The Freedom Tower

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.