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Transit Lines are Life Blood
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Baruch School of Public Affairs
Rebuilding NYC


Focus on Rebuild Downtown


•  Plans and Designs For The Site
•  What Should Be Built?
•  Infrastructure and Transportation


•  Rebuild The Towers vs. All Memorial
•  Rethinking The Six Plans
•  Transcript of Chat with Lou Tomson
•  Nine Months Later, Top Rebuilding Players Look Ahead
•  Consensus or Competing Visions?
•  The Firm Of "Blah, Blah and Blah?"
•  The First Public Hearing
•  John Whitehead on Where We Are And Where We're Going
•  Imagining New York
•  Paul Goldberger on The "New" New York City Skyline


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All Rebuild Downtown 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)

Despite Terror Concerns, New York Builds Glass Skyscrapers - Sep 6, 2004
Defying concerns after the attack on New York three years ago that post-9/11 construction would be dominated by brute concrete bunkers, the designers of significant new public and private buildings in the city are turning again and again to glass facades. (New York Times )

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)

Port Authority Looks for JFK Ferry Link - Aug 27, 2004
The Port Authority invited ferry operators Thursday to submit proposals for boat connections between Lower Manhattan and Kennedy International Airport. (Newsday)

Post Office Closed on 9/11 Reinaugerated - Aug 19, 2004
Church Street Station reopened Monday, Aug. 2. Today, Postmaster General John E. Potter will formally reinaugurate the 67-year-old post office, at 90 Church Street, by unveiling an American flag that last flew there on Sept. 11, 2001. Folded and encased, the flag was displayed at Postal Service headquarters in Washington. (New York Times)

Hudson Yards Will Not Affect Downtown Development, Says Planner - Aug 15, 2004
Vishaan Chakrabarti, director of the Department of City Planning’s Manhattan Office, insisted that the Hudson Yards would not threaten Downtown. “We’re working with the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to make the rebuilding of Downtown happen,” he said. “Some companies will choose Midtown and some will choose Downtown,” he said, “But the World Trade Center will redevelop first before you see a single skyscraper on the West Side.” (Downtown Express)

Reopening of Ground Zero Post Office Makes Life Easier Downtown - Aug 15, 2004
Downtowners living and working near the World Trade Center now have a shorter trek to make when sending packages and picking up mail — the Church St. post office reopened earlier this month after a three-year closing caused by damage from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. (Downtown Express)

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)

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)

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)

Ground Zero Post Office Reopens - Aug 2, 2004
A post office heavily damaged in the World Trade Center attack finally reopens Monday. The 67-year-old facility is located at 90 Church Street, right across the street from the World Trade Center site. (NY1)

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 )

Blending Technology and Security, Architects Build Big Again - Jul 25, 2004
On the day the world Trade Center fell, the Empire State Building once again became the tallest building in New York City. In the months that followed, six of its commercial tenants ran off. They did not want to be in the tallest anything, anywhere, anymore. Three years later, big is beautiful again. (Time Canada)

Vets Protest Iraq War at Ground Zero - Jul 25, 2004
Flashing peace symbols and yelling “Congress has spoken, the people have spoken: No more Vietnams,” eight members of Veterans for Peace came to the World Trade Center Site for about 20 minutes Tuesday to protest the war in Iraq. None of them made any mention of Sept. 11 during the protest. (Downtown Express)

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)

Governor Open to Scrapping West Street Tunnel Plan - Jul 17, 2004
With his clothes still wet after kayaking to Tribeca, Gov. George Pataki indicated for the first time that he was open to not building a West St. tunnel. Pataki told Downtown Express that he would let the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. make the decision on the tunnel and he thought the state-city agency would also make significant investments on Downtown’s proposed commuter-airport rail link and the Hudson River Park. (Downtown Express)

Over 700 Employees Prepare for Move Downtown - Jul 16, 2004
The revitalization continues in Lower Manhattan, as 730 state employees get set to move their offices downtown. (NY1)

Post 9/11 PATH Ridership Exceeds Expectations - Jul 12, 2004
The number of commuters who use the temporary World Trade Center station and the Exchange Place station in Jersey City has exceeded expectations since they reopened last year, officials said. (New York Post)

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)

New Home for Trade Center Art Studios - Jul 11, 2004
From 1997 until 2001, artists worked on the 91st and 92nd floors of Tower One of the World Trade Center, capturing the city’s landscape from the highest vantage point in the Manhattan. One artist in the program died on Sept. 11, 2001. After 9/11, L.M.C.C. hopscotched from the World Financial Center, to Brooklyn and spent last year Downtown in the Woolworth Building, before artists and members of L.M.C.C. learned that Silverstein Properties had donated the artists’ current space on Broadway between Pine and Cedar Sts. (Downtown Express)

With Post 9/11 Revitalization, Downtown’s Parks Get a Little Greener - Jul 9, 2004
Bowling Green, New York's oldest park, is looking especially fresh. The park, at the foot of Broadway, has just undergone an $690,000 renovation by the city Parks Department as part of a $37 million crash program to restore and create 14 parks downtown in the wake of 9/11. (New York Times)

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)

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)

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)

Housing Complex Residents Split on Rebuilding Project - Jul 3, 2004
With the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation considering the Chatham Green Houses complex as a potential site for an underground parking garage, the building’s shareholders and board members are already split as to whether the project would be a blessing or a boondoggle. (Downtown Express)

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

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

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

Ground is Broken at Battery Bosque, With Help of Lower Manhattan Development Corporation - Jun 8, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Parks Department broke ground Monday at the Battery Bosque, in an effort to transform the run-down area into a lush green space. More than $8.5 million has been allocated for the project, which will include money for a new carousel. (NY1)

Fulton Street Subway Station Receives Praise - Jun 4, 2004
The $750 million design for a new subway center at Fulton St. and Broadway received glowing praise from resident leaders and transportation advocates at the opening unveiling May 26, but mixed reviews an hour later from some of the small businesses the new center will displace. (Downtown Express)

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)

World of Golf to Become Transit Center's Casualty - Jun 1, 2004
The latest project unveiled for Lower Manhattan, the Fulton Street Transit Center, will connect four subway stations under a crystalline glass dome. It will also almost surely doom the World of Golf in its building at 189 Broadway. (New York Times)

Businesses Face Eviction To Make Way for Station - May 28, 2004
For the businesses in buildings that will have to be knocked down to make way for the Fulton Street Transit Station there is more resentment than excitement. (NY1)

With Rebuilding Money, New Sports Fields Being Built on Downtown Pier - May 28, 2004
The Hudson River Park Trust’s board of directors at their May 20 meeting approved $5.5 million in contracts to build a three-and-a-half-acre, interim sports field at Pier 40. The Trust will pay for the work out of its general funds, plus $1.6 million from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. that had previously been slated for an ice-skating rink at Spring St. and the tennis courts. (Downtown Express)

Glass And Steel Dome For New Fulton Street Station - May 27, 2004
The new $750 million Fulton Transit Center will feature a 110-foot-high glass-and-steel dome that will allow sunlight to filter into what is now a dingy, maze-like subway complex, according to plans unveiled yesterday. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority hub, at Broadway and Fulton St., also would preserve the 115-year-old Corbin Building and use its arches as another entrance point. (New York Daily News)

Fulton Street Subway Station Calls For Huge Glass Dome Downtown - May 26, 2004
Add another transparent polymorph to downtown's future landscape. If blueprints can be believed, office towers, apartment houses, commuter rail terminals - and now, even a subway station - will shimmer luminously as they taper and soar. Astride a tangled labyrinth linking four stations on the A, C, J, M, Z, 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposes a tapering, conical, 110-foot-tall steel-and-glass dome that would emerge from within a 50-foot-high glass-box pavilion at Broadway and Fulton Street. This translucent and transparent structure would, in effect, harvest daylight and send it as far as possible underground, opening new vistas and brightening what is now a dank warren of platforms and passageways. (New York Times)

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)

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)

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)

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)

High School Damaged On 9/11 Moves Towards Rehabilitation - May 1, 2004
Nearly three years after 9/11, the black shroud will soon be lifted from one of the few Downtown buildings still undergoing structural rehabilitation following the World Trade Center collapse. The 14-story building at 90 Trinity Place, home to the High School for Leadership and Public Service, remains covered with scaffolding and black netting as workers reinstall massive granite panels on its facade. (Downtown Express)

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)

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)

For Disabled, Safer Way To Cross West Street Near Ground Zero Planned - Apr 18, 2004
By late June or early July, nearly three years after the Twin Towers were destroyed, officials hope to restore the first safe and reliable way near the World Trade Center site for wheelchair-bound people to enter Battery Park City. State Transportation Dept. officials told Community Board 1’s Battery Park City committee Tuesday that elevators on the east and west sides of the Vesey St. pedestrian bridge will be running by the early summer and should not have the same mechanical problems that have plagued the neighborhood’s other pedestrian bridge elevators in the winter. The escalator on the west side of the bridge is expected to open Friday, April 16, and the escalators on the east by mid-to-late June. (Downtown Express)

Park Used Since 9/11 by Police Returned to Chinatown - Apr 17, 2004
The small stretch of asphalt is surrounded by 1 Police Plaza, Murry Bergtraum High School, a strip mall and the Gov. Alfred E. Smith Houses. Central Park it is not. But even a little bit of open space is better than none, so it was with some fanfare yesterday that residents and community leaders in Chinatown celebrated their reclamation of the park, James Madison Plaza, which the Police Department had been using as a parking lot since 2001. (New York Times)

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)

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)

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)

Architect Who Designed Glass Wall for Times Warner Center Will Work on Fultron Street Transit Center - Apr 5, 2004
James Carpenter, 54, whose work includes the astonishingly transparent cable-net glass wall at the new Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle, was awarded a $340,000 contract by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority last week to join the architectural and engineering team working on the Fulton Street Transit Center, which is to be completed in 2007. (New York Times )

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)

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)

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)

In Informal Deal, Bloomberg Cedes Control of Ground Zero to Pataki, Takes Lead On Far West Side - Mar 27, 2004
Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg have each carved out a piece of Manhattan on which to fasten their economic development visions, with one another's blessing. Mr. Bloomberg has laid claim to the development of the far West Side. Mr. Pataki wants credit for the rebirth of Lower Manhattan. (New York Times)

Environmental Protection Agency Report: Apartment Clean-up Downtown Was Successful - Mar 26, 2004
A report by the federal Environmental Protection Agency shows that the agency's efforts to clean up thousands of apartments in Lower Manhattan after the World Trade Center attack were successful in removing asbestos and other harmful materials. But a critic of the program said the report, released yesterday, confirmed nothing more than the inadequacies of the cleanup and the need for further testing. (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)

Downtown Residents Approve Of Rebuilding, Distrust Environmental Protection Agency - Mar 22, 2004
Things are looking up Downtown, according to a new poll of Downtown residents, but the distrust of the Environmental Protection Agency has climbed to 72 percent. (Downtown Express)

New Yorkers Happy With Rebuilding Process, Poll Finds - Mar 18, 2004
People who live in Lower Manhattan appear to approve of the direction rebuilding plans are taking there, according to a new poll released Wednesday. (New York 1)

Federal Hall, Damaged On 9/11, Is Rehabilitated - Mar 18, 2004
Federal Hall, a 162-year-old Greek Revival landmark at Wall and Broad Streets, is undergoing repairs. Last summer, a dangerously undermined corner was shored up. Later this year, two other corners and part of the east wall will be shored up. Cracks will be stabilized and patched. And a new heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system will be installed. The $16 million rehabilitation can be traced directly to the attack on New York. (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)

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)

Asthma Linked to Ground Zero - Mar 10, 2004
Children with asthma who lived within five miles of the World Trade Center had more severe illness after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, seeing the doctor more often and taking more medication the year after the attack than the year before, researchers found. There were no significant differences in care for asthmatic children farther away. (Newsday)

Downtowners React To Law Banning Vendors From Ground Zero - Mar 8, 2004
Downtowners on both sides of the selling tables had strong reactions to the ground zero vending ban approved by lawmakers on Monday, March 1. (Downtown Express)

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)

Veil Removed From Historic Skyscraper Next To Ground Zero, Revealing Wounds - Mar 5, 2004
Veiled in its 23-story shroud and braced in scaffolding for more than two years, the cherished little skyscraper at 90 West Street has been a building in mourning. To those living and working near ground zero, it has been a grimly persistent reminder of the terrorist assault on the World Trade Center. Now the cloak is gone. The scaffolding is down. And while the horrific wounds on its northern facade are finally - and shockingly - visible, Joachim Fiebich, a construction supervisor at the site, said that "it is as if 90 West has come back to life.'' (New York Times)

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)

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)

Refusing White House Conditions, 9/11 Commission Calls For Bush, Cheney To Testify In Public - Mar 3, 2004
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is refusing to accept strict conditions from the White House for interviews with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and is renewing its request that Mr. Bush's national security adviser testify in public, commission members said Tuesday. (New York Times)

Calatrava Designs Residential Tower For Lower Manhattan - Mar 3, 2004
resh from causing a sensation with his avian design for the World Trade Center transportation hub, the architect and artist Santiago Calatrava is ready to make a second startling mark on the Lower Manhattan skyline with a residential tower unlike any New York has ever seen. It would take the form of an offset stack of 45-foot glass cubes, a dozen in all, each intended to house only one or two families. (New York Times)

Vendors Banned From Streets Near Ground Zero - Mar 2, 2004
Legislators voted yesterday to limit the number of vendors who can hawk their wares on crowded Manhattan sidewalks, and to ban street sales near Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)

A Difficult Journey For Downtown's Disabled - Mar 1, 2004
Like many Battery Park City residents, Joseph Gibney works near Wall St. where the commute includes a short walk over or across the West Side Highway. Gibney guesses the trip would have taken him 10 minutes on his motorized wheelchair before Sept. 11, 2001 and thinks it could be just as quick now. (Downtown Express)

Beautiful, But Temporary, Architecture Downtown - Feb 28, 2004
The PATH station at Ground Zero is not intended to be permanent. And it certainly was not intended to be gorgeous. But like much of the temporary cityscape of Lower Manhattan, full of ephemeral landmarks that will disappear by the end of the decade, the station can sometimes feel sublime. (New York Times)

Nationwide Anti-Terror Network Launched - Feb 25, 2004
Hundreds of federal, state and local intelligence and law enforcement agencies will be able to share threat reports, investigative leads and potential evidence instantaneously under a new counter-terrorism computer system announced yesterday by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. (Washington Post)

New Look For Wall Street Security - Feb 25, 2004
The double ranks of pickup trucks that now control seven intersections leading to the New York Stock Exchange will be replaced with retractable posts, wedgelike vehicle barriers and custom-designed barricades resembling small sculptural bronze boulders. These and other elements of high-security landscaping, which were approved yesterday by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, are intended to protect the exchange from terrorists without sacrificing the public realm to the almost warlike blockades, including the trucks, that have been in place since Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times)

New School On Wall Street A Sign Of Neighborhood's Revivial - Feb 18, 2004
In the latest sign that downtown is bouncing back, the Wall Street area near Ground Zero is getting its first elite private school - just steps from the New York Stock Exchange, The Post has learned. (New York Post)

For Second Consecutive Winter, Pedestrian Bridges Aren't Up To Par - Feb 16, 2004
Despite Governor George Pataki's assurance that everything is being built on schedule at Ground Zero, people in wheelchairs and pushing strollers have no reliable, car-free way to cross the six-lane highway on West St. highway, for the second consecutive winter. (Downtown Express)

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)

College Wants To Demolish Building Damaged on 9/11 - Feb 11, 2004
Through much of the Ground Zero precinct, hope is measured in promise of construction. At Fiterman Hall, hope will take the form of demolition. (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)

Families Of 9/11 Victims Unsatisfied With Extension Of Commission's Deadline - Feb 5, 2004
Bowing to pressure from a Sept. 11 survivors group, President Bush agreed yesterday to extend the deadline for the federal 9/11 commission report - but not as long as many wanted. Bush agreed to give the panel 60 extra days, until July 26, but relatives of victims killed in the terror attacks, and some members of Congress, wanted the extension to stretch beyond the elections. (New York Daily News)

Battery Park City Residents Face Rent Hikes As 9/11 Grants End - Jan 27, 2004
Battery Park City is bracing for change as the bulk of 9/11 rental assistance winds down and residents evaluate whether they can afford to remain in the area without the monthly government subsidy. (Downtown Express)

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)

Two Visions Meet At 1,776 Feet - Dec 26, 2003
A week before they were to present it to the public, the architects David M. Childs and Daniel Libeskind had yet to find a form on which both could at least sign off, even if neither embraced it entirely. Their standoff was the latest in an architectural evolution that, however tortuous, wound up producing a remarkably well-regarded design. (New York Times)

Silverstein, Port Authority, Close Deal for $229 Million - Dec 24, 2003
Developer Larry Silverstein got more than $229 million in cash - all wrapped up in time for the holidays - when he closed a deal yesterday with the Port Authority to restructure the finances of his World Trade Center lease. The holiday bundle includes the return of the $98.5 million that Silverstein and his partners plunked down as equity when they leased the trade center from the Port Authority in July 2001, just weeks before the terror attacks. (New York Post)

Deadline For Federal Victims Compensation Fund Looming - Dec 21, 2003
People who lost loved ones or were injured in the 9/11 terrorist attacks have until midnight tomorrow to file with the federal Victims Compensation Fund. Officials expect nearly 90% of those eligible to file, depite a slow start and months of controversy. (New York Daily News)

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)

Compromise Reached on Freedom Tower - Dec 16, 2003
Months of architectural wrangling over plans for the tallest building at the World Trade Center site — and in the world — have apparently ended in a 1,776-foot compromise that would include an asymmetrical spire favored by Daniel Libeskind rising atop a cable-framed wind farm proposed by David M. Childs. Though the design will not be made public until Friday, an announcement yesterday by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation seemed to indicate that agreement had been reached on the broad outlines of the building, called Freedom Tower. (New York Times)

Debate Over Traffic Flow at Trade Center Site - Dec 15, 2003
While the public is transfixed by the struggle over the Freedom Tower and the memorial at the World Trade Center site, an equally vital debate has been occurring over the layout of streets around the site. Decisions made now about the street plan will determine how hundreds of truck deliveries are made, and how buses, autos, taxis, limousines, emergency vehicles (including a fire engine and fire truck quartered on Liberty Street) will share small slices of asphalt and concrete. The ripples from these crosscurrents will be felt down to the Battery, over to the Brooklyn Bridge, up the Avenue of the Americas and down Seventh Avenue. (New York Times)

Architects Reportedly Near Compromise on Freedom Tower - Dec 15, 2003
Warring architects Daniel Libeskind and David Childs are inching toward a compromise on the design of the Freedom Tower, and officials hope details can be finalized as early as today, sources said. Gov. Pataki had initially set today as the deadline for the architects to present him with a fully realized scheme for the tower. (New York Post)

Goldman Sachs Wants to Build Tower Across from Ground Zero - Dec 12, 2003
Goldman Sachs is seeking subsidies to build in New York, where its headquarters have long been located. Henry M. Paulson, the firm's chairman, has told the governor and the mayor that Goldman wants its own tower, on what is known as Site 26 at Battery Park City, and wants some of the same cash grants, tax breaks and tax-free financing that are available downtown right now, according to state and city officials who are working with the bank. (New York Times)

Pragmatism for New York New Visions Co-Founder - Dec 12, 2003
Fame is what Daniel Libeskind, the big winner in the urban reality sweepstakes to anoint a lead architect for the resurrection of the World Trade Center, is basking in or suffering through, depending on his appetite for cutting a high-profile swath by creating world-class architecture from a disaster. Resignation is almost what Bruce S. Fowle, a prominent yet low-key peer — no kooky glasses, no silly scarf, no gel on the cranium or speckled beard — is feeling as the towers grow taller and clunkier and the planning ordeal crawls on. But not quite. (New York Times)

EPA Releases Downtown Lead Tests - Dec 11, 2003
Lead was the most common contaminant found among the 263 Lower Manhattan apartments the Environmental Protection Agency tested for a range of possible 9/11-related toxins, according to results released on Monday. Of the 222 apartments E.P.A. contractors tested before and after cleaning, 70, or 31.5 percent, had lead levels before cleaning that exceeded the agency’s conservative benchmark of 25 micrograms per square foot. After cleaning, 16 apartments still had levels of lead above the E.P.A. standard. E.P.A. spokesperson Mary Mears cautioned that urban environments often have background lead, making it hard to tell whether the lead detected in wipe tests came from the World Trade Center collapse. (Downtown Express)

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)

New Vision for Wall Street Will Look Nicer - Dec 3, 2003
The new plan for the financial district is to replace the pick-up trucks that obstruct Wall St., Broad St. Exchange Pl. and New St. for a couple of blocks with less unsightly security barriers. At Broadway and Wall St. and Broadway and Exchange Pl., there will be bollards to block vehicles. A few days before last Wednesday’s announcement, the silver metal “bicycle rack” barricades blocking pedestrians and vehicles from the Big Board’s building were replaced with black decorative fencing. In addition to the aesthetic improvement, the change increased the space where people can walk on Wall and Broad Sts. (Downtown Express)

How Poorly Did the Environmental Protection Agency React to 9/11? - Nov 30, 2003
From the first days after Sept. 11, 2001, the fears and unknowns about health and air quality in Lower Manhattan were compounded by the politics that swirl, as always, around the Environmental Protection Agency. An arm of the federal government that is second-guessed and distrusted as perhaps no other had been put in charge of the environmental response. What was in the air and what people in Washington and New York believed about the E.P.A. were immediately intertwined. (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)

An Old Sign, Touting Marvels Of World Trade Center, Still Up On Church Street - Nov 28, 2003
hile "World Trade Center" signs around the new PATH station startled commuters and visitors this week, a smaller but even more poignant graphic remnant of the past was hiding in plain sight across Church Street. "What has 200 elevators, 1,200 restrooms, 40,000 doorknobs, 200,000 lighting fixtures, 7 million square feet of acoustical tile ceilings, more structural steel than the Verrazano Narrows Bridge — and was built for a final cost of over one billion 1970s dollars?" asks the colorful sign between seven-foot cast-iron posts, outside Century 21, near the corner of Cortlandt Street. "That's right, the World Trade Center." ...the sign would stay in place at least a year (New York Times)

Opponents to West Street Tunnel Speak Out - Nov 20, 2003
More than a dozen people lined up at the microphone during a public information meeting to denounce the proposal, supported by Gov. George E. Pataki, to spend $860 million to bury a half-mile section of the road alongside the planned World Trade Center memorial site. Most of the comments were familiar: the tunnel plan was too expensive; construction would disrupt traffic for too long; the money would be better spent elsewhere; the tunnel ramps would be dangerous to pedestrians. (New York Times)

Families of 9/11 Victims Get Preview of Memorial Finalists - Nov 19, 2003
After seeing the eight finalists in the 9/11 memorial competition, family members of those killed in the attack used words like "reverential" and "respectful" to describe the designs. And "overwhelmed" when speaking of their own feelings. But some expressed disappointment that the plans did not set aside more of the twin towers' foundations as a setting for the memorial. (New York Times)

There is Enough Insurance Money for Freedom Tower, says Port Authority Chairman - Nov 14, 2003
Port Authority chairman Joseph Seymour said yesterday that even with the raging court battle, there are already enough insurance proceeds to build Gov. George Pataki's proposed 2.5-million-square-foot Freedom Tower. Whether there is enough money to build everything else on a long list of lower Manhattan projects as well as planned regional transportation projects is another question. (Newsday)

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)

Officials Ask for Private Money to Help Reopen Statue of Liberty - Nov 8, 2003
Two years after the terrorist attacks shut down the Statue of Liberty, officials are appealing for private donations to boost security so the monument can reopen. About $5 million worth of security measures still are needed, said National Park Service spokesman Brian Feeney. (Newsday)

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)

Firehouse Near Ground Zero Reopens - Nov 6, 2003
The firehouse across from the World Trade Center site re-opened November 5 after being closed for two years. The Liberty St. firehouse, dubbed "Ten House," was badly damaged on 9/11 when flooded by mounds of concrete, dust and dirt from the collapsed towers. Five firefighters from the station died in the attacks. A $3.5 million repair project fixed the building and allowed some 50 firefighters to return home yesterday. Stainless steel has replaced the damaged brick. Inside the new stainless-steel kitchen is a red stove, with "The Ten House" painted across it in gold. "We'll never forget about any of our people, that's not even in the equation," said Fire Chief Gene Kelty. "I want the house to be an open door. If kids want to come in again - we want the schools to come over. We want the tourists to stop by and say hello." (New York Daily News)

Libeskind's Design Guidelines Are Too Strict, Say Development Officials - Nov 5, 2003
Development officials are working to ease master planner Daniel Libeskind's design guidelines for Ground Zero office towers, fearing they are too restrictive and could drive top architects away from the project. One source told the New York Post that the guidelines are being revised "in the direction of [greater] flexibility." "There's very little room left under those guidelines for anybody to exercise their originality and talent. They're proscriptive," said architect Peter Eisenman, who reviewed a draft of Libeskind's guidelines obtained by The Post. (New York Post)

Toxin Levels in Lower Manhattan to be Retested - Nov 5, 2003
Some Lower Manhattan residences will be retested for World Trade Center toxins as part of an agreement reached by Senator Hillary Clinton and government officials. But details of the plan remained foggy last week, even as the Environmental Protection Agency reported elevated levels of lead in 13.5 percent of the wipe samples the agency tested for metals and other toxins before cleaning the apartments in response to 9/11. The lead results were released at an Oct. 28 Congressional hearing on the health effects of the W.T.C. disaster held at Mount Sinai medical center and attended by U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler. (Downtown Express)

Costs For Downtown Parks' 9/11 Renovations Go Up - Oct 30, 2003
City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said the estimated costs to renovate or build 13 Downtown parks have gone up, but he doesn’t think the $25-million project will have to be scaled back as a result. The $25 million was announced at the end of May and comes out of federal money being administered by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the agency set up by Gov. George Pataki to help Downtown recover from the 2001 terrorist attack. (Downtown Express)

Ground Zero Catfight: Big Architects In Twin Snits - Oct 29, 2003
After months of working on their own tower designs, then clashing over which design was feasible, which had public support, and even who was being cooperative and who was being uncooperative, WTC architects Daniel Libeskind and David Childs were told they had no choice but to work together. (New York Observer)

Difficulties Emerging in Rebuilding: An Interactive Map - Oct 30, 2003
Newsday's interactive map shows the problems and difficulties with the current WTC plan. (Newsday)

Trial Date Set For Silverstein's WTC Dispute - Oct 30, 2003
A tentative trial date in the multibillion dollar dispute between World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and his insurance companies was set for February yesterday. (Newsday)

Mayor's Office Seeks More Retail Space at Ground Zero - Oct 29, 2003
After many months of playing a backstage role in planning the new World Trade Center, the Bloomberg administration stepped forward yesterday and declared that the master plan would have to include far more streetfront retail space and one more full-fledged street than it now calls for. (New York Times)

WTC Architects Bury Hatchet - Oct 29, 2003
The two feuding architects charged with designing the first new building at the World Trade Center site met yesterday and agreed to put aside their differences in order to come up with a final plan for the tower, a source said yesterday. (Newsday)

Changes to Libeskind's Freedom Tower - Oct 28, 2003
Daniel Libeskind's striking vision for a "Freedom Tower" at Ground Zero has morphed into a more conventional glass-and-steel office building attached to an angular spire, as shown by one of the architect's new drawings obtained by The Post. Libeskind has been pushing this revised version of his tower design in a fight with trade center developer Larry Silverstein and his architect David Childs, who is the lead architect for the site's signature building. (New York Post)

Anger Over Eviction of Lower Manhattan Middle Eastern Restaurant - Oct 27, 2003
A wealthy church is evicting a popular Middle East restaurant from a lower Manhattan building it owns in what angry diners claim is a plot to get more money from the MTA -- which is planning to buy the property to demolish it. The building housing the Alfanoose restaurant, at 150 Fulton St., will be torn down by the end of 2004 to make way for a new transportation hub, a centerpiece of lower Manhattan's post-9/11 renewal. (New York Post)

9/11 Commission Threatens To Subpoena White House Files - Oct 27, 2003
The federal commission investigating intelligence and security lapses before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is threatening to subpoena White House records if they are not handed over voluntarily. (NY1)

Santiago Calatrava's Work: A Clue to What's to Come at Ground Zero - Oct 26, 2003
Last summer, Santiago Calatrava was commissioned to design a $2 billion transportation hub at the World Trade Center site. For the moment, Calatrava is speaking about the project only in general terms, under the watchful eye of his client, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. But clearly he has grand ambitions for the station. "It has to feel as important as Grand Central, or the old Penn Station," he says. (New York Times)

Architects Agree to Meet to Work Out Tower Design - Oct 25, 2003
Trying to resolve their differences over the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site, the tower's architect and Daniel Libeskind, the site's master planner, agreed yesterday to work together on a design that would more closely follow the Libeskind plan. (New York Times)

Pataki Backs Libeskind in Tower Debate - Oct 24, 2003
Gov. Pataki yesterday backed Daniel Libeskind's vision for a Ground Zero Freedom Tower - weighing in on a dispute over the structure's design that threatens to stall the progress of lower Manhattan's recovery from 9/11. "I think it's very important that the vision that was enunciated for the master site plan be ultimately what is constructed at Ground Zero," Pataki said, when asked about the fight between Libeskind and David Childs, the tower's lead architect. (New York Post)

Port Authority Stays Out of Architects' Struggle - Oct 24, 2003
The Port Authority will not help resolve a clash between a pair of architects designing the signature skyscraper at Ground Zero, Executive Director Joseph Seymour said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Libeskind Storms Out Of WTC Meeting - Oct 23, 2003
Ground Zero master planner Daniel Libeskind stormed out of a meeting about the design of the site's Freedom Tower, threatening to break up his collaboration with the project's lead architect, David Childs. (New York Post)

Test Runs of PATH Train Stop at WTC - Oct 23, 2003
A PATH train, carrying only a conductor and an engineer, zipped under the Hudson River and eased into a bare-bones station at Ground Zero yesterday. The commuter train came to a stop at 1:42 p.m. - weeks ahead of schedule. There was no fanfare. No political speeches. But the moment foreshadowed a significant triumph in the long, hard recovery of lower Manhattan. (New York Daily News)

Silverstein Gets Another Week To Resolve Dispute - Oct 22, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein has another week to resolve a dispute with GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp., which lent him $563 million to lease the Twin Towers site. Tuesday, Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn extended the negotiation period, a month after giving Silverstein and the Port Authority, which owns the trade center site, until Tuesday to settle with GMAC. (Newsday)

An Architect's Grand Vision for a Trade Center Transit Hub - Oct 22, 2003
In hiring Santiago Calatrava to design the new transit hub at the World Trade Center, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey thought large. And in his first public words about the project, Mr. Calatrava made it clear that he, too, would think large - on the scale of Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station. Old Pennsylvania Station. (New York Times)

As Firehouse 10 Reopens, Facing Ground Zero Again - Oct 17, 2003
Everyone in the Fire Department lost incalculably on Sept. 11, 2001. The men of Engine Company 10 and Ladder Company 10 lost one thing more: their home. A department spokesman, Jim Long, said yesterday that no date had been set for the reopening of the three-story firehouse at 124 Liberty Street. This week, workers from the department's building division were putting finishing touches on the house. They set up the long dining table on the first floor and assembled bunks in the second-floor dormitory, which has - at least for now - a broad view of ground zero. (New York Times)

Whitehead Says Liberty Bonds Won’t be Wasted Downtown - Oct 15, 2003
The chairperson of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. said last week that he thinks tax-free Liberty Bonds will be needed to build the proposed offices at the World Trade Center site and there are not enough bonds to cover all of the office demand in Lower Manhattan. (Downtown Express)

Winter Garden Visitors Confused Over Plans - Oct 15, 2003
Although tourists continue to view the World Trade Center site from the Winter Garden’s expansive second-floor picture windows, many do not know that the memorial has not been selected yet, thinking it was already part of the selected site plan of Daniel Libeskind. (Downtown Express)

Critics: World Trade Center Plan Is Just Too Dense - Oct 13, 2003
If the World Trade Center master plan were subject to New York City zoning rules, critics say, the bulk of the site with its four towers on three square blocks would far exceed allowable density limits. (Newsday)

Handyman Leaves $1.4M To City - Oct 11, 2003
Come spring, plans for new ball fields will be under way and thousands more daffodils will bloom in city parks and street medians, thanks to a Minnesota handyman who left $1.4 million in life savings to the city after the Sept. ll, 2001, terrorist attacks. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said Friday that nearly $1 million of the bequest from the late Joseph Temeczko of Minneapolis, a Polish immigrant who was in his 80s and died two years ago this month, is earmarked for ballfields. (Newsday)

WTC Tower Will Now Top 2,000 Feet - Oct 10, 2003
Ground Zero's signature Freedom Tower will soar above 2,000 feet - well beyond the previously announced height of 1,776 feet - under a revised design being worked on by architect Daniel Libeskind, a rebuilding official said yesterday. (New York Post)

Grasso's Place on LMDC Board Questioned - Oct 10, 2003
Richard Grasso was ousted last month as the head of the New York Stock Exchange, and now his place on the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board is in question. (Newsday)

Fire Commissioner Calls for Special Recognition in Memorial - Oct 9, 2003
Before a somber audience, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta repeated his call yesterday for special recognition for firefighters at the planned Ground Zero memorial. Scoppetta spoke in front of a sea of blue uniformed firefighters gathered for the annual memorial service at the Firemen's Monument on Riverside Drive at W. 100th St. (New York Daily News)

What's In a Name? For the WTC, a Lot. - Oct 8, 2003
There are 93 World Trade Centers worldwide. So what bearing, if any, does this fact have on establishing the name of the trade center currently under development in downtown Manhattan? This was one of the questions raised at "Starting at Zero: Reinventing the Identity of the World Trade Center Site," a panel discussion held Sept. 24 at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York. The purpose of the event, which was sponsored by the American Institute of Graphic Arts, New York Chapter, was to reflect on the issues around the moniker of the sixteen-acre Ground Zero site; consider how the site's identity can be rebuilt; and most of all, think about how a name had the power to reflect our views of the city. (Metropolis )

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)

Celebrated Architects Join WTC Team - Oct 2, 2003
"Ground Zero is set to become a Hall of Fame for the all-stars of contemporary architecture now that developer Larry Silverstein has named three of the world’s most celebrated architects to design massive towers to line the perimeter of the site. London-based Lord Norman Foster, of Foster and Partners; Tokyo-based Fumihiko Maki, of Maki and Associates; and Jean Nouvel, of Ateliers Jean Nouvel in Paris will design towers ringing the memorial site planned for the southwest corner of the new World Trade Center, if Mr. Silverstein has his way," writes Tom McGeveran in the Observer. (New York Observer)

'World-Class' Architects Picked for WTC Buildings - Oct 1, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein named a trio of renowned architects yesterday - including Lord Norman Foster, who tried for the main Twin Towers site design - to create designs for the five office buildings at Ground Zero. British architect Foster, Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki and French architect Jean Nouvel will work with Silverstein architect David Childs. (Newsday)

Retail Returns to Liberty Street - Oct 1, 2003
Just south of ground zero, Liberty St. is getting ready for its closeup. Workers hang signs and dust countertops as merchants prepare to return for the first time in more than two years to storefronts facing the former World Trade Center site. It is a bittersweet homecoming for some. (Downtown Express)

WTC Worker Cleared in Clash With Police - Sep 30, 2003
A city supervisor at Ground Zero was cleared yesterday of criminal charges for trying to stop Port Authority cops from arresting a cleanup worker at the site. Three dozen supporters erupted in applause after a Manhattan jury acquitted Michael Kenny, 41, of resisting arrest, obstruction of justice and harassment in connection with the April 2002 incident. (New York Daily News)

Kerik: WTC site is sacred - Sep 29, 2003
No office building should rise on the footprints of the destroyed World Trade Center towers, former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said yesterday. "Would we build on Gettysburg? Would we build on a cemetery?" asked Kerik, who headed the NYPD during the terror attacks and recently returned from a four-month stint helping rebuild Iraq's police force. (New York Daily News)

Silverstein Marketing Space in 7 World Trade - Sep 29, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein is actively marketing 1.7 million square feet of office space in the new 7 World Trade Center, Crain's New York Business reports this week. (New York Daily News)

Bloomberg to Approve Using 9/11 Bonds for Midtown Tower - Sep 29, 2003
The Bloomberg administration is expected tomorrow to approve a controversial plan to finance a new midtown office tower with tax-exempt bonds created to help lower Manhattan. The plan by the Durst Organization and the Bank of America to build the new tower at One Bryant Park with $650 million in so-called Liberty Bonds has drawn the ire of some downtown business leaders and government watchdogs. (New York Daily News)

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)

Bus Plan Could Reopen WTC Wounds - Sep 25, 2003
The proposed revisions to the World Trade Center rebuilding plan don’t provide enough parking space for tour buses and could reopen the emotional fight over the merits of preserving the footprints of the Twin Towers down to the site’s bedrock, according to a director of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. “It’s not enough,” Madelyn Wils, the director, said about the proposed number of buses to be built underground across the street from the W.T.C. site. “It’s not even close.” (Downtown Express)

Mayor, Governor Back 9/11 Funds for Midtown - Sep 25, 2003
Mayor Mike Bloomberg said last week it is “perfectly appropriate” to use money intended to help New York recover from the attack on the World Trade Center to construct offices in Midtown. Gov. George Pataki pledged to help the mayor achieve his goals. (Downtown Express)

Silverstein's Legal Battles Continue - Sep 25, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein has accused his bankers of trying to "choke off" his cash flow, run him out of business and derail the rebuilding of lower Manhattan in an escalating legal battle that will be aired in court today. (New York Post)

Court Hears of Tussle at Ground Zero - Sep 23, 2003
A city Ground Zero supervisor was portrayed variously yesterday as a hothead and a hero to a Manhattan jury weighing charges that he resisted arrest. Michael Kenny, a construction project manager at the World Trade Center site, was arrested April 13, 2002, after he tried to stop Port Authority cops from arresting one of his workers. The worker, Clint Collins, angered cops when he tried to stop them from entering the site without protective gear, lawyers for Collins and Kenny contend (New York Daily News)

Design Team for Trade Center Reveals a Revised Master Plan - Sep 18, 2003
Rebuilding officials released a revised and expanded master plan for the World Trade Center site yesterday that includes a taller, slimmer set of office towers surrounding the central memorial area and a large new park immediately to the south. (New York Times)

Name "World Trade Center" May Endure Downtown - Sep 18, 2003
A series of decisions points to "World Trade Center" as the formal, future name of that acreage downtown, Daniel Libeskind designs and all. (New York Times)

Revised WTC Plans on Shaky Ground - Sep 18, 2003
The fine-tuned plan for Ground Zero cleans up space around the proposed memorial and features thinner office towers - but the proposal hinges on a hotly disputed bid to add land to the site. (New York Daily News)

Officials to Release New Master WTC Plan - Sep 17, 2003
Officials involved in the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site are expected to release a new master plan for the area today. The master plan will essentially set out the most detailed map yet for the many elements of the Daniel Libeskind plan, which was approved last year. Lower Manhattan Development Corp. officials insisted yesterday that Libeskind's plan has not been altered. (Newsday)

Retail Operator at Trade Center Is Pulling Out of the Deal - Sep 16, 2003
Westfield America, the mall operator that owns the lease for retail space at the World Trade Center, said yesterday that it was negotiating a cash settlement to pull out of its deal on the downtown complex. While the move could clear the way for significant design changes sought by rebuilding officials, it raises questions about how much money will be available for the downtown project if there are other buyouts. (New York Times)

Soon, PATH Will Ride to Ground Zero - Sep 14, 2003
PATH riders will soon be faced with a grim emotional wrench when trains roll back into the new World Trade Center station at Ground Zero - they'll be deep in "the pit," in the shadow of the famous Bathtub Wall and have a clear view of the footprints of the stricken towers. (New York Post)

Major Alterations and Minor Refinements to Ground Zero Plan - Sep 13, 2003
When the revised master plan for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center is released this month, it will include scores of changes to Daniel Libeskind's design, both major alterations and minor refinements, many of them never before seen in public. The plan will retain its signature elements, the recessed memorial area, the 1,776-foot spire that will be taller than the original towers, and a grand new transportation terminal. But other features will come into sharper focus, like a giant waterfall that has so far attracted scant attention and shrinking "urban parks" that in reality are little more than streets with flower beds. (New York Times)

Trump Criticizes WTC Plans - Sep 13, 2003
Donald Trump trashed the plans to rebuild Ground Zero yesterday, branding the design plans a "monstrosity of garbled nonsense." (New York Post)

Libeskind Continues to Battle for His Vision for Ground Zero - Sep 10, 2003
Daniel Libeskind's selection process as master planner for Ground Zero had been portrayed, for better or for worse, as a kind of sporting event, and Libeskind was seen to have triumphed in the playoffs and then won the championship. It would have been more accurate to say that he had got past a qualifying round. (New Yorker)

Apartments Rising In Lower Manhattan - Sep 8, 2003
Two years after the World Trade Center collapsed into ashes, lower Manhattan is being reborn. More than 2,000 apartments have been built within a few blocks of Ground Zero since Sept. 11, 2001, and an additional 17 buildings are under construction or in the planning stages - reinventing an area once predominantly filled with offices. (New York Daily News)

Neighborhood Around Ground Zero Is Fastest Growing In City - Sep 7, 2003
The area around Ground Zero has become the city's fastest growing neighborhood, but it's overpopulated and undeserved, residents charge. Following 9/11, vacancy rates in some Lower Manhattan buildings approached as 50 percent. But because of residential grants and bargain hunters flooding the market, the vacancy rate in some Lower Manhattan neighborhoods is now less than one percent - nearly a quarter less than the average for the rest of Manhattan, realtors say. (New York Post)

WTC Families Protest Rebuilding Plans - Sep 4, 2003
Loved ones of Sept. 11 victims who hoped to shut down Ground Zero yesterday were stymied by the Port Authority, which chained the main entrance and rerouted trucks before the protesters showed up. No entrance to block meant no civil disobedience. And no civil disobedience meant the victims' families would not be arrested - as they had hoped. Determined to get out their message about preserving more of Ground Zero, the relatives gathered in front of the locked gate around noon and slammed Gov. Pataki and other officials. (New York Daily News)

A Tour of Progress at Ground Zero - Sep 3, 2003
Newsday's new video tour of building progress at the World Trade Center site. (Newsday)

Dispute Continues Over WTC Mall - Sep 2, 2003
While planners try to put the finishing touches on a revised Ground Zero blueprint, sources said development officials continue to argue over where to put retail space at the site -- with the city trying to block the return of a large underground shopping mall. (New York Post)

New Downtown Information Center Opens - Sep 2, 2003
Wall Street Rising will open its free Downtown Information Center, a technologically advanced one-stop information resource on Thurs. Sept. 4 in a 1,800-sq.-ft. street-level store at 25 Broad St. at the corner of Exchange Pl. The $2 million center will contain one of the most complete databases available anywhere, listing every downtown restaurant, retail store and apartment building, with an up-dated catalogue of vacant retail space, neighborhood events, points of interest, parks, schools, activities, cultural programs and grant opportunities. (Downtown Express)

The Downtown Culture Derby Begins - Aug 31, 2003
In two years of roiling debates over the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, one of the most durable assumptions has been that space should be set aside for those varied pursuits collectively known as "culture." We are still far from knowing which museums or symphonies or purveyors of public art will find a home there, but early indications suggest that the 670,000 square feet allotted for the arts may be a new front in the battle over ground zero's future. (New York Times)

Questions Loom Over Buying Adjacent Properties to WTC Site - Sep 1, 2003
Significantly expanding the boundaries of the World Trade Center site by buying two adjacent properties could cost between $85 million and $150 million, real-estate experts say - but questions loom over where the money will come from and whether it's worth the expense. Development officials remain strongly committed to buying the two Liberty Street properties, despite a legal battle that has erupted over one of them - the black-shrouded Deutsche Bank building, whose eventual demolition is key to the plans for a larger WTC. (New York Post)

Call for Rebuilt Twin Towers Continues - Aug 31, 2003
In close solidarity with one another, and in opposition to the city's political establishment, business leaders, academics and civic groups, and just about everyone else whose opinion matters, the World Trade Center Restoration Movement demands that the World Trade Center towers be rebuilt. Not replaced by something new and supposedly better. Rebuilt, hewing as closely as possible to the design of the buildings that were lost on Sept. 11. The members of the group may not be the only ones who dare to mention rebuilding the towers, but they are by far the most visible and the least afraid of humiliation. (New York Times)

David Childs: The Invisible Architect - Aug 31, 2003
David M. Childs, who in conversation gives the impression of a gentlemanly, corporate architect, is remaking the face of New York. He is designing the key building at ground zero, the so-called Freedom Tower. But as a partner and the lead designer at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, one of the country's largest architectural concerns, Mr. Childs is also responsible for three more of the city's high-profile projects. (New York Times)

Bank Tower Joining in WTC Redevelopment - Aug 28, 2003
The World Trade Center redevelopment site will be expanded south to include a heavily damaged, still-vacant skyscraper, which will be razed and replaced with a new office tower, top rebuilding officials said. Redevelopment officials said they expect to acquire the 40-story Deutsche Bank building, across the street from the trade center, and replace it with a new 1.6-million-square-foot office building. (Associated Press)

92nd St. Y Considers a Ground Zero Site - Aug 27, 2003
The 92nd Street Y, whose concerts, camps, classes and health club have made it a mainstay of the Upper East Side, is developing detailed plans for a possible downtown branch at ground zero. The Y is talking with several other organizations, including the New York City Opera, the Joyce Theater, the Tribeca Film Festival and Hunter College about sharing space in the