The Freedom Tower

The on again, off again demolition of the former Deutsche Bank at the World Trade Center seems to be off again.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) was expected to resume the demolition earlier this month. It didn’t happen.
A fire that broke out in the building last August and two firefighters were killed in this building which was severely damaged during the September 11 attacks. LMDC chairman Avi Schick was quoted by Crain’s New York Business today as saying he expects the demolition to resume in a few weeks. He had hoped it would have begun earlier this month but would not detail the reasons by an earlier start date was missed.
Dismantling was halted in August after the firefighters died. “Numerous safety violations at the building, including a broken standpipe that was supposed to bring water to firefighters, allowed the blaze to rage uncontrollably,” Crains reported.

“Various factors stand in the way of restarting the demolition, sources say, including the failure to fully implement new fire safety strategies, the lack of a contractor to tear down the tower and a criminal investigation into the firefighters’ deaths.

For now, leaving the scarred structure standing is more psychologically damaging than an impediment to rebuilding the area, sources say. It remains an eyesore that’s a reminder of the attacks and the long, convoluted process to finally begin building on the World Trade Center site.”

“It is a symbol of the past and that is what makes it so frustrating,”  Liz Berger, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York was quoted in Crains as saying. “It is not a symbol of the current state of Lower Manhattan.”

More than half of the children enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry to track 9/11 related illnesses developed respiratory symptoms after exposure to toxic dust after the Twin Towers collapsed in 2001.
The World Trade Center Health Registry, the largest public health registry in U.S. history, was launched in 2003 to track the health of people exposed to the collapse of the World Trade Center and those who worked at the WTC site. The registry reported that 1,700 of the 3,100 enrolled or 53% have suffered from coughing, wheezing, or shortness of breath days and weeks after the 9/11 attacks.
Findings released by the Health Department today provide the first broad snapshot of physical and mental health effects among children exposed to the World Trade Center disaster. The survey found that children under five had an increased likelihood of being diagnosed with asthma in the two to three years following the event, though not as sharp an increase as rescue workers. The survey did not find evidence of elevated levels of post-traumatic stress in children.

Health Department researchers will meet with WTC Health Registry enrollees and other community members tonight at the Second Annual Meeting and Resource Fair at Pace University to present these and other recent findings from the World Trade Center Health Registry initial survey, conducted in 2003 and 2004.

According to the survey, half of the 3,100 children enrolled in the registry developed at least one new or worsened respiratory symptom, such as a cough, between 9/11 and the time of the interview. A follow-up survey now underway will assess whether these symptoms persisted beyond the initial days and months after the event. Prior to 9/11, asthma rates among child enrollees were on par with national and regional rates, but at the time of the interview, about 6% of enrolled children had received a new asthma diagnosis. Children exposed to the dust cloud following the collapse of the towers were twice as likely to be diagnosed with asthma as those not caught in the dust cloud, the survey found.

The post-9/11 asthma rate among children under five years old may be as much as twice the regional (northeastern) rate for the same age group. Further research is needed to learn whether some of this increase is due to better detection of asthma in kids with WTC exposure or because parents of children with asthma symptoms were more likely to enroll their children in the registry.

The mental health portion of the survey showed that only 3% of the children surveyed had symptoms suggestive of post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the interview, a level that is not above that in children elsewhere. As with asthma, however, children who were caught in the dust cloud experienced higher levels. The survey did not assess other mental health problems.

“We now know that some children, too, were affected by exposure to the dust cloud,” said Lorna Thorpe, Deputy Commissioner at the Health Department. “The Registry is helping us learn more about the health effects of 9/11 and share these findings with the public.”

This survey included children under 18 years of age on 9/11/01, who lived or went to school south of Canal Street (preschool and K-12) or were south of Chambers Street on 9/11.

The Health Department is now working on its second survey of the more than 71,000 enrollees. There are only four weeks left for adult enrollees to submit their responses. About 65% of all enrollees have completed the survey so far. Surveys for child enrollees (which are completed by parents for young children) must be submitted before March 2008. These responses will help determine if enrollees are still experiencing 9/11-related health problems and whether new symptoms or conditions have emerged in any group since 9/11.

“It is critical that enrollees help us continue this important work,” said Dr. Polly Thomas, Associate Professor for the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at New Jersey Medical School and lead author of the pediatric study. “We urgently need more people to send in their surveys over the next four weeks.”

Other recent findings can be found at the new World Trade Center health website at www.nyc.gov/9-11HealthInfo. Its creation was one key recommendation of the Mayor’s Addressing the Health Impacts of 9/11 report. The comprehensive website offers one-stop shopping for 9/11 health-related issues, including latest information about scientific research and free or low-cost medical services. The website also includes information on treatment options for the different groups of affected people: rescue and recovery workers, residents, children, city employees and others.

It took just four months to build a replica of the Freedom Tower. The model is only 28 feet tall, is made of at least 170,000 Lego bricks and stands in Legoland USA outside San Diego.
It’s a “way to pay tribute to the heroes and victims of 9/11,” Legoland spokeswoman Julie Estrada.
The Freedom Tower replica was built all according to architect Daniel Libeskind’s grand design.
the mini-monument was up by March 2005, pretty much according to the 2003 schedule laid out by Libeskind for the actual ground zero. Adding insult to injury, the Lego version was only three months old when Libeskind’s plan—which had won the 2002 competition to design the new WTC—was nixed and plans for the tower were changed into the stolid, symmetrical Skidmore, Owings & Merrill version finally under way in Manhattan. Although the real one’s not scheduled to be completed until 2011, it will rise above street level next year.

If you put aside all of the vanity of architects, bureaucrats, politicians and critics surrounding the reconstruction of the World Trade Center over the last six years, something does finally seem to be rising above what a general interest Canadian magazine is calling careless, private ambition, uniquely American uncertainty  and public idealism over the projects at Ground Zero that has been way too lofty.
“Out of the ashes of the World Trade Center comes a new vision for tall buildings in the contemporary world,”John Bentley Mays says in the Sunday, November 25 issue of the magazine with the odd name of Walrus.
What this piece reminds us of are the almost daily eruptions that still occur over the most notorious, expensive real estate in the world. Still, when you take a closer look at the many THINK groups, group think and a preposterous sum of money that just keeps growing and growing, this project will be one for the books.
Go to www.walrusmagazine.com and read a reprint of May’s piece in the Nov. 25 issue. It is more than just a thoughtful, outsider’s point of view, you might also find it insightful as well.

The murky waters surrounding the effects airborne toxins swirling in lower Manhattan and nearby communities for months after the collapse of the Twin Towers just got murkier.
Just who qualifies as a victim of  the 9/11 attacks fell to a new low recently when the New York City medical examiner refused to look into the death of a city police officer who worked for hours clearing debris at Ground Zero. Dr. Charles Hirsch refused to look into the death of police officer James Godbee who died of lung disease complications. The ME refused to consider the case because the police officer was not at Ground Zero on the day of the attacks. Hirsch said Godbee’s death would be deemed caused by natural causes, not toxins he was exposed to 48 hours after the twin towers fell.
The police officer arrived at Ground Zero on Sept. 13. He died of a heart attack in December 2004. A city medical examiner ruled the heart attack was caused by disease that causes scaring of the lungs and other organs. Doctors at Beth Israel Medical Center say Godbee’s exposure to the toxic dust at Ground Zero “either caused or aggravated his condition and “ultimately caused his death,” according to story in the New York Daily News. Hirsch said the deaths of 9/11 victims were deemed homicides or accidents. He said Godbee’s death could not be classified this way despite his exposure to toxins after 9/11.
The New York State Police chief forensic pathologist disagrees.
“If a person who inhaled the dust on 9/11 is deemed to be a homicide victim, then this person who inhaled the same dust caused by the same criminal act two days later has to be classified the same say,” Dr. Michael Baden was quoted as saying in a Daily News story. ‘What’s the cutoof? “Is the cutoff 12:01 a.m. at 9/12?” Baden asked.

A powerful jewel in the crown of the World Trade Center reconstruction may have lost some of its zest.
“The symbolic centerpiece of the effort to rebuild ground zero, a 408-foot spire that brings the Freedom Tower to its projected height of 1,776 feet, could be jeopardized by a new technology emerging as an alternative to the broadcast antenna planned for the inside of the spire,” The New York Sun has reported.
Broadcasting antennas have long been used to top skyscrapers throughout the world and their added height often means the difference between just another tall building in cities like New York and Chicago and structures designated among the world’s tallest. The Metropolitan Television Alliance – nearly a dozen broadcasters — had intended to install the broadcasting spire on top of the Freedom Tower but speculation over construction woes related the Freedom Tower has prompted some broadcasters to begin using other transmitters instead of a single high-powered transmitter. The new transmitters are positioned closer to street level and the organization seems to like the signals the new technology hoisted on other buildings is providing.
One member of the alliance has begun its own testing. ION Media Networks says it likes the results and the alliance has begun testing a similiar low-powered system.
Uncertainty over when the Freedom Tower antennae will be installed – in 2009 or as late ast 2012 — prompted some broadcasters to seek reliable alternative ways of transmitting their broadcasts.

An Australian-based retail developer may help the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey run retail stores when the World Trade Center reconstruction is complete. The Bloomberg News Service says the PA is considering a joint venture with Sydney-based Westfield Group, the largest shopping center owner in the world. PA Real Estate and regional development chief Michael Francois says they are actively considering this deal. “It is the intention of both parties to move on an aggressive schedule, with the aim and hope of concluding these discussions by the end of the year,'’ Francois said today at a meeting of the authority’s trade center redevelopment subcommittee, The discussions are “an alternative'’ to the authority operating the approximately 500,000 square feet of retail space itself, Francois said. Last month, the agency issued a request for proposals from potential retail consultants. Those are due Jan. 19, he told the news service. Westfield sold its lease back to the authority in 2003 for $140 million, while retaining first refusal rights for future retail development there.

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver say a global technology solutions provider, will lease the 35th floor at 7 World Trade Center where it will locate executive offices, an executive briefing center and will serve as a base of operations for 200 employees.

The space will be leased by the NCR Corporation.

NCR’s commitment follows JP Morgan Chase’s decision this past summer to build a new tower at Site 5 of the new World Trade Center complex, which will serve as a base of operations for 7,500 employees.

“NCR’s decision to move its executive offices to the World Trade Center site is further evidence of the continued revitalization of lower Manhattan,” said Governor Spitzer. “Together with JP Morgan Chase’s recent commitment to build and relocate its investment banking headquarters Downtown, we are seeing positive signals that Lower Manhattan remains a global center of commerce.”

New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said: “I had the privilege of meeting Bill Nuti through a mutual friend about three years ago, and I took advantage of that opportunity to outline some of the reasons why he should consider moving NCR’s executive offices to Downtown Manhattan. The decision to move the executive offices of NCR to the Ground Zero area is a demonstration of American pride and an affirmation that Downtown Manhattan is the place where our nation’s top companies belong, and where they come to compete on a global level. I thank and applaud NCR for being a part of the rebirth of Lower Manhattan.”

Bill Nuti, NCR Chairman, CEO and President said: “NCR is very proud of our move into the World Trade Center complex for many reasons. For one, it will allow NCR to expand our presence in New York, where we conduct a great deal of business today and where we see a larger market opportunity as we expand our self-service technologies in our core retail and financial markets, as well as new markets, such as travel and hospitality, gaming and entertainment, healthcare and the public sector. The new offices will provide office space for management, operations and customer sales and support, as well as a new customer briefing center where we can showcase our solutions to prospective customers. It is also a strong statement of support for the downtown area of New York City, which is rebuilding itself after the tragedy of 9-11.”

New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding Daniel L. Doctoroff said: “Lower Manhattan’s growth is marked not only by the increasing number of companies that want to locate their headquarters here, but also by the array of industries they represent, diversifying and strengthening the local economy. NCR’s move is the latest example of that, and the company’s presence will add to Lower Manhattan’s ongoing transformation into a thriving community that is attractive to businesses, residents and visitors alike.”

A court battle has begun in Boston between a prosecutor and an Islamic charity linked to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center over the group’s alleged pro-jihad activities.
Three former leaders of Care International went on trial this week in Boston on charges related to hiding their activities behind claims that they were a charity formed to help war orphans, widows and refugees in Muslim nations.
Jury selection in the federal trial began today. The leaders, Emadeddin Muntasser, Samir Al-Monla and Muhammed Mubayyid, are on trial for allegedly hiding pro-jihad activities from the Naturalization Service, the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI. The indictments against them charge them with making false statements, tax code violations and conspiracy to defraud the United States. At the root of these charges are prosecution claims that the group distributed a newsletter promoting jihad and supporting Muslim militants involved in armed attacks in various locations around the world.
“There is no charge that Care International or any of the defendants provided material support to terrorism, or had any connection with Al Qaeda, bin Laden, terrorism, or any terrorist attack or plot,” defense lawyers wrote in court papers.The group, which was not affiliated with the well-known global relief group CARE International, is now defunct. Prosecutors have acknowledged that Care did some legitimate charity work.

Much of Lower Manhattan has been rebuilt with little concern for input from the city’s residents, according to a posting at citiesandmoney.com. This includes the World Trade Center.
“ Although the 9/11 families have had input into the World Trade Center (WTC) site, citizens have been shut out of the rest of Lower Manhattan.

Only a few weeks after 9/11, a group of highly organized business men called for the creation of a public authority that would be responsible for the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan. Who were these business and real estate leaders? - The Partnership for the City of New York and Chamber of Commerce, the Real Estate Board, and the Alliance for Downtown New York.
The Governor and State Legislature created the state Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC). LMDC’s territory runs from Houston Street to the tip of Manhattan, from the East River to the Hudson, and oversees the revitalization and rebuilding of all businesses and housing except for those areas that are governed by other authorities; namely, WTC site governed by the Port Authority, and Battery Park City governed by the Battery Park City Authority.

The people appointed by Governor Pataki were from the financial and real estate industry with few appointees from local residents. Other than the chair of Community Board 1 and a representative from the construction trades, the list reads like the who’s who from a night at Lincoln Center.

With the establishment of LMDC, developers no longer had to worry about the City’s urban planning process, (ULURP), nor did developers have to worry about the City’s building codes. After all, the City no longer has jurisdiction. Most importantly, what the City Council thinks is no longer relevant including the City Council’s call for more affordable housing in Lower Manhattan.

The creation of state authorities has always been used to cut elected officials and city residents out of the decision making process. The City has lost a huge chunk of real estate to the State and developers. Lower Manhattan is becoming a playground for the rich as one luxury building after another is built.”