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Rebuilding NYC July 2002


Condemnation Powers Could Change WTC Rebuild - Jul 31, 2002
The state or federal governments, as well as the Port Authority, could eliminate Larry Silverstein's ability to rebuild the World Trade Center. Silverstein's 99-year lease contains a provision saying his right to rebuild would end if the property is condemned. Exercising a right to condemn the property could change the entire course of rebuilding Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)

State Could Take Over Land Around Trade Center Site - Jul 31, 2002
Gov. Pataki yesterday said planners could consider using the state's sweeping "eminent domain" powers to take over land around Ground Zero to expand the site. It was the first time Pataki, who has tremendous influence over the process, has raised eminent domain, where the state would condemn the land and then pay to take it over. (New York Post)

Bomb Fears Could Prompt Street Closings Downtown - Jul 31, 2002
Security fears at the main federal building in Lower Manhattan have prompted talks between city and federal governments about closing Broadway and three other streets. (New York Sun)

September 11 Cost City $1.6 Billion in Tax Revenue - Jul 31, 2002
The Sept. 11 terror attacks cost the city $1.6 billion in lost tax revenue - and things will only get worse, the General Accounting Office reported yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Wednesday Last Day for WTC Memorial Service Ideas - Jul 30, 2002
City officials planning ceremonies to commemorate the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks say they have received more than 4,000 suggestions, ranging from a candlelight vigil in Central Park, to a parade down Broadway honoring rescue workers, to a nationwide moment of silence. Wednesday is the final day to offer ideas.Suggestions for the ceremonies can be made on the cityÕs Web site at www.nyc.gov, or by calling 212-788-7799. (Newsday)

More Designers Might Be Invited to Submit Ideas on Ground Zero - Jul 30, 2002
Responding to criticism of the plans to rebuild Lower Manhattan, officials said yesterday that they wanted to open up the design effort to more architects, including smaller design firms and foreign teams.Many such groups were excluded from consideration for the first design contract because of their relative lack of experience working on big projects in New York. (New York Times)

9/11 Memories Cast Shadow on Primary - Jul 30, 2002
Analysts predict that the closeness of this year's primaries to Sept. 11 will influence everything from the candidates' advertising to the tenor of stump speeches. (New York Times)

Senator Clinton Presses For More WTC Funds - Jul 30, 2002
Sen. Hilary Rodham Clinton Monday urged President Bush to release an additional $90 million in federal funding that would allow thousands of World Trade Center rescue workers to receive free medical screenings and follow-up exams for the next 20 years. (Newsday)

Saying No to Free 9/11 Aid, Many Families Hire Lawyers - Jul 29, 2002
Many relatives of victims who were killed on Sept. 11 have turned down free legal advice offered by lawyers because of delays, confusion, and cynical perceptions. Now at least 500 families have hired paid lawyers who could collect fees of up to 25 percent of the awards paid by the federal Victim Compensation Fund. (New York Times)

Silverstein Still Planning to Rebuild - Jul 29, 2002
Public pressure to reduce the size of the new World Trade Center could affect the amount of insurance won by lease-holder Larry Silverstein. Silverstein wants $7 billion from insurance companies to rebuild. His lease requires him to build exactly what was lost - 11 million square feet. (New York Post)

Alcohol Is Cited in Toppling of a Crane Near Ground Zero - Jul 29, 2002
A crane being used on one of the first major reconstruction projects near ground zero toppled into the street yesterday morning, delaying traffic for hours in Lower Manhattan. By the afternoon, the crane operator was arrested after the police said that he had consumed enough alcohol to have impaired his control of the crane. (New York Times)

Wall Street Journal Returning To Offices Near WTC - Jul 29, 2002
Scattered in offices from South Brunswick, N.J., to midtown Manhattan and Soho since the Wall Street Journal's headquarters were severely damaged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, editors and reporters at America's financial newspaper will begin returning to their offices in the World Financial Center on Monday. (Associated Press)

At Trade Center Site, a Wealth of Ideas - Jul 28, 2002
A tangle of interests is at work in lower Manhattan, seeking to influence the rebuilding of the World Trade Center and, more broadly, the structure and methods of the downtown economy. The political, aesthetic and commercial interests that are involved in the effort bring with them such a dizzying array of positions and agendas that it is often quite difficult to keep track of who wants what. (New York Times)

Dilemma Over How to Mark Sept. 11 - Jul 28, 2002
With just six weeks left until the first anniversary of Sept. 11, national, state and local leaders haven't announced any concrete plans on how they're marking the day of remembrance, leaving puzzled businesses and institutions to fill the void. (New York Post)

Pataki Suggests Broadening Scope of Lower Manhattan - Jul 27, 2002
Answering criticism that proposals for redeveloping the World Trade Center site are small-minded and unimaginative, Gov. George Pataki said Friday that plans should be expanded beyond ground zero. Pataki urged government planners "to look beyond just the 16 acres" of the trade center complex. (Associated Press)

Report on 9/11 Finds Flaws in Response of Police Dept. - Jul 27, 2002
The New York Police Department's response to the Sept. 11 attack was effective in many areas but suffered from lapses in leadership and coordination and a lack of proper planning and training, according to a draft report by an independent consultant for the department. (New York Times)

For Some, FEMA Aid Slow to Arrive - Jul 27, 2002
It took eight months, but displaced financial consultant Jack Freedman finally got two months of rent money, or $4,000, from the federal disaster agency. Freedman has lived with relatives since dust from the World Trade Center attacks forced him to abandon his apartment at 45 Wall St. in mid-November, and had heard from the outset he could receive 18 months of rent. (Newsday)

Wall Street in Suburbia? A Bad Idea, Mayor Says - Jul 26, 2002
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that talk of moving some of the New York Stock Exchange's operations from Wall Street to Westchester made little business sense and would play into the hands of the terrorists who attacked Lower Manhattan. (New York Times)

Two of the Six Plans Were Switched at Last Minute - Jul 26, 2002
Two of the six World Trade Center site plans unveiled last week were included over the strenuous objections of key planning officials and had been voted down by a rebuilding task force. Several officials at the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. were "furious" about the changes, sources said. (New York Post)

WTC Victim's Wife Given Green Card - Jul 26, 2002
A British woman who lost her right to live in the U.S. when her husband was killed in the World Trade Center attack was granted a green card yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Report Finds Fault with how Police Dept. Responded - Jul 26, 2002
An independent study of how the Police Department reacted the day the World Trade Center was attacked is heavily critical of how the department responded, a top police source told Newsday yesterday. The report was prepared by McKinsey & Co., a Manhattan-based business management consultant that operates globally. (Newsday)

WTC Developer Willing to Make Concessions - Jul 25, 2002
The leaseholder of New York's destroyed World Trade Center said on Wednesday he was willing to make concessions in areas that are holding up redevelopment of the devastated site. Larry Silverstein, the property magnate who took control of the twin towers a year ago on Wednesday, said in an interview he wanted to restore all the office space he previously controlled. But he acknowledged growing public concern that plans for the site were overly commercial. "In the end, we'll do what is best for New York." (Financial Times)

Downtown "Grand Central Station" Is Already Derailed - Jul 25, 2002
Ground Zero planners have been calling for a "Grand Central Station South," even saying itÕs an essential element of any program to rebuild lower Manhattan. But when the transportation-planning firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, charged by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation with developing plans for a new downtown transportation network, makes its proposals public later this summer, they are likely to shed light on a competing network of interests, agencies, advocates and organizations as tangled as the connection from the IRT to the IND in the Fulton Street subway station. (New York Observer)

WTC Subway Tunnel To Open Ahead of Schedule - Jul 25, 2002
The subway tunnel destroyed by the World Trade Center attacks is being rebuilt ahead of schedule and will reopen by mid-September. When the tunnel directly through Ground Zero is reopened, the 1, 2, 3, and 9 trains will return to their old routes. (New York Post)

WTC Plans Flexible - Jul 25, 2002
The World Trade Center site could be redeveloped with or without leaseholder Larry Silverstein, while the Dec. 1 deadline for choosing a site plan could be delayed by three months, Charles Gargano, a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey board member said Wednesday. Participating in an Internet chat held by Gotham Gazette.com, Lower Manhattan Development Corp. president Lou Tomson said he too would like a one-to-three-month extension. (Newsday)

Congress Approves More NY Aid - Jul 25, 2002
Congress has approved $5.5 billion in additional Sept. 11 aid for New York, surpassing the pledge of $20 billion President Bush made to the city in the days after the terrorist attacks. (Associated Press)

Counter-terrorism Summit Held - Jul 25, 2002
In an event accompanied by tight security, state officials lobbied police chiefs from around the state yesterday on the importance of the governorÕs anti-terror agency. The Counter-Terrorism Summit was sponsored by the state Office of Public Security, created by Gov. George Pataki after Sept. 11 to help improve information sharing among law enforcement agencies and address gaps in the security network. (Newsday)

Federal Hall Exhibit Opens - Jul 25, 2002
They didn't like most of what they saw, but hundreds of people opted for an up-front look yesterday at the six Ground Zero land-use options that went on display at Federal Hall. (New York Post)

Downtown, An Exodus That Cash Can't Stop - Jul 24, 2002
City and state officials are finding that cheaper rents in Lower Manhattan and millions of dollars in cash grants and tax breaks from the government are not enough to keep companies like Aon, Pillsbury Winthrop, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and ABN Amro from defecting to more expensive quarters in Midtown, or to space in Brooklyn and Jersey City. (New York Times)

Silverstein Won't Go - Jul 24, 2002
World Trade Center real-estate mogul Larry Silverstein won't give up the lease that gives him the right to rebuild the destroyed office complex, his spokesman said yesterday. "Larry has no intention of backing out of this," said Howard Rubenstein. (New York Post)

PA is Talking Flexibility on WTC Land Use - Jul 24, 2002
A top Port Authority official conceded yesterday that the agency may not be able to rebuild all 11 million square feet of office space lost in the World Trade Center attacks. And if that means the PA will get less than the $124 million in rents it collects annually at the Trade Center site, then so be it, PA Chairman Jack Sinagra said. (New York Daily News)

You're Too Kind, Firefighters Say, Truly Meaning It - Jul 24, 2002
The New York City Fire Department department wants everyone to know that it is grateful for the nation's overwhelming generosity. After 343 firefighters died in the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, people sent statues, rakes, teddy bears, letters, paintings, crystal flags, ceramic flowers, painted eggs, pennies, books, shovels, megaphones, sculptures and socks. But the department is running out of storage space. (New York Times)

Exhibits Re-examine WTC Tragedy - Jul 24, 2002
Four artists and a group of students throughout the city are using art to preserve the innocence stripped away on Sept. 11 and the emotions thereafter. The New-York Historical Society on Tuesday unveiled four new exhibits related to the World Trade Center. (Newsday)

Even Critics Say Some Designs for Downtown Aren't So Bad - Jul 23, 2002
Even as the six initial designs for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site have come under fire in the past week as unimaginative, certain design elements appear to have captured the imagination of a diverse public audience. The idea of a memorial promenade stretching to Battery Park, providing impressive views throughout its length of those other American landmarks, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, was widely admired. (New York Times)

WTC Designer Says Concerns Deserve Attention - Jul 23, 2002
A top architect hired to reimagine the World Trade Center site said yesterday the much-criticized rebuilding plans could be overhauled as victims' families vowed to work separately on alternative ideas. John Beyer, whose firm Beyer Blinder Belle prepared the initial plans under a tight deadline, said the reaction to the six designs at a Saturday forum deserves great attention. (New York Daily News)

WTC Lease Could Be Cancelled, But Not Without Silverstein's Consent - Jul 23, 2002
Under fire for its design plans, the Port Authority has said it will have to negotiate a new lease agreement to allow for less than the 11 million square feet of office space it wanted to replace. Changing priorities for rebuilding Ground Zero could lead to canceling the property lease held by Larry Silverstein -- creating an opening for other developers to enter the project, Port Authority officials said yesterday. But officials stressed that the lease could be cancelled only with Silverstein's consent. (New York Post)

As New Yorkers Brace for 9/11 Anniversary, Shrinks Go On Vacation - Jul 23, 2002
As Manhattan's therapists prepare to disappear to their own secure, undisclosed locations for the month of August, their patients are already bracing for that daunting September ordeal, the anniversary of the terrorist attacks. (New York Magazine)

Fresh Visions of Ground Zero Could Delay Lower Manhattan's Recovery - Jul 22, 2002
Officials charged with overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan said this weekend that the public's call for a slower planning process and less commercial space on the World Trade Center site could delay plans for an expanded transportation center connecting the subway and commuter rail lines downtown. (New York Times)

Less of a Jersey Tilt on Plans for WTC - Jul 22, 2002
Since rebuilding talks began, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, stocked with New York state and city appointees -- has been responsive to the demands of the Port Authority, an agency controlled equally by the Empire and Garden states. Many officials on this side of the Hudson River have feared that New Jersey's financial interests were playing too large a role in what rises in lower Manhattan. It looks like the power balance has now tipped firmly in New York's favor. (New York Daily News)

Mending the Hearts Broken on Sept. 11 Is as Difficult as Explaining the Cost - Jul 22, 2002
Charity officials are struggling to prove that money allocated for providing mental health care to those traumatized by the Sept. 11 attacks is being well spent. (New York Times)

3,000 To Attend Today's Meeting on WTC Plans - Jul 22, 2002
Another town hall meeting will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center today for people to express their opinions on rebuilding lower Manhattan in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. The meeting, which is expected to draw 3,000 people, comes on the heels of a similar gathering on Saturday at the Javits Center during which officials -- stung by criticism about the initial six proposals for redeveloping the World Trade Center -- said they might extend the timeline for producing a final plan. (Newsday)

Officials Rethink Building Proposal for Ground Zero - Jul 21, 2002
Officials charged with rebuilding Lower Manhattan in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center said yesterday that they would consider new options for the site, including scaling back the amount of commercial space.The changes, the officials said, were in response to a broad array of criticism of the six initial designs for rebuilding the trade center site, including unfavorable appraisals at a town hall meeting in Manhattan yesterday. (New York Times)

Forum on WTC Designs: Try Again - Jul 21, 2002
If there was an overarching message sent by an estimated 5,000 people attending the ambitious town hall meeting yesterday on the future of the World Trade Center site, it was this: Get back to the drawing board. (Newsday)

Many Ideas to Mark Mournful Anniversary - Jul 21, 2002
A silent parade from Ground Zero to Central Park. Fireworks. Individual air balloons representing every victim. Rivers nationwide dyed red. Those are among the hundreds of suggestions people from around the globe have made given in the month since Mayor Bloomberg created a Web site and a voice mailbox for ideas about how best to mark the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. (New York Post)

A Forum on Rebuilding Lower Manhattan - Jul 20, 2002
When more than 5,000 people gather today at the Javits Convention Center to talk about the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, plenty of people, Gov. George E. Pataki among them, are likely to be listening closely. Since Tuesday, when the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey released six initial proposals for the redesign of the World Trade Center site, a wave of negative commentary has flowed from architects, urban designers, politicians and journalists. (New York Times)

Mayor: More Housing at WTC Site - Jul 20, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg yesterday said he'd like to see more housing -- and less office space -- at Ground Zero, after six designs for site called for massive commercial buildings. (New York Post)

Head of Stock Exchange Boycotting Rebuild Panel - Jul 20, 2002
The head of the New York Stock Exchange has skipped nearly every meeting of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. since February because he's miffed at City Hall for scuttling plans for a new stock exchange headquarters, sources told The Post. (New York Post)

State Has Paid $32 Billion to 9/11 Families - Jul 20, 2002
The state Crime Victims Board has paid $32 million to Sept. 11 terror victims and their families for lost salaries and burial expenses, it was revealed yesterday. The board, whose mission is to provide financial help to victims of all crimes, has so far settled 5,361 Sept. 11-related claims, officials said. (New York Post)

WTC Public Hearing Set Tomorrow - Jul 19, 2002
More than 5,000 people, including at least 300 relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, will converge on the Javits Center tomorrow to comment on lower Manhattan redevelopment proposals at a high-tech town hall meeting. "Listening to the City," an all-day event, will feature 10- to 12-person roundtable groups that will use wireless technology to vote on what they'd like to see in a memorial and rebuilding at Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)

Congress OKs $5.5B For NYC - Jul 19, 2002
The last chunk of federal money promised to New York by President George W. Bush as the nation was still reeling from the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack fell into place yesterday when House and Senate negotiators agreed on the final $5.5-billion installment for the city.The deal brings to $21.3 billion the amount of federal money going to New York, topping the president's pledge of $20 billion made two days after terrorists crashed two airliners into the Twin Towers. (Newsday)

9/11 Families Coalition Waiting to Comment - Jul 19, 2002
A coalition of 9/11 victims' relatives has decided to wait until after a major public forum tomorrow before commenting on the six Ground Zero designs. Lee Ielpi, a retired firefighter who lost his son Jonathan, said coalition members decided to listen to feedback from other people at the "Listening to the City" event at the Javits Convention Center tomorrow. (New York Post)

Designs for Trade Center Raise Financing Questions - Jul 18, 2002
The proposals unveiled Tuesday to rebuild Lower Manhattan include a number of high-cost projects, including the burying of West Street and the creation of a new subway and commuter rail hub. But how those projects--which will require the investment of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars--will be paid for remains unclear. (New York Times)

City Split on Redeveloping 'Sacred Ground' - Jul 18, 2002
New Yorkers are evenly divided over whether it is appropriate to build on the "footprints" of the Twin Towers--an area that some have called sacred ground, according to a poll released yesterday. (New York Post)

WTC Plans Put Homes in Jeopardy - Jul 18, 2002
Tenants of two buildings on the south edge of Ground Zero said they were shocked when they examined World Trade Center site redevelopment plans and found their homes were not part of the picture. The 11-story buildings at 125 Cedar St. and 114 Liberty St., next door to the Engine 10/Ladder 10 firehouse, were depicted within a larger area marked for new apartment buildings or a museum in the site plans released Tuesday. (Newsday)

Critics See Plans as Dull and Tinged With Greed - Jul 18, 2002
Dreary, dense, listless and just plain greedy. Those are some of the comments being used to bludgeon the six redevelopment proposals for the World Trade Center site. Yet the criticism didn't seem to bother the board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. at a meeting yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Bloomberg Has Own Ideas - Jul 18, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg's strong comments about the Ground Zero plans mark one of the few times he has used the bully pulpit to drive the agenda on a major issue. Beginning Saturday and continuing yesterday, Bloomberg has made it clear he wasn't thrilled by any of the six designs, and that he had his own ideas (New York Post)

Development Corporation Architect Issues Challenge to Profession - Jul 18, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board's lone architect, Billie Tsien, yesterday challenged her profession to examine every detail of the six proposals for the World Trade Center site. (Newsday)

LIRR Seen for Downtown Hub - Jul 18, 2002
A new Long Island Rail Road station underneath Liberty St. could be part of the massive transportation hub envisioned for lower Manhattan, officials said yesterday. The LIRR expansion and a plan for a new ferry terminal are expected to be included in a broad set of transportation proposals set for release next month by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp (New York Daily News)

Senator Clinton Calls For Account of Sept. 11 FEMA Funds - Jul 18, 2002
The Federal Emergency Management Agency should keep a scorecard of money it's spending to help New York recover from the Sept. 11 attacks, Sen. Hillary Clinton said yesterday. About one-third of the $6 billion in FEMA aid earmarked for the city has been parceled out. (New York Daily News)

WTC Designs Site Logs 40 Million Visitors - Jul 18, 2002
The official Web site featuring the six World Trade Center designs got roughly 40 million visits within its first three hours, officials said yesterday. (New York Post)

Memorial Promenade is Favorite Among Post Readers - Jul 18, 2002
New York Post readers overwhelmingly voted for the Memorial Promenade as their favorite among the six proposals for Ground Zero. The plan includes a pair of buildings with tall spires, evoking the Twin Towers. (New York Post)

Six Plans for Ground Zero, All Seen as a Starting Point - Jul 17, 2002
On the day that six proposals for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site were unveiled, the chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation said yesterday that the public could consider a seventh possibility, a new design without some of the requirements for office and retail space that shaped the initial proposals. (New York Times)

Plans for WTC Site Include Memorial, Offices, Hotel and Retail Space - Jul 17, 2002
The plans show the skyline of lower Manhattan restored, spires higher than the Twin Towers, parks and memorials -- and many office buildings of varying sizes and shapes. They envision transportation improvements and include new housing, but they ignore surrounding neighborhoods. (Newsday)

Commercial Space Mix Could Affect Revenues and Race for Governor - Jul 17, 2002
John C. Whitehead, chairman of the group overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, brought a long-simmering backroom debate into the open yesterday when he said the group might scrap the six plans for the World Trade Center site, and with them, the Port Authority's demand for dense commercial development. (New York Times)

Politicians Reserve Judgment on Plans - Jul 17, 2002
In an appearance with Gov. George Pataki in lower Manhattan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg downplayed the significance of the six World Trade Center site design proposals issued Tuesday as an indication of the ultimate product. (Newsday)

Giuliani: Don't Build on the Footprints - Jul 17, 2002
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani yesterday gave a thumbs-down to those Ground Zero plans that call for building on the Twin Towers' footprints, saying the swaths of land are a "burial ground" that should be kept intact. (New York Post)

From Ashes and Loss, Firehouse 10 Will Return - Jul 17, 2002
City and federal officials announced yesterday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would grant $1.45 million to restore and reopen 10 House, the Liberty Street firehouse that was home to the fire units stationed closest to the World Trade Center. It was severely damaged on Sept. 11. (New York Times)

9/11 Tape: Families May Hear It, but Not Tell of It - Jul 17, 2002
Fire officials said yesterday that the families of the 343 firefighters who died on Sept. 11 would be allowed to listen to radio transmissions that were recorded in the World Trade Center on the morning of the attack. But the families, like fire officials who have listened to a tape of the transmissions, will be required to sign confidentiality agreements that will prevent them from disclosing anything they hear. (New York Daily News)

Preliminary Trade Center Plans Scheduled To Be Released Today - Jul 16, 2002
In what will be the beginning of a process of debate and refinement lasting at least through the end of the year, the six designs, developed by planners for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, are scheduled to be released to the public today at a news conference at the Federal Hall National Memorial, the landmark building on Wall Street. The designs have undergone several stages of revision even as they have been reviewed with public officials and others in recent days, people involved in the process say (New York Times)

Skyscraper in WTC Plans - Jul 16, 2002
A towering skyscraper, a "memorial pavilion" over the spot where one of the Twin Towers once stood, and a museum atop a covered-over West Street are among the elements in the Ground Zero plans to be released today, sources said. (New York Post)

Execs Say 10M Square Feet for Offices Not Needed Downtown - Jul 16, 2002
Even before today's release of six plans for redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, real estate industry executives say they're concerned that the various proposals leaked to the press call for building 10 million square feet of office space in an area choking on empty space. (Newsday)

A Grim Job Done, as Dust Is Returned Unto Dust - Jul 16, 2002
For the workers at the Fresh Kills landfill who sifted through 1.62 million tons of rubble from the World Trade Center for remains of those killed on Sept. 11 and for clues about those responsible for the attack, the official end of their job yesterday seemed a sad graduation of sorts. Politicians joined them, along with the family members of some of the victims, for a solemn ceremony at the landfill in Staten Island at the completion of an operation that had continued nearly nonstop since Sept. 12. (New York Times)

Flap Erupts Over Downtown Shelter Plans - Jul 16, 2002
A not-in-my-backyard flap has erupted over the decision by a leading homeless advocacy group to relocate closer to the heart of the lower Manhattan rebuilding zone. The Coalition for the Homeless bought the five-story building at 129 Fulton St. from Collegiate Reformed Church for $10.5 million. It plans to move there next year. But a Community Board 1 subcommittee voted to oppose the plan at a July 9 meeting. (Newsday)

Victims' Group Calls For Inquiry Into 9/11 Communications Breakdown, - Jul 15, 2002
A group representing families and friends of World Trade Center victims called yesterday for an independent inquiry into reports that the Fire Department's failing radio system and a lack of communication among the agencies that responded to the attack hampered the rescue efforts on Sept. 11. Members of the group, the Skyscraper Safety Campaign, sent letters yesterday to Gov. George E. Pataki, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Gifford Miller, the City Council speaker, asking for meetings and for an independent investigation of the rescue effort. (New York Times)

Search for Remains Ends With Ceremony - Jul 15, 2002
The city will mark the end of its efforts to recover human remains from the rubble of the World Trade Center today with a ceremony at the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, where more than a million and a half tons of debris have been sifted for clues (New York Times)

Assembly Speaker Silver Rips Governor Pataki Over Downtown Job Drain - Jul 15, 2002
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the state's most powerful Democrat, is accusing Gov. Pataki of damaging downtown recovery efforts by planning to send jobs out of the area. (New York Post)

Terror Makes All the World a Beat for New York Police - Jul 15, 2002
As it moves ahead in a post-Sept. 11 world, the New York Police Department is taking on many jobs that were once the sole province of federal authorities, from posting officers abroad to creating a medical staff to analyze the potential impact of weapons of mass destruction. (New York Times)

Port Authority Says Money Isn't Its Main Motivation in Rebuilding - Jul 14, 2002
With an array of stake-holders ready to square off this week over design options for a rebuilt World Trade Center, Port Authority officials say there is room for compromise on planning goals, but not without a cost to the agency's other programs. Port Authority officials have said that financial constraints are pushing the agency to restore its income from the trade center, which was about 10 percent of the agency's operating cash flow. (New York Post)

Half of New Yorkers Want to Rebuild the Twin Towers - Jul 14, 2002
A New York Post survey of 609 people in the five boroughs revealed that 48 percent are in favor of rebuilding the World Trade Center towers, while 50 percent oppose it. Two percent were undecided. Sizable majorities in Queens, Staten Island and The Bronx were against rebuilding, as were residents of the West Side. But there was strong support on the East Side, in Midtown and in Brooklyn. Downtown and Chinatown were almost evenly split. (New York Post)

WTC Site: Mayor Has Own Ideas - Jul 14, 2002
After reviewing the six preliminary plans for the World Trade Center site, Mayor Bloomberg declined to embrace any of them, and pledged yesterday to submit his own redevelopment ideas. (New York Daily News)

PATH Project Halted - Jul 14, 2002
The Port Authority's controversial plan to build two new exits at PATH train stations in the West Village may be over. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has stopped the project for at least three months, saying it's unclear whether the $29.6 million construction job is a wise use of Sept. 11 relief funds. (New York Post)

At Morgue, Ceaselessly Sifting 9/11 Traces - Jul 14, 2002
Since Sept. 11, medical examiners have tried to identify thousands of victims from six times as many body parts recovered at ground zero. (New York Times)

Defining Limit of Sept. 11 Generosity - Jul 13, 2002
Within the next two weeks, Kenneth R. Feinberg, the man responsible for distributing billions of taxpayer dollars in the federal Victim Compensation Fund to thousands of families who lost relatives in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will decide two dozen test cases that will at last establish the rough boundaries for the sizes of the awards. (New York Times)

More Than 800 Victims May Never Be Identified - Jul 13, 2002
The remains of more than 800 victims of the World Trade Center attack may never be identified, the medical examiner's office said yesterday. The arduous process of sifting through nearly 20,000 body parts has yielded the identification of 1,229 victims over the last 10 months: less than half of the 2,823 people believed killed in the Twin Towers on Sept. 11. (New York Post)

Fire Union Frees Sept. 11 Funds - Jul 13, 2002
Blasted for sitting on more than $60 million in donations that flowed in after Sept. 11, the Uniformed Firefighters Association announced plans yesterday to give out most of the money immediately. (New York Daily News)

Ruling Favors Limited Access to 9/11 Data - Jul 13, 2002
A federal judge, acknowledging national security concerns, ruled yesterday that the government should have a say in what is turned over to the families that have sued airlines, security firms, and others in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. (New York Times)

$200 Million More in Sept. 11 Aid Is Allocated - Jul 12, 2002
One of the largest charities to emerge in response to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon unveiled its plans yesterday for distributing its remaining $200 million of donations, including an allocation of $45 million to $55 million for mental health care. (New York Times)

Historic Art Also A Casualty of Sept. 11 - Jul 12, 2002
Lost in the Sept. 11 terror attacks were innumerous valuable artistic, cultural and historic items worth tens of millions of dollars. But the real significance is that the material, including Helen Keller's letters, sculpture by Auguste Rodin and artifacts from the African Burial Ground, can never be replaced. (New York Daily News)

U.S. Judge Clears Detention of Witnesses for Grand Jury - Jul 12, 2002
A federal judge in Manhattan ruled yesterday that prosecutors may detain witnesses to testify before grand juries, a decision that will be seen as a powerful endorsement of a major investigative tool used by law enforcement since the Sept. 11 attacks. (New York Times)

6 Plans for Ground Zero Share Striking Similarities - Jul 11, 2002
The six official proposals for rebuilding the World Trade Center site, which will be released next Tuesday, all took as a given the need for office space, a hotel, and retail shopping. None of the plans, which will be released to the public next Tuesday, include residential apartments. Although all of the designs set aside space for a memorial, four of them call for construction on the site of the south tower, which goes against the wishes of many family victims groups and Governor George Pataki. (New York Times)

Sept. 11 Tape Heard in Secret in Fire Inquiry - Jul 11, 2002
Amid concern about the scope and depth of an inquiry by the Fire Department into its Sept. 11 response, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday that fire officials would immediately listen to taped radio transmissions among firefighters at the World Trade Center that were discovered five or six months ago but never played. (New York Times)

Ceremony to Signify End of Search for Remains at Staten Island Landfill - Jul 11, 2002
The end of the search for human remains from the World Trade Center will be marked by a police department ceremony at Fresh Kills landfill on Monday, officials said. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and trade center victims' families all are expected to attend the 9:30 a.m. ceremony. (Newsday)

Survivors of 3 Officers Sue Union Over Charity - Jul 11, 2002
The families of three police officers who died in the attack on the World Trade Center are suing the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association in an escalation of a dispute over the union's handling of the millions of dollars in donations it received after Sept. 11. (New York Times)

Students Studying Near Ground Zero Score Highest - Jul 11, 2002
Students at elementary schools closest to Ground Zero earned the highest scores on English exams this year despite enduring the horrific terrorist attacks and months of disruptions. (New York Post)

First Panels of Project to Honor 9/11 Victims on Display Saturday - Jul 11, 2002
The first 60 panels of a quilt honoring Sept. 11 victims go on display this weekend in Central Park. Nearly 400 families and friends of those who died Sept. 11 have each agreed to make a 3-foot-by-6-foot panel. (Newsday)

Strong Reactions to the Marketing of Ground Zero - Jul 10, 2002
As officials begin to plan for a permanent memorial, the site already draws thousands of tourists daily. But the vacuum created by the absence of a permanent memorial has brought what many residents say is a tawdry commercialization to the site. The throngs of visitors have also highlighted the concern of some residents that Lower Manhattan could become a memorial spot instead of a thriving community. (Downtown Express)

Hundreds of 9/11 Families File for Right to Sue Port Authority - Jul 10, 2002
More than 450 families who lost relatives on Sept. 11 have filed legal papers preserving their right to sue the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey over alleged safety lapses and poor evacuation procedures at the World Trade Center. (New York Times)

Search for Sept. 11 Remains Set to End - Jul 10, 2002
The search for human remains in World Trade Center debris at Staten Island's Fresh Kills landfill will end Monday, concluding the 10-month recovery effort, officials said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Critics Say "Different" WTC Plans All Alike - Jul 10, 2002
A week before officials unveil a series of design proposals for a rebuilt World Trade Center, the plans are already drawing heat from critics who complain they're too much alike: with each restoring all of the office and retail space lost Sept. 11. (New York Post)

Sept. 11 Tape Could Hold Clues to Firefighters' Deaths - Jul 10, 2002
Ten months after the Sept. 11 attacks that left 343 firefighters dead, and five months after fire officials undertook a study of just what happened, the Fire Department has yet to review a potentially critical trove of information: a tape of radio transmissions among firefighters at the World Trade Center that morning. The tape, in the end, may provide answers to some of the lingering questions about what happened to fire companies that perished after ascending into the tower. (New York Times)

International Theater in the Post 9/11 Era - Jul 10, 2002
International theater festivals have become a staple of summer, yet foreign artists wishing to perform in the U.S. have never had a tougher time entering the country. Nigel Redden, director of the Lincoln Center Festival, understands the current imperatives and challenges as well as anyone. Having invited an Iranian troupe of 28 to perform Ta'ziyeh, a multipart traditional music drama, he's had to contend with visa denial for 10 members. (Village Voice)

Bank of New York Returns To Its Downtown Home - Jul 10, 2002
It's been taking place with little fanfare for weeks: employees of the Bank of New York trickling back to 101 Barclay St., just north of the World Trade Center site. Already, 2,500 of the approximately 4,000 operations and technical staffers at the bank, one of the nation's largest, have returned to a building that was badly damaged Sept. 11. (Newsday)

Lobbying On the Rise After Sept. 11 - Jul 10, 2002
Business, government and civic groups trying to recover from the collapse of the World Trade Center have spent tens of thousands of dollars on Washington lobbyists to help tap into federal aid flowing from Capitol Hill. (Newsday)

Career Profiles of 9/11 Dead Arouse Anxiety - Jul 9, 2002
The staff of Cantor Fitzgerald have prepared a detailed accounting of the performances and prospects of the firm and its 658 lost employees. The book is meant to arm families of Sept. 11 victims in their fight for federal compensation awards. But as both those who are assembling the Cantor document and those about to open it realize, it could well be yet one more minefield for a bruised and fragile population of survivors. The document and other similarly detailed packages being prepared by the companies with the greatest losses at the World Trade Center are a kind of emotionally loaded statistical yearbook. (New York Times)

Revised Rebuild Plan Calls for Housing, Parks - Jul 9, 2002
Revised rebuilding guidelines for lower Manhattan call for the creation of a magnificent neighborhood that will be "a symbol of New York City recognized around the world." The updated plans, released yesterday by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., generally adhere to the original blueprint unveiled in April. But there are significant changes, including proposals to build more housing, parks, hospitals, and schools. (New York Daily News)

Senator Clinton: Extend 9/11 Benefit - Jul 9, 2002
Sen. Hillary Clinton announced yesterday she is pushing for a second 13-week extension of Sept. 11 unemployment benefits. Aides to Clinton said the new extension would cost about the same as the last one: about $8 billion. (New York Daily News)

FEMA to Fund WTC Health Registry - Jul 9, 2002
Federal officials on Monday said they will create a registry to track the health effects of the World Trade Center collapse on those exposed to hazardous materials at the cleanup site. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide $20 million to start the registry. (Newsday)

Chinatown Plans to Study Sept. 11 Impact - Jul 9, 2002
Chinatown leaders announced Monday they will use a $100,000 grant from Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, to measure the impact of Sept. 11 on the still distressed neighborhood. ChinatownÕs economy is still suffering from the Sept. 11 attack. (Newsday)

Artists' 9/11 Reflections On Display - Jul 9, 2002
An exhibition of works by American artists seeking to use art to express their feelings about Sept. 11 opens today at the National Arts Club. "True Colors: Meditations on the American Spirit" includes more than 60 paintings, drawings, photographs and even a cartoon. (New York Daily News)

9/11 Victims Need $768 Million in Aid Into 2003, Study Says - Jul 8, 2002
Meeting the continuing needs of direct and indirect victims of the World Trade Center attack will cost $768 million over the next year, according to a consultant's study to be released today. Addressing job and income loss will make up by far the largest portion of that cost, but mental health treatment is likely to be the most costly need in the long term, according to the survey, which was conducted by McKinsey & Company for the 9/11 United Services Group Inc., a nonprofit consortium of 13 charities founded to help coordinate private assistance to victims of Sept. 11. (New York Times)

9/11 Exposed Deadly Flaws in Rescue Plan - Jul 7, 2002
After months of grief, both the Fire and Police Departments are approaching the end of delicate internal reviews of their responses to the attack. Those reviews have concluded that major changes are needed in how the agencies go about their work and prepare for the next disaster, senior officials say. A six-month examination by the New York Times found that the rescuers' ability to save themselves and others was hobbled by technical difficulties, a history of tribal feuding and management lapses that have been part of the emergency response culture in New York City and other regions for years. (New York Times)

Federal Hall to Show Exhibit of Plans for Trade Center Site - Jul 7, 2002
As many as six preliminary land-use plans for the World Trade Center site are to be announced in a news conference at Federal Hall early next week. The plans will be shown in the Federal Hall National Memorial at Wall and Nassau Streets, a crossroads of history since the 18th century and no stranger to the devastation of Sept. 11., from July 22 through the first week of September. (New York Times)

WTC Aid Not Reaching Small Businesses, Others In Need - Jul 7, 2002
The twenty-one billion, four hundred million dollars in federal aid coming to New York City after Sept. 11 makes up nearly half the city's annual budget. But it's not enough to satisfy everyone Ă‘ no matter how the pot of cash is divvied up. The clear winners, thus far, are corporate giants and real estate developers. They may be getting aid at the expense of thousands of small companies, mom-and-pop businesses, school kids and children traumatized by Sept. 11 and in need of mental health services. (New York Daily News)

Ground Zero Workers Bike for Charity - Jul 7, 2002
More than a thousand Ground Zero construction workers climbed aboard their motorcycles yesterday to raise money for the children who lost their parents in the World Trade Center (New York Post)

At Camp for Sept. 11 Children, Grief Is Close - Jul 6, 2002
There are dozens of summer camps running programs for families shattered by Sept. 11. Some have built-in bereavement programs. Others are simply intended to let children get away and have fun. But all the programs are grappling with a common obstacle: while many children could benefit from a getaway in the country, many are not ready to be away from their remaining parents. (New York Times)

Tears, Vows Mark July 4 Holiday at WTC Site - Jul 5, 2002
A somber procession of thousands came to Ground Zero yesterday to pay homage to those who died in one of the saddest chapters in the nation's 226-year history. Yesterday, the area surrounding the site at Church and Liberty streets was often three deep with onlookers, who no longer need a ticket to view the site. (Newsday)

Giant Sept. 11 quilt displayed - Jul 5, 2002
A giant American flag being decorated with quilted squares from around the country was unveiled in the park on the nation's birthday. The September 11th Quilt Project was begun as a way to bring New Yorkers and the rest of the country together to heal after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, said project co-founder Alexis Owen of Denver. (New York Daily News)

Enjoying July 4 Holiday With 9/11 in Mind - Jul 5, 2002
Despite the usual holiday routines tied to the Fourth of July, a different date Ă‘ Sept. 11 Ă‘ inevitably crept into the minds of many. Mayor Bloomberg started his day with a sobering visit to Staten Island's Rescue Co. 5, which lost 11 members Sept. 11. (New York Daily News)

Stamp Tribute to 9/11 Heroes - Jul 5, 2002
This week, the Postal Service presented a tiny yet powerful memorial to Sept. 11 Ă‘ the Heroes of 2001 Stamp.The stamp features the Thomas Franklin photograph of three firefighters raising the American flag at Ground Zero and is available nationwide. It sells for 45 cents, 8 cents of which will be donated to the September 11th Victims' Fund. (New York Daily News)

Downtown Shops Stay Loyal to Area - Jul 4, 2002
Despite slumping revenues and thousands of dead or displaced clients, dozens of businesses near Ground Zero are struggling through tough times out of loyalty for the neighborhood. Though most are not draping themselves in red, white and blue, they are patriotic, and they want to support their country and community. (Newsday)

Sept. 11 Inspires a Rush to City's Volunteer Fire Squads - Jul 4, 2002
Dozens of men and women have joined the city's obscure brigade of volunteer firefighters since Sept. 11, driven, they say, by the desire to protect their neighborhoods, become part-time heroes and players, however minor, in the nation's fight against terrorism. (New York Times)

Maya Lin "Quietly" Talking to Ground Zero Officials - Jul 3, 2002
The artist who designed the much-praised Vietnam Memorial in Washington says she has "quietly" been talking to officials involved in the Ground Zero tribute. Architect Maya Lin is also reportedly worried that average New Yorkers won't have as big a say as 9/11 victims' relatives in the Ground Zero memorial. (New York Post)

Executive to Handle 9/11 Memorial Construction - Jul 2, 2002
A Merrill Lynch executive long involved in downtown cultural events will oversee the building of a memorial to the victims of Sept. 11. Anita Contini, 58, will be named vice president and director for memorial cultural and civic programs today by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (New York Daily News)

Ground Zero Formally Returned to Port Authority - Jul 2, 2002
The city turned over control of Ground Zero to the Port Authority yesterday, marking another step in its transition from crime scene to construction site. The city's Office of Emergency Management and Department of Design and Construction had supervised the arduous recovery work at Ground Zero after Sept. 11 and also controlled access. But yesterday, without fanfare, the city returned the 16-acre site to its owner, the Port Authority. (New York Post)

9/11 Cleanup Moves Inside - Jul 1, 2002
The Environmental Protection Agency is to begin within the next few weeks the mammoth task of cleaning and testing thousands of apartments in Lower Manhattan that were caught in harm's way last September by the ash and dust from the World Trade Center. But deciding whether or not to register for the federal cleaning is not easy. (New York Times)

Families Might Sue Port Authority Over 9/11 Losses - Jul 1, 2002
Dozens of families who lost loved ones Sept. 11 are set to serve notice today they might sue the Port Authority Ă‘ charging the agency failed to promptly evacuate the south tower after the north tower was attacked. The deadline for filing notices of claim against the Port Authority is July 10. (New York Daily News)

Silver: Slow Down the Process - Jul 1, 2002
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the state's most powerful Democrat, took exception yesterday to Gov. Pataki's weekend pledge not to build on the Twin Towers' two-acre "footprints." Silver, whose lower Manhattan district includes Ground Zero, said he was against any "quick determination, " including Pataki's, as to what kind of a memorial should be built at the site. (New York Post)

Ground Zero Faces Strike - Jul 1, 2002
Thousands of carpenters, steamfitters, and cement and concrete workers could walk off the job Ă‘ and possibly out of Ground Zero Ă‘ this morning. Sources said work agreements between several building trade unions and general contractors were to expire last night (New York Daily News)

Rebuilding NYC January 2002


Developer's Pace at 7 World Trade Center Upsets Some - Jan 31, 2002
Larry Silverstein, who bought control of the trade center complex two months before the attack, said he hoped to begin construction at 7 World Trade Center by June, with the proceeds of an $861 million insurance policy. Silverstein's plans to begin rebuilding so soon are seen by some as a sign of renewal downtown, and by others as a rush to get into the ground before civic groups, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the families of victims and survivors of the attack can impose an overall development plan. But the developer, state officials and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey say that Mr. Silverstein has a legal right to rebuild and, ultimately, he needs only the approval of the Port Authority, which owns the land. (New York Times)

Near Ground Zero, a Vote to Return to School - Jan 30, 2002
Parents and teachers at Public School 89, which was evacuated after the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, have voted by a wide margin to return to their school on Feb. 28, after five months in temporary quarters. The vote was 191 to 114, or 63 percent to 37 percent, in favor of returning. About 30 teachers cast votes; the others were cast by parents. The vote, tallied yesterday, apparently ends weeks of bitter conflict over the date of the return: parents questioned whether their children would be harmed, physically or mentally, by returning to the school, which is within a few blocks of ground zero. It will make P.S. 89 the sixth of the seven public schools near the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan to return to their regular buildings, bringing the schools a step closer to normality. (New York Times)

Before the Towers Fell, Fire Dept. Fought Chaos - Jan 30, 2002
The Fire Department's most senior commanders have provided new and, in some cases, alarming revelations about the events of Sept. 11 in an internal inquiry. They said they had little reliable radio communication that morning, could not keep track of all the firefighters who entered the towers, and were unable to reach them as the threat of a collapse became unmistakable. Although they feared that the buildings were doomed, they could not bring their troops back in time. One chief estimated that at the moment the north tower fell, nearly every civilian below the floors directly hit by the airplane had already evacuated, and that only firefighters remained inside. (New York Times)

Tenuous Grip on Rebuilding Could Hurt Bloomberg's Term - Jan 30, 2002
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's performance as mayor is likely to be measured in large part by his success at leading New York City to a consensus on what should happen with the World Trade Center site, and the pace and quality of the subsequent rebuilding. Bloomberg's role in the rebuilding was constrained, however, before he ever set foot in City Hall as Pataki grabbed the reins early on. The standings of both men will be enhanced with a successful resolution of this project; just as surely, each could be hurt if the project falters, or if there is any perception that the two men are quarreling over a project of such import. (New York Times)

PATH Rebuild Plan On The Fast Track - Jan 30, 2002
Port Authority officials will meet tomorrow to award a $300 million contract for the reconstruction of the ruined World Trade Center PATH station. Work will begin within a week on the tunnels, while engineers and architects finalize plans for the station - which is envisioned as a temporary facility that will be used until officials agree upon overall plans for the makeover of the downtown transit map. Gargano said PA officials hope to have trains running again in 18-24 months. (New York Post)

State GOP Senators Form Own WTC Panel - Jan 30, 2002
State Senate Republicans, miffed over being excluded from panels overseeing the World Trade Center redevelopment, created their own oversight panel yesterday. Senate sources said Bruno formed the panel because of growing frustration with John Whitehead, chair of the redevelopment authority. The sources said Bruno was initially disappointed that Pataki failed to include a Senate appointee on the redevelopment commission's board, but had hoped Whitehead would be open to naming Senate representatives to soon-to-be-named advisory panels. When Bruno concluded the Senate would not be properly represented on either the board or on the Whitehead-named panels, he decided to create the task force, the source continued. The new Senate group, in a highly unusual move, will consist of all 35 Senate Republicans. (New York Post)

Race To Build At Ground Zero - Jan 29, 2002
Powerful developers Larry Silverstein and Edward J. Minskoff are racing head-to-head to find tenants for two giant office towers they plan at or near Ground Zero. But there's a big difference between the schemes: Silverstein can build without tenants, but Minskoff can't. Silverstein plans to rebuild 7 WTC without pre-leasing, a luxury he can afford thanks to insurance payments from the destruction of the Twin Towers. Minskoff is wasting no time promoting 270 Greenwich, even though he doesn't have the land yet. (New York Post)

Thousands Turn Out For Fourth Twin Towers Job Fair - Jan 29, 2002
Hundreds of prospective employers met Tuesday with thousands of New Yorkers who lost their jobs in the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Twin Towers Job Expo is the city's fourth job fair since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, and the line to get in began forming before dawn. The last three job fairs were held at Madison Square Garden, but so many people showed up, applicants had to be turned away. The Javits Center provides more space for the thousands of people who turned out today. For more information, go to www.twintowersjobs.org. (NY1)

Seeking Safety, Manhattan Firms are Scattering - Jan 29, 2002
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs & Company, Marsh & McLennan and a slew of other companies have recently completed deals for office space outside of Manhattan that will allow them to disperse their operations. These are only the latest developments in a corporate world in which dispersing workers and the "corporate diaspora" became the order of the day after the attack on the World Trade Center in September.Companies are looking at Long Island City, other parts of Queens, Brooklyn, and the suburbs. M. Meyers Mermel, chief executives of Tenantwise.com, a real estate company, estimates that 23,000 jobs went to the suburbs from downtown after Sept. 11 and that another 144,000 jobs are in jeopardy in a second wave of departures. (New York Times)

World Trade Center Stop On E Line Reopens - Jan 28, 2002
The E subway line resumed service to the World Trade Center stop Monday morning. The station is on the edge of the World Trade Center complex but was not damaged in the September 11 attack. It has remained closed - with E trains terminating at Canal Street - to avoid interference with the recovery and cleanup efforts at the site. Two exits at the station are still closed: the stairwell at Vesey Street and the old entrance to the World Trade Center mall. For now, the name of the station remains "Chambers/World Trade Center," but the MTA expects there will be a push to change it. (NY1)

Rudy Named His Judi To Twin Towers Fund Board - Jan 28, 2002
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani had his girlfriend Judith Nathan appointed to the board of directors of the city's Twin Towers Fund during his push to take over the charity. Nathan is one of 14 of the mayor's friends, supporters or former employees named to the volunteer board, which will oversee the $100 million fund, according to documents filed with the state Attorney General's Office. Giuliani will chair the board, which will have some entertainment muscle, with Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger and NBC Chairman/CEO Robert Wright. According to the documents, the fund plans to hire as many as 12 people, with the total annual payroll reaching as much as $1.44 million. To date, the Giuliani-established fund has distributed nearly $50 million of the $145 million collected. (New York Post)

City’s Medical Examiner Releases Names Of WTC Attack Victims - Jan 28, 2002
For the first time since Sept. 11, a city agency has released a list of people who remain missing after the attack on the World Trade Center. In an effort to solicit additional DNA samples, the New York medical examiner today published its list of those who have been reported missing but whose remains have not been identified. That list contains the names of 2,189 people at the towers, on the airplanes and the rescue workers at the scene. The medical examiner has identified the remains of 693 people, including 117 people who have been identified through DNA alone, according to Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the department. That brings the total of dead or missing compiled by the medical examiner to 2,882 victims. (Newsday)

WTC Advisory Groups To Be Announced - Jan 26, 2002
On Monday, the group will announce the members of four advisory councils - for the families of victims, downtown residents, restaurants and retailers, and arts, education and tourism - which will make recommendations to the corporation's board by March 15. Beyond the initial four advisory councils, others dealing with a range of downtown industries will be added, each with about 15 members, said John Whitehead, the corporation's chairman. To help the group develop those plans, Whitehead plans to hire a full-time staff of 10 to 20 people, he said. He also said the corporation would sublease office space in One Liberty Plaza, facing Ground Zero. Whitehead made it clear he thought that some of the site should be saved for commercial development, rather than saving it all for a memorial. (New York Daily News)

Many Voices, but Little Dialogue on Memorial for Trade Center Site - Jan 26, 2002
The rebuilding of Lower Manhattan has the makings of a bitter New York struggle, a dialogue of disparate views of grief, money, power, politics and design, inflamed by differing passions, but with no framework to reconcile them. In all likelihood, that struggle will begin with a memorial. Absent any official guidance, hundreds of people in roughly a dozen ad hoc groups have already started gathering in small numbers and discussing plans for a memorial. But many of the participants say that until their efforts are coordinated… little progress is likely to be made. This contrasts sharply with what happened after the Oklahoma City bombing (New York Times)

Pataki Asks to Oversee 9/11 Aid - Jan 26, 2002
Gov. George E. Pataki has asked the State Legislature to give him the authority to oversee about $10 billion worth of federal aid that he expects to flow to the state to repair the damage done by terrorists, but legislative leaders are balking at the governor's request. While most of the money is yet to arrive in Albany, once it arrives, the governor may not spend it without legislative approval. The legislature wishes to see detailed plans for the use of the $10 billion before granting its approval. While $6 billion of the aid is Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursements for cleanup downtown, over $3 billion of the aid is in the form of block grants for economic development and housing, the use of which is much more open to debate. (New York Times)

Redevelopment Committee Wants WTC Debris Removed By May 31 - Jan 25, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Committee met Friday morning to set May 31 as a tentative deadline to remove all debris from the World Trade Center site. The committee also said it will begin moving its offices to One Liberty Plaza and the Battery Park Ritz Carlton Hotel sometime next week. Reports from the meeting indicate that recently two of the committee members made a trip to Oklahoma City to study the memorial built there for the victims of the 1995 terrorist bombing. (NY1)

Centers Open for Biz Hurt by 9/11 - Jan 25, 2002
Two business recovery centers opened yesterday in lower Manhattan to distribute $700 million in grants to small businesses struggling since the World Trade Center attacks. The centers are at 2 Rector St. and 110 Maiden Lane. The recovery program targets businesses and not-for-profit organizations that were on or south of 14th St. before Sept. 11. Businesses seeking to open in lower Manhattan also may apply. Grants to individual business owners, as high as $300,000, will be based on proximity to the Trade Center and revenue lost. The program is run by the Empire State Development Corp. with funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (New York Daily News)

Makeover for WTC Area? - Jan 25, 2002
Seeking to influence the agency charged with rebuilding downtown, a number of government, planning, transportation and civic groups are coming forward with ideas to alter not only how the area looks, but how people travel through it. Proposals include breaking up the 16-acre Trade Center superblock; creating limited car zones for security reasons and to improve pedestrian flow; and widening sidewalks and adding benches and greenery. (New York Daily News)

Bush Repledged $20 Billion to Aid City, Official Says - Jan 25, 2002
According to John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, President Bush renewed his pledge to send the city $20 billion in federal aid. Mr. Whitehead said that he met with the president earlier this month, and reported that President Bush said, "As you need it, we will provide it.'" (New York Times)

E Train to Stop at WTC Soon - Jan 24, 2002
The E train stop at the World Trade Center will be reopened as soon as Monday. It is possible that the stop will ultimately be renamed in the future. To keep straphangers away from Ground Zero, access to the station will be via underground passageways between the E station and nearby Chambers St. and Park Place subway stops. (New York Daily News)

Charities Mull Closing Sept. 11 Funds - Jan 24, 2002
Some charities have stopped soliciting money for September 11 relief and several others are debating whether to shut down fund-raising. Since the attacks, charities including the Red Cross and the Twin Towers Fund have raised $1.5 billion, with much of it distributed already. The September 11th Fund, created by the United Way and New York Community Trust, just called for a halt to donations, while Red Cross stopped soliciting donations for September 11 relief at the end of October. (Associated Press)

Victims fund demands spur backlash - Jan 23, 2002
America opened its heart to the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but a growing number of taxpayers aren’t happy about opening their pocketbooks. From disgusted emails addressed to members of Give Your Voice, one of the victims families' organizations, to editorial cartoons depicting construction cranes pulling money out of Ground Zero, there is growing criticism of the debate now raging over the distribution of federal compensation funds. (Wall Street Journal)

Sept. 11 Fed Fund Tops $6B - Jan 23, 2002
Payouts from the federal Sept.11 victims fund will reach a whopping $6 billion, Kenneth Feinberg, the fund's special master, said yesterday. Unpopular rules that say families have to deduct life insurance and pension benefits from the federal compensation will be modified somewhat, he said. "People who do net out to zero [after these deductions] will get something," he said. Issues concerning undocumented immigrants who died at the World Trade Center and domestic partners are also being reviewed. Final regulations will be announced at the end of February. (New York Daily News)

Push for 2nd Crisis Center - Jan 23, 2002
City officials are working feverishly to create a new emergency command center to replace the 23rd-floor bunker destroyed when 7 World Trade Center collapsed. After the attacks, the command center was relocated - temporarily - to a pier on the West Side of Manhattan. A permanent backup facility is being readied in Brooklyn. (New York Daily News)

Downtown School Closed Since Sept. 11 Reopens - Jan 22, 2002
Above the objections of parents, a school in Lower Manhattan opened Tuesday morning for the first time since the September 11 terrorist attacks. I.S. 89 opened this morning with P.S. 89 scheduled to open in February. (New York Daily News)

Firefighters' Fund Gives $100M in Aid - Jan 21, 2002
By the end of last year, a fund created by the International Association of Fire Fighters had donated over $100 million to the 343 families of dead or missing firefighters. Each family received approximately $300,000. This rapid distribution of relief funds is in stark contrast to the debate over compensation for so-called "civilian" victims of September 11. (Newsday)

September 11 Kin To Meet Bush - Jan 21, 2002
A group of families of World Trade Center victims will be traveling to the White House tomorrow to witness President George Bush's signing of the Victims of Terrorism Tax Relief Act. In an effort to get the federal government on their side, they reportedly will urge the president to set aside the entire World Trade Center site for a memorial. (New York Post)

Hazardous Chemicals Were Stored In 7 World Trade - Jan 20, 2002
Con Edison reports show that 7 World Trade Center contained 109,000 gallons of oil and hundreds of pounds of hazardous chemicals in two electrical substations operated by the utility company. It is unknown what happened to the substances after the building collapsed. The substances included PCBs and sulfuric acid, both suspected carcinogens. The possibility of contamination of soil or groundwater has not been ruled out. (NY1)

SoHo Photo Exhibit a WTC Shrine - Jan 20, 2002
A gallery in Soho filled with 4,000 donated photographs chronicling the events of September 11 has been trying to close its doors since Thanksgiving. However, the demand of 3,500 visitors streaming in every day has kept it open indefinitely. The exhibition does not single out any individual photographers - there are no names on the pictures, and no rights owned on any of them. The pictures, which can be seen at the 116 Prince St. gallery or online at their website (http://www.hereisnewyork.org) will eventually be moved to an archive somewhere else in the city. (Newsday)

Terror Attacks Take Hidden Toll - Jan 20, 2002
Posttraumatic stress disorder is afflicting much of the NYPD and FDNY since September 11. According to their own departments, 1,150 police officers and 1,800 firefighters have sought counseling since September 11. At any given time since September 11, there are 75 firefighters "off-line" for stress-related reasons - an exponential jump from the pre-September 11 average of 5 to 10. Both departments are urging their members to seek counseling, despite cultures that discourage seeking help. Experts warn that those who are not manifesting posttraumatic stress symptoms now may still do so a year or more later. (New York Daily News)

Fund Package Nearly Set to Aid Survivors of 9/11 - Jan 20, 2002
With the commenting period ending this week for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001, Kenneth Feinberg, appointed special master of the fund, will now spend the next few weeks finalizing a plan for compensation and distribution of the fund. Feinberg said the plan will be "based on equity, justice and need." (New York Daily News)

Hil Says Senate to Probe WTC Air Quality - Jan 20, 2002
Hillary Clinton announced that the Senate will hold hearings on February 11 to look into the air quality issue in Lower Manhattan, particularly for the emergency workers who have been toiling at ground zero every day since September 11. Clinton also announced that she has secured $12 million to study the long-term health of firefighters and others exposed to asbestos, PCBs, and other toxins at ground zero. (New York Daily News)

Ground Zero Cleanup Defies How Jobs Are Usually Done - Jan 20, 2002
The cleanup job at Ground Zero is unprecedented in the history of the city - not only in its size and scope, but also in the speed and efficiency with which it is taking place. While initial estimates for time and cost hovered around $1 billion to $2.5 billion and a year's worth of work, it now appears that the job will be finished in nine months and cost only $750 million. Why? The primary reasons leading to this "construction miracle" have been oversight to prevent corruption, self-policing and unprecedented flexbility of the unions, and the government's willingness to expedite the cleanup. (New York Times)

Gallery Shows WTC Design Proposals - Jan 18, 2002
At an exhibition in a Chelsea art gallery, about 50 architects and artists are showcasing their proposed designs for what to build on the site of the World Trade Center. "This is what I could do to help," said Max Protech, the owner of the gallery. The designs vary in size, shape, and range. A few called for making the entire 16-acre space into a memorial, and others focused more on the conceptual and abstract. There were also proposals for smaller-scale buildings and mixed development of residential and office buildings, including an interactive display where people could create up to 81 potential designs for the area. The show will likely run for about a month, after which it will tour the country. (Associated Press)

Contractors at Ground Zero Denied Insurance for Cleanup - Jan 18, 2002
For four months, contractors have been working without any liability insurance covering injury and property damage claims. Insurance companies have simply declared the risk too high and the project too big. Building contractors will now be turning to Congress to provide them with coverage. They hope to convince Congress to indemnify the city and the contractors for any lawsuits stemming from the cleanup. Workers for the contractors are covered by workers' compensation and health insurance. (New York Times)

U.S. Agency Not Protecting Public Health, Officials Say - Jan 18, 2002
Representative Jerrold Nadler blasted the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to ease concerns about health concerns near the World Trade Center site. In particular, he cited the agency's failure to conduct widespread indoor tests to allay people's concerns about working or living near the site. The EPA has insisted that it has been the role of the city to conduct testing on nearby buildings while they focused on outdoor air issues. The city's Department of Health, which has done some indoor air testing, said that some residential downtown buildings were tested after the attacks but that the results would not be published for months. (New York Times)

Victims Kin Slam Aid Fund - Jan 18, 2002
Over 600 people rallied yesterday at the Park Avenue Armory to protest the proposed distribution of the federal compensation to World Trade Center victims' relatives. The main point of the contention is the deduction of money received from 401(k) and life insurance benefits from the compensation. Furthermore, any relatives that accept compensation from the fund waive their right to sue the airlines and other possible defendants. Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg were present at the rally and pledged to fight for a more equitable compensation program. (New York Daily News)

Firefighters Block a Plan for Statue in Brooklyn - Jan 18, 2002
After a series of complaints from firefighters, plans to honor firefighters with a statue memorial have been abandoned. The bronze statue would have depicted a now-famous Bergen Record photograph of three firefighters raising the American flag after the collapse of the World Trade Center. However the statue would have represented a black, a white, and a Hispanic firefighter instead of the three white firefighters in the original photograph. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said that the
Fire Department will now be reevaluating what kind of memorial will be erected for the firefighters. Opponents of the statue had collected the signatures of more than 1,000 firefighters who objected to the design. (New York Times)

$1M-a-Day Fix for WTC Subway - Jan 16, 2002
The fastest-paced project in the history of the subway system will begin on March 1, as the MTA, with the blessing of Governor Pataki, approved a plan to begin reconstruction of the 1/9 subway line below Chambers Street (graphic available). With a one million dollar a day price tag, the Transit Authority will be able to complete a job that would normally take three to four years and finish it by November. Plans currently do not call for the hard-hit Cortlandt Street station, which will have its platforms and entrances sealed off. (graphic available) (New York Daily News)

Families Meet Privately With Overseer Of Sept. 11 Compensation - Jan 16, 2002
Relatives of the September 11 victims held a private meeting yesterday with Ken Feinberg, the federal Victim Compensation Fund Special Master. One person who attended the meeting said that Feinberg would not budge from the $250,000 cap on pain and suffering compensation, though he said he would do everything he could to maximize awards. Feinberg is accepting recommendations on how to change the rules until January 22. (NY1)

Idled Workers to Protest At Marriott - Jan 16, 2002
Marriot workers from the Marriott World Trade Center who were laid off a month after the attacks are expected to protest in front of the midtown Marriot Marquis today. They are angry about not given priority to work at other Marriott locations as well as a lack of financial compensation from the company after September 11. (New York Daily News)

Facts Find Sept. 11 Myths Misleading - Jan 16, 2002
The common myth of a nicer, more unified America since the September 11 attacks apparently does not match up statistical reality. While Laura Bush has touted a drop in divorces and an increase in marriages since September 11, the available numbers tell the opposite story, with marriages down in Reno, Nevada (the marriage capital of the country) and divorces up. Also, while Americans cite the increased role of religion in their lives, church attendance has not increased since the attacks. And military enlistment has not, contrary to Colin Powell's belief, increased in the last few months. Analysts cite the pre-existing economic downturn as the most likely cause for these numbers rather than the attacks themselves. (Associated Press)

WTC Owner Sets Aside Tower Footprints For Memorial Site - Jan 15, 2002
Sources say that Larry Silverstein has instructed architects he has commissioned for the rebuilding of the site of his former World Trade Center to make space for a memorial in their plans. The space set aside would be at the "footprints" of the former Twin Towers.

Meanwhile, September's Mission, a group of relatives of World Trade Center victims, will hold a meeting with designers and architects tomorrow to come up with their own proposals for a memorial covering the entire WTC area. (New York Daily News)

Winter Garden at the Attack Site Looks to Spring - Jan 15, 2002
The 45,000-square-foot Winter Garden near the World Trade Center, one of the city's great public spaces, must now go through an extensive rebuilding effort. The public space, which featured a performance stage and a pedestrian bridge used by 80,000 people a day to get to 1 World Trade Center, is structurally sound but was significantly damaged by what engineers say was the "top ten floors of the north tower" falling on the complex. (New York Times)

Part of City Hall Park to Reopen - Jan 15, 2002
Historic City Hall Park, closed since September 11, will reopen today after police officials and Mayor Bloomberg have deemed it safe. The south end will reopen, while some of the lawns and other areas will remain closed. Access to the plaza directly in front of City Hall will still be restricted for security reasons. (New York Daily News)

3 New View Sites on Hold - Jan 15, 2002
Plans to construct three more viewing platforms at the World Trade Center site are now being put on hold as officials determine the necessity of extra platforms. While lines for the first platform initially extended a few city blocks, since the use of the current ticketing system, crowding in the area has diminished greatly. (New York Daily News)

Representatives Seek Changes to Fund - Jan 14, 2002
A dozen members of Congress from New York on Monday urged changes in the proposed rules determining federal compensation for victims of the World Trade Center attacks. Carolyn Maloney, a Manhattan Democrat, and her colleagues urged the fund's overseer, Kenneth Feinberg, not to use outdated labor statistics which discriminate against women. (Newsday)

Plan to Start 7 WTC Rebuild 9/11/02 - Jan 14, 2002
Larry Silverstein, the leaseholder of the destroyed World Trade Center complex, has expressed a desire to begin rebuilding a new 7 World Trade Center building on September 11, 2002. His intentions have been met with opposition from the victims' families, all in full support of a memorial, and by groups who wish to see a rebuilding effort more integrated with the rest of the site. (New York Daily News)

Clinton: WTC Fund Unfair - Jan 14, 2002
After meeting with loved ones of those killed September 11 in the World Trade Center, Senator Hillary Clinton called for changes to the proposed federal compensation plan. Clinton proposed a minimum compensation amount for families, rather than the current proposal which deducts money based on pre-existing life insurance, IRA, or 401(k) accounts. (Newsday)

Forum Helps Those Near WTC Vent - Jan 13, 2002
A forum organized by Manhattan Civil Court and the Manhattan borough president's office attracted Lower Manhattan residents attempting to resolve landlord-tenant disputes. Tenants asked questions about relief from rent obligations on their lease in the wake of September 11. (New York Daily News)

Downtowners Worried Sick - Jan 12, 2002
A federal report concluded in December but just released last week confirms what many Lower Manhattan residents already know: many people are displaying symptoms of post-traumatic stress and physical distress due to the World Trade Center attacks. The report describes a "high proportion of the population" experiencing symptoms related to respiratory irritation. (New York Post)

From parks to twisted towers, designs for WTC memorial multiply - Jan 11, 2002
There is no shortage of design ideas for the World Trade Center site, from a 70-story sundial to two towers spiraling down to a 35-foot deep pit. One firm has contemplated a design consisting of 440 evergreens and a below-street waterfall. This initial burst of ideas has been described as therapeutic by some but banal and overly sentimental by others. (Wall Street Journal)

Studies Will Take Sept. 11's Measure in Health Effects - Jan 11, 2002
Public health researchers from New York hospitals and universities are are beginning an ambitious series of long-term studies to identify and then track a wide range of people who lived through the World Trade Center attack. These studies range from investigating cases of pregnant women near ground zero to building a registry of every single person that has worked, even if only for one day, at the World Trade Center site. (New York Times)

Pataki: 'Serious Concerns' on WTC Fund - Jan 11, 2002
Governor Pataki voiced concern yesterday about the distribution of federal funds for the compensation of victims' families. Referring to estimates that the average family could receive $1.6 million, Pataki said the numbers are misleading. "The numbers sound very high," he said, "but they can be reduced by collateral sources," such as life insurance and pension payments. About 1,000 relatives of victims will be holding a rally next Thursday to urge changes in the compensation. (Newsday)

Expert: WTC Probe Underfunded - Jan 11, 2002
The engineering investigation into the Twin Towers' collapse is woefully underfunded, a former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said yesterday. James Lee Witt, who led FEMA in the Clinton administration, said in an interview that the $100,000 the federal government allocated so far for the probe is far from enough. "It wouldn't even make a dent," Witt said. "We [the United States] have some of the best engineers and architects. If they have the funding, they can show how the collapses happened and why." (Newsday)

Migrants Did Dirty & Dangerous Work - Jan 11, 2002
Contractors have plucked up to 600 illegal immigrants off street corners to scrub potentially toxic dust out of buildings near the World Trade Center - without giving the workers safety training or protective equipment, the Daily News reported today. State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office is investigating labor law violations allegedly committed by several cleaning companies near the disaster site. (New York Daily News)

Mike: Hold Contest For Tribute At Ground Zero - Jan 11, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg supports holding a competition to choose the designer of the memorial tribute to the World Trade Center victims that will be built at ground zero, officials said yesterday. (New York Post)

Job Loss from September 11 To Impact For Years - Jan 11, 2002
A study released Friday predicts the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will reverberate through the U.S. economy for years, wiping out more than 1.6 million jobs in 2002 alone. The losses will hit cities with exposure to the tourism and airline sectors hardest, but will also spread across a wide range of industries, from dining to financial services, according to the Milken Institute, a Santa Monica-based economic think-tank. New York City will lose nearly 150,000 jobs in 2002, followed by Los Angeles with 69,000 jobs, and Chicago with at least 68,000 jobs. Already, 248,000 jobs have been lost nationwide because of the attacks, the institute said. (Newsday)

Bold New Agenda - Jan 10, 2002
Invoking the enduring trauma of Sept. 11, Gov. George Pataki yesterday pledged to lead the state's psychological and financial recovery but offered few novel legislative proposals or sure cures for New York's ailing economy. In his eighth annual address to the Legislature, built on the emotional scaffolding of the World Trade Center tragedy and delivered at the outset of an election year, Pataki urged cooperation and change as part of a "bold new agenda of reform and renewal." (Newsday)

Insurers: WTC Collapse Was One Event - Jan 10, 2002
A lawyer for Travelers Indemnity Co. told a federal court Wednesday that one hijacked airliner could have felled both the World Trade Center towers because they shared a six-story basement. After a plane hit the first tower on Sept. 11, it "may well have rendered the second building unusable even in the absence of a second airplane," attorney Harvey Kurzweil argued at the hearing. (Associated Press)

PATH Train Found at Ground Zero - Jan 10, 2002
Recovery workers at Ground Zero have uncovered a commuter train lying
underneath the rubble of the World Trade Center, but no bodies were found inside the train, officials said. (Associated Press)

NYC to End Count of WTC Victims - Jan 9, 2002
City officials are close to determining a final count of the people who were killed in the attack on the World Trade Center, police said Wednesday. The city's total has stood at 2,893 for three days, decreasing from near 7,000 in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11 attacks. Officials eliminated mistakes and duplicated entries in missing-person reports, and the tally could still be reduced further, said police department Chief Charles Campisi, who heads the effort. "We're very, very close," Campisi told The Associated Press. "I would say we're 99 percent there." (Associated Press)

Tickets Ease Ground Zero Waiting - Jan 9, 2002
The huge lines leading to the Ground Zero viewing platform all but disappeared yesterday as the city began handing out free, time-stamped tickets to the daily throngs of visitors. Now, instead of waiting in the cold for hours, visitors must go to the South Street Seaport to pick up tickets good for a specific half-hour period. Under the new system, 5,500 people per day can visit the platform. (Newsday)

Pataki Confidant to Direct Rebuilding Effort - Jan 9, 2002
Louis R. Tomson, a former top adviser to Gov. George E. Pataki, has been selected to be the executive director of the state corporation in charge of rebuilding Lower Manhattan, government officials and downtown executives said yesterday. Tomson was Pataki's first choice and beat out a list of candidates that included Carl Weisbrod, head of the Alliance for Downtown New York, the business improvement district for Lower Manhattan; Rebecca Robertson, former president of the 42nd Street Development Project; and Richard A. Kahan, a former state official. He will be officially appointed within a week. (New York Times)

Expert: Impact Would Have Brought WTC Down - Jan 8, 2002
Richard Gewain, a member of the federally designated panel of engineers investigating the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, said yesterday that the impact of the two hijacked planes was so great that the buildings could have collapsed even without the ensuing fire. Gewain's view is in opposition to that of other fire experts, who have questioned whether the towers were adequately fireproofed. The panel, formed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Society of Civil Engineers, is investigating a wide range of theories. (Newsday)

Dozens of Ideas are Floated For WTC Development - Jan 8, 2002
Designers, planners and architects along with politicians and the relatives of the victims of Sept. 11 have offered up a number of ideas for what to develop at the World Trade Center site. Ideas range from permanent memorials to mixed use of commercial and memorial space. In the next ten days, a number of design proposals will be made public at a Chelsea gallery and from the Institute of Urban Design. Ultimately the process will go through the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation, most planners agree. (Newsday)

City to Give Out WTC View Tickets - Jan 8, 2002
In an effort to control the huge throngs that line up daily for a glimpse of Ground Zero, the city will issue free, time-limited tickets to the public viewing stand starting tomorrow. Starting tomorrow afternoon, time-stamped tickets will be distributed free - two per person - at the South Street Seaport Museum. Up to 100 people will be allowed on the viewing stand for 15 minutes at a time. (New York Daily News)

Ground Zero Panel Still Listening - Jan 8, 2002
The head of the ground zero redevelopment panel yesterday said the group won't make decisions about rebuilding for at least "a month or two." At the group's second meeting since the state-city panel was created in November, Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp. Chairman John Whitehead also said the search for an executive director should come to an end in about a week. Whitehead said the 11-member board will be in "listening mode" for the next four to eight weeks. (New York Post)

Agency Has $2B, No Plans - Jan 8, 2002
Despite having $2 billion earmarked for the group by Congress, the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation still has no plans for what to do with the money. "I think we are the only organization in history," said Chairman John Whitehead, "to get $2 billion that we never even asked for." The $2 billion is part of an $11 billion aid package proposed by Congress for emergency aid for the city. (New York Daily News)

Big Transit Ideas Downtown - Jan 8, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation is looking into plans to create a downtown transit hub around the World Trade Center site. Proposals include an underground mega-hub with retail space and connections to the PATH and 14 subway lines. While short-term needs of resuming PATH and subway service will be addressed quickly, long-term plans could include the construction of a major transportation center and renovation of the nearby Broadway-Nassau/Fulton St. stations. (New York Daily News)

Still Digging for Lost Sons After a Million Tons of Pain - Jan 8, 2002
There exists a sad fraternity of men at ground zero, a dozen or so who lost their sons or brothers in the cataclysm of Sept. 11. For almost all of the 118 days since, most of these men have spent the daylight hours in search of their kin. While the news turns to rebuilding and memorials, these firefighters and rescue workers continue their search. (New York Times)

Financial Center Marriott Reopens - Jan 7, 2002
Declaring New York City open for business, Mayor Michael Bloomberg snipped a red, white and blue ribbon in the lobby of the Marriott Financial Center yesterday as dozens of hotel workers applauded the reopening of the first downtown hotel since Sept. 11. The terror attacks on the Twin Towers left the 504-room hotel on West Street covered in layers of dust and debris, and it also sustained water damage. The hotel plans to open just 125 rooms. (Newsday)

Cleanup's Pace Outstrips Plans for Attack Site - Jan 7, 2002
With the cleanup at the World Trade Center site proceeding faster than previously imagined possible, plans for rebuilding the area must now try to keep up. Officials concede that by the beginning of the summer, a sixteen-acre hole will occupy the site. Public hearings organized by the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation could begin in six weeks, with a final long-term plan emerging possibly in three months and an interim memorial finished by the end of the year. (New York Times)

Fund Formula an Insult to Their Injuries - Jan 7, 2002
Four members of Congress and forty relatives of victims appeared at a news conference in midtown to denounce the compensation formula created by Kenneth Feinberg, the special master administering the federal Victim Compensation Fund. The families complained the formula sets arbitrary limits on estimated lost earnings and caps compensation for pain and suffering. Victims' families also met yesterday for the first time with Mayor Bloomberg since he took office. (New York Daily News)

Until 9/11, the City's Museum Magnet - Jan 6, 2002
Attendance and donations are way down at Lower Manhattan museums. While lines for the World Trade Center viewing platform stretch for blocks, visitors to the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the South Street Seaport Museum, and the George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian find they have these museums mostly to themselves. (New York Times)

Wall Street Biz Group's Mission: Rescue Downtrodden Downtown - Jan 6, 2002
Wall Street Rising, a new nonprofit business group that formed after Sept. 11, hopes to drum up downtown shopping, dining and tourism - as visitors stream into the area to mourn and pay their respects. The group is launching a Wall Street Rising discount card offering price reductions at local shops and restaurants. It's also planning a Wall Street Weeknights dinner program, with restaurants offering $30 "I love New York" menus. (New York Post)

Anguished Search for Traces of the MissingAnguished Search for Traces of the Missing - Jan 6, 2002
Investigators are combing through literally billions of pieces of debris at the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, now home to the 900,000 tons of rubble carted away from the World Trade Center site. So far, 1200 wrecked and burnt-out vehicles have been found at the site, as well as 2900 human body parts. The effort includes hundreds of New York police detectives and federal agents working from 5 A.M to midnight every day. (New York Daily News)

Mercury Concern at WTC - Jan 5, 2002
Workers at Ground Zero called for more comprehensive health tests yesterday after four Port Authority police officers assigned to the site showed elevated levels of mercury in their blood. According to Port Authority spokesman Allen Morrison, it is unclear how they were exposed to the mercury. Air and water samples taken near Ground Zero since September by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have not turned up any detectable levels of mercury, officials said. (New York Daily News)

Bloomberg Vision for Ground Zero: Memorial and More - Jan 4, 2002
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and John Whitehead, the chairman of the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation, want the former World Trade Center site to be used for more than just a memorial. After a meeting, Bloomberg and Whitehead supported the use of the site for office space, as a memorial to the victims, and possibly retail space as well. (New York Times)

Subway Line in Attack May Reopen Much Earlier - Jan 4, 2002
Transit officials said yesterday that two of the three stations for the 1 and 9 subway lines that were damaged in the World Trade Center attacks may reopen as early as November, more than a year earlier than originally planned. However, rather than rerouting the line to increase convenience for Battery Park City residents, the subway will be rebuilt mostly to its state before September 11. (New York Times)

Changes Continue at Ground Zero - Jan 4, 2002
Changes continue at Ground Zero as a viewing platform opened to the public at Church Street and Fulton Street last week. Now that most of the larger rubble has been cleared away, two of the largest cranes at the site are being dismantled. Cleanup work will now be consolidated under the direction of Bovis Lend Lease, one of the four contractors that have been assisting in the cleanup since September 11. (Associated Press)

Pitched Battle at Ground Zero - Jan 3, 2002
Larry Silverstein is facing increased opposition to his plans to develop the World Trade Center site. Former Mayor Giul,iani and relatives of some of those who died at the Trade Center are arguing against economic development. But the real threat to Silverstein's plans may come from his fellow real estate developers, some of whom say that new buildings on the site could further depress real estate and actually hinder lower Manhattan's recovery. (New York Observer)

Back to Square 1 for Tribeca - Jan 2, 2002
Residents and business owners of Tribeca struggle with the aftermath of September 11. At one restaurant, menu prices have been slashed an average 15% across the board, while at a local clothing store, business has been down 40%. Long-time residents feel that they have been set back a generation and must now start at square one again. (New York Daily News)

Rebuilding NYC January 2003


WTC Plans Might Include Foster's 'Twinned Towers' - Jan 31, 2003
A proposal to build the world?s tallest skyscraper could be included to appease the public?s wishes when officials announce the finalists to redevelop Ground Zero, sources said Thursday. Lord Norman Foster?s environmentally-friendly building has emerged as one of the favorites during the public comment period, sources said. It could join plans by Studio Daniel Libeskind and the THINK team, which are expected to be named finalists next week. (Newsday)

After Long Delay, New York Submits Plan for Terror Aid - Jan 31, 2003
Nearly a year and a half after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pataki administration has finally told the federal government how it plans to spend hundreds of millions of available dollars to make New York State better prepared to deal with future terrorist attacks. The submission of the wish list comes after months of unexplained delays and considerable secrecy. The delays had left New York lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans alike, concerned that the indecision had not only left the state vulnerable, but had also compromised the state's ability to petition for more money from Washington. (New York Times)

Relatives of Sept. 11 Victims Face a Suspect in Germany - Jan 31, 2003
Spectators and even the court-appointed interpreter wept in a Hamburg, Germany court today as the horror of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- planned in this city -- coursed through the accounts of relatives of victims, who for the first time confronted a man charged with conspiring in the attacks with their loss and suffering. (New York Times)

A Blue Collar Doctor Tracks Ground Zero Workers - Jan 31, 2003
Captivated in the 60's by the effect one's station in life has on one's health, Dr. Stephen M. Levin, director since 1987 of the Mount Sinai Irving J. Selikoff Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine and co-director of an unprecedented $12 million health screening for ground zero workers, veered off the beaten path to practice occupational medicine (New York Times)

Officials Are Leaning Towards Two Plans - Jan 30, 2003
A key group of rebuilding officials yesterday agreed on two architecture teams they'd like to see as finalists in the search for a Ground Zero planner, sources told The Post. But the final decision will not be made until next week. Berlin-based architect Daniel Libeskind and a New York-based team led by architects Rafael Vinoly and Fred Schwartz emerged as the top choices. A third plan, by British architect Norman Foster, also received strong support, but the group felt it would not be practical to build and find tenants for Foster's faceted twin towers, which would be the tallest in the world. (New York Post)

Two Plans Rise to Top - Jan 30, 2003
Development officials tentatively whittled the proposed site plans for Ground Zero down to two yesterday - one featuring the exposed bedrock of the World Trade Center site and the other calling for a pair of latticework towers, sources told the Daily News. No formal decision was made and no vote was taken, sources said. But at a private meeting yesterday morning, a working group of Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board members and staffers reached a consensus on the two designs, sources said. (New York Daily News)

Judge Rejects Insurer's 9/11 Claim - Jan 30, 2003
A federal judge in New York yesterday rejected an insurance company's attempt to classify the Sept. 11 terrorist attack upon the World Trade Center as an act of "vandalism and malicious mischief" so that it can be considered one assault and not two separate incidents. The insurance company, Allianz, is one of more than 20 companies that insured the Twin Towers leaseholder Larry Silverstein. (Newsday)

Police Seeking Less Restrictions on Surveillance To Fight Terror - Jan 30, 2003
The NYPD asked a federal judge yesterday to lift restrictions on police surveillance in a bid to prevent future terror attacks. The lawyer representing the NYPD, Gail Donoghue, promised the NYPD would immediately set up an internal set of guidelines to control the use of wider spy powers if Judge Charles Haight would lift an 18-year-old federal consent decree known as the Handschu Agreement. (New York Post)

Community Board 1 Recommends Three Plans - Jan 29, 2003
Community Board 1 has recommended that architectural plans by Daniel Libeskind, Norman Foster and the THINK Team (Sky Park) should be considered as the basis for the final plan for the World Trade Center site. The board's resolution, approved last week, also said a short underground "bypass" or tunnel along West St. adjacent to the site should be considered. The full board amended the draft resolution so it doesn't read like a full endorsement of the tunnel, which has been opposed by some residents in Battery Park City. (Downtown Express)

Prosperous Hopes for Year of the Ram in Chinatown - Jan 29, 2003
As the Lunar New Year approaches, Chinatown prepares to shake off its economic woes in a celebration intended to boost the fortunes of a community still struggling after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. (Downtown Express)

WTC Decision Is Pushed Back - Jan 29, 2003
The incredible work of analyzing nine complex architectural proposals for the World Trade Center site has drawn out the decision-making process. After three finalists are chosen next week, a winner could be selected by the end of next month. (Newsday)

7 World Trade Center Could Test New Ideas for High-Rise Safety - Jan 29, 2003
As one of the first office towers designed from scratch since the attack on New York, 7 World Trade Center is a 52-story laboratory of ideas about how extra safety measures can be incorporated into the fiber of a building. (New York Times)

Tourists Coming, But Not Spending - Jan 29, 2003
The tourists who visit the World Trade Center site every day are not spending money downtown - a fiscal crisis that can be solved only with the addition of theaters and museums, the city's tourism marketing organization said yesterday. The tourists who visit the World Trade Center site every day are not spending money downtown - a fiscal crisis that can be solved only with the addition of theaters and museums, the city's tourism marketing organization said yesterday. (New York Post)

Twin Towers Created 'Ash Footprint' - Jan 28, 2003
The collapse of the World Trade Center may have left a permanent chemical record on the bottom of the Hudson River. It is possible that the new layer of sediment will become a permanent reminder of the tragedy for generations of geologists to come. The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, launched thousands of tons of ash and dust into the atmosphere. (BBC)

Study Says WTC Workers Had A Year Of Bad Health - Jan 28, 2003
Among the first wave of ground zero workers who came forward for physical examinations at the Mount Sinai Medical Center last summer, nearly three-fourths had ear, nose or throat problems more than 10 months after the World Trade Center attack, doctors said yesterday. More than half still had lung complaints or abnormal results in pulmonary function tests. (New York Times)

Fire Unions Snub Von Essen - Jan 28, 2003
The leaders of the city firefighter unions say they will boycott an awards dinner tonight because former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen is among those being honored. The firefighters are still angry at Von Essen for several reasons, including his acceptance of a cutback ordered by City Hall in the number of firefighters searching for victims at the World Trade Center. (Newsday)

Firefighter Thanks Sigourney Weaver - Jan 28, 2003
Actress Sigourney Weaver was nearly brought to tears yesterday at the state Capitol when the head of a firefighters union gave her an emotional thank you for her new Sept. 11-related movie. In "The Guys," Weaver plays a journalist called upon to help a fire captain write a series of eulogies for the men he lost at the World Trade Center. (New York Post)

WTC Brawl Finds Way Into Court - Jan 28, 2003
Turf fights simmering at Ground Zero during the final days of recovery will soon spill into a Manhattan courtroom, as a city engineer faces criminal charges for allegedly scuffling with Port Authority cops. (New York Daily News)

An Interview With Anita Contini - Jan 27, 2003
In an interview with the New York Sun, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation official Anita Contini said that the memorial committees she oversees have decided not to include a religious component -- like the cross that was found at Ground Zero -- in the memorial. Contini also said that much of the public feedback about the preliminary memorial guidelines has called for including more forceful language, like the word "terrorist." (New York Sun)

7 Families Sue Administrator of 9/11 Fund - Jan 27, 2003
In the most sweeping challenge yet to the federal fund intended to compensate relatives of Sept. 11 victims, the families of seven victims who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald have filed a lawsuit accusing the fund's administrator of acting illegally and unfairly, thereby shortchanging the families of all New York victims. (New York Times)

Safety Concerns for Memorial Below Street Level - Jan 27, 2003
A proposal to place the Ground Zero memorial seven stories below street level at the bottom of the World Trade Center pit would limit the size of crowds that could visit it and raises safety and evacuation concerns, security experts told The Post. Several of the proposed designs for Ground Zero include memorials in enclosed spaces below street level or in the upper floors of tall buildings. (New York Post)

WTC Plans Might Not Include Governor - Jan 27, 2003
Some of Gov. Pataki's top advisers are urging him to remove himself from the World Trade Center rebuilding process and give control to the city, sources told the Daily News. Pataki surged to reelection on a wave of post-Sept. 11 popularity. But he's now beginning to come under criticism from some circles for not offering a clear vision of what he wants at the site. (New York Daily News)

Son of Russian Avant Garde Architect Creates Plan for Ground Zero - Jan 26, 2003
Mark Khidekel, the son of Russian avant garde architect Lazar Khidekel, has revived and refined his father's ideas in a design for the unlikeliest of places: Ground Zero. Khidekel proposes the structure as a replacement for the World Trade Center. He calls it the Vertical Highway. (New York Times)

WTC Site Plan Decision Seen as Boon - Jan 26, 2003
Trade center leaseholder Larry Silverstein says the selection of a plan - likely to occur in February - will give a needed push to lower Manhattan and the economy of New York City. Silverstein foresees an infusion of at least $28 billion into lower Manhattan in the next several years, $21 billion from the federal government and at least $7 billion in insurance proceeds. His own insurance claims are tied up in federal court, but he predicts the lawsuits will be settled this year. (Newsday)

WTC Crews Plan Symbolic Reminder - Jan 25, 2003
Ground Zero firefighters and rescue workers plan to attend President George W. Bush's State of the Union speech Tuesday night, their presence a symbolic reminder of the administration's reluctance to allocate $90 million in federal funds to keep track of rescue workers' respiratory problems. (Newsday)

Council Seeks More Power Over WTC Rebuilding - Jan 25, 2003
City Hall and the City Council should have more say in the development at Ground Zero, council members said yesterday. Members of the council's Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Committee asked the council's lawyers to find out what jurisdiction it has over rebuilding - in the hope of a larger role. (New York Post)

Small, Unofficial Committee Will Make Decision on WTC Site Plan - Jan 24, 2003
A small, unofficial committee has quietly been given responsibility to choose an architect and site plan for Ground Zero, officials said yesterday. The eight-member “steering committee” includes representatives of the two agencies responsible for downtown redevelopment, and of the governor and the mayor - although City Hall controls just one seat. (New York Post)

Some 9/11 Victims May Need to Risk Homes to Creditors to Qualify for Aid - Jan 24, 2003
As time runs out for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to apply for federal mortgage and rental assistance, some are considering risking their homes to creditors to qualify for the cash. That's because help is available only if those seeking aid can produce a late-payment notice, showing that they are in danger of possible eviction or foreclosure. (New York Daily News)

Pentagon Victim's Gay Partner Wins 9/11 Fund Payout - Jan 24, 2003
A lesbian whose partner was killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has been awarded more than $500,000 by the federal government - a decision gay rights groups hope will set a precedent. Peggy Neff of Hyattsville, Md., will receive $557,390 from the Victim Compensation Fund. (New York Daily News)

Firefighters Want 9/11 Aid From Bush at State of Union - Jan 24, 2003
Will he help the heroes? The weary, retired firefighter President Bush tossed his arm around at Ground Zero days after the terrorist attacks is making a special trip to Washington to plead for help for ailing rescue workers. Upset that $90 million in federal aid to monitor the long-term health of Ground Zero laborers is tied up, Bob Beckwith will join a silent - but very visible - protest at the State of the Union address Tuesday. (New York Daily News)

One Design for Trade Center Site Is Crossed Off After Firm Leaves - Jan 23, 2003
One of the seven architectural teams that submitted new designs for the World Trade Center site has been eliminated from further consideration, rebuilding officials said yesterday. The decision followed the withdrawal of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, who left the design study in order to continue its work with Silverstein Properties, for which it designed the proposed new 7 World Trade Center. The elimination was a disappointing surprise to some members of the team, who thought they might be allowed to continue in the design study even without the architecture firm. (New York Times)

Forum on Lower Manhattan’s Future Focuses on Retail - Jan 23, 2003
So far, there's no widely accepted solution to developing a strong retail sector in lower Manhattan, but about 50 residents, developers, retailers and advocates raised a host of possibilities at a Tuesday night forum at Pace University. (Newsday)

Families: Rebury 9/11 dead at WTC - Jan 22, 2003
Families of Sept. 11 victims from New Jersey urged downtown rebuilding officials last night to exhume the "ashen remains" of loved ones at the Fresh Kills landfill for reburial at Ground Zero. A crowd of 100 relatives focused on the retrieval issue - which they termed "nonnegotiable" - at the only forum on the rebuilding effort held in New Jersey. (New York Daily News)

Hunger Strike by 6 Immigrants, Detained in 9/11 Sweeps, Continues - Jan 22, 2003
A stalemate between immigrant detainees and immigration officials entered its second week yesterday, as six men continued a hunger strike to protest the conditions at a New Jersey jail. The men, held for months on various immigration charges, have been drinking juice and water but have refused solid food since Jan. 14. The government has arrested hundreds of Muslim and Arab men since Sept. 11, 2001, and charged them with immigration violations that rarely caught the attention of federal officials before. (New York Times)

A Profile of Ground Zero Architect Rafael Viñoly - Jan 22, 2003
Architect Rafael Viñoly, a leader of the "Think Team" that contributed a fabulist, Eiffel Tower-inspired confection to the World Trade Center design competition, says that his take on what should happen at ground zero is informed by what he says happened to him decades ago in his native Argentina, first when a 1966 coup resulted in raids, and murders, at his university, and later when the military, no friend to intellectuals, raided his home. (New York Times)

Man With Few Trade Center Ties Traces His Asthma to 9/11 - Jan 22, 2003
Glenn H. Abatemarco got sick two weeks after terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, and he has still not fully recovered his ability to breathe normally. Abatemarco does not fit the pattern, and therein lies a medical mystery. First of all, he lives in Brooklyn, miles from ground zero, and works in Midtown Manhattan, where he is a vice president at a financial services firm. He had no intense exposure from the dust cloud from the towers' collapse and no chronic exposure afterward of the sort that downtown workers and residents faced as smoke from the smoldering fires swirled through the streets. (New York Times)

Talks Begin Again for WTC Site Swap - Jan 21, 2003
The once-stalled talks to transfer control of Ground Zero to the city have sprung back to life - with a price now under serious discussion, sources told The Post yesterday. "A few months ago, it was pretty much the odds were against a swap. Now, I think they're in favor of one," said a source at the Port Authority, which owns the World Trade Center site. "It's very much alive. It's just a matter of a number." Under the deal being considered, the city would trade the land it owns under Kennedy and La Guardia airports to the Port Authority in return for the PA giving the city the Ground Zero property. (New York Post)

Sept. 11 Commission Faces Challenges - Jan 21, 2003
Sixteen months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, an independent commission charged with investigating what happened is only beginning to confront a task complicated by a ticking clock, limited finances and the high expectations of those who lost loved ones. (Associated Press)

Debate Continues on a Range of Memorial Issues - Jan 21, 2003
The battle over what the permanent World Trade Center memorial should contain and who should choose its creator is escalating even as officials hope to launch a global design competition by April. At issue is everything from whether rescue workers should be singled out in the tribute to whether unidentified victims' remains should be interred at the memorial. (New York Daily News)

Aviation Firms Seek to Dismiss 9/11 Claims - Jan 21, 2003
A group of aviation-related companies has asked a federal court to dismiss claims stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that killed more than 3,000 people, saying the companies were not liable for damage or casualties on the ground in New York City or at the Pentagon. (Associated Press)

1908 Design to Be Entered in 9/11 Memorial Competition - Jan 21, 2003
Yet another world-class architect has created yet another design for ground zero. It is futuristic in the extreme, nearly as tall as the Empire State Building, topped with a star and polychromed in tile and marble. The architect? Antoni GaudĂ­, the Barcelona visionary who was the greatest Spanish exponent of the Art Nouveau style. And the plan, for a New York hotel, was conceived in 1908. A group of Catalan artists and an American architect intend to enter the never-realized GaudĂ­ plan in the formal ground zero memorial design competition of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, scheduled to begin this spring. (New York Times)

Overview: City Nears Decisions on World Trade Center Site Rebuild - Jan 20, 2003
16 months after terrorists who revile American democracy destroyed the World Trade Center, the rebuilding of lower Manhattan grinds on. The massive effort is certain to continue for years. But crucial decisions are to be made in the coming weeks and months. Officials had set a Jan. 31 deadline, but now say the middle to end of February is more likely. It remains unclear whether one design or elements from several will be selected. (New York Daily News)

Deadline For WTC Mortgage Relief Nears - Jan 19, 2003
As the deadline nears for victims of the World Trade Center attacks to seek federal mortgage and rental relief, workers advocates are calling for an extension. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides 18 months of aid through its Mortgage and Rental Assistance Program, will stop accepting applications on Jan. 31. Individuals and families may be eligible to apply if they lived or worked in Manhattan on or before Sept. 11, 2001, or were employed by a company that was economically dependent on businesses located in Manhattan. The New York Immigration Coalition wants the deadline extended to Sept. 30, contending that tens of thousands of economic victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks need more time to seek help under the program. (Newsday)

Praise for World Trade Center Memorial Draft - Jan 19, 2003
As the latest round of World Trade Center site plans attracts increasing criticism, the effort to develop a memorial at the site is moving ahead on schedule, with praise for its first steps. Officials at two of the nation's most beloved memorials - the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, and the Oklahoma City National Memorial - applauded the draft mission statement and guidelines for the trade center memorial, which were released Jan. 8. (Newsday)

New York State Misses Two Deadlines on Security Plans - Jan 19, 2003
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has set aside a minimum of $418 million for the state to finance projects to bolster the metropolitan area's preparedness for any future terrorist attack. However the state has not submitted a single project for the federal agency to review, even though it has received scores of proposals from state, city and private agencies desperate to do everything from reinforcing bridges to shoring up bioterrorism efforts at local hospitals. In fact, the state has missed two deadlines for submitting the proposals, and has been forced to ask for two extensions totaling six months ? requests that emergency management officials say have been rare in other disasters. (New York Times)

Mayor Outlines Wishes for 9/11 Emergency Funds - Jan 19, 2003
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has drawn up a new wish list for 9/11 federal emergency funds - making a pitch to shift money currently earmarked for the Port Authority and crisis counseling. Under the mayor's strategy, as much as $690 million would then be freed up for other uses - more than the $650 million that Bloomberg has been asking FEMA to give the city for budget relief. (New York Daily News)

New Yorkers Warned of Deceptive FEMA Cleanup Salesmen - Jan 19, 2003
Federal officials are warning New Yorkers to avoid unscrupulous salesmen seeking to profit from a 9/11 program to provide residents with air filters and vacuums - by misleadingly peddling their wares as "FEMA approved" and selling them at inflated prices. "There's a lot of waste and fraud and abuse going on," said Brad Gair, New York's top official in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). (New York Post)

World Trade Center Plan Promised by End of February - Jan 18, 2003
Lou Tomson , the outgoing president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, vowed yesterday to have a land-use plan for Ground Zero and transportation plans in place before his exit next month. Tomson spoke amid wide speculation that, given the detailed cost analysis the agency must perform for all nine schemes, the work won't be done by the end of February. (New York Daily News)

9/11 Program Finally Gets Flood of Requests for Help - Jan 18, 2003
A flood of last-minute requests to the biggest program aiding small businesses and nonprofit groups in Lower Manhattan in the wake of the World Trade Center attack has pushed the amount of aid approved to more than the $481 million allotted for the program, according to the state agency that runs the program. Beyond that, 1,700 applications remain to be processed. Although the grants have surpassed the allotment, whatever amount is ultimately needed will be provided, Empire State's chief operating officer, Kevin Corbett, said yesterday. (New York Times)

Three Designs for Ground Zero Emerge as Favorites - Jan 17, 2003
Three vastly different designs for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, one emphasizing tall towers, another an excavated memorial site and a third a large public garden, appear to be receiving the greatest support in public discussions about the future of the site and of Lower Manhattan. However, only about one-third of people responding in comments submitted to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's website noted a preference for one plan over the others. (New York Times)

President of Rebuilding Agency To Step Down In February - Jan 17, 2003
The president of the agency charged with overseeing reconstruction at Ground Zero will step down at the end of next month, sources said yesterday. Lou Tomson had been expected to leave his post at the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. once the agency chooses the site's master plan. That's expected to happen next month, when the LMDC will pick from among nine rebuilding proposals. Although he is now in good health, he has been bothered by the lingering effects of kidney and prostate cancer, and he often said he was not fond of his weekly trip to and from his home on 16 acres in Voorheesville, east of Albany. (New York Post)

Federal Officials Press Pataki For Details On Transportation Rebuilding - Jan 16, 2003
Federal officials have sent Gov. Pataki a letter pressing the state to explain in detail how it will spend the $4.55 billion set aside to remake lower Manhattan's transportation system. The letter was meant to jump-start a process that appears to have stalled as City Hall, Albany, the Port Authority and the MTA remain at odds over setting priorities for transportation projects, sources in Washington said. (New York Post)

New 7 World Trade Center Building Faces Obstacles - Jan 16, 2003
It is by no means certain that Larry Silverstein's planned 52-story skyscraper to replace the old 7 World Trade Center will rise on the site of the old tower anytime soon. Silverstein, a persistently optimistic man, must still contend with a sluggish real estate market, the lack of a tenant to occupy the building, and the uncertainties of talks with his lenders, his insurer and the landowner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Any one could delay, or in the worst case scuttle, the $700 million building. (New York Times)

Garden of Remembrance To Honor 9/11 Victims - Jan 16, 2003
A "garden of remembrance" honoring the victims of Sept. 11 will be designed by Dutch horticulturist and landscape artist Piet Oudolf in lower Manhattan, the city announced yesterday.The garden of remembrance will encompass 10,000 square feet of perennial plantings, flowers and passages for meditation, according to the Battery Conservancy and the city Parks Department. (New York Post)

A Hint of Rebuilding Fatigue - Jan 15, 2003
A citywide series of public hearings yesterday and Monday to gauge response to the new designs and guidelines for a memorial to victims of 9/11 attracted little more than a predictable array of single-issue zealots and almost no substantive comments about details of the plans. Few officials of the rebuilding effort were happy with Monday night's meeting. "In the end, it didn't feel like a particularly useful meeting, and that was fairly dispiriting," said one board member. (New York Times)

Public Says "Slow Down" At Hearing On Memorial - Jan 15, 2003
If there was one demand people made last night to those in charge of building a memorial for the World Trade Center site it was to slow down. "What's the rush?" asked Amy Rogers of Manhattan. "Let's do it right." She was among scores of speakers at the continuation of a two-night public forum at Pace University on the redevelopment of the site. (Newsday)

New Jersey Receving Bulk of Ferry Funds - Jan 15, 2003
New York and New Jersey will get $54.8 million to fund five Hudson River ferry projects as part of the federal government's post-9/11 aid to the city, the Department of Transportation said yesterday. The money includes $11.4 million to help build a new ferry terminal at West 38th Street. The remainder will be spent in New Jersey. (New York Post)

New Trade Center Plans Draw Old Complaints - Jan 14, 2003
Instead of offering specific feedback on the new designs, unveiled last month to great fanfare and significant public interest, many of the more than 700 people who attended a hearing at Pace University in Lower Manhattan focused instead on issues that rebuilding officials have heard repeatedly, including calls to rebuild the Twin Towers and demands to remember those affected in Chinatown and the Lower East Side. "This is not what we expected or hoped for," one Lower Manhattan Development Corporation director at the meeting said on the condition of anonymity. "These are the same people we've heard from before, saying the same things." Meanwhile, attendance in the outer boroughs and Long Island, where the public hearings were supposed to be simulcast with the one in lower Manhattan, was below expectations, with only about 60 people showing up. (New York Times)

Silverstein To Seek $400 Million in Tax-Free Liberty Bonds - Jan 14, 2003
Developer Larry Silverstein, who owns the lease to the World Trade Center site, will try to raise $400 million in tax-free Liberty Bonds for the reconstruction of 7 World Trade Center, it was revealed yesterday. This is because he apparently must spend half the insurance proceeds on the building just north of Ground Zero to pay off the mortgage. This news was not made public until the beginning of the public hearing held by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation yesterday, drawing criticism from those who feel rebuilding officials are being too secretive. (New York Post)

Return of the Superblock? - Jan 13, 2003
Several of the proposed designs for rebuilding Ground Zero ignore a call to restore part of the area's old street grid - and even move toward re-establishing the World Trade Center "superblock" that has been reviled by downtown residents and planners. The trade center occupied a massive, 16-acre chunk of Manhattan real estate that was called a "superblock" because no streets ran through it and much of it sat on an elevated platform entirely cut off from the neighborhood around it. (New York Post)

New Issues as Hearings Address Rebuilding - Jan 13, 2003
At citywide public hearings today and tomorrow, officials will explain more details about each of the nine designs released last month for the World Trade Center site. In addition, they will discuss the process they are using to narrow those options to a single plan for redeveloping the site and creating a memorial to the victims of Sept. 11. What officials from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey say they need now is comment on what one of them calls "the public realm" ? which plan provides the appropriate setting for a memorial, for a new railroad station and for a street system that will serve downtown. (New York Times)

Pataki And Bloomberg Differ On Two Key Issues -- Budget And Ground Zero - Jan 12, 2003
Although they are both grappling with how to shore up government shortfalls and how to rebuild Ground Zero, Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York's two most prominent Republicans, have staked out radically different approaches to deal with the two most imperative challenges both face this year. (Newsday)

Downtown Residents Still Waiting For $7 Million in Rent Aid - Jan 12, 2003
The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. is holding hostage more than $7 million in rent grants it promised to downtown residents - saying their landlords have to fix building violations first. The agency, charged with helping revitalize neighborhoods around Ground Zero after 9/11, is withholding grants to more than 550 individuals and families who moved downtown or remained there to take advantage of the development corporation's rental-assistance offer. (New York Post)

Building Height Debated for WTC Site - Jan 12, 2003
Replacing the fallen World Trade Center towers with the world's tallest building would demonstrate courage. Or would it be hubris? As the date of the public hearing to gather public input on the new designs for Ground Zero approaches, some people believe the new structure must be a dramatic statement. But others say that creating the world's tallest building without regard to the neighborhood is not only impractical but in bad taste. (Associated Press)

Funds Shortage for Trade Center Transit Plans - Jan 12, 2003
The officials trying to devise a sweeping transit plan for devastated lower Manhattan are grappling with a stark reality: There's not enough money for everything. New York has been promised $4.55 billion in federal transit aid. From that pot, the Port Authority is hoping for about $1.6 billion for infrastructure costs below ground, including a bus depot, parking garages and access ramps at Ground Zero. The remaining $3 billion is being targeted for a new PATH terminal and underground concourse, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority center at Fulton St., a partial covering of West St. along the Trade Center site and a renovated South Ferry subway station. That leaves nothing for the most ambitious project being debated, which Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg have called critical to downtown's future: a multibillion-dollar direct rail link from lower Manhattan to Kennedy Airport. (New York Daily News)

High-Tech Research Center Planned Near Ground Zero - Jan 11, 2003
A high-tech research center will rise in lower Manhattan, with the help of a $3 million state grant, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said yesterday. The new Institute for Advanced Studies in Software and Information Technology will be based in the Ground Zero area, Silver said. A specific site hasn't been chosen yet. The center will be a collaboration that will include organizations such as the City University of New York, New York University, and private software and development companies. (New York Daily News)

Designer of World Trade Center Plan Open To Altering "Pit" Design - Jan 10, 2003
Faced with criticism from residents and relatives of World Trade Center victims, architect Daniel Libeskind said he'd be willing to alter his design's signature element - the open hole he wants to leave to the bottom of the Ground Zero pit. "I provided a space which . . . has a dignity for thinking about the memorial," Libeskind said of his design, which leaves open about two-thirds of the excavated trade center pit, known as the "bathtub," complete with exposed concrete walls. (New York Post)

Draft Guidelines Released for Trade Center Memorial - Jan 9, 2003
A World Trade Center memorial should recognize each person killed in the attacks in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as those killed in the bombing at the trade center in 1993, according to a preliminary outline for the development of the memorial released yesterday. The memorial should also include a tomb for unidentified remains of victims found at the site and may include some surviving elements of the trade center buildings, the outline stated. (New York Times)

Debate Begins on Shorter West St. Tunnel - Jan 8, 2003
The idea of building a long Downtown tunnel at West St. seems pretty much dead and buried, but a shorter, sub-pedestrian roadway adjacent to the World Trade Center site is still being actively considered by the powers that be and is being opposed by the leaders of the group that formed to sink the long tunnel. The Coalition to Save West St., a group of Battery Park City residents who organized themselves last year, released a report over the weekend criticizing the short tunnel between Vesey and Liberty Sts., the equivalent of a four-block area. (Downtown Express)

Report Criticizes FEMA's Handling of 9/11 Economic Claims - Jan 8, 2003
An internal review of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's performance after the Sept. 11 terror attack has concluded that the agency should have been more flexible and fair in helping people with economic losses. The agency also needs to coordinate better with other government agencies and charities in future disasters, the review concluded. (New York Times)

Victims Family Group Cool To Idea of Keeping Pit Empty - Jan 8, 2003
A Ground Zero design proposal to preserve the empty pit where the Twin Towers once stood is getting a cool reception from a surprising quarter - the 9/11 families who have campaigned for months to set aside the trade center "bathtub" area for a memorial. "We don't want to leave a hole in the ground," said Lee Ielpi, a member of the Coalition of 9/11 Families, whose firefighter son Jonathan was killed. "I don't want to go below grade for the memorial. I want the memorial to be up in the sunlight." (New York Post)

Build Memorial First, Says Victims Family Group - Jan 8, 2003
A coalition representing victims' relatives demanded last night that a memorial be built at Ground Zero before anything else - and complained that most rebuilding plans ignore that concern. Lee Ielpi of the Coalition of 9/11 Families said relatives of those killed in the terror attack on the World Trade Center have always wanted a memorial occupying the entire 9-acre "bathtub" to rise first on the site. Ielpi said only two of the nine architectural plans for the site - the ones by Daniel Libeskind and United Architects - set aside the needed space for a memorial. (New York Daily News)

Skyscrapers Would Come Later At Ground Zero, Says Planner - Jan 7, 2003
A top lower Manhattan planner predicted last night a memorial for terror victims, a transit hub, stores and cultural institutions would be the first structures to rise from the ruins of Ground Zero. Giant office towers will only be rebuilt after the initial round of contruction has been completed, Alexander Garvin told downtown's Community Board 1. (New York Daily News)

How Will Anyone Agree on the New Proposals for the World Trade Center Site? - Jan 6, 2003
"Architecture surely seemed to matter that morning in December at the press conference in the Winter Garden, if only because a roomful of public officials was sitting still for a three-and-a-half-hour festival of avant-garde culture," Paul Goldberger writes about the unveiling of the New Plans for Ground Zero. "But not that much has actually changed in the planning process since last summer. 'It is like putting lipstick on a hog,' said Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, a civic group. 'Nothing has changed except you have a lot of fancy architects on this go-round. They are still designing the same thing, just prettier.' And the forces that have made planning at Ground Zero a process of byzantine complexity have not gone away. If anything, they have become more intense." (New Yorker)

Continued Efforts to Restore the Verizon Building, Battered on 9/11 - Jan 6, 2003
The gaping holes in the tan-brick facade of the Verizon Building, inflicted when three neighboring buildings fell around it on 9/11, are still open to the ground zero void. But the Verizon Building is very much alive. Enduring a daily chaos of cement mixers and the sparks from welders' arcs, the building at 140 West Street is again sending out dial tones to 34,000 customers. It is putting stockbrokers online. It is generating revenue. It is doing so without the 1,700 office workers who have been relocated to other buildings. (New York Times)

Experts Map National Icons In Order to Rebuild After a Disaster - Jan 5, 2003
Federal officials have spent a lot of time thinking about disaster scenarios since the cataclysmic events of Sept. 11, 2001. And, quietly, they have been mapping doomsday strategies that could be used to replace or resurrect national icons like the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore in case they are ever damaged or obliterated in terrorist attacks. Should disaster strike, and a political decision be made to rebuild, exact replicas — or architectural clones — could be constructed fairly quickly. (New York Daily News)

Council Member: Add Brooklyn to WTC Health Study - Jan 5, 2003
A City Council member is urging health officials to include Brooklyn in a massive study of people who inhaled the plume of World Trade Center smoke and debris. In a letter to city and federal health authorities, Councilman Bill de Blasio (D-Brooklyn) said there was no reason to exclude Brooklynites from the study, which will track roughly 200,000 people who were caught in the thick, chemical cloud rising from Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)

City Request Stalls Insurance for 9/11 Cleanup - Jan 4, 2003
A long-delayed plan to have the federal government provide insurance for four construction companies against legal claims arising from their cleanup efforts at ground zero has been stalled by a request from the city government that it be covered, too. Already, 45 lawsuits have been filed against the city, mostly by construction workers (New York Times)

World Trade Center Designs Questioned - Jan 3, 2003
Ideas for redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, presented last December amid a blaze of publicity, are being questioned by specialists. Architects were told to be bold and take risks. But for all their inventiveness and imagination, real-estate experts and those involved in the complicated planning process say that none of these super-tall towers will probably be built. (BBC News)

Study to Follow 200,000 Exposed to Trade Center Ash - Jan 3, 2003
New York City and federal health officials are working out the final details of what they say would be the largest study of its kind ever undertaken -- a far-reaching health registry to follow as many as 200,000 people exposed to ash and dust from the destruction of the World Trade Center. The primary goal of the $20 million registry, paid for by federal disaster relief money, is not so much to obtain treatment for people who might still be sick more than a year after the attack, health officials say, but rather to interview people to get a broader picture of who was affected and to look for patterns in illness and recovery that individual physicians and clinics might have missed. (New York Times)

WTC Hearings To Be Simulcast - Jan 3, 2003
Participants at different locations in the city and on Long Island will be able to voice their comments on the future of the World Trade Center site at two public forums scheduled for Jan. 13 and Jan. 14, officials announced yesterday. The forums will be conducted from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. each night in the Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University in lower Manhattan and will be broadcast simultaneously on large screens at locations in all five boroughs and Long Island. (Newsday)

WTC Occupants Have First Claim on Offices - Jan 3, 2003
The landlord of the World Trade Center towers has promised his former tenants first dibs on space in offices that eventually will be built at Ground Zero, the Daily News has learned. Larry Silverstein, who signed a 99-year lease for the twin towers in the summer of 2001, made the promise at an informal gathering of downtown redevelopment officials on Dec. 19. (New York Daily News)

Tenants Begin to Return to Building Damaged Sept. 11 - Jan 3, 2003
Tenants are returning to 125 Cedar Street, the closest residential high-rise to Ground Zero. Five of the 19 families in the 13-story building have made homecomings in the last three weeks, the scars from that awful day, such as the broken windows, largely repaired. State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose district includes parts of lower Manhattan, ensured that the building was included in the nine plans now being considered for the development at Ground Zero. It had been omitted from the first six proposals, and residents feared the loss of their building. (Newsday)

Now Returned Home, 9/11 Detainee Denounces His Experience - Jan 3, 2003
An Indian man who was cleared of involvement in the Sept. 11 terror attacks has returned home, alleging sleep deprivation, unhealthy food and solitary confinement during his 15 months of detention in New York. (New York Post)

Families: Rebury 9/11 dead at WTC - Jan 1, 2003
Families of Sept. 11 victims from New Jersey urged downtown rebuilding officials last night to exhume the "ashen remains" of loved ones at the Fresh Kills landfill for reburial at Ground Zero. A crowd of 100 relatives focused on the retrieval issue - which they termed "nonnegotiable" - at the only forum on the rebuilding effort held in New Jersey. (New York Daily News)

Architects Criticize Ground Zero Publicity - Jan 1, 2003
While architects have publicly proclaimed the World Trade Center site proposals displayed at the Winter Garden in Lower Manhattan as the greatest architecture show ever, many have privately expressed reservations about the designs' details, the handling of the competition and even the spotlight in which the contestants now stand. The development corporation has frequently said that the object of the competition, a master land-use plan, is not to "include the detailed architecture of individual structures." But many architects worry that the teams' detailed models and impressively realistic video presentations will encourage the public to perceive them as concrete plans. (New York Times)



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