by Lionel Bascom — July 2nd, 2008 — 1 comment
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.”
1:07 PM in Uncategorized, World Trade Center, Ground Zero, Related Stories, Freedom Tower News, Politics
So, we’re getting our New York news from India now? What’s up with that?!
Wings opening and closing to commemorate the lives lost on 9/11? Don’t need them. Good choice. What New Yorkers need is a clean and efficient transit system of which commuters can be proud. The Memorial will be wonderful, but we don’t need gimmicks. We need intelligence, creativity and heightened consciousness.
We need leaders and news writers from the United States of America that are trustworthy and intelligent, so our information and service needs do not emanate from sources two continents away.
Jeanne · July 3rd, 2008 at 10:30 am