant Program, which has handed out $437 million to 10,579 struggling downtown businesses since the Sept.11 attacks, will stop taking applications Dec. 31. There's $44 million in grant money left. (New York Daily News)

Plans Call for Millions of Square Feet of Offices - Dec 19, 2002
If you can sell it, they may come. That was the practical assessment of real-estate experts, who said yesterday that the World Trade Center rebuilding plan that excites a potential user for the office and retail space is the one that will be economically feasible. The plans presented yesterday contain millions of square feet of offices, shops and hotels that along with public spaces, cultural and transportation facilities, will cost billions