The Freedom Tower

now “a massive, rectangular pit crammed with construction crews, blasting and drilling equipment, and the skeletal beginnings of a handful of buildings. But the enterprise was supposed to be much further along by now. The centerpiece of the 16-acre site in lower Manhattan, the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, originally was scheduled to be completed in 2006, but that building just rose above ground level this past spring. Of the six office buildings planned for the area, one 52-story building across the street from the main site has been completed, but five other buildings are not even close. “At least 15 fundamental issues critical to the overall project”—including basic transportation and security needs—remain unresolved, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site, said in a recent report. Officials admit that they’re chagrined at the lack of progress. “It’s time for this international embarrassment to end,” says Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

What’s taking so long?
The project has become a multibillion-dollar political football, pitting numerous agencies and interest groups against one another—each with its own agenda. Many critics say the blame begins with former New York Gov. George Pataki, who in the aftermath of 9/11 made big promises—and demanded tight design schedules—that proved wildly unrealistic. But the creation of “Pataki’s Pit,” as it has been dubbed, had no shortage of helpers. Among those involved are the Port Authority; 19 local, state, and federal agencies; two developers; 33 designers, architects, and consultants; and more than 100 building contractors. Efforts to respect the wishes of victims’ families, including their desire to retain the footprints of the original towers, have also contributed to delays. Then there are the extraordinary construction challenges posed by the site, which Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward calls “as complex as any in the world…”

New York’s Freedom Tower is the symbol of American resilience after the mayhem of September 11 when terrorists destroyed the World Trade Centre and attacked the Pentagon, says Theage.com.au.

“And it’s also symbolic that a foreigner, Melbourne-born structural engineer Marc Colella has been given the responsibility of making sure the tower stays standing.

“Don’t think this is just an event that happened on American soil,” he says.

Mr Colella was initially surprised that such an emotionally charged project was given to an outsider.

While the opportunity to lead the project came “completely out of the blue”, hard work, perseverance “and a bit of luck” gave the 35-year-old the chance to showcase his talent.

Mr Colella visited Monash University, his former alma mater, recently for a presentation on the technical aspects of the highest-profile building site in the world.

The Freedom Tower, also known as Tower 1, will be 105 storeys tall, the same height as the Twin Towers. But a 120-metre spire that will house communication equipment pushes the building’s height to a symbolic level: 1776 feet, for the year of America’s declaration of independence.

“Americans are big on their symbolism,” says Mr Colella.

Perhaps the ultimate symbolic hope was to have the tower finished on September 11, 2011, but Mr Colella says “that’s just not gonna happen”.

The tower is expected to be completed by late 2012.

But it’s not just symbolism that Mr Colella has had to consider. After living in New York for 61/2 years, he says, “You’ve got to manage the way you’re perceived a lot more”.

“You have to put yourself forward in the right manner, with the right intentions. In New York, you’ve got to get that respect, or else they just bury you.”

While he admits there is tremendous pressure on the Freedom Tower project, Mr Colella says “it’s the Aussie way” to rise to a challenge.

“It’s more than just an engineering site. There are a lot of agencies and interests involved.

“The emotional and political implications complicate matters even further. You have to divorce yourself from emotion and treat this just like any other project.”

theage.com.au

Michael Goodwin says New York is usually one tough town, but it’s hard to imagine a softer civic touch than the one that greeted the admission last week that Ground Zero is a mess, the New York Daily News writer says. “When, after nearly seven years of false starts and promises, officials finally admitted that everything is hopelessly behind schedule and over budget, New Yorkers’ general reaction was to applaud the honesty and turn the channel.Don’t get me wrong, I like honesty from my government as much as the next sucker. But we shouldn’t confuse the seven-year-itch for confession with a solution for what ails Ground Zero. And therein lies the real outrage of the downtown disaster - officials still don’t have a real plan to fix it.

Even worse, they don’t seem to know what’s wrong. Or maybe they can’t bring themselves to be quite that honest.

If they did, they’d have to confess to original sin. They’d have to admit they’ve forgotten the fundamental meaning of 9/11 and that the memorial to those who died in the worst attack ever carried out on American soil should have been the first thing built.

Rudy Giuliani perfectly described the right approach in his farewell address as mayor. With the fires still smoldering, Giuliani, speaking from nearby St. Paul’s Chapel on Dec. 27, 2001, called Ground Zero ‘holy” and “hallowed” and declared, “we shouldn’t think about this site right behind us as a site for economic development.’ “

Construction of skyscrapers and an underground transport hub to replace the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the September 11 terror attacks will be delayed for years and cost far more than planned, New York officials said Monday.According to AFP, the schedule and cost of the ambitious project, including a landmark Liberty Tower, other ultramodern skyscrapers and a museum, “face significant delays and cost overruns,” said Chris Ward, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site land.

“While significant progress has been made, the schedule and cost estimates of the rebuilding effort that have been communicated to the public are not realistic,” he added in a briefing about the setbacks.

A new target completion date was not released, Ward said, as setting a fresh forecast before key issues were resolved “would only create a new set of commitments and expectations that are unrealistic.”

Earlier Monday The Wall Street Journal reported the project will be delayed from one to three years and run three billion dollars over its 15-billion-dollar budget.

“Anyone giving you dates and budgets today would have to have a crystal ball,” Port Authority spokesman Stephen Sigmund told the paper, calling its figures overly pessimistic.

The delays mean the so-called “ground zero” project will not be completed by 2011, the symbolic date of the 10th anniversary of the terror strikes on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania claimed by Al-Qaeda.

Ward pointed to 15 “fundamental issues” critical to the project and its construction which had yet to be resolved, and said there needed to be a “more efficient, centralized decision-making structure” to make final decisions on the project.

Officials said work on the site involves 19 state agencies, 101 different construction companies or subcontractors, and 33 different designers, architects and builders.

New York Governor David Paterson said he wanted to focus less on what has gone wrong in the process and more on providing an adequate memorial to honor those who died in the attacks.

“I am not interested in assigning blame. Instead, I am interested in fixing the problem so we can move forward,” Paterson said.

“I believe that the victims’ families deserve a memorial that is equal to the sacrifice and heroism displayed on that day and I believe that the City of New York deserves a reinvigorated site that secures our position as the economic capital of the world.”

The developer of the World Trade Center site has dismissed suggestions that people would be scared to occupy the skyscrapers that will replace the fallen twin towers.

Envisaged as a demonstration of New York’s unity and resilience, the reconstruction of the site where the trade center’s twin towers were destroyed on September 11, 2001, became a byword for discord and disorder.

After a multitude of delays caused by the clash of multiple vested interests, construction of the design’s centerpiece skyscraper — the 1,776 foot (541-meter) Freedom Tower — finally began in April 2006.

As well as the Freedom Tower, which will contain 241,548 square meters (2.6 million square feet) of office space, Silverstein Properties will build three other high-rise buildings at the site with a combined office space of 575,999 square meters (6.2 million square feet).

Some real estate experts have predicted the space will be hard to fill, with memories of the 9/11 attack making too many people reluctant to work in skyscrapers on the same site.

Black Enterprise Magazine says The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Board of Commissioners approved nearly $500 million worth of construction projects for the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero. This approval came in late February and paves the way for Minority and Women Business Enterprises (MWBE) to land multi-million contracts with the agency.

One African-American-owned firm that hopes to nab one of those contracts is Burwell and Associates in Great Neck, NY. To date, the distributor has only provided electrical supplies to contractors of the project. But because of its long history with the Port Authority, the owners are hopeful of doing more. Burwell and Associates has been a contractor for the Port Authority since 1993 and has secured millions of dollars in various construction and supply contracts with them over the years.

“We have done a lot of work on the World Trade Center site, as well as some of the early stage work on the Freedom Tower,” says Harry Burwell, owner of the company.” We will definitely be included in this latest round of projects at the Tower.” Burwell declined to give specifics, however, he confirmed that officials have approached him from the Port Authority and elsewhere regarding new projects at the World Trade Center site and specifically the Freedom Tower.

Timothy Marshall, president and CEO of the Jamaica Business Resource Center, a small business resource center in Jamaica, New York, says the recent Port Authority Freedom Tower contracts awards could indeed be a boom for MWBE’s. Marshall says his organization has a long-standing partnership with the Port Authority on how to include minority businesses in receiving WTC and Freedom Tower contracts. In addition, Marshall is on the Port Authority’s MWBE Oversight Committee on several other projects.

New York prosecutors are investigating whether a firm that tested concrete foundations at the future Yankee Stadium and the World Trade Center’s signature new tower falsified test results or billed for tests never done, a law enforcement official said Friday.

Newsday, the Long Island newspaper, says investigators executed search warrants Friday at Testwell Laboratories Inc. offices in Queens, suburban Ossining in upstate New York and at Yankee Stadium, an official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation had not previously been made public.

Prosecutors are exploring whether Testwell falsified some test results, double- and triple-billed for some tests and charged clients for tests the firm never conducted, the official told the AP.

The $1.3 billion new Yankee Stadium _ being built across the street from the team’s former home in the Bronx _ is a focus of the probe, as is the Freedom Tower, the 102-story skyscraper being built to replace the destroyed trade center at ground zero, the official said. Up to a dozen other projects also may be involved, the official said.

David Dunlap at the New York Times says “Only 1,761 feet to go.” He’s writing about The Freedom Tower.

“Another tangible and fanfare-free milestone occurred over the weekend at ground zero, where two steel columns of 1 World Trade Center rose above street level for the first time. That means the 1,776-foot skyscraper, until now an entirely subterranean structure, will be doing the rest of its climbing in the public eye.

In contrast to the heavily orchestrated ceremonies of past years — white doves taking flight (they turned out to be homing pigeons) and a 20-ton cornerstone being set into place (it had to be picked up again and moved off site) — the latest milestone was noted quite modestly by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.”

Kimberly Ripley of New Hampshire, writing at www.gather.com:

“I walked as far around the perimeter (of Ground Zero) as the public was allowed. I just knew I’d find something to commemorate the lives lost here. I know plans for a memorial are in the making, but in the meantime I felt certain some type of makeshift tribute would be in place.
I found nothing. Aside from an American flag flying gently in the warm New York City evening breeze, there was nothing but construction equipment in the giant void that once served as a grave of sorts for the people who lost their lives on 9/11.
Why were there no flowers? Why wasn’t there at least a sign? “Rest In Peace.”
New Yorkers flowed by and around the area. Life seems a lot different than it was the last time I visited this city. It was just four weeks after 9/11. When I stepped off the train in Penn Station I was instantly heartbroken as I viewed hundreds and hundreds of signs with photographs on them.
“Have you seen this woman?”

”Has anyone seen my husband?”
Yet here it is just a few years later and nothing honors the void where the Twin Towers once stood.
In addition to the lack of respect and honor for those lives lost and their loved ones who remain, I think about the brave American men and women fighting terror in the Middle East. To not commemorate the tragedy of 9/11 negates (at least in my mind) what these soldiers stand for.
I know that one day a wondrous memorial will grace Ground Zero. But in the meantime I truly believe there needs to be something to remind us of the day that forever changed us as Americans. Our soldiers, our veterans, our 9/11 heroes, our dead, and their loved ones all deserve far better than what I observed there this evening.

The proposed United States Airlines Flight 93 memorial was criticized by some opponents who said the design included Islamic symbols, according to ENews 2.0.

The UK news service says opponents of the design have rallied behind this latest snag in the development of the memorial.

“The temporary memorial is located on a hillside 500 yards from the site of the crash of United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked in the September 11, 2001 attacks, in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania, situated about 2 miles north of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

One of the opponents, Harry Beam, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, presented a petition filled with 5,300 signatures to put an end to the project of the memorial. The petition was showed to the design members of the Flight 93 boards during the meeting of the Flight 93 Memorial Task Force at the Somerset County Courthouse.

It all began when the Flight 93 Advisory Commission announced a memorial design from Paul Murdoch Architects of Los Angles; the project was called “Crescent of Embrace” and some people saw in the crescent-shape design a symbol of Islam, saying that, in this way, the memorial subtly includes the hijackers alongside the victims in Shanksville, Pa. on September 11th.

“It’s really revolting to me, this whole thing,” Mr. Burnett, a retired high school English teacher from Northfield, Minn, who signed the petition, was quoted as saying by the New York Times. “It’s an insult to my son and all the others,” he added.

As a result, the original title was changed; “Crescent of Embrace” became “Circle of Embrace.” The National Park Service, which supports the construction of the memorial, also changed the design, adding trees to encircle the site.

On the other hand, the designer rejected the accusations, saying he sees this as a “distortion of the facts” and that he will continue his project with an “overwhelming support for the design.” Paul Murdoch’s project will also include a plaza situated along the edge of the crash site.

“The forms that the design uses come out of the forms of the land,” Mr. Murdoch said. “The framing of that space is like a large-scale embrace, on a scale commensurate of the heroic acts of the people who died there.”

Newsday, the Long Island, New York newspaper says Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Ground Zero last month “highlighted how little progress has been made there since the al-Qaida attack more than six years ago. Images of the World Trade Center site zipped around the globe, revealing that it’s still just a big hole in the ground.

At one time, Americans held hope that this site would come roaring back, proclaiming our determination to stand up to terrorism. Today, it’s more symbolic of New York’s sluggish bureaucracy and political infighting.

In particular, officials are ignoring an opportunity to push ahead with the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, which reached its $350-million private fundraising goal this month. Instead, the Port Authority, which is responsible for the noncommercial construction at Ground Zero, seems paralyzed behind a budget crisis at the PATH station transportation hub.

What sends a more meaningful message worldwide, a memorial to the victims or a train station? The answer is obvious.

The PATH station is unlikely to be finished by 2011, the 10th anniversary of the attacks. The Freedom Tower might make it. And if the memorial starts right away, it could also meet this symbolically important deadline.

Now is the perfect time for the Port Authority to reset priorities. Gov. David Paterson is expected to name a new executive director, Christopher Ward, to become New York’s representative at the two-state Port Authority. Ward has a record of muscling together divergent interests and moving them forward.

That’s just what Ground Zero needs. The site has been plagued from the start, with former Gov. George Pataki’s indecision, the NYPD’s grandstanding on safety at the Freedom Tower, the fire at the Deutsche Bank building and divisive leadership at the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., to name just a few hurdles. Let’s close that chapter and build a site that shows the world a better version of our spirit.”