The Freedom Tower

People are beginning to take notice, even the folks at Architectural Record.
In a piece called Dispatch from Ground Zero, the editors of the McGraw Hill publication note that “Five years is enough time for builders to construct a small city in China, but in lower Manhattan, it’s only the first chapter for the big pit at Ground Zero. But finally it has begun to stir, with leaders coming together and construction starting for real.”
While all the bickering over insurance payments go on between the insurers, with PA, the governors of the respective states and Larry Silverstein in one corner,  and the insurance companies in the other, there are arguments over design flaws and unintentional slights to the families of victims still going on.

But still, the rebuilding continues.
The record notes that a small team of maybe 20 construction workers are excavating down to bedrock and still driving the footings for the Freedom Tower.
“Workers are also taking down what’s left of the Twin Towers’ old parking garage, whose remains include rows of spiky rebar and cross-like column remnants,” the editors noted. They are removing old sewer lines, moving electric lines between the PATH tracks to make room for more footings. They are bringing in those large, woven metal blankets for blasting that will start soon, dumping dirt, metal and concrete into the many trucks that still come and go from the “work site.”
Five years may seem like a very long time for such little progress until you read the headlines of recent days and realize it could have all happened again somewhere else because the threat that took those towers down five years ago is just as real today as it was on 9/11 five years ago. The only thing that has changed are the targets, not the intent to kill.

It looks like at least two of the insurance companies who have been wrangling over whether or not they’ll pay up to help rebuild the World Trade Center are about to end their part of the dispute.
Zurich American Insurance Company and the Employers Insurance of Wausau said yesterday they would not let the ownership transfer from the original developer to the Port Authority block payment of insurance claims. According to the New York Sun, the two companies owe a total of $100 million that would go towards rebuilding Ground Zero, including construction of the Freedom Tower.  Five other insurers are withholding at least $1.4 billion and have not said if or when they would pay up. Ownership and responsibility for rebuilding Ground Zero was transferred from developer Larry Silverstein to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. When the transferred took place last spring, seven insurers balked and withheld paying claims to Silverstein or to the PA.
Keith Owens, a spokesman for Zurich, issued a statement yesterday, saying “We recently determined the conceptual framework would not present an impediment to the ultimate settlement of Silverstein’s WTC property claims.” Silverstein sought more than $1.5 billion but seven out of 20 insurance companies questioned the new arrangement and withheld payments. The move upset the governors of both states and New York Mayor Bloomberg. The states and the city joined Silverstein in a lawsuit in state courts. The insurance companies recently countered that move by trying to move the argument into federal court but that strategy backfired with a federal judge this week said the case must be decided by a local judge because the case would not  be heard in a U.S. District Court.
The real argument is not over where the case will be heard or over ownership of the 16 acre property. The real argument is what it always comes down to, how much they should pay.
Put up like Zurich and Employers now seem willing to do and shut up. It’s rude to argue over the dead, especially over money and doing it at this grave site, is insulting beyond words.

A federal court judge says it will be the New York state courts that must decide if insurance payments at the World Trade Center should be paid or not.
At stake is $525 millionj insurance companies are withholding, claiming the insurance money was jeopardized when ownership rights to reconstruct the World Trade Center was transferred to authorities in New York and New Jersey. Seven insurance companies asked to move a lawsuit filed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to federal court.
Their request was rejected by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mukasey. The Port Authority and developer larry Silverstein claim a transfer of ownership of the World Trade Center site should not affect the insurance payments. The controversy arose when the port Authority assumed ownership of the $2 billion Freedom Tower, the centerpiece of the new trade center. Silberstein gave up ownership of the Tower back in April when asked to by New York Gov. George Pataki, new Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Insurers have since balked and refused to pay up.
Many believe it was just a tactic to save money and now pay up. We agree.
Silverstein leased the World Trade Center six weeks before the 9/11 attacks. The insurance companies are doing more than refusing to pay up on a deal gone sour. They are insulting a nation clearly injured by 9/11 and we will not stand for it … no matter what their lawyers are claiming in court. They deserve the black eye their lawyers are fishing for and I hope a state court judge delivers the knock out punch soon so we can finish this important business downtown and move on.

It’s a start. A steel mill in Luxembourg, Germany has begun work on producing the support steel beams that will eventually become the framework of the Freedom Tower.
The European company, the Arcelor mill, is the choice because authorities say no steel producers in the United States can make the gigantic sections of steel needed for this difficult and controversial project. The “I” beams for the project will weigh between 11 and 20 tons each and will be used to form the underground portion of  the Tower.

Major Construction Contract

It has finally happened. The first major construction contract to reconstruct the World Trade Center Memorial has been awarded.
The $17 million nod went to E.E. Cruz of Holmdel, N.J. to build the memorial foundations and footings. This is the first (no pun intended) concrete step towards raising a tribute to the people (nearly 3000) who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and on Feb. 26, 1993. The memorial is slated to be finished in September, 2009.
The Cruz company is scheduled to begin pouring the foundation later this month but site preparation work began last March.
The political voices surrounding this project were voiced across the board with New York Gov. George Pataki saying awarding this contract was the beginning of efforts to “keep our promise to victims’ families” to open the memorial on time. Lord knows there have been many nay-sayers who have complained about everything from where the memorial will be build to whether or not any of the buildings going up on the site will be able to find tenants.
Memorial Foundation Chairman John Whitehead was more concerned with practical matters, saying the contact was awarded after numerous bids came in on budget. Port Authority Vice Chairman Charles Gargano took the opportunity to look to the future saying “When this stunning monument … opens in three years, it will give family members, survivors, tourists and others a place where they can reflect on the horror of 9/11 “and on the heroism of hundreds of people who helped save thousands of lives.”
In the mean time, movie goers across the country can do the same by coming out to see “World Trade Center,” the soon-to-be released film by Oliver Stone that stars Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena. It tells the true story of two Port Authority policemen – John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno – who were trapped in the rubble of the World Trade Center after they went in to help people escape