

All Ground Zero News
As 9/11 Slips into the Past, New York Pauses to Mark Anniversary - Sep 12, 2004
With broken voices and shattered hearts, parents of 9/11 victims read the litany of the lost at the World Trade Center site yesterday to mark the third anniversary of the terror attacks. But the constant noise of traffic on the adjacent West Side Highway was a reminder of how, for many in New York and the nation, the horrors of 9/11 have begun to slip into the past.
(New York Daily News)
Some Mourning 9/11 Losses Avoid Ground Zero - Sep 12, 2004
Recent interviews with more than 300 relatives of those killed on September 11, 2001 found that scores have not been to ground zero since the attacks. They have their own reasons: dread. Privacy, a feeling at odds with something as public as a ceremony shown live on television. Anger at officials they believe did not do enough to prevent the attacks. Fear, among some who do not live in Manhattan, of going to the place that was forever changed and that forever changed them.
(New York Times )
9/11 Families Make What May Be Last Trip to Ground Zero - Sep 12, 2004
Relatives of those who died at the World Trade Center walked seven stories down to the bedrock yesterday, knowing the descent to the hallowed ground may be their last.
(New York Daily News)
Fundraising For Memorial Has Yet to Begin - Sep 11, 2004
Eight months after the World Trade Center memorial design was unveiled, Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg have yet to find a prominent person willing to lead the foundation that's raising the money to build it.
(New York Daily News)
New Images Give Best View Yet of Future Ground Zero Development - Sep 11, 2004
A stunning new look of the future World Trade Center site was unveiled yesterday, complete with the world's tallest building, a poignant memorial to the victims of the terror attacks, and a striking new cultural complex and rail station.
(New York Post )
Parents Will Read Name at Modest 9/11 Anniversary Ceremony - Sep 10, 2004
Parents and grandparents of victims, will be the emotional heart of tomorrow's Ground Zero ceremony, where they will read the names of all those killed in the attacks. But as older generations step to the podium, they will be presiding over a decidedly trimmed-down day of remembrance.
(New York Daily News)
Visitor Center Planned for Ground Zero - Sep 10, 2004
Yesterday, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation extended its support - but not any money so far - to the Tribute Visitors Center being planned for a storefront at 120 Liberty Street, opposite ground zero and next to Ladder Company 10 and Engine Company 10.
(New York Times )
City Prepares Soggy Ground Zero for Anniversary Ceremony - Sep 10, 2004
The ground was still water-soaked yesterday at the World Trade Center site, but Sept. 11 observances will go on rain or shine tomorrow, city officials said yesterday.
(Newsday )
City Trying to Remove Rainwater from Ground Zero to Prepare for Anniversary - Sep 9, 2004
The city launched a round-the-clock effort yesterday to pump 2 feet of rainwater from the lowest levels of Ground Zero, so that the area is dry for Saturday's observance of the third anniversary of the terror attacks.
(New York Daily News)
On Eve of Anniversary, A Look at Rebuilding Progress - Sep 8, 2004
The past year has seen plans move forward in re-developing the World Trade Center site, including the start of work on the Freedom Tower. In the following report, NY1’s Roger Clark takes a look at the progress as we close in on the third anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
(NY1)
Photographing Ground Zero, Minute by Minute - Sep 8, 2004
In the fall of 2001 when the dust and ash from the World Trade Center were still in the air, Jim Whitaker, a documentary filmmaker, decided to photograph everything happening at ground zero. By the spring of 2002 three cameras were pointed at the pit, each taking one shot every five minutes, round the clock. Months later, three more cameras were added. That was the beginning of Project Rebirth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a historical record of the rebuilding.
(New York Times )
Ground Zero Documentary Details "Sad Compromise" - Sep 7, 2004
If you're looking for a fly-on-the-wall view of one of the nastiest architectural catfights in recent memory, be sure to watch Tuesday's "Frontline," which charts the tumultuous first year in the rebuilding effort at ground zero. There are less shameful reasons to tune in too.
(Chicago Tribune)
Delegates Continue to Flock to Ground Zero - Sep 1, 2004
Energized by speeches that framed President George W. Bush as the right leader in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, Republican delegates flocked to Ground Zero Tuesday to see the site where they say a presidency was forged.
(Newsday )
For New Visitors, An Emotional Tour of Ground Zero - Aug 31, 2004
The difficulty of visiting ground zero is more than emotional and spiritual, though it is certainly that. After all, this is where 2,749 people died on Sept. 11, 2001. The difficulty is also practical. There is no one place to take it all in, no public vantage that offers an all-encompassing panorama of the World Trade Center site and neighboring towers, some of which — it may shock you to see — are almost as ravaged now as they were that Tuesday morning.
(New York City)
Delegates Find Emotion and Debate at Ground Zero - Aug 31, 2004
Even more than usual, cultures clashed at ground zero. Ruled off limits to formal political protests or organized patriotic parades, the edges of the scarred 17 acres became a place for people to act out the stresses and strains that are natural when a tidal wave of Republicans washes up on a rocky Democratic shore.
(New York Times )
9/11 Families Approach Convention From Different Perspectives - Aug 29, 2004
Jimmy Boyle, who lost his firefighter son Michael at the World Trade Center, will be attending the Republican National Convention. David Potorti, whose brother James was also killed on Sept. 11, is in the city for the event as well. But the two men are driven by very different motivations and will play very different parts.
(Newsday)
Toys Showing Airplane Flying into Twin Towers are Recalled - Aug 28, 2004
Bags of candy left a sour taste when parents found it included a grotesque toy - an airplane flying into the World Trade Center.
(New York Daily News)
Protesters to Ring Bells and Form Ring Around Ground Zero - Aug 28, 2004
In a dimly lit room in the back of Cafe Figaro on Bleecker St. on a recent Sunday afternoon, Christian Herold and nine other individuals were getting down to details.
(Downtown Express)
Preservationists File Suit Over WTC Development - Aug 27, 2004
A coalition of 9/11 families sued the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Port Authority yesterday, alleging the agencies are violating a federal law requiring them to preserve historical artifacts — a move that could halt construction at Ground Zero.
(New York Post )
Ground Zero Artifacts to be Preserved in Transit Hub - Aug 27, 2004
A 66-foot-long, travertine-paved remnant of the original World Trade Center concourse - still used every day by hundreds of commuters walking between the Eighth Avenue subway platforms and the PATH station - will be permanently preserved as part of the new trade center transportation hub, the Port Authority said yesterday.
(New York Times)
Ground Zero Ad Removed - Aug 24, 2004
The MTA has decided to remove a bright electronic advertising screen at the top of the Cortlandt Street subway station, near Ground Zero, after a lawmaker argued it would interfere with ceremonies marking the anniversary of 9/11.
(New York Post)
Advertising Arrives at Ground Zero - Aug 19, 2004
Having mournfully contemplated the place where 2,749 people perished on Sept. 11, 2001, you may be ready to plan your next ski vacation. If so, you can read all about the All for One Pass, which entitles you - for as little as $349 - to admission at six New England resorts, including Killington and Mount Snow. The information is displayed about 25 feet from the viewing wall at ground zero, animated and bright as daylight, atop a stairway to the Cortlandt Street subway station. You can't miss it.
(New York Times)
Will WTC Cultural Center Be Built on Greenwich and Fulton, or Somewhere Else? - Aug 12, 2004
"RISK-TAKING." That is a quality that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation says it will seek in choosing architects for the cultural buildings at the new World Trade Center. The question is whether any architect will risk a prospective commission by challenging the current planning orthodoxy which requires that the museum complex be located within the memorial precinct.
(New York Times )
Wall Street Exodus Leaves Country's Financial Markets Safer - Aug 8, 2004
America's financial markets are more insulated from the effects of a terrorist attack because the nation's financial hub is expanding beyond Wall Street to the New York City metropolitan area, principally into New Jersey. The result of the scattering of financial offices throughout the metro area is that it is unlikely a limited-scale terrorist attack would bring the American financial industry to its knees, as it did in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks.
(Allentown Morning Call )
Verizon Receives $77 Million in 9/11 Funds - Aug 8, 2004
Verizon Communications Inc. received another $77 million in federal funds earmarked for restoring utilities and rebuilding infrastructure damaged in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a regulatory filing Friday.
(Newsday)
Libeskind Will Be Among Architects Competing to Design Cultural Buildings - Aug 7, 2004
aniel Libeskind, who devised the master plan for the World Trade Center site but has not yet fully designed a building there, will be among the architects competing to design one or both of the cultural complexes planned for the redevelopment. In issuing a request for proposals this week, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation painted the fullest picture to date of what visitors might find when the two complexes are completed in 2009.
(New York Times)
A Cartoonist's Account of 9/11 - Aug 7, 2004
Unlike most cartoonists, the Pulitzer Prize winner Art Spiegelman, 56, tends to focus on the big traumas of contemporary history and their impact on his life. Mr. Spiegelman's graphic novels about how his Polish-Jewish parents survived the fires of World War II, "Maus I" and "Maus II," sold 1.8 million copies in the United States, according to his publisher, Pantheon Books. Next month Pantheon is releasing "In the Shadow of No Towers," Art Spiegelman's artistic response to the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as an expression of his deep opposition to the war in Iraq.
(New York Times)
WTC Cultural Institutions Tell Residents What to Expect - Aug 7, 2004
Representatives from the four cultural institutions selected for the arts and museum complex at the redeveloped World Trade Center site told residents what kinds of amenities they could expect when the complex opens in five years.
(Downtown Express)
City Gains Control of Streets at Trade Center Site - Aug 6, 2004
New York City - and not the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey - will own and control the streets and sidewalks that run through the World Trade Center site, under an agreement that lifts a 37-year-old cloud over ownership of the property.
(New York Times)
Post Office to Reopen at Trade Center Site - Jul 28, 2004
The post office across the street from the World Trade Center site reopens next week after extensive work to repair the damage it sustained in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, postal officials said yesterday.
(New York Post )
Judge Tells WTC Developer, Architect, to Settle Dispute Through Mediation - Jul 22, 2004
A judge yesterday ordered World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and disgruntled architect Daniel Libeskind to submit their $800,000 fee dispute to mediation.
(New York Daily News)
Silverstein Accuses Libeskind of Freedom Tower Shakedown - Jul 21, 2004
Architect Daniel Libeskind held out "approval" on the Freedom Tower design in an attempted $800,000 shakedown, twin towers leaseholder Larry Silverstein charged in court papers yesterday.
(New York Daily News)
Congressman Fears Health Hazards from Deutsche Building Destruction - Jul 20, 2004
Rep. Jerrold Nadler yesterday blasted the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.'s planned demolition of the Deutschebank Building, saying it could release toxins that may pose a health hazard to residents.
(Newsday)
New York Slow to Fix 9/11 Flaws, Says Commission - Jul 19, 2004
New York still has not fixed some of the crucial problems faced by city cops and firefighters on 9/11, the commission probing the 2001 terrorist attacks will say this week.
(New York Daily News)
Wrong Date Put on 9/11 Plaque - Jul 16, 2004
The date of Sept. 11, 2002, was mistakenly put on a plaque attached to a fence at Ground Zero, officials admitted yesterday.
(New York Post)
Libeskind's Lawsuit Lays Bare the Tensions of Rebuilding - Jul 15, 2004
A mere 10 days after Governor George Pataki presided over an optimistic and buoyant ceremony to lay the cornerstone of the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center, Ground Zero master planner architect Daniel Libeskind filed suit against Larry Silverstein, the developer who is building the 1,776-foot-tall spire. The filing of this lawsuit marks the low point in the often tempestuous relationship between the 58-year-old Mr. Libeskind and the 73-year-old Mr. Silverstein.
(New York Observer)
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)
Family Members, Survivors Want 9/11 Commission Briefings in NYC - Jul 14, 2004
The 9/11 Commission is set to release some of its findings this month and plans to brief families in Washington, despite the fact that the bulk of the victims of the attacks died in the New York City area. Family members of New York victims are trying to persuade the members of the federal Sept. 11 commission to hold briefings for the relatives of the victims and survivors of the attacks in New York as well as in Washington.
(Newsday)
Workers Prepare for Demolition of Last Structural Obstacle to Freedom Tower - Jul 12, 2004
Deep within the smoke-blackened ruins of an underground parking garage, 30 workers are installing tendonlike bundles of steel cable, called tiebacks, to anchor the concrete perimeter foundation wall to bedrock. This will permit the demolition in coming months of the last major structural vestige of the old World Trade Center.
(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)
Tribute in Light Gets Funding for Next Five Years - Jul 9, 2004
Intended originally as an ephemeral memorial, the twin-beam "Tribute in Light," which simultaneously marks the presence and absence of the World Trade Center, has been guaranteed a place in the night sky every Sept. 11 for at least the next five years. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation board voted yesterday to give $3.5 million to the Municipal Art Society, which helps produce the memorial.
(New York Times)
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)
Grants Coming for Ground Zero Cultural Institutions - Jul 8, 2004
The agency leading the Ground Zero rebuilding is expected today to approve $1.5 million in grants for the creation of a cultural center at the site, sources said.
(Newsday)
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Appoints New Board Member - Jul 8, 2004
Robert Balachandran has been appointed to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's Board of Directors.
(NY1)
On Cornerstone, Inscription Speaks with Local Accent - Jul 8, 2004
It could have been imperial Trajan. Or elegant Bodoni. Or generic Helvetica. But the search for the ideal typeface to be inscribed on the Freedom Tower cornerstone at the World Trade Center site ended simply, in Gotham.
(New York Times)
Timeline of Freedom Tower's Key Moments - Jul 7, 2004
Key events in the planning for the World Trade Center's new skyscraper:
(Newsday)
Libeskind Speaks About Rebuilding as Construction Begins - Jul 6, 2004
On July 4, a granite cornerstone was laid down in lower Manhattan for Freedom Tower, marking the beginning of a new structure for the former World Trade site. Freedom Tower is the symbolic focus of the design, the work of architect Daniel Libeskind, who won a competition to design the master plan for ground zero in February 2003. For the final installment of Morning Edition's Intersections series, NPR's Brian Naylor spoke with Libeskind about his inspirations for rebuilding the site.
(National Public Radio)
Commuters Get First Glimpse of Ground Zero Construction - Jul 6, 2004
Starting today, commuters will get their first look at the construction of the new Freedom Tower at Ground Zero.
(New York Daily News)
Visitors Flock to Ground Zero to See Cornerstone - Jul 6, 2004
The newly unveiled cornerstone for the Freedom Tower became lower Manhattan's latest attraction as visitors from around the world descended on Ground Zero yesterday to catch a glimpse of the 20-ton block of granite.
(New York Post)
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 Assignment: One Quarry's "High Profile" Job - Jul 5, 2004
Had it not been chosen as the cornerstone of the Freedom Tower, the 20-ton block of granite from the Ruby Mountain quarry in the Adirondacks was destined for slightly humbler duty. "It would have ended up as someone's countertop," said Tim Conboy, the vice president for strategic planning of the Barton Group in Lake George, N.Y., which owns the quarry about 30 miles northwest, near North River.
(New York Times)
For One Junior High Student, Groundbreaking Ceremony Meant a Big Performance - Jul 5, 2004
Julian Davis tried to focus on the words on the page as he took the stage at Ground Zero yesterday, and declared in a strong, clear voice "that all men are created equal." The 12-year-old, whose dad, Port Authority cop Clinton Davis, was killed on 9/11, read from the Declaration of Independence before a crowd of hundreds at the laying of the cornerstone of the Freedom Tower.
(New York Daily News)
Groundbreaking Brings Varied Crowd - Jul 5, 2004
There were three kinds of people outside Sunday's groundbreaking for the Freedom Tower: spectators, protesters and sunbathers.
(Newsday)
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)
Construction at Ground Zero Begins, But Finished Product Still Unclear - Jul 4, 2004
The language this morning during the cornerstone laying for the Freedom Tower at ground zero will probably be as lofty as the skyscraper itself. But no one gathered around the great granite block - not the governors, the mayor, the civil servants, the developer, the planners, and certainly not the reporters - can say for certain how much of the current vision for the new World Trade Center will be realized.
(New York Times)
Cornerstone Ceremony Begins Complicated Construction Project - Jul 4, 2004
On the 1,027th day after terrorists ripped a hole in our hearts by killing 2,752 people and destroying the World Trade Center, Gov. Pataki today will lay the cornerstone for Twin Towers' replacement — the Freedom Tower, a soaring spire of steel.
(New York Post)
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)
Development at Ground Zero Moving Too Fast, Say Families - Jul 3, 2004
The Coalition of 9/11 families says developers eager to start work on the World Trade Center memorial are jumping the gun.
(NY1)
Freedom Tower Opponents Prepare for a Fight - Jul 3, 2004
It’ll either be the beginning of the beginning or the beginning of the end when a cornerstone is laid for the Freedom Tower on Independence Day. Some see the start of construction of the first tower on the World Trade Center site as an important milestone three years after Lower Manhattan was left with a destroyed place where almost 2,800 people were killed. To those who dislike the new W.T.C. plan for emotional, environmental or aesthetic reasons, the ceremony this Sunday represents another step in the wrong direction. Several groups opposing the plan have been in discussions and are considering filing a lawsuit to stop it.
(Downtown Express)
Freedom Tower Cornerstone Arrives at Ground Zero - Jul 2, 2004
Just in time for Independence Day, a crucial building block in Lower Manhattan's reconstruction has arrived in the city. The cornerstone of the World Trade Center’s Freedom Tower arrived Thursday morning. Workers will put it in place Sunday as the city and the nation celebrate the Fourth of July holiday.
(NY1)
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. )
The Integration of the Design Team at Ground Zero - Jul 1, 2004
Architect J. Max Bond Jr. has had to build bridges to reach Ground Zero, and now, for the first time in the redevelopment of the trade center site, an African American, is a major player
(Washington 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)
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)
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)
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)
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 — set up on the corner of Church and Vesey Sts. immediately north of the PATH station entrance — seemed to fill a void that went deeper than people’s cupboards.
(Downtown Express)
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)
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)
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 — at Lincoln Center.
(New York Times)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Cultural Institutions for Ground Zero To Be ChosenThis Week - Jun 6, 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)
Police Officers Sue City for 9/11 Illnesses - Jun 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s board on Wednesday approved a $500,000 payment to StoryCorps and September’s 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)
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Approves General Plan for World Trade Center - Jun 3, 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 3, 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)
Two More Streets May be Extended Through World Trade Center Site - Jun 3, 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)
Silverstein, Libeskind Battle Over Ground Zero Cash - Jun 2, 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 he’s the man to rebuild. A series of letters — obtained by The Observer — 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 year’s design conflict are still lingering.
(New York Observer)
WTC's Angry Genius - May 29, 2004
Architect Daniel Libeskind is threatening to sue Ground Zero developer Larry Silverstein — claiming he's owed a "genius fee" for his work on the Freedom Tower, sources told The Post yesterday.
(New York Post)
Dispute Over Libeskind's Pay - May 29, 2004
Daniel Libeskind, the master planner for the World Trade Center site, and Larry A. Silverstein, the commercial leaseholder, are fighting over how much Mr. Libeskind should be paid for his work on the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower.
Mr. Libeskind submitted a bill for $800,000. Mr. Silverstein countered with an offer of $125,000. And though the sides are still talking, they remain far apart
(New York Times)
Some Firefighters Leaving Their Wives for 9/11 Widows - May 27, 2004
If 9/11 was the earthquake, the families of firefighters are still, nearly three years later, trying to ride out the aftershocks, the painful, unforeseeable shufflings and reconfigurations that follow any death, much less hundreds within a single professional community. Unlikely though her story seems, Susan Zazulka is not the only wife of a firefighter whose husband left her for a 9/11 widow. There is also Mary Koenig, who lives in upstate New York, whose husband left her for a Staten Island widow named Madeline Bergin. And there is Christina Garger, a teacher on Long Island whose husband, Richard Garger, started seeing a 9/11 widow. One widow who wouldn't use her name said that she briefly dated a firefighter until she found out that he was still officially married. Fire Department sources say there are 10 or 11 such love triangles.
(New York Times)
Worry Grows That Cultural Plans for Ground Zero Are Off-Track - May 26, 2004
With needed fund-raisers backing away and decision making stalled on the cultural component of a redeveloped World Trade Center site, a growing chorus of critics are questioning the effectiveness of the process and whether the project has gone off track. Lost in the debate over whether an opera house can fill its off-season or whether a dance and theater space could together attract sufficient funds, some arts leaders and planning experts say, is the more fundamental question of whether either of these options lives up to the grand plans for Lower Manhattan's hallowed ground.
(New York Times)
Ground Zero Workers With Cancer Face Legal Challenge - May 26, 2004
In the agonizing hours after the towers collapsed on Sept. 11, Brooklyn Firefighter Pete Strahl was on his belly, crawling in a tunnel of debris under 7 World Trade Center to reach an injured civilian. Strahl is now battling a deadly throat cancer. His lung tests are also showing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dubbed the "World Trade Center cough" by medical experts.
The difficulty for Strahl and other first responders at the World Trade Center is that they must prove their illnesses are job-related. So far, there is no medical evidence linking Ground Zero to cancer.
(New York Daily News)
Generators at Ground Zero Producing Power For First Time Since 9/11 - May 25, 2004
Early on Sunday, May 16, with no fanfare, power began flowing through the Con Ed substation at the World Trade Center for the first time since 4:33 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. Tomorrow, Gov. George E. Pataki, speaking by phone from the substation to Con Ed's energy control center uptown, will make it official: one more vital piece of the infrastructure around the trade center site is back in place, following the restoration of the subway tunnel for the Nos. 1 and 9 lines in 2002 and the opening of the temporary PATH station last year.
(New York Times)
Ground Zero Workers Developing Cancer - May 25, 2004
The Daily News revealed yesterday that many cops and firefighters assigned to Ground Zero are developing serious illnesses, including cancer. And though no direct link between Ground Zero and cancer has yet been established, more victims came forward yesterday to tell their stories.
(New York Daily News)
Pension Bill Would Help Ill Ground Zero Workers - May 25, 2004
City workers would be eligible for a tax-free disability pension - even if they've already retired - if they can prove their illnesses were caused by the terror attacks, under a controversial bill. Last year, the World Trade Center Presumption bill was passed by the state Senate and Assembly, but was canned after Gov. Pataki vetoed the measure at Mayor Bloomberg's urging.
(New York Daily News)
A Park at Ground Zero: Architects' Ideas - May 16, 2004
The 1,776-foot-high Freedom Tower, which promises to become the tallest building in the world, is slated to begin construction this summer. But many of the other large office towers planned for the World Trade Center site may need to be scaled back; it is possible that they will not be built at all. So why not a park -- a grand urban park for downtown Manhattan? Earlier this spring, The New York Times Magazine asked several leading landscape-architecture firms to consider the question, and the proposals that are illustrated on the following pages offer a provocative variety of responses.
(New York Times)
Ground Zero's Top Fundraising Post Remains Unfilled, Threatening Delays - May 15, 2004
After being turned down by several top business executives, Gov. George E. Pataki is struggling to find someone prominent to lead the campaign to raise as much as $600 million for a memorial and cultural buildings at the World Trade Center site. Mr. Pataki's inability so far to find a leader for the campaign has contributed to a delay in deciding which cultural organizations will occupy the site, these people said.
(New York Times )
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)
Architects Compete to Design Church Destroyed on 9/11 - May 14, 2004
It is the smallest building planned at ground zero. But the architects who will compete to design the new St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church may face the biggest challenge. They will be asked by Archbishop Demetrios, the primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, for a design at once unmistakably ecclesiastical yet in harmony with the bold secular architecture around it, one that captures unearthly mystery in tangible dimensions and conveys a sense of something outside human experience.
(New York Times)
Fire Union Head Wants to Testify At 9/11 Commission - May 13, 2004
The city's top fire union officials have asked to testify at 9/11 commission hearings next week, but the commission says the hearings are "reserved for people in authority."
(New York Post )
First Lady Dedicates Garden To 9/11 Vicitms - May 11, 2004
First Lady Laura Bush yesterday dedicated a garden in Battery Park to victims of 9/11, invoking a beauty tip from a past First Lady. "Flowers in the city are like lipstick on a woman," said Bush, quoting Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of former President Lyndon Johnson and an avid horticulturist. "It just makes you look better to have a little color."
(New York Daily News)
Ground Zero Environmental Impact Statement Still Lacking, Says Community Board - May 9, 2004
For all its 2,000 pages, a report on rebuilding the World Trade Center site did not go far enough in addressing specific public concerns, members of Community Board 1 said this week. In mid-April, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation released its final generic environmental impact statement on the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. The document was a revised version of a draft released in January, and in addition to repeating the expected impacts of the decade-long rebuilding effort it individually addressed some 671 comments submitted in response to the first draft.
(Downtown Express)
Stock Exchange May Remove 9/11 Plaque Bearing Former Chief's Name - May 8, 2004
The New York Stocc Exchange may remove a plaque commemorating victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because it features disgraced former chairman Dick Grasso's name, sources close to the matter told The Associated Press on Friday.
(Newsday)
In Rebuilding Update, Governor Backs New Tunnel Under East River - May 6, 2004
Governor George E. Pataki threw his political weight yesterday behind a plan to dig a new tunnel under the East River as part of a $6 billion rail link from downtown to Kennedy Airport and points east along the Long Island Rail Road. Mr. Pataki said the rail link would offer travelers a "one-seat ride to their terminal at J.F.K. in just 36 minutes" from Lower Manhattan. As an economic and political matter, the link would be even more important as the downtown gateway for up to 100,000 Long Island commuters, greatly expanding the capacity of businesses in the financial district to attract suburban workers who now live at least two train rides away.
(New York Times)
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)
Jury Deals Another Blow to Silverstein in Ground Zero Insurance Case - May 4, 2004
A federal jury in Manhattan said yesterday that the single largest insurer at the World Trade Center was limited to a single payout of $877 million, not the double payment sought by the developer Larry A. Silverstein in his long-running legal battle over the downtown complex. It was another blow to Mr. Silverstein's 29-month campaign to collect $7.1 billion for rebuilding the trade center site and one that could ultimately force him to settle with 10 remaining insurance companies. Last week, the jury ruled that eight of the two dozen insurers at the trade center were not liable for double payments.
(New York Times)
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)
Feeling Shortchanged on Security Funds, Police, Firefighters Plan Convention Protest - Apr 28, 2004
Feeling shortchanged by Washington, some city firefighters and police are vowing to protest against President Bush and the Republicans at their convention in New York this summer. Unions representing cops and firefighters have requested permits to protest at the Republican National Convention in August at Madison Square Garden.
(New York Daily News)
Many in Dance World Want Smaller Theater At Ground Zero - Apr 27, 2004
Many in the New York dance world are rallying behind the Joyce Theater's proposal to build a 900-seat home for dance as a cultural anchor for the World Trade Center site, favoring it over the New York City Opera's proposal to build a 2,200-seat opera house that would be used in part for dance in the off-season.
(New York Times)
Does the Port Authority Really Own Ground Zero? - Apr 22, 2004
What is said about the World Trade Center site can sometimes be at odds - if ever so slightly - with fine-grained reality. Case in point: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns the 16-acre trade center site. That statement of fact is repeated reflexively in accounts of the ground zero rebuilding. But it turns out that it may not be quite true.
(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 )
City Seeks Formal Governing Role in Ground Zero Development - Apr 21, 2004
The Bloomberg administration called yesterday for a formal agreement with the Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to govern the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, much as a 1967 compact did. Then, the biggest issues were television reception and how much money the city would receive in lieu of real estate taxes. Now, the goal is to ensure that rebuilding "is not delayed or hindered by lack of coordination or misunderstandings," Deputy Mayor Daniel L. Doctoroff said in a letter to state officials.
(New York Times)
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)
Amidst the Battles, Quality World Trade Center Plan Emerges - Apr 19, 2004
In the city that supposedly never sleeps, the redesign of the World Trade Center site has been the story that truly never stops. Lawsuits. Turf battles. Heavy political pressures. Intense emotional appeals. High-voltage international design contests. Daily press coverage of every big and little fight. It has been an exciting, confounding, downright messy process with surprises at every turn in the twisting road. And yet, so far, the biggest surprise of all is the high quality of the results.
(Washington Post)
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)
Deutsche Building To Come Down Piece by Piece - Apr 16, 2004
Later this year, if all goes according to plan, the monolithic 40-story office tower immediately south of ground zero - shrouded in black netting and far too like a 536-foot-high tombstone for many New Yorkers' tastes - will be coming down. Piece by piece.
(New York Times)
Development's Effects on Fish and Birds Taken into Account at Ground Zero - Apr 15, 2004
Fish and birds, the smallest stakeholders in the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, have been accounted for in the final environmental impact statement, which is to be made public today. And they may end up influencing some very large projects.
(New York Times)
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)
Associate Architect Chosen for Ground Zero Memorial - Apr 14, 2004
A decade after preparing a sweeping plan to revitalize the public spaces at the World Trade Center, the firm of Davis Brody Bond was designated yesterday as associate architect for the memorial that is to be built on the trade center site. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation also approved a $45 million contract with the Gilbane Building Company of Providence, R.I., to dismantle 130 Liberty Street, a 40-story building near ground zero.
(New York Times)
Noise and Congestion Downtown Until 2015, Says Revised Environmental Impact Statement - Apr 14, 2004
A decade of development at the World Trade Center site will create noisy, congested streets, cast longer shadows over parks and probably remove some remnants of the original trade center, a new report says. ``Some adverse impacts are inevitable'' in downtown Manhattan until 2015, when the site should be finished, according to the report issued Tuesday by the agency overseeing rebuilding.
(Associated Press)
Secret Service Worker Accused of Stealing Cars from Ground Zero - Apr 14, 2004
Hundreds of cars were destroyed when the World Trade Center collapsed. But several United States Secret Service cars listed as "crushed," prosecutors said yesterday, were actually stolen by the head of the agency's motor pool at 7 World Trade Center, a retired police sergeant who received a commendation for rescue work on Sept. 11, 2001.
(New York Times)
Extra $20 Million Earmarked for Demolition of Deutsche Bank Building - Apr 14, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. earmarked an extra $20 million in public funds yesterday to tear down the Deutsche Bank building next to Ground Zero.
(New York Daily News)
Advisory Committee For Cultural Complex Selected - Apr 9, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation yesterday introduced a 24-member Memorial Center Advisory Committee to assist it in developing a cultural complex at the World Trade Center site.
(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)
Low Crime Rates in Subway Attributed to Post 9/11 Tactics - Apr 6, 2004
Police are on track to beat last year's historic low tally of subway crimes - and cops are crediting part of the ongoing decline to anti-terror efforts. Crime in all major categories combined is down about 2% from last year, which was the lowest in more than three decades. From January through Sunday night, there were 775 felonies, compared with 789 during the same period last year.
(New York Daily News)
Clinton Calls For $570 Million For Tunnel Security - Apr 3, 2004
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that the current wave of terrorism concerns surrounding the nation's railways make it imperative for officials to increase security around New York City's rail tunnels.
(Associated Press)
At Ground Zero, Retail Development Must Step Carefully - Mar 29, 2004
At the new World Trade Center, an area of six acres will be set aside for mourning and remembering. And in the surrounding buildings and concourses, an area of 650,000 square feet - almost 15 acres - will be set aside for shopping and dining. The retail space poses planning challenges rivaling those faced by the memorial, the Freedom Tower and the combined PATH terminal and transportation hub.
(New York Times)
Fire Department To Focus On Counterterrorism - Mar 29, 2004
Counterterrorism training will be the FDNY's top priority for the next two years, according to a landmark plan prompted by the Sept. 11 attacks and slated for release today.
(New York Daily News)
Artist Who Worked With Ground Zero Dust Honored - Mar 29, 2004
A New York-based artist became the first winner of a new British art prize on Sunday for a work made from dust collected from the streets of Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
(Associated Press)
New Process to Guide Historical Preservation at Ground Zero - Mar 26, 2004
Criticized by preservationists and victims' relatives for indifference to the physical remnants of the World Trade Center, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation proposed yesterday to create a review procedure that would guide the treatment of historical elements at the site for 10 years. The corporation's proposal would open future decisions about structural remains to review by preservationists, civic groups, architectural and planning organizations and relatives' representatives. Those remains include column footings from the twin towers, the foundation wall, smoke-scarred ruins of the underground parking garage, the tubes and terminal of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad and a stairway leading to the vanished plaza.
(New York Times)
Designers Struggle To Avoid Windswept Plaza Of World Trade Center - Mar 25, 2004
Austin J. Tobin Plaza was the official name of the vast open space at the World Trade Center. But most New Yorkers knew it as the Barren Windswept Plaza.
There is a chance they will recognize its successor, too, just by the gusts. "Typically, pedestrian-level wind conditions will be in the comfortable range," the draft environmental impact statement said about the planned World Trade Center redevelopment. "However, during some limited time periods, uncomfortable conditions may occur and activities like sitting, standing and walking may be impeded."
(New York Times)
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)
9/11 Families Sickened Over Ground Zero Souvenirs - Mar 21, 2004
Families of 9/11 victims are sickened that their loved ones' belongings and other Ground Zero remains may now be strangers' trophies.
(New York Post )
Taking Souvenirs From Ground Zero Common Practice For FBI Agents - Mar 21, 2004
Everbody does it. That's the response Jane Turner got when she told federal investigators that a fellow FBI agent had stolen a Tiffany globe found at the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
(New York Post )
Clinton Officials To Tell 9/11 Panel That They Warned Bush Of Terror Threat - Mar 20, 2004
Senior Clinton administration officials called to testify next week before the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks say they are prepared to detail how they repeatedly warned their Bush administration counterparts in late 2000 that Al Qaeda posed the worst security threat facing the nation — and how the new administration was slow to act.
(New York Times)
Calls For More In-Depth Analysis In Responses To Environmental Impact Statement - Mar 17, 2004
It is hard to imagine a 2,000-page document missing anything. But critical comments on the draft environmental impact statement for the World Trade Center rebuilding project generally fault it more for what it does not say than for what it does. The comments, which were due Monday but kept trickling in yesterday to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, urged officials to assess more carefully and comprehensively the cumulative effects of several big projects - the office towers and memorial, the PATH terminal, the Fulton Street Transit Center and the reconstruction of West Street-Route 9A - that have been separated for public review.
(New York Times)
New York Gives Politicians Lessons on Mixing 9/11 And Politics - Mar 15, 2004
The nation is on the threshold of a long and potentially nasty contest for the White House and for the first time it is being forced to consider 9/11 in purely political terms, terms the Republicans would like to frame around the notions of leadership and security, and the Democrats around exploitation and outrage. But while this is all new and raw on the national stage, it is a dynamic that has played out in New York - especially during the governor's race in 2002 - and continues to influence the thrust and parry of local politics at the highest levels. In that regard, New York's experience provides insight into the benefits and pitfalls Democrats and Republicans risk as they continue to play the Sept. 11 card in this year's contest for the presidency.
(New York Times)
Building The Freedom Tower on Site Full of Fear - Mar 14, 2004
ight now, the designers of the Freedom Tower are struggling to master three colossal forces that are at work in the stark, empty sky above the World Trade Center site: gravity, wind and, perhaps most formidably, fear. Any architect or engineer who works on a tall structure is morally and professionally obligated to become something of a safety obsessive. The steel and concrete of every Manhattan skyscraper has to resist hurricane-force winds, for example, as well as the downward pull of the Earth. But only the Freedom Tower will rise over a patch of ground that is forever shaken with the terror and paranoia of the worst building catastrophe in the history of the planet.
(New York Times)
Ground Zero Architect, Memorial Juror To Discuss "Building Memory" At Jewish Museum - Mar 14, 2004
“Remember, never forget.” The words on the wall of New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan will come to life this month when the museum hosts a half-day symposium exploring how Holocaust memories are preserved and passed down from generation to generation. The symposium will feature three separate panels. Daniel Libeskind and James Young will discuss building and rebuilding memory in the symposium’s closing session at 4 p.m. Libeskind, the son of Holocaust survivors, designed the master site plan for the World Trade Center and Young, a Holocaust scholar, was one of 13 members of the jury that evaluated entries in the World Trade Center site memorial competition.
(Downtown Express)
Rumsfeld, High FBI Officials, Took Souvenirs From Ground Zero - Mar 13, 2004
The removal of souvenir debris from the scenes of the Sept. 11 attacks reached the highest levels of government, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and FBI Director Robert Mueller's chief of anti-terrorism, a Justice Department investigation has found. The practice was so widespread inside the FBI that it even forced prosecutors in Minnesota to drop plans to prosecute a company that had taken a fire truck door from the World Trade Center, according to a still-confidential report obtained by The Associated Press.
(Associated Press)
Mayor Defends Bush's Ads -- And Kerry's - Mar 13, 2004
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg refused to be drawn into the partisan politics of the looming presidential race yesterday, jumping in to defend first President Bush and then his main Democratic rival, Senator John Kerry, on his weekly radio show. Mayor Bloomberg was asked by the radio show's host, John Gambling, about the Bush campaign ads focusing on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The mayor, a Democrat who switched to the Republican Party to run for office, responded by saying that he supported the campaign strategies of both candidates, even though the question was about only one of them.
(New York Times)
City Cops Head To Madrid After Bombing - Mar 12, 2004
The subway bomb massacre yesterday in Madrid prompted new precautions in New York, as police heightened patrols on subways and commuter lines and sent intelligence officers to Spain. Two NYPD officers, one with an Interpol background, were to arrive in Madrid "for information gathering," said one official.
(Newsday)
Buildings For Ground Zero Now Planned To Be Shorter Than Originally Intended - Mar 11, 2004
As plans for ground zero assume their final form, it is more apparent than ever that what New York will get - at least in the near future - is a far cry from the renderings by Studio Daniel Libeskind that captivated and puzzled the public a year ago.
(New York Times)
Opinions Vary On Which Parts Of Ground Zero Are Historic - Mar 6, 2004
A debate with few precedents in American historic preservation - what are the meaningful physical remnants of a place that was all but destroyed? - has turned into a confrontation between preservationists and state officials. Yesterday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation called on the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to let the keeper of the National Register of Historic Places determine which remnants of the World Trade Center deserved heightened scrutiny; for example, the severed cast-iron PATH tubes or the smoke-scarred ruins of an underground parking garage.
(New York Times)
Mayor Declines To Criticize Ground Zero Ads - Mar 6, 2004
Walking a fine political line, Mayor Michael Bloomberg refused Friday to criticize political ads being aired by President George W. Bush, a fellow Republican, that some Bush critics said was creating political capital out of 9/11.
(Newsday)
Owners Of Flag Planted At Ground Zero Sue City For Losing It - Mar 6, 2004
The owners of the flag that was planted in the rubble of Ground Zero claim the city has lost it and are suing for more than $500,000
(New York Daily News)
Pataki Signs Law Banning Vendors From Ground Zero - Mar 6, 2004
Gov. Pataki yesterday signed into law legislation reinstating restrictions on peddlers in Midtown Manhattan while also barring vendors from around Ground Zero. The law takes effect immediately.
(New York Post)
New Design Guidelines For Ground Zero - Mar 5, 2004
Building setbacks, the proportion of towers to their bases, the angle of the rooftops, facade materials, paving and landscaping, the width of sidewalks, even the color and typography of signs - are all covered by the proposed design guidelines for Ground Zero. However, the current draft still leaves open the significant question of who would administer the rules over the many years it may take to complete the reconstruction.
(New York Times)
New Design Guidelines For Ground Zero Are Less Restrictive - Mar 5, 2004
A confidential draft of the new desing guidelines for buildings at Ground Zero, obtained yesterday by the Daily News, shows guidelines for building heights and construction materials that are less restrictive than an earlier version.
(New York Daily News)
Green In Lower Manhattan: An Interview With Architect Bruce Fowle - Mar 5, 2004
MetropolisMag editor Julie Taraska spoke with architect Bruce Fowle about Ground Zero’s environmental opportunities: the chance to readdress the site’s density, to explore renewable power sources, and to utilize green roofs. The discussion occurred in January 2004, days before the LMDC released its Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) for the WTC Memorial and Redevelopment Plan.
(Metropolis Magazine)
Bush Television Ads Feature Ground Zero -- Angering Families Of Victims - Mar 4, 2004
The Bush reelection campaign yesterday unveiled its first three campaign commercials showcasing Ground Zero images, angering some 9/11 families who accused President Bush of exploiting the tragedy for political advantage.
(New York Daily News)
Plan For Underground Walkways Downtown Sparking Debate - Mar 4, 2004
Seduced by the distinctive architecture planned around the World Trade Center site, it is easy to forget that one of the most important transformations of Lower Manhattan will be almost invisible, at least from the street. A series of passageways being planned, including underground concourses, would permit pedestrians to make a sheltered journey, uninterrupted by traffic, from Vesey Street and North End Avenue in Battery Park City to Broadway and John Street.
(New York Times)
Reluctantly, Jury Convicts Firefighter Of Removing Items From Ground Zero - Mar 3, 2004
It wasn't exactly a scene out of "Twelve Angry Men" - a juror put his arm around a former firefighter and apologized to him yesterday minutes after he helped convict him of filching personal items from the smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center.
(New York Post)
Breaking Silence, City Planning Commission Weighs In On Trade Center Site Plan - Mar 2, 2004
Breaking its conspicuous public silence on the World Trade Center redevelopment plan, the City Planning Department called yesterday for many changes that would open more of the streets, sidewalks and public spaces on the site.
(New York Times)
Firefighter Says Items He Took From Ground Zero Were 'Garbage' - Mar 2, 2004
A retired fireman accused of stealing "souvenirs" while working at Ground Zero told a Manhattan jury yesterday that the items were all "garbage" - even the ID cards of two World Trade Center workers who died in the tragedy.
(New York Post)
Investigators Probe World Trade Center Absestos Clean-Up - Feb 29, 2004
Investigators have launched a sweeping probe into possible fraud by companies hired to remove asbestos from the World Trade Center site and other Port Authority facilities, The Post has learned.
(New York Post)
Deutsche Bank Will Be Demolished - Feb 27, 2004
Deutsche Bank reached agreement yesterday with the state, insurers and downtown rebuilding officials on the fate of a 40-story skyscraper near the World Trade Center site that still stands despite being badly damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks. The tower at 130 Liberty Street, which is draped in a black shroud to hide a deep 24-story-long gash in its northern facade, would be demolished, according to several executive and government officials who had been briefed on the negotiations.
(New York Times)
FBI Agents Took Souvenirs From Ground Zero - Feb 26, 2004
Thirteen agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation took mementos, debris or valuables from the Staten Island landfill that held the rubble of the World Trade Center, and the F.B.I. now plans to formally ban the removal of crime-scene items as a result, officials said on Wednesday.
(New York Times)
Freedom Tower Observation Deck Will Be 1,500 Feet Above Ground - Feb 25, 2004
The planned Freedom Tower will have an observation deck near its spire standing 1,500 feet above ground zero, the lead architect said Tuesday.
(Associated Press)
Trial Begins For Ex-Firefighter Charged With Stealing From Ground Zero - Feb 24, 2004
Jury selection began yesterday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan for the trial of a retired firefighter who is charged with stealing items from ground zero while working as a volunteer after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
(New York Times)
Roundup Of Public Comments On Ground Zero Environmental Impact - Feb 22, 2004
Community members spoke about the study, called the draft generic environmental impact statement, or d.g.e.i.s., at two public forums held on Feb. 18 at Pace University. More than 100 people attended the afternoon session, and 60 people testified at that session. Concerns were varied, and often contradicted one another.
(Downtown Express)
Mayor Gently Criticizes Edwards For 9/11 Comment - Feb 21, 2004
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that Senator John Edwards was wrong when he suggested on Thursday that Republicans were holding their convention in New York to exploit the Sept. 11 tragedy, and that the city's economy was a shambles. But Mayor Bloomberg, a Republican, also softened his earlier criticism of Senator Edwards, a Democratic presidential candidate from North Carolina, saying that his comments were "just political verbiage" and that he did not hold them against the senator.
(New York Times)
Soldiers Make Homecoming Trip To Ground Zero - Feb 21, 2004
It was a homecoming of sorts Friday for 34 U.S. Army soldiers who took part in an informal tour of the area around Ground Zero.
(Newsday)
Criticism For Ground Zero Development At Envirornmental Impact Hearing - Feb 19, 2004
Critics sharply attacked a draft environmental impact statement concerning the rebuilding at Ground Zero yesterday, challenging the report's main conclusion that the project poses no adverse effects.
(Newsday)
Mixed Reactions At Ground Zero Environmental Impact Hearing - Feb 19, 2004
The controversy that has surrounded nearly every aspect of the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site spilled over to the project's impact on the environment yesterday as New Yorkers had their first chance to express concerns publicly about traffic, air pollution and the availability of public space.
(New York Times)
Plans For The Lobby At Seven World Trade - Feb 16, 2004
A computerized rendering of Seven World Trade Center, prepared by architects for WTC developer Larry Silverstein, shows a high-tech lobby of polished limestone and marble and shiny stainless steel columns, with revolving doors on Greenwich Street.
(New York Post)
President Bush To Give Limited Testimony To 9/11 Commission - Feb 16, 2004
The White House said yesterday that President Bush plans to meet only with a limited number of representatives from the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, despite a statement issued Friday that suggested he would meet with the whole panel.
(Washington Post)
Federal Government Stiffing New York On Funds For Police Communication, Says Senator - Feb 15, 2004
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused the federal government yesterday of once again stiffing New York City out of critical security funds, this time money needed to upgrade communications between the Fire and Police departments.
(New York Daily News)
Rebuilding Officials Say That World Trade Center Site, But Not Structural Remnants Of Buildings, Is Historic - Feb 13, 2004
The struggle between preservationists and rebuilding officials over ground zero escalated this week with a preliminary finding by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation that the site's location, setting, feeling and association - not the structural remnants of the World Trade Center - render it historic.
(New York Times)
Flexing Muscles, City Calls Special Ground Zero Planning Meeting - Feb 13, 2004
The Bloomberg administration is reasserting itself into the rebuilding at Ground Zero, setting a special city planning session next month. The hearing is significant because it's one of the city's only chances to play a formal planning role in the World Trade Center site - which is owned by the Port Authority and under the sway of Gov. Pataki.
(New York Daily News)
Ground Zero Station Is PATH's Busiest - Feb 13, 2004
Exceeding early expectations, the World Trade Center PATH train station is now the busiest in the system, averaging more than 30,000 weekday riders since last month.
(New Jersey Journal)
Court Case On Trade Center Insurance Opens, With Billions At Stake - Feb 9, 2004
Opening statements are expected to begin today in the long-brewing court battle between the developer Larry A. Silverstein and two dozen insurers over how much money will be available for rebuilding the vast commercial complex at the World Trade Center site.
(New York Times)
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)
Calatrava Receives Star Treatment At Community Board One - Feb 8, 2004
Community Board 1 has seen a number of celebrities over the years, but probably none of them received the amount of star-treatment afforded to renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, who politely signed a few autographs Wednesday after presenting his plan for the World Trade Center train station.
(Downtown Express)
Ground Zero Merits Historic Status, Say Redevelopment Officials - Feb 7, 2004
History does not have to wait its customary half-century. Even now, the World Trade Center site merits inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a determination made on Friday by three government agencies.
(New York Times)
Lawsuit Claims That Ground Zero Contractor Reaped "Windfall Profits" - Feb 1, 2004
A $17 million civil suit lodged in federal court charges that the main contractor in the new World Trade Center PATH station reaped "windfall profits," overcharged the Port Authority and cheated a major subcontractor in the 9/11 rebuilding job, The Post has learned. Citing "greed at the expense of the public," the suit alleges the main contractors in the $566 million project violated Federal Emergency Manage- ment Agency rules, racketeering laws and state laws barring misuse of public funds.
(New York Post)
Ground Zero Reconstruction To Cost Over $11 Billion - Jan 30, 2004
Rebuilding the office and retail space at the World Trade Center will cost close to $7.5 billion — part of a total Ground Zero reconstruction tab of more than $11 billion, The Post has learned.
(New York Post)
In One Family, Ugly Court Battle Over How 9/11 Money Is Spent - Jan 29, 2004
As the sole heir of deceased World Trade Center firefighter William Lake, 9-year-old Kyler Lake received a small fortune in charity funds and death benefits. How that money is being spent is at the heart of a vitriolic court battle, the longest-running and most hotly contested Sept. 11 case in Kings County Surrogate's Court.
(Newsday)
Nuts And Bolts (And Water) Challenge Memorial Design - Jan 26, 2004
The jury has reached its verdict: two enormous square voids, set on the spots where the twin towers once stood, will be the centerpiece of the World Trade Center memorial. But now a jury of a different kind must weigh in: the engineers, horticulturists, carpenters, electricians, and plumbers who will actually build it.
(New York Times)
On Memorial, Great Minds Think Alike? - Jan 26, 2004
A memorial for Ground Zero designed by Stuvyestant High School students last June contains several now-familiar features: A series of ramps leading to two reflecting pools at the Twin Tower footprints. A wall of names around the pools honoring those people killed on 9/11. A handful of trees surrounding the pools on a street-level plaza. A cultural building nearby on Greenwich St.
(Downtown Express)
2,749 May Be Final Death Toll Of 9/11 - Jan 23, 2004
2,749. Unless something unexpected happens, this figure could well be the final count that history books will record as the number of victims who died in the World Trade Center attack, city officials said yesterday.
(New York Times)
PATH Station To Be Unveiled Today - Jan 22, 2004
A design for a permanent PATH station is to be unveiled this morning by Gov. George E. Pataki, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which will build the $2 billion project. Though the PATH terminal is the third key element of the trade center redevelopment project - in many ways, quite literally its heart - the design will almost burst on the civic consciousness, since work has proceeded quietly, with none of the discordant prelude that accompanied Freedom Tower and the memorial, "Reflecting Absence."
(New York Times)
Deutsche Deal Near At Ground Zero - Jan 22, 2004
Development officials hope to work out a deal to buy the damaged Deutsche Bank building next to Ground Zero in coming weeks, at the same time they resolve an insurance dispute that has threatened to stall downtown rebuilding plans, sources told The Post.
(New York Post)
Next For Ground Zero: Noise And Traffic - Jan 21, 2004
Snarled traffic, long shadows and noise - a decade's worth of noise - will be the inevitable byproducts of the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, according to a 2,000-page study approved yesterday by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.
(New York Times)
Silverstein Agrees To Safety Checks, But Critics Remain Unsatisfied - Jan 21, 2004
In an effort to reassure the public that new buildings at the World Trade Center site will meet government-mandated safety standards, the Port Authority and developer Larry Silverstein have agreed in principle to subject their construction projects to several new and independent safety checks, according to a draft of the proposal obtained by The Observer. But members of a post–Sept. 11 advocacy group, whose criticism of Port Authority safety policies helped bring the issue to the fore, labeled the proposal a "sham," citing what they saw as a lack of enforcement powers.
(New York Observer)
At Ground Zero, Rebuilding With Nature In Mind - Jan 20, 2004
While most of the anguished debate about ground zero has focused on recreating and remembering what was once there, another effort has been moving forward to create on the site something that never existed, an environmentally sensitive city within a city that is attuned to nature as well as the real estate market.
(New York Times)
Victim Compensation Fund Enrollment At 98 Percent - Jan 17 |