The Freedom Tower

This idea from the City_journal.org:
“Since al-Qaida demolished the World Trade Center nearly seven years ago, New York’s naked emperors—Governors George Pataki and Eliot Spitzer and architect Daniel Libeskind—have viewed an historic rebuilding challenge as an opportunity to invent a square wheel and then deny for years that it can’t roll. This week, the Port Authority, which runs the site, released a report admitting that little progress had been made there—still more evidence that the government has responded to an external attack with a self-inflicted disaster. But all the dillydallying may provide an unlikely opportunity for Governor David Paterson and World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein, who should examine an entirely different approach: building new twin towers at Ground Zero.

It may sound crazy to say that we should consider throwing away years’ worth of planning. But we’ve barely moved toward completion since 2002; in fact, last week’s report threw out cost estimates or timetables for rebuilding. “The schedule and cost for each of the public projects on the site face significant delays and cost overruns,” wrote Chris Ward, the new director of the Port Authority, to Paterson last Monday. Further, “at least 15 fundamental issues critical to the overall project” are “not yet . . . resolved.”

Indeed: all New York has to show for its hoping and waiting is a partial support structure for the Freedom Tower—which, when it’s built, will be a sad white elephant. And all that the state promises today is more waiting: waiting for officials to figure out how a poorly designed, half-billion-dollar memorial can withstand the weight of the trees that are supposed to go on top of it; waiting for them to figure out a workable plan for the fancy, multibillion-dollar, Calatrava-designed transit hub, where inevitable changes will mean more changes and delays to everything else on the site. Can anyone be confident that the eventual results won’t be physical evidence of unimaginable folly?

On 9/11, al-Qaida murdered 2,974 people and destroyed two iconic office towers that dominated New York’s skyline, another lone office tower nearby, and some smaller support buildings. We can’t recover stolen lives. But what would it take to make New York physically whole again, while paying tribute to 9/11’s history and victims? One obvious answer is to build two iconic office towers that dominate New York’s skyline once again, surrounded by some smaller buildings. Notice that the one project that has achieved completion after 9/11—Silverstein’s Seven World Trade Center, the lone office tower near the main site—did so partly because Silverstein realized that al-Qaida’s attack wasn’t a mandate to reinvent the obvious. He simply built a more elegant tower to succeed what al-Qaida had destroyed, modernized for the twenty-first century in terms of safety and aesthetics and placed in a superior setting.

New York could take a similar approach with the rest of the site. New twin towers wouldn’t be the old ones; nobody can pretend that 9/11 never happened. They’d offer modern, sleek designs, as Seven World Trade Center does, and they’d be built to private-sector specifications. They’d need twenty-first-century, post-9/11 safety upgrades. The site would also need an appropriate memorial and well-designed public spaces.”
This is not a new idea but it is a popular one.

Michael Goodwin says New York is usually one tough town, but it’s hard to imagine a softer civic touch than the one that greeted the admission last week that Ground Zero is a mess, the New York Daily News writer says. “When, after nearly seven years of false starts and promises, officials finally admitted that everything is hopelessly behind schedule and over budget, New Yorkers’ general reaction was to applaud the honesty and turn the channel.Don’t get me wrong, I like honesty from my government as much as the next sucker. But we shouldn’t confuse the seven-year-itch for confession with a solution for what ails Ground Zero. And therein lies the real outrage of the downtown disaster - officials still don’t have a real plan to fix it.

Even worse, they don’t seem to know what’s wrong. Or maybe they can’t bring themselves to be quite that honest.

If they did, they’d have to confess to original sin. They’d have to admit they’ve forgotten the fundamental meaning of 9/11 and that the memorial to those who died in the worst attack ever carried out on American soil should have been the first thing built.

Rudy Giuliani perfectly described the right approach in his farewell address as mayor. With the fires still smoldering, Giuliani, speaking from nearby St. Paul’s Chapel on Dec. 27, 2001, called Ground Zero ‘holy” and “hallowed” and declared, “we shouldn’t think about this site right behind us as a site for economic development.’ “

Anthony Coscia, chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has announced that China Center, financially supported by a Chinese real estate company to promote Sino-American trade, became the first to sign a lease for the Freedom Tower being built on the World Trade Center site, reports the World Journal.
China Center signed a 23-year lease to
rent 190,000 square feet office space on the 64th through the 69th floor of the Freedom Tower. Christopher Ward, director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said China Center’s lease proved that private companies believe in the World Trade Center’s future as the financial and business center of lower Manhattan.

The International Herald Tribune reports that the Bush administration is letting go of its World Trade Center health czar.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says its director met Thursday with John Howard and told him his term wouldn’t be extended as director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Howard held that post for six years, and two years ago he became the Bush administration’s point person for post-Sept. 11 health issues.

Advocates had said Howard’s departure would jeopardize efforts to establish a federal monitoring and treatment program for ground zero workers who say they were sickened by World Trade Center dust.

The CDC says Howard will stay in office until July 14. Associate director Christine Branche will become acting director until the administration names a replacement.

The Economic Times (Times of India) says the World Trade Center’s owner announced a major design change to its multibillion-dollar transit hub this week, the same week the agency said that most projects at the site are behind schedule and over budget.

The design by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava called for the wings on the dome of the transit hub to open and close, but that won’t be the case, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive director Christopher Ward said Tuesday.

The change is expected to shave hundreds of millions of dollars from the hub’s budget, which has fluctuated between $2.2 billion and $3.4 billion.

Calatrava had designed a retractable roof that would shine a sliver of light into the transit hub’s concourse each September 11, with wings that would move with it, marking the anniversary of the 2001 attacks. The architect’s office declined comment Tuesday.

Ward said the change would prevent the hub from imposing on the structures near it, including the memorial and office towers.

“This is a tough choice, but it is the right choice,” he said at a downtown business breakfast.

The transit hub is one of more than a dozen issues Ward has said were slowing rebuilding at the 16 acre (6.5 hectare) site, including the behind-schedule dismantling of a condemned office building nearby.

“The schedule and cost estimates for the rebuilding effort that have been communicated to the public are not realistic,” Ward wrote in a report to Gov. David Paterson.

The memorial to the 2001 terrorist attack will not open by the 10th anniversary, Ward said Monday. Other projects on the site were scheduled to open by 2013, although the performing arts center never had a construction plan.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who chairs the foundation overseeing the Sept. 11 memorial, said Tuesday he had hoped the memorial could open sooner. Bloomberg spearheaded its fundraising, while the Port Authority is in charge of building it.

“I’ve pushed the Port Authority as much as I can,” the mayor said. “I’m not so sure they aren’t doing a good job. I think it’s easy to go and criticize them. I’m just pointing out that they set the priorities.”

Today’s headlines affirm what most New Yorkers have known for a while, says Newsday, the Long Island, New York Newspaper. We reported yesterday that a report on progress at Ground Zero tells us that Ground Zero is still at zero. “Nearly seven years after the World Trade Center collapsed, the barren tract continues to smolder in true New York style, with foundering reconstruction plans, budget troubles, lingering health questions, and plenty of blame to go around.

Christopher Ward, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has acknowledged a vast gap between the reality at Ground Zero and the state’s grand plans to revamp the site. An array of well-hyped projects, including a memorial, a transit hub, and new office towers, have been plagued by cost overruns and bureaucratic snags.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg seemed defensive of the glacial pace of progress, warning that it would be “very difficult to forecast in such a complex development project any kind of realistic date and cost.” Underscoring the reality factor, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer noted that all the public has had until this point has been “seven years of Alice in Wonderland fantasy plans.”

While the rebuilding lags, the controversy over the health impacts of the WTC disaster continues full throttle.

Lawyers for the city have attacked the claims of emergency and recovery workers suing the city for alleged health problems due to unsafe exposures at Ground Zero. The city says about 30 percent of the more than 10,000 claimants have no significant injuries. But advocates for the plaintiffs argue that medical records show a massive influx of illness among many 9/11 workers, including respiratory ailments linked to pollutants at the site.

Even as the court battle roils on, the state is moving toward expanding health care for WTC relief and recovery workers. A bill just passed by the State Legislature would extend disability benefits to more public service workers who participated in the Ground Zero effort.

The bill also extends the timeframe for 9/11 workers hired by private contractors to register for state workers’ compensation benefits. Fittingly, that deadline has been pushed back to September 10, 2010–probably in time to beat the first ribbon cutting at the rebuilt Ground Zero. But if this odyssey of urban politics has proven anything, it’s that what happens between now and then is anyone’s guess,” Newsday says.

Construction of skyscrapers and an underground transport hub to replace the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the September 11 terror attacks will be delayed for years and cost far more than planned, New York officials said Monday.According to AFP, the schedule and cost of the ambitious project, including a landmark Liberty Tower, other ultramodern skyscrapers and a museum, “face significant delays and cost overruns,” said Chris Ward, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site land.

“While significant progress has been made, the schedule and cost estimates of the rebuilding effort that have been communicated to the public are not realistic,” he added in a briefing about the setbacks.

A new target completion date was not released, Ward said, as setting a fresh forecast before key issues were resolved “would only create a new set of commitments and expectations that are unrealistic.”

Earlier Monday The Wall Street Journal reported the project will be delayed from one to three years and run three billion dollars over its 15-billion-dollar budget.

“Anyone giving you dates and budgets today would have to have a crystal ball,” Port Authority spokesman Stephen Sigmund told the paper, calling its figures overly pessimistic.

The delays mean the so-called “ground zero” project will not be completed by 2011, the symbolic date of the 10th anniversary of the terror strikes on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania claimed by Al-Qaeda.

Ward pointed to 15 “fundamental issues” critical to the project and its construction which had yet to be resolved, and said there needed to be a “more efficient, centralized decision-making structure” to make final decisions on the project.

Officials said work on the site involves 19 state agencies, 101 different construction companies or subcontractors, and 33 different designers, architects and builders.

New York Governor David Paterson said he wanted to focus less on what has gone wrong in the process and more on providing an adequate memorial to honor those who died in the attacks.

“I am not interested in assigning blame. Instead, I am interested in fixing the problem so we can move forward,” Paterson said.

“I believe that the victims’ families deserve a memorial that is equal to the sacrifice and heroism displayed on that day and I believe that the City of New York deserves a reinvigorated site that secures our position as the economic capital of the world.”

The developer of the World Trade Center site has dismissed suggestions that people would be scared to occupy the skyscrapers that will replace the fallen twin towers.

Envisaged as a demonstration of New York’s unity and resilience, the reconstruction of the site where the trade center’s twin towers were destroyed on September 11, 2001, became a byword for discord and disorder.

After a multitude of delays caused by the clash of multiple vested interests, construction of the design’s centerpiece skyscraper — the 1,776 foot (541-meter) Freedom Tower — finally began in April 2006.

As well as the Freedom Tower, which will contain 241,548 square meters (2.6 million square feet) of office space, Silverstein Properties will build three other high-rise buildings at the site with a combined office space of 575,999 square meters (6.2 million square feet).

Some real estate experts have predicted the space will be hard to fill, with memories of the 9/11 attack making too many people reluctant to work in skyscrapers on the same site.

The New York Daily News says the Port Authority officials ignored private warnings a year ago that Ground Zero construction was far behind schedule - and that the Sept. 11 memorial would not be done in time for the terror attack’s 10th anniversary.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. told the Port Authority’s then-executive director, Anthony Shorris, and then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer that the PA’s claims the work would be done on time were unrealistic, to say the least.
Memos obtained by the Daily News reveal that as early as last June, an engineering firm hired by the LMDC contradicted the authority’s predictions in an in-depth review of the $16 billion Ground Zero reconstruction. The report was never made public.
In a December memo citing the report’s findings, the LMDC warned Spitzer: “The original dates were never real and were driven and produced by PR people, not construction and engineering analysis.”
The most shocking thing in the secret report was that construction of the WTC memorial was at least a year behind the Port Authority’s claim that it would be done in time for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack.
After The News began asking about the secret report on Friday, PA Executive Director Chris Ward said the agency would release a new construction schedule at its board meeting Monday.
In its “reassessment,” the authority will admit that all the projects are way behind schedule, but reportedly will try to shift the blame to former Gov. George Pataki.
One source said the Freedom Tower could be two years behind and the transit hub, already a year late, is even further behind.
PA spokesman Steve Sigmund said the reassessment, a response to Gov. Paterson’s demand last month that the authority give a clear explanation of the reconstruction, is “not designed to shift the blame,” but is “a candid assessment of where we are and where we need to go.”
Starting last June, the LMDC raised warning flags about the public pronouncements regarding WTC construction progress.

New York Gov. David A. Paterson announced plans to submit legislation to cover additional public workers who risked their health and safety in the rescue, recovery and clean-up efforts at the World Trade Center after the attacks of September 11, 2001. According to eMaxhealth.com, the legislation embraces the unanimous recommendations of the bi-partisan September 11th Worker Protection Task Force.

Under the Governor’s legislation, the “presumptive accidental disability retirement benefit” now available to some 9/11 first responders will be extended to additional first responders. A committee of doctors on the Task Force found that additional workers were exposed to the same toxins and psychological trauma as those originally covered.

“In the midst of the devastation of September 11th, men and women in public service risked their lives to aid in the search for survivors and victims,” said Governor Paterson. “As the nation grieved these heroes returned to work day and night, selflessly placing their own health at risk. It is our duty to offer them the protections they deserve in their time of illness.”

Additional first responders covered under this bill include: (i) state and county corrections officers and deputy sheriffs ; (ii) the non-uniformed first responders who were not required to undergo a pre-employment physical examination; (iii) 911 dispatchers; (iv) first responders who worked for any period of time within the first 48 hours after the first plane hit the World Trade Center; (v) emergency vehicle radio repair mechanics; (vi) vested members of a public pension system who terminated their employment prior to filing a claim; and (vii) workers who became disabled more than two years after 9/11 but before an extension was granted in the Workers Compensation Law which would have covered them.

Since many of the non-uniformed NYC and State workers at the site had not been required to undergo a pre-employment physical examination, a prerequisite to receiving benefits under the prior 9/11 legislation, the Governor’s bill extends benefits to those employees if they provide access to medical records and demonstrate the absence of a pre-qualifying condition prior to September 11, 2001. In addition, the geographic boundaries of the 9/11 disability benefits law are being expanded to emergency vehicle garages and emergency call centers, because the Task Force found emergency vehicle radio repair mechanics were exposed to dust and 911 operators experienced psychological trauma that has led to disabilities similar to those suffered by workers at the World Trade Center site.

Finally, current law requires that claimants participated in the WTC rescue, recovery or cleanup operations for a minimum of 40 hours, but scientific evidence gathered by the Task Force has shown there was a “substantial risk” of developing respiratory, gastrointestinal and / or mental health disability for first responders at the site during the first 48 hours after the first aircraft hit the World Trade Center Towers. Therefore, the Governor’s legislation covers any first responder who worked during the first 48 hours after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer said: “Governor Paterson is doing the right thing. Every effort to more thoroughly monitor, test and, if necessary, treat the illnesses of the workers at Ground Zero is a welcome step in the right direction.”

U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton said: “I am pleased to welcome legislation that expands benefits to the heroes who responded during our hour of need, and are now suffering adverse health effects because of their selflessness. By extending benefits to these individuals who were critical in our response to the September 11th attacks, New York State is demonstrating that it will not forget the sacrifices made by so many. I commend Governor Paterson for these efforts, and look forward to the swift passage of this legislation.”

Congressman Jerrold Nadler said: “I applaud Governor Paterson for introducing this essential legislation.While the fires were still burning at Ground Zero, brave men and women came to New York to provide help. And during their selfless service, these workers unnecessarily exposed themselves to toxins and containments. As Governor Paterson works with the New York State Legislature to pass this worthy bill, Congress must also act. This is a debt that can never fully be repaid, but we must do right by the living victims of 9/11.”

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney said: “All New Yorkers should be proud that Governor Paterson and the State Assembly and Senate are leading the charge to take care of the heroes of 9/11, and it’s high time the federal government did the same by passing the Maloney-Nadler-Fossella-King 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. It is a moral imperative for our government to take care of Americans who risked their lives and health to save others in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. The contrast between the state and federal responses to this health crisis could not be clearer: New York is finding new ways to help the heroes of 9/11, while the Bush administration is still trying to avoid this responsibility.”

Congressman Peter King said: “The heroes of 9/11 became sick after working in the dust cloud of Ground Zero to save the lives of others. It is our duty to develop a plan to monitor and care for these responders. I fully support the establishment of the World Trade Center Health Program and will do all I can to ensure that the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act becomes law.”

Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno said: “This bill will help ensure that first responders, who put their lives on the line in the minutes, days, weeks and months after the September 11th attacks, get the health care treatment and benefits they deserve. I thank the members of the 9/11 Worker Protection Task Force for their work. The Senate advocated for the establishment of the task force in the original legislation that addressed this issue. This bill mirrors the task force’s recommendations for ensuring that 9/11 heroes are properly taken care of.”

Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith said: “Legislation to expand health care benefits beyond its initial scope, which left out hundreds of 9/11 workers, was long overdue. People from across the city, state, and country fearlessly risked their lives in an act of patriotism and their efforts should not be forgotten. It is time for the legislators to stand up for those workers the same way they stood up for us in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center–unconditionally. I join my colleagues in commending the Governor on introducing this bill and call on the legislature to pledge full support to expand health care benefits to 9/11 workers.”

Senator George Onorato, Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Labor Committee, said: “I commend Governor Paterson and the September 11th Worker Protection Task Force for their efforts to expand needed health care benefits to additional men and women who aided in search and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center. We have an obligation to provide care for these brave first responders who risked their own health and safety in service to others on that dreadful day.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said: “This measure is a simple matter of fairness for the men and women whose health has suffered in the aftermath of their work as first responders to the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I am pleased that Governor Paterson has followed the recommendation of the September 11th Worker Protection Task Force and, introduced legislation to extend health and disability benefits to these individuals — including many who live or work in Lower Manhattan — who served with such extraordinary dedication on September 11th and in the difficult days that followed the terrorist attack.”

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco said: “The courageous first-responders who risked their lives to help save fellow New Yorkers in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks are genuine heroes and fully deserving of expanded access to health care benefits. We owe these heroes a profound debt of gratitude on behalf of a grateful nation that was inspired and deeply moved by the selfless heroism and bravery displayed by our first responders. I applaud Governor Paterson for making the expansion of health care benefits to 9/11 workers a priority and I look forward to working with him and my legislative colleagues to ensure these heroes continue to know just how much they are truly appreciated by all New Yorkers.”

Assemblymember Peter Abbate, Chair of the Assembly Government Employees Committee, said: “By extending health and disability benefits to these additional workers, the Governor is acknowledging the vitally important tasks they performed on September 11th and the days following the devastating terrorist attack, as well as the fact that, in performing their duties, these workers were exposed to conditions that put their health at serious risk. It is important to note that the recommendation to provide benefits to these workers was based on the careful work of the bipartisan September 11th Worker Protection Task Force.”

Assemblymember Joseph Saladino, Ranking member of the Assembly Governmental Employees Committee, said: “It is an honor to work with Governor Patterson to provide further protections and assistance to those selfless heroes whose only concern was to rescue the lives of Americans in the hours and days following the 9/11 attacks on our nation. As a lawmaker whose focus is protecting those who protect the public I am eager to pass this legislation and make a difference for so many men and women who now and in the future will be suffering do to their unselfish acts. When we called on them needing their assistance the first responders came running, now is our turn to do the same.”

Lou Matarazzo, Vice Chairman of the September 11th Worker Protection Task Force, said: “The original legislation might have overlooked some of the workers who risked their lives responding to the attack on the World Trade Center, and had conditions that were too stringent for all affected workers to receive benefits. This legislation goes a long way toward correcting those conditions.”

Patrick J. Lynch, President of the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said: “Clearly Governor Paterson recognizes the great personal sacrifice made by all those who rallied to save and help the city recover after the attacks of 9/11. The Governor’s proposal expands benefits to those responders whose welfare fell between the cracks of the first law. This bill should be supported by all of our legislators and signed into law as quickly as possible. We add our voice to all of those praising Governor Paterson for his proposal.”

Steve Cassidy, President of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York, said: “We applaud the governor for his proactive support of firefighters and all first responders.”