The Freedom Tower

Fred Mogul of radio station WNYC says The city is saying only that it “regrets” the resignation of Christine LaSala as president and CEO of the World Trade Center Captive Insurance fund… and she isn’t commenting, either.

The federal government established the fund in 2002 to defend the city from lawsuits related to the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, but congressional representatives and the city disagree about its mission.

The city of New York says the purpose of the semi-private fund for Ground Zero is to fight lawsuits, and local congress members say the fund should be paying claims.

So far, the fund has reportedly spent more than $100 million on legal expenses but has not awarded money to any individuals claiming their health was damaged by working in rescue, recovery and cleanup operations. This is the essence of foolishness. Someone should have sent this fool packing a very long time ago. What nonsense!

The blame for allowing the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center fell square on the shoulders of the agency that owned the ill-fated buildings.
Lawyers urged an appeals court to uphold a verdict blaming the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center, according to United Press International.

“Jurors found the agency 68 percent responsible for the bombing, assigning the rest of the blame to the Muslim radicals who carried it out. In oral arguments Wednesday, lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that the verdict was correct, the New York Post reported.

“We expect terrorists to act like terrorists, and the Port Authority should have expected it,” Brian Shoot said. “We should have expected better from the Port Authority.”

A rented truck loaded with explosives blew up in the parking garage at the World Trade Center on Feb. 26, 1993. Six people were killed and hundreds were injured by the blast or mishaps during the evacuation of the two towers.

Eight years later, the towers were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001.

John Gibbons, a lawyer for the agency, said that it had taken the “minimum precautions” because no security reports had found a terrorist attack to be likely,” the news agency reported.

Paul Napoli, a New York City personal injury lawyer says The World Trade Center attacks on September 11th happened six years ago but for many people effects still linger. A new study by UC Irvine has shown that even people that were not directly affected by 9/11 may now be suffering heart problems because of stress. The study shows there may be more victims of World Trade Center Illness than previously thought.

Most of them had no pre-existing heart problems, and the results persisted even when risk factors such as high cholesterol, smoking and obesity were taken into account.

“It seems that the 9/11 attacks were so potent that media exposure helped to convey enough stress that people responded in a way that contributed to their cardiovascular problems,” said Alison Holman, assistant professor of nursing science at UCI and the study’s lead researcher.

An earlier study showed that 17 percent of Americans had symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder after 9/11. This study has found that for those that suffered from PTSD had more than double the risk of suffering heart problems.

WASHINGTON - January 8 - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is fighting a legal bid to re-create the independent internal watchdog, according to Commondreams.org. The Progressive organization cites filings posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). At the time that it was disbanded in 2002, EPA’s National Ombudsman Office was investigating the agency’s failures after the World Trade Center collapse and was conducting high-profile hearings into malfeasance at several Superfund cleanups across the nation.

The current attempt to force EPA to reconstitute the Ombudsman Office and allow it to complete its investigations flows out of a whistleblower complaint filed by Hugh B. Kaufman. Mr. Kaufman served as the Chief Investigator for the National Ombudsman Office from 1997 until its demise in 2002 on the orders of then-EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman following the World Trade Center attack. Whitman and the EPA are now defendants in a civil suit brought by World Trade Center environmental victims for damages stemming from intentional EPA false statements that the air quality was safe.

Kaufman’s complaint is that the Ombudsman Office and his job were eliminated and he was involuntarily transferred for uncovering embarrassing evidence about EPA misconduct, in violation of whistleblower anti-retaliation provisions of federal environmental laws. According to case documents, one reason EPA cites for disbanding the office was Bush administration policy to have agencies speak with “one voice.”

After an initial investigation, the U.S. Labor Department ruled in Mr. Kaufman’s favor and found EPA’s removing his duties was in reprisal for his performing a “too effective job.” EPA appealed, and the complaint is now slated for a hearing before Labor Department administrative law judge Thomas M. Burke in Washington, D.C. After forcing the agency to provide new documents in the case, Mr. Kaufman filed a motion to amend his complaint to more fully address the illegal retaliation. EPA vehemently opposes that motion on the grounds that amending the complaint raises issues which create “potential prejudice for the Agency.”

“EPA’s actions are truly Orwellian” said Regina Markey who is the lead attorney representing Kaufman. “Instead of protecting America’s communities, the EPA steamrolled the one beacon of accountability that the public trusted to ensure they get the public health protection mandated by Congress. Putting Hugh back on the job is our number one priority.”

During its tenure, the EPA Ombudsman’s Office inspired several congressional attempts to statutorily insulate the office against precisely the sort of interference which ultimately did it in. The Office drew strong bi-partisan support largely because its investigations uncovered botched cleanups in sites ranging from Coeur D’Alene, Idaho to Throop, Pennsylvania to Tarpon Springs, Florida.

“If ever an agency needed an independent ombudsman, it is the EPA now,” stated PEER Senior Counsel Paula Dinerstein, who is assisting in the Kaufman case. “Right now, short of a lawsuit there is no avenue for citizens to pursue a fair and objective review of EPA actions.”

After the National Ombudsman was eliminated, the EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG) absorbed a limited “ombudsman” role that lacked not only its prior primary functions but also the independence that is the hallmark of a true ombudsman. Shortly thereafter, the OIG itself became the target of the “one voice” policies. For the last two years, the OIG has been without a leader and has deemphasized pollution probes in order to pursue efforts furthering President Bush’s Management Agenda.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is giving himself good marks for fulfilling his promises.
In a 240-page report, the “Report to the People of New York State, governor is slapping himself on the back for making progress in education, economic development, environmental protection, tax relieve and government reform.
Among the accomplishments he is most proud of, Spitzer says he deserved praise for moving to make sure construction of the Freedom Tower and related buildings and development at Ground Zero are underway after years of delay.

An Australian group has inked a letter of intent to sign onto investing nearly $720 million in the development of the World Trade Center, the Downunder media is reporting. The Australians had acquired an interest in managing the property several years ago but backed out of the deal temporarily to avoid complicating negotiations the owner of the property was involved in back in 2001 and 2003.

Those early complications, apparently have been cleared up, clearing the way for the Austrialians to jump back into the deal.
The Westfield Group told the Australian stock exchange it is entering a joint venture with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to own retail facilities, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The group will be in charge of managing and leasing retail space when the new World Trade Center is completed. Plans for the retail component of the redeveloped site include approximately 488,000 square feet of gross lettable area (GLA) across multiple levels, with the primary retail space located in a new transport terminal and at street level.

Westfield says it acquired its interest in retail at the WTC originally in July 2001. In December, 2003, Westfield sold its interest to the Port Authority to help simplify the rebuilding process by avoiding conflicts between its commercial rights and the public interest.

Funeral services were held on Staten Island Saturday for a former New York City firefighter who pitched in at the World Trade Center site after the September 11th terrorist attacks, but is best known for his work with the New York City Marathon.

Vic Navarra, 55, died Sunday after a two-year battle with sinus cancer.

In the aftermath of 9/11, Navarra volunteered to search for survivors at the World Trade Center site, even though he was retired. Navarra’s wife Joanne told NY1 that the family believes he contracted cancer due to his work after 9/11.

Friends at the service say Navarra’s legacy will not be forgotten.

“He’s an organizer and some person that just gives of himself,” said FDNY Chief Sal Cassano. “Even after Vic is gone, he is going to be giving because he has given us a great legacy to follow.”

“He always just used his inventiveness, his imagination, and his ability to pull people in and work with them and have fun to make all of these events just top notch,” said friend Terry Raskyn.

A New York Real Estate Blog called www.curbed.com says that with all of the recent concern about when the Port Authority will turn the eastern bathtub (foundation) over to Larry Silverstein to build his Towers 3 and 4 at the World Trade Center site, we’d almost forgotten about the Freedom Tower. While foundation work trudges along, our attention turns skyward, to the building’s 408-foot spire that will bring the Freedom Tower’s overall height to 1776 feet. While architect David Childs has toyed with various versions of the antenna design, what we see above right is what we’re gonna get, per Steve Cuozzo today:

It was suggested that the final antenna design would be more “sculptural” than the original image, and later sketches and models sported various curlicued motifs. But Childs says those ideas, which exposed the actual antenna to the air, were impractical… The more open designs would cause “rain to turn to ice, which would break and fall,” and also make the antenna impossible to maintain at such a height. So it was back to the original notion, which called for a top-to-bottom hood enclosing the actual broadcast spire.

In related news, the antenna—like the office floors before it—still has no confirmed tenants. C’mon, folks, get moving—2015 is a mere seven years away!

For a closer look, go to: http://curbed.com/archives/2008/01/03/brief_history_of_the_freedom_towers_glorious_spire.php

The botchers mishandling reconstruction of the World Trade Center are doing their usual job of bungling, according to the New York Post.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey missed a deadline for site work at Ground Zero that now may cost them $300,000 a day for holding up the works.
Last summer, the botchers were responsible for a deadly blaze that broke out at the former Deutsche Bank at the World Trade Center, damaged so badly during 9/11 it was condemned and had to come down. Its still standing, even after the fire that killed two firemen last August.
That was almost 140 days ago and there is still no subcontractor to finish the job, The Post says.
“It’s as sure a sign as any that the bureaucrats are back in charge at Ground Zero.

And that, to put it mildly, is unacceptable.

Back in August, The Post’s Steve Cuozzo detailed on these pages the domino effect further delays at the Deutsche Bank building would have on the entire Ground Zero project, which is to share underground infrastructure with the new headquarters that JPMorgan Chase plans to build at the site.

Concurrently, we warned Gov. Spitzer not to make the same mistakes as his predecessor, who let bureaucratic inertia and finger-pointing halt progress for years at “Pataki’s Pit.”

Now, after nearly half a year of waiting, it has become clear that the same patterns have again taken hold.”

He’s back! Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is planning to run a new TV ad once again touting himself as a hero of the 9/11 tragedy.
Brian Mooney, a staff writer at the Boston Globe says Hizonner is sagging in the political polls and will be running a “Republican trump card” by projecting an image of himself willing to take on terrorits.
The 30-second spot invokes the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center, when Giuliani was mayor of New York City. It will begin airing nationally on Fox News Channel and on stations in New Hampshire on Thursday, when Iowa voters will be caucusing. Giuliani has aired no ads in Iowa and has campaigned only sporadically there.

Instead, he has campaigned in New Hampshire, which votes Tuesday, and focused on Florida, which will hold its primary on Jan. 29 and where Giuliani is scheduled to attend a rally late Thursday.

The ad features a narrator describing the dangers and chaos caused by terrorism as video clips of fires, explosions, and angry mobs fill the screen.

“An enemy without borders. Hate without boundaries. A people perverted. A religion betrayed. A nuclear power in chaos. Madmen bent on creating it,” the announcer says, as an image of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flashes on the screen.
Go to www.Boston.com and find Mooney’s story if you want to see Rudy’s ad.