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Rebuilding NYC February 2002


Century 21 and P.S. 89 Reopen - Feb 28, 2002
Century 21 -- the famed retailer of discounted designer goods -- today reopened its flagship store, just steps from the devastation of Ground Zero. Nearby businesses are hopeful that the return of Century 21 will bring more people into the area and give their establishments a boost as well. Students at P.S. 89 also returned to their classrooms for the first time since the school was evacuated the morning of Sept. 11. (Newsday)

Mayor and Governor Back Idea of Burying West Street Near Ground Zero - Feb 28, 2002
Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg strongly endorsed a proposal to bury West St. along the World Trade Center site yesterday, helping to bridge the divide between Battery Park City and the rest of lower Manhattan. Supporters said a tunnel would help make downtown a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week neighborhood — an area even more vibrant than it was before the Sept. 11 attacks. With vehicles traveling underneath, the area would be transformed into a pedestrian promenade or park. (New York Daily News)

Verizon and Con Ed May Raise Rates Due To September 11 - Feb 28, 2002
With their hopes of federal aid fading, Verizon and Consolidated Edison are warning that they may make consumers pay for hundreds of millions of dollars in losses they suffered as a result of the World Trade Center attack. For the average ratepayer, the move could mean as much as an extra $40 per year on the combined utility bills. Any rate increase would require approval from the state's Public Service Commission. (New York Times)

Tribute of Light Approved for 6-Month Anniversary - Feb 28, 2002
Beams of light evoking the bases of the twin towers will soon soar near Ground Zero in a temporary memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, officials said yesterday. "It would appear that it will be built," Mayor Bloomberg said, hours after meeting with members of victims' family groups. The "Tribute of Light," will consist of two 50-foot squares of light, Bloomberg and others said. It will be illuminated from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. beginning March 11 — the six-month anniversary of the attacks — through April 13. The squares will rise above an empty lot at Vesey and West Sts. in Battery Park City. (New York Daily News)

Downtown Coalition Presents Rebuilding Recommendations - Feb 27, 2002
Rebuild Downtown Our Town, R.DOT for short, yesterday presented its initial recommendations for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan. The coalition of Lower Manhattan residents, businesses and professionals, advocates a mixed-use, mixed-income district, with connections to local and regional transportation and state-of-the-art communications systems. In many respects, its proposals are similar to those previously made by New York New Visions, a coalition of architects, planners and designers. (Gotham Gazette)

Bloomberg and Pataki Say Rebuilding of Downtown Should Wait for Overall Plan - Feb 27, 2002
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Governor George E. Pataki suggested yesterday that a Manhattan developer should not go ahead with construction at 7 World Trade Center until completion of an overall development plan for Lower Manhattan. The remarks contrast with recent signals from state and city officials on the pace of rebuilding Lower Manhattan. (New York Times)

Giuliani To Distribute Twin Towers Fund Within 60 Days - Feb 27, 2002
In an effort to end a bitter dispute, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani agreed yesterday to distribute within 60 days $100 million in the city Twin Towers Fund to the families of 430 uniformed and civilian rescuers who died on September 11. Many of the families had criticized efforts by the former mayor to privately run the charity, hire a staff of 12 and perhaps take months or years to distribute the millions of dollars. Some had threatened to sue to block Giuliani from controlling the fund, which had been collected under the auspices of City Hall. (New York Times)

Diversity of City-State Rebuilding Authority Criticized - Feb 26, 2002
The agency in charge of rebuilding lower Manhattan is overwhelmingly white and male, with almost no women or minorities on its staff or board of directors, City Council members charged yesterday. Lou Tomson, who was appointed LMDC executive director in January, said that of nine employees hired this month, all were white and there was only one woman. "I recognize the necessity of recruiting a staff that more accurately reflects the diversity of the city," Tomson said. He said the staff hired so far was assembled quickly and "there wasn't time" to seek out a more diverse group. Tomson said he expected to hire about 11 more people - filling several "major" positions - and would now take diversity into consideration. (New York Post)

Relatives of Victims to Request an Indoor Viewing Area - Feb 26, 2002
World Trade Center family groups will meet with Mayor Bloomberg tomorrow to demand an indoor viewing area inside a building overlooking Ground Zero so they can get a better view of how the cleanup is progressing. Farrell said the five family groups that make up the World Trade Center Family Committee want the viewing area moved to an upper floor of a building on Liberty St. Other demands include increasing the number of workers charged with searching the rubble by hand for human remains, more frequent meetings with the mayor and access to Ground Zero once the recovery is finished. (New York Daily News)

Service Held for 1993 World Trade Center Victims - Feb 26, 2002
Six victims who were killed nine years ago when terrorists bombed the World Trade Center were remembered today with a Mass near ground zero, where terrorists slaughtered about 3,000 on Sept. 11. About 200 people attended the service at St. Peter’s Church, just a few steps from the Trade Center site. (Newsday)

City Council Complains About Exclusion From Rebuilding - Feb 26, 2002
City Council members complained Monday that they have been excluded from the lower Manhattan redevelopment process and from the board responsible for spending $2 billion in federal aid. Councilman James Sanders Jr., chairman of the Committee on Economic Development, complained that “the current elected leadership of New York City ... had no role in appointing members to the one body charged with developing lower Manhattan” and suggested that four more members should be added to the board, two appointed by the council and two by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Sanders also complained that the redevelopment board “does not much resemble the city that it hopes to rebuild” because it includes only two women and one black person. (Associated Press)

Memorial to 1993 World Trade Center Victims Destroyed - Feb 26, 2002
A memorial commemorating the six victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing was destroyed on September 11. Only a small fragment of the 1993 memorial has been recovered, said Charles Maikish, the former executive director of the trade center. This morning, that fragment will be taken to St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church on Barclay Street for a Mass of remembrance for those killed in the 1993 bombing. (New York Times)

Families of 1993 Bombing Victims Feeling Left Out - Feb 25, 2002
More than a dozen friends and relatives of the victims of the 1993 bombing held a news conference outside City Hall yesterday, asking why they had not been eligible for government aid, why charities had not raised money for them in their time of need, why they had been left out of the recent tax relief law, and why they had not been consulted about plans for a new memorial to World Trade Center victims. Senator Charles E. Schumer, who joined the relatives at the news conference, said that he would call John C. Whitehead, the chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, and ask him to consult the families of the 1993 victims before planning a memorial. (New York Times)

FBI May Double New York City's Anti-Terrorism Force - Feb 25, 2002
The FBI is studying a plan to double the number of agents assigned to New York's Joint Terrorism Task Force by making it a special division of the bureau, sources said yesterday. The plan, which was submitted last week by the bureau's New York office to FBI Director Robert Mueller, would reinforce the nearly 150 agents assigned to the task force by adding eight new investigation groups. (New York Post)

More Jobs Headed Out of City Due to September 11 - Feb 25, 2002
Marsh & McLennan, a financial services giant that once housed 1,900 employees in the World Trade Center, is planning to move many of those jobs to New Jersey. Marsh has reached a deal to lease at least 300,000 square feet of office space at Hoboken's Waterfront Corporate Center, according to real estate sources. Manhattan will lose at least 1,200 jobs as a result of the deal, a source said. With Marsh getting an option to lease another 100,000 square feet, the company could move as many as 2,000 jobs across the Hudson. (New York Daily News)

Lead and Fiberglass Levels Still High in Downtown Public School - Feb 25, 2002
Dust samples taken this month at a Battery Park City school show elevated levels of lead and fiberglass, raising parents' concerns about the building's safety days before children are to return to class there. Levels of lead and fiberglass were up to four times higher than federal limits. The samples were taken from a windowsill in an unoccupied section of the third floor, prompting an immediate cleaning, Board of Ed spokesman Kevin Ortiz said. More dust samples taken after the cleaning were free of contaminants, as were tests of air samples taken before and after the cleaning, he said. (New York Daily News)

1993 Victims Families Included in Advisory Council - Feb 25, 2002
Families of the six victims killed in the 1993 attack at the World Trade Center will have a voice in the group formed after Sept. 11 to coordinate redevelopment of the trade center site and creation of a memorial to the victims. Relatives of the 1993 attack worried their loved ones were being forgotten, especially because the granite fountain memorial dedicated to the victims of the first attack was destroyed when the twin towers crumbled on Sept. 11. (Newsday)

Hearing Brings Out Anger, Confusion Over Air Quality - Feb 24, 2002
The confusion over the air quality inside and outside buildings near ground zero was clearly evident again yesterday at an investigative hearing before the national ombudsman for the federal Enironmental Protection Agency. City and federal officials "have completely left the tenants and the residents and property owners in Lower Manhattan to their own devices to deal with the contamination and asbestos and other hazardous materials as a result of the World Trade Center," said United States Representative Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes ground zero and who presided over yesterday's hearing. "It's very clear that the city and federal government are not upholding the law." (New York Times)

9/11, Ground Zero Etc. Will Be In The Language For Good, Lexicographers Say - Feb 24, 2002
9/11, Ground Zero, weaponize, theoterrorism, daisy cutter are among the words most likely to enter the English language permanently, making their way into dictionaries. Also burka and Taliban. Said one dictionary editor: "No one asks about chad anymore." (New York Times)

9/11 Families Approve Temporary Memorial - Feb 23, 2002
The families of September 11 victims have given the green light to a temporary memorial using a bronze sculpture that once stood on the World Trade Center plaza. The families also gave their nod to a triangular parcel of land in northern Battery Park City, dubbed Teardrop Park, as the favorted site for the much-anticipated interim memorial, said Christy Ferer, the mayor's liaison with victims' relatives. (New York Daily News)

Developer Silverstein Presses To Begin Construction On 7 WTC In June - Feb 23, 2002
Larry A. Silverstein, who controls the lease for the 16-acre World Trade Center site, has a new proposal for rebuilding his office tower just to the north of the site, at 7 World Trade Center, that he hopes will finally address all the objections from local residents and downtown officials. But even as Mr. Silverstein presses to begin construction in June, some top state officials, civic organizations and community groups say they are considering whether to scuttle Mr. Silverstein's development rights on the larger and adjacent trade center site and prevent him from taking part in the broader reconstruction project, which promises to be one of the most ambitious urban development programs in the country. (New York Times)

9/11 Changed NYC Museums - Feb 23, 2002
Many museums throughout the city hae rethought their exhibitions, and even their missions, since September 11. (New York Times)

First Tower To Fall Was Hit At Higher Speed, Study Finds - Feb 23, 2002
Researchers trying to explain why the World Trade Center's south tower fell first, though struck second, are focusing on new calculations showing that the passenger jet that hit the south tower had been flying as fast as 586 miles an hour, about 100 miles an hour faster than the other hijacked plane. (New York Times)

Police Hire Firm To Study September 11 Response - Feb 22, 2002
The Police Department has hired a high-powered business consulting firm to analyze its response to the World Trade Center attack and is seeking $700 million in federal funds to pay for anti-terrorism equipment. McKinsey & Co., which says it helps two-thirds of the companies on the Fortune 1,000 improve operations, will analyze the police response to the Sept. 11 attack, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday after a City Council hearing on anti-terrorism tactics. Kelly said the consulting firm will interview officers and supervisors who were at the scene, looking at "a whole myriad of things." (Newsday)

Rebuilding Agency To Determine Indoor Air Quality Standards - Feb 22, 2002
Swamped with complaints about health concerns from people living near Ground Zero, the state-city agency overseeing the rebuilding of lower Manhattan is considering establishing a standard to determine when air in apartments is safe to breathe. Paul Crotty, a board member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, said the agency should consider hiring a consultant to "harmonize" standards for indoor air quality. No legal or regulatory indoor air quality standards exist in the state. Scientists have little idea how people might be affected by the mix of toxins downtown, including asbestos and PCBs — making broad standards difficult to set. (New York Daily News)

Mayor Backs Giuliani Control of Relief Fund - Feb 22, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday he saw no reason not to transfer control of the Twin Towers Fund to a private charity run by Rudy Giuliani, a move that some firefighters and victims' families now oppose. The mayor said he is confident Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who regulates charities, will resolve the matter in a way that meets Giuliani's wishes and the families' concerns. The families have complained that Giuliani packed the board with friends and plans to spend $1.2 million on employee salaries. (New York Daily News)

City Calls on eBay To End World Trade Center Auctions - Feb 22, 2002
The Bloomberg administration demanded yesterday that eBay, the Internet auction company, remove World Trade Center memorabilia from its Web site, calling some of the items for sale "blatant attempts to profit from mass murder" and "nauseating." In recent days, sellers have used eBay to try to auction a flight-simulator computer program that allows users to fly between the towers, graphic photographs of people preparing to jump to their deaths, recordings billed as "911 uncut rescue tapes" and a brass World Trade Center ashtray that is described as "a real conversation piece." (New York Times)

Two Memorial Proposals Close To Approval - Feb 22, 2002
Two proposals for temporary memorials to the victims of the World Trade Center attack, one using huge beams of light and the other a damaged bronze sculpture, are moving closer to approval, city and state officials said yesterday. The remains of the spherical bronze sculpture by Fritz Koenig that stood in the World Trade Center plaza would serve as the centerpiece of a temporary memorial being considered by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the group overseeing the rebuilding of downtown. The memorial would remain in place for as long as two years, while a permanent memorial was conceived and installed at the site of the fallen towers. (New York Times)

Police Officers' Widows Oppose Giuliani's Control Of Fund - Feb 21, 2002
The widows of 15 police officers killed at the World Trade Center threatened yesterday to take legal action to try to stop the Bloomberg administration from transferring control of the $160-million Twin Towers Fund to a private charity of the same name run by Rudolph W. Giuliani.The transfer must be approved in State Supreme Court before it can become final. (New York Times)

Attorney General Urges Watchdogs For Twin Towers Charity - Feb 21, 2002
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has asked former Mayor Rudy Giuliani to make changes to the Twin Towers Fund, including adding a city appointee to the charity's board. Spitzer also wants Giuliani to subject the fund, which has recently come under criticism, to annual audits by the city Comptroller's Office and the Department of Investigation. (New York Post)

Feds Offer $220 M For Residents Near Ground Zero - Feb 21, 2002
Anyone living near the World Trade Center site, or about to move there, will be eligible to share $220 million in federal aid to be used for rent, maintenance or mortgage payments. (New York Daily News)

Public Still Buying Gas Masks Etc. - Feb 20, 2002
Sales at stores around the city that sell antiterrorism devices have been strong since 9/11. Sales, primarily of gas masks, surged at Army surplus shops and survival stores immediately after the attacks and continue to ride a swell. (New York Times)

Seven 9/11 Families Sue Osama bin Laden - Feb 20, 2002
The families of seven victims of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center filed a class-action lawsuit today against Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda and the Taliban, as well as Iran and Iraq. "Our goal is simple," said Fiona Havlish, whose husband, Donald G. Havlish Jr., was killed when a hijacked airliner crashed into the south tower of the trade center. "We want to prevent all those responsible for our losses from ever inflicting such pain on others." (New York Times)

Health Care Coverage Running Out for Victims' Relatives - Feb 20, 2002
For the first time in their lives, middle- and upper-class families of Sept. 11 victims are scrambling to find affordable health care coverage as their benefits come to an end. Most companies devastated by the World Trade Center collapse provided health benefits to families of the dead for at least six months. Some were more generous, offering discounted or fully paid coverage to families for years. Spouses of city cops and firefighters killed in attacks get health insurance for life, with extended coverage of their children. The American Red Cross also is temporarily paying some insurance bills. (New York Daily News)

Interim Memorial Site Down To A Couple Contenders - Feb 19, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. is eying two parcels for the interim memorial: a large, undeveloped lot in Battery Park City and the scarred, eastern edge of Ground Zero, agency chairman John Whitehead told The Daily News yesterday. The top candidate is a Battery Park City parcel — known as Site 26, between West St. and the Embassy Suites Hotel on North End Ave. But another nearby site — a small, triangular park on Murray St. — also has been gaining favor, they said. Sources said another Battery Park City parcel also is being considered. Included with the article is a map of the proposed sites. (New York Daily News)

Online Auctions of World Trade Center Items Draws Complaints - Feb 19, 2002
In the first week after the attacks, the auction site eBay banned the sale of Trade Center memorabilia, except for charity, through Dec. 31 after an initial outcry. Now hundreds of World Trade Center-related items are available, sparking criticisms from some quarters. eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said the company made clear from the beginning that the moratorium would end Dec. 31. The company raised $10 million for charity during a special auction during that period. (Newsday)

Conflict Between Silverstein, Development Authority Over Rebuilding - Feb 18, 2002
In response to residents' and critics' concerns about Larry Silverstein's intentions to begin rebuilding 7 World Trade Center starting this summer, several Lower Manhattan Development Corporation board members have been arguing that rebuilding 7 WTC should be part of an overall plan for the area. "I know how important the redevelopment of WTC 7 is, [but Silverstein] can't have it the way he wants it: in Greenwich Street," said LMDC board member Paul Crotty at a meeting last week. "It will bottle up the planning on the rest of lower Manhattan." Silverstein's fast-track pace has irked some on the LMDC. Sources said Silverstein met with new LMDC master planner Alexander Garvin late last week to start solving the design problem. LMDC executive director Lou Tomson said the board will come up with a set of goals by late May, and its newly hired master planner, Garvin, will then "translate those goals into various plans." (New York Daily News)

Victims' Families Want To Meet With Mayor - Feb 16, 2002
Families of more than a dozen police officers slain on Sept. 11 sent a letter to Mayor Bloomberg yesterday asking for an immediate meeting to discuss their fears about the Twin Towers Fund. The letter comes on the heels of another missive from cops' families concerned that the fund, which has raised $150 million, will become bogged down in administrative costs. Former Mayor Giuliani has been involved recently in a controversy over the amount of money to be paid to administrative staff overseeing the fund. (New York Post)

New Fund for Emergency Workers Distributes First Relief - Feb 16, 2002
A new charity will help firefighters, cops and other rescuers who have been injured while working at Ground Zero. Seven firefighters got $1,500 checks yesterday from the new World Trade Center Miracle Foundation, a California charity that created the Ground Zero Medical Fund. Emergency Medical Service workers and volunteers also will receive assistance. (New York Daily News)

Silverstein To Get $365 Million From Insurers - Feb 16, 2002
World Trade Center landlord Larry Silverstein settled with two insurance companies yesterday, conceding that under their policies the twin towers' collapse marked one occurrence, not two. Ace Bermuda and XL will pay Silverstein $365 million, the settlement amount, within the next month. "The money is going to go into an escrow account initially. Ultimately, we expect that the money will be used to rebuild the World Trade Center," said Silverstein attorney Eric Roth. (New York Daily News)

Families of Police Victims Trying To Stop Rudy's Plans for Twin Towers Fund - Feb 15, 2002
The families of 14 of the 23 police officers killed at the World Trade Center threw a roadblock Thursday in front of Rudolph Giuliani’s plans for a staff of nearly a dozen people to administer his $100 million Twin Towers Fund. A lawyer representing the families, Edward Hayes, faxed Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly a letter Thursday voicing the group’s opinion that no bureaucracy of 11 staffers is needed to handle the funds. “My clients feel that these generous donations are for their benefit and there is no need for any bureaucracy to make decisions for them,” Hayes’ letter said. (Newsday)

Charities' Deadline To Apply For Disaster Relief Approaching - Feb 15, 2002
Having already doled out hundreds of millions of dollars to residents and businesses in Lower Manhattan, three of the charitable funds that have given the most to victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack will soon stop taking applications for emergency cash grants for anyone who has lost a job, a business or income because of the attack. Officials with the funds — the American Red Cross's Liberty Fund, the Sept. 11 Fund and the Salvation Army — said they thought it was time to move from providing disaster relief to financing longer-term services like job training and counseling. And they said they had already reached a sizable number of those affected, disbursing an estimated $250 million to more than 50,000 displaced workers and business owners to date. Charity officials, who at first said they were confident they had made a reasonable effort to inform people of the deadline, late yesterday announced they would extend the deadline for people to make appointments to discuss aid to March 8. (New York Times)

MTA Awards Contract For Reconstruction Of 1 And 9 Subway Lines - Feb 15, 2002
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Thursday it has awarded a contract for the reconstruction of the 1 and 9 subway lines into lower Manhattan, which were badly damaged in the World Trade Center attacks. The $92 million contract was awarded to a partnership of Tully Construction and Pegno Construction. The MTA says it is saving millions of dollars because those construction companies are already working on rebuilding a PATH station in the same area. (NY1)

Twin Towers in the Harbor - One Memorial Plan - Feb 14, 2002
Timothy Noah of Slate.com highlights today a memorial idea proposed by Fred Bernstein. The memorial would consist of two tower-length piers jutting out into the harbor, both piers inscribed with the names of those who died in the towers on September 11. The piers would also serve as docks for boats back and forth between Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. (Slate.com)

Smaller Neighborhood Nonprofits Suffering - Feb 14, 2002
Small neighborhood nonprofits, which provide much of the social service and community development in the city, are struggling, even as the economy gets worse and demand for their services rises. Philanthropic giving rose sharply after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, but most of the money went to big, name-brand nonprofit organizations. A combination of decreased government contracts, lower-than-expected foundation grants, and diminishing fees resulting from fewer customers has hurt these service-oriented nonprofits. (New York Times)

Hopes for Downtown Recovery with Century 21 Reopening - Feb 14, 2002
Having suffered more than $10 million in damage from the World Trade Center attacks across the street, Century 21 Department Store is scurrying to open this month, possibly as soon as next week. Raymond Gindi, chief operating officer and a member of the Brooklyn founding family that owns the three-store chain, said yesterday that he had hoped to welcome shoppers next Tuesday, but the cleaning and rebuilding had taken much longer than expected. Because of continuing construction delays, the date may be pushed back yet again. Although many retailers are pinched by the recession, those offering good deals are attracting customers and succeeding, retail analyst Walter Loeb said. "I think there is going to be a real effort to get people to come down to the area and revitalize it," he said. (Newsday)

Independent Survey Reveals Terrible Air Quality Downtown - Feb 14, 2002
The collapse of the World Trade Center and the fires that burned at Ground Zero produced some of the highest air pollution levels ever studied, a team of independent researchers said this week. "Even on the worst air days in Beijing, downwind from coal-fired power plants, or in the Kuwaiti oil fires, we did not see these levels of fine particulates," said Tom Cahill, professor emeritus at the University of California-Davis, who headed the air-monitoring team. The findings sharply contradict reports from the federal Environmental Protection Agency that worrisome levels of metals and other pollutants in the air were mostly confined to the immediate vicinity of Ground Zero. The UC-Davis team went beyond EPA testing methods, monitoring for even tinier particulates than the agency normally looks for, and found a much higher concentration of contaminants in the air. (New York Daily News)

Cantor Fitzgerald Looking To Return To Manhattan - Feb 14, 2002
Cantor Fitzgerald, which lost more than 650 employees in the destruction of the World Trade Center, is looking to reunite most of its 400 area employees in one office in Manhattan. After the destruction of 250,000 square feet of space in the twin towers on Sept. 11, the brokerage moved surviving staffers to offices in Rosell Park, Shrewsbury, and Weehawken N.J., and to Darien, Conn. The firm has begun talking to city and state officials about moving workers back to the city. "Now, we need only 75,000 to 80,000 square feet," Lutnick said. "We're beginning to examine the situations with the city and the state." (New York Daily News)

Authorities Fail To Disclose WTC Air Health Risks - Feb 13, 2002
In the days after the World Trade Center collapsed, a team of top government scientists confirmed that the smoky, gray dust in the air was highly corrosive and a potentially serious health threat. Experts from the U.S. Geological Survey found some of the dust was as caustic as liquid drain cleaner and alerted the government agencies involved in the disaster. But neither workers breathing in the toxic air nor residents of lower Manhattan were ever informed. Their tests of air in the week after September 11 indicate that many areas had alkalinity at least as high as ammonia, and in some cases at levels of liquid drain cleaner. (Newsday)

Port Authority May Still Overrule City-State Development Authority - Feb 13, 2002
Paul Crotty, one of the 11 board members of the newly-formed Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, said that when it comes to land owned by the Port Authority, which includes the World Trade Center complex, it's still unclear who has the final say. Though the LMDC has been given sweeping powers by Gov. Pataki, the Port Authority does not fall under its direct jurisdiction because it is an agency governed by both New York and New Jersey. (New York Daily News)

Controller's Report Shows Negative Impact of Attacks on Economy - Feb 13, 2002
A report from Controller William Thompson paints a bleak picture of the effects of September 11 on the city's economy. The gross city product, which measures all economic activity, shrank 4.4% in the fourth quarter, while the nation showed a surprising overall growth of 0.2% in the same period. "Although New York City's economy began to show signs of weakness in the second quarter of 2001, the recession has deepened as a result of the World Trade Center attack," city Controller William Thompson said. (New York Daily News)

Con Edison Racing To Build New Substation - Feb 13, 2002
Consolidated Edison executives say that they are in a race against time to build a new electrical substation in New York City before the summer, when air-conditioning use is expected to increase to levels that could overload the electrical grid in Lower Manhattan. Officials say that they have to complete the project by the summer, which means finishing it in about half the time it normally takes. If a new substation is not built by June, the handful of substations that have been distributing electricity to customers who lost power on Sept. 11 could overload, resulting in blackouts. (New York Times)

Hard Times for Small Businesses Downtown - Feb 12, 2002
According to a survey by the Downtown Alliance, one in five retail businesses in the disaster area could not pay its rent last month. A slightly larger number - 22% - have been making partial rent payments since Sept. 11. Two recovery centers in lower Manhattan are accepting applications for federal aid. Of the $700 million approved to rebuild the area, $396 million is set aside for small business loans and grants, and $250 million is available to get business to stay in the area or move there. Another $558 million will be available soon. (New York Daily News)

$700 Million Federal Aid Downtown: A Visual Aid - Feb 12, 2002
The Daily News takes a look at the recent $700 million grant to the city for downtown businesses with a breakdown of the aid offered by the federal government and a map of the area covering eligible businesses. (New York Daily News)

Focus Of Recovery Shifts To 45 Damaged Buildings Near Ground Zero - Feb 12, 2002
Five months after the World Trade Center attack, the focus of the recovery effort is moving outward from ground zero to another trauma zone: a ring of battered skyscrapers and other buildings that once held 10 million square feet of floor space, slightly more than the twin towers.These wounded buildings, which somehow remained standing, are no ordinary structures: two are landmarks, one is a key communication center and another held classrooms that served thousands of college students each day. (New York Times)

Planner Appointed for Lower Manhattan Development Corporation - Feb 11, 2002
Alexander Garvin, an urban planner, city planning commissioner, and teacher at Yale University, was appointed this weekend to be in charge of coming up with such a development plan. His title will be vice president for planning, design and development for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. "The revitalization of lower Manhattan presents many complex challenges," Garvin said. "We need to develop an appropriate way to honor those who perished on Sept. 11. The residents, business and property owners of lower Manhattan expect to get back to normal as quickly as possible." (Crain's New York Business)

Congressman Nadler Slams Feds At U.S. Senate Hearing On Downtown Air Quality - Feb 11, 2002
U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler charged while testifying at a Senate subcommittee that the federal Environmental Protection Agency created “a full-scale crisis of public confidence” by assuring New Yorkers that the air was safe to breathe after Sept. 11. Nadler said while the EPA had tested outdoor air quality, no one had tested the air and dust inside the buildings near the World Trade Center site. (Associated Press)

Century 21, Popular Discount Clothing Story, To Reopen Soon - Feb 10, 2002
Century 21, the popular discount clothing store located across the street from the World Trade Center, has been cleared of dust and other debris and is ready to open later this month. While the owners declined to name an official opening date, citing concerns that construction might cause delays, the store's tawny wood-paneled walls and marble floors have been polished and sandblasted to a sheen, its fabled third floor of European designer fashions refurbished and already stocked with pristine merchandise, most of it fresh off the spring 2002 runways. (New York Times)

New Yorkers Downtown Still Uncertain About September 11 Health Risks - Feb 8, 2002
New Yorkers still don't know what to make of the potential health risks downtown. With a lack of leadership and consensus from government across all levels about the quality of the air downtown, residents and workers are left to their own devices when it comes to figuring out how to make their homes and workplaces safe. One of the biggest concerns is the lack of testing in indoor spaces, which the Natural Resources Defense Council claims fell through the cracks. Currently it is ultimately up to the building owners and tenants themselves to determine the level of concern and clean-up necessary to insure a safe working or living environment. (New York Times)

State Approves June Rebuilding of 7 World Trade Center - Feb 8, 2002
Charles Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corp., which oversees the agency in charge of downtown redevelopment, gave a resounding thumbs-up yesterday to starting to rebuild 7 World Trade Center as early as June, despite concerns by some that the timetable is too fast. Larry Silverstein, who built the original 47-story skyscraper on the block between Vesey and Barclay Sts. in 1987, has said he believes he needs only the approval of the Port Authority, which owns the land. Among the concerns of those who worry about the quick rebuilding are how to reorient the building so it does not block Greenwich St., and where to place Con Edison substations and Port Authority cargo bays. (New York Daily News)

City Facing $7 Billion in Lawsuits - Feb 8, 2002
From recovery workers who say they suffer lung problems to business people who say their shops were damaged, 1,300 people have filed notices of intent to sue the city for a total of $7.18 billion in damages related to the World Trade Center aftermath. The vast majority are firefighters who say the city gave them inadequate respiratory protection for recovery and cleanup work at the smoldering trade-center site, according to notices filed with the city. The city is self-insured and awards from successful lawsuits would come from the city's general fund, Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo said. (New York Post)

Bush Reaffirms $20 Billion Pledge in NYC Visit - Feb 7, 2002
President Bush flew into New York yesterday and declared that he would stand by his pledge to provide the city with at least $20 billion to help rebuild from last summer's terrorist attacks, moving to dispel doubts raised by Democrats about the depth of the White House's commitment to help New York recover. Bush also announced that he supported a proposal to create $5 billion in tax credits in downtown Manhattan to stop businesses from fleeing the area. "When I say $20 billion, I mean $20 billion," said Bush. (New York Times)

Giuliani Seeks To Take Over Twin Towers Fund - Feb 6, 2002
The city-run Twin Towers Fund has suspended payments to the families of dead firefighters, police officers and other uniformed heroes while a fledgling charity controlled by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani attempts to take over the funds assets about $100 million and growing. The transfer, possibly unprecedented in nature, needs approval by Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. CUNY vice chancellor Frederick Schaffer, the chairman of the city-run charity, said the organization, called the New York City Public and Private Initiative, had planned from the outset to spin off the Twin Towers Fund. (Newsday)

New Wall To Keep Out Hudson Must Be Built, Says Head Engineer - Feb 6, 2002
According to George Tamaro, the engineer who directed the original construction of the World Trade Center, the "bathtub” which keeps out the Hudson River suffered so much damage on Sept. 11 that a new wall will have to be added before permanent rebuilding can occur. Tamaro, a partner at Mueser-Rutledge Consulting Engineers, believes that a second interior wall -- or "liner wall” -- must be constructed to augment the original "bathtub.” The project would cost $15 million to $20 million, he estimated. Such a project will add an unspecified amount of time to the overall reconstruction of the site. (Newsday)

Bloomberg Lays Out Vision for Downtown - Feb 6, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg vowed yesterday to rebuild lower Manhattan as a bustling 24-hour community. The mayor, speaking at an Association for a Better New York breakfast, said improving downtown transportation is imperative. Bloomberg cited several steps his administration has taken to improve lower Manhattan, including "working aggressively" to reopen the entire Battery Tunnel to all traffic — passenger cars are still banned from entering Manhattan from 6 a.m. to 8p.m. — and the West Side Highway. The city also has formed an emergency task force "to dramatically expand" ferry service in lower Manhattan. Bloomberg also ordered the City Planning Department to evaluate "creative zoning" to permit greater residential, cultural and retail use. The city also will look for sites that offer new housing opportunities. (New York Daily News)

More Schools Reopen Near Ground Zero - Feb 5, 2002
Students of P.S. 234 and P.S. 150, both only blocks away from the World Trade Center, returned to school on Monday. Since Sept. 11, the 170 students of P.S. 150 have been temporarily housed at P.S. 3 in Greenwich Village, and the 600 students of P.S. 234 were at St. Bernard's, a former Catholic school, also in the Village. (New York Times)

City Clamping Down on Ground Zero Steel Sales - Feb 5, 2002
The city is telling scrap yards not to sell steel from the World Trade Center to companies that want to exploit the tragedy by turning the wreckage into things like souvenirs, says the Daily News. A Georgia company, International Agile Manufacturing, has been melting tons of the steel into commemorative medallions and selling the souvenirs for $29.95 each. (New York Daily News)

World Financial Center Reopens Some Shops - Feb 5, 2002
Several shops and restaurants reopened in the World Financial Center today. Pedestrian access to the area will also be eased with the opening of a makeshift plywood and iron walkway between the lobby of 2 World Financial Center and to a courtyard between 3 and 4 World Financial Center. (New York Times)

Bush's Budget Reduces Federal Aid, Lawmakers Say - Feb 5, 2002
In his recent budget proposal to Congress, President Bush revealed that he will be including the $5 billion to be paid out to the relatives of the World Trade Center victims as part of the $20 billion aid package he pledged to New York City last fall. New York Congressional representatives are angered over what they see as a shortchanging of relief aid promised by the President, saying that the distribution of the federal compensation fund for relatives of victims was never intended as part of the $20 billion in federal aid. The city has received $11 billion from the federal government so far, and lawmakers anticipated receiving another $9 billion. (New York Post)

Does New York Need Another Moses? - Feb 4, 2002
Robert Moses, the domineering master builder from a less democratic era in the city's history, comes to mind increasingly as New Yorkers look to the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. Many wonder how it will ever be accomplished, given clashing agendas and a large and ever- growing cast of characters, not one of them a leader with the kind of power and authority it will take to bring order to fragmentation, vision to necessity. A few New Yorkers are asking if there is something halfway between a willful master builder and decision (or indecision) by committee. (New York Times)

Health Department Campaign Aims At Psychological Healing - Feb 3, 2002
Hand-scrawled posters that read like pages torn from a diary are promoting New York Needs Us Strong, a city Health Department campaign offering free crisis counseling for anyone feeling the strain of the World Trade Center attacks. The city program is part of Project Liberty, a state initiative funded by a $23 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The campaign refers people to LifeNet, a 24-hour hotline operated by the Mental Health Association of New York City. Although almost five months have elapsed since Sept. 11, the demand for psychological counseling services has continued to rise, experts say. LifeNet saw its calls double after Sept. 11. In December, the state started promoting the hotline in television and radio ads, and the number rose further: The hotline received 11,650 calls in December and January, compared with 5,300 a year earlier, said director John Draper. (Newsday)

Many Obstacles To Recovery for Businesses Downtown - Feb 3, 2002
Small businesses downtown are finding that location and luck are integral to determining their own success after the collapse of the World Trade Center. These businesses are facing huge hurdles on the road to recovery: decreased foot traffic, damaged transportation lines, unhelpful insurance companies, physical or structural damage, and simply location near ground zero. (New York Times)

Feds Approve $700 Million Grant to Help Rebuild Lower Manhattan - Feb 3, 2002
The Bush administration said today that it had approved a $700 million grant for New York State to help rebuild Lower Manhattan, create jobs and revive businesses devastated by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The secretary of housing and urban development, Mel Martinez, said the money would be released next week, after Congress reviews the spending plan. The money is being provided through the Community Development Block Grant program. Of the $700 million, $396 million is earmarked for loans and grants to small businesses. The next largest portion, $250 million, is to provide incentives for companies to stay in Lower Manhattan or relocate there. (New York Times)

Experts Still Probing Why Towers Fell - Feb 2, 2002
Engineers and other experts have been struggling to answer the monumental questions of exactly why and how the Twin Towers, designed to sustain a jet impact, completely collapsed. Much of the effort is focused on trying to find steel that was at or above the floors rammed by the hijacked jets. The towers collapsed from the top down and the fires were concentrated in these areas, so the presumption is that the answer to why they fell down should be found by examining the steel from these spots. Perhaps the deepest mystery uncovered in the investigation involves extremely thin bits of steel collected from the trade towers and from 7 World Trade Center, a 47-story high rise that also collapsed for unknown reasons. The steel apparently melted away, but no fire in any of the buildings was believed to be hot enough to melt steel outright. (New York Times)

City Council Wants Say in Rebuilding - Feb 1, 2002
Several City Council members are trying to form their own commission for improving lower Manhattan. They are pushing for a nine-member panel, appointed by the council and Mayor Bloomberg, to coordinate "all activities necessary to aid affected businesses remaining in the city." The proposal was introduced Wednesday by Allan Jennings (D-Queens). Jennings said the council "has no input, and neither does the State Assembly, in the commission the governor appointed. "So [it] is making decisions without input from constituents. We have to do something," Jennings said. (New York Post)

Red Cross Announces Plans for Rest of Disaster Funds - Feb 1, 2002
The American Red Cross yesterday announced how it would distribute another $360 million from its giant Liberty Disaster Fund for victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Former United States Senator George J. Mitchell, who now oversees the fund, said $240 million would be paid in direct financial assistance to families, $80 million would go for long-term services like mental health treatment, and $25 million would be spent on immediate disaster relief, like the maintenance of support centers. (New York Times)

Advisory Boards Named for Rebuilding Authority - Feb 1, 2002
The commission charged with overseeing the rebuilding of lower Manhattan announced yesterday a long-awaited list of committees for "public input" - but gave scant details on what role they will play or how they will operate. Four citizens' committees with a total of 72 members were created. The so-called advisory councils "will provide valuable public input" as the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. works to form an overall plan for post-Sept. 11 recovery, the agency said in a statement. A General Advisory Committee was also created, composed of 13 state and local politicians and civic leaders, and headed by LMDC's own chairman, John Whitehead. Click here for a list of members of the panels. (New York Times)

Rebuilding NYC December 2003


Community Board One Debates Liberty Bond Extension - Dec 31, 2003
Community Board 1 is backing an extension of the tax-free Liberty Bond program but opposes using more of the money on residential buildings because members say it is encouraging too many small, luxury-rent apartments. (Downtown Express)

New Years Security Will be Highest Ever - Dec 31, 2003
Citing credible intelligence that terrrorists mention New York as an end-of-year target, federal and city law enforcement officials yesterday pumped up security to its highest level ever to ensure a safe New Year's Eve celebration tonight. (New York Daily News)

Congressman Advises People to Avoid Times Square on New Years - Dec 31, 2003
Connecticut Representative Christopher Shays issued a warning to New Year's Eve revelers yesterday, saying he wouldn't go to Times Square tonight "for anything." The Republican blasted Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge for telling Americans to ring in 2004 as they normally would. (New York Daily News)

Jury Is Said To Have Narrowed Its Choices - Dec 31, 2003
The jury that is to choose a design for the memorial at the World Trade Center site has narrowed its choices to two favorites, Garden of Lights and Passages of Light: the Memorial Cloud, people involved in the process said yesterday. Another design, Reflecting Absence, is also expected to be under consideration when the jurors reconvene early next week to judge the substantive changes that have been made, both at their request and by the artists themselves. (New York Times)

Queens Assemblyman To Push Bill To Return Ashes To Ground Zero - Dec 30, 2003
A Queens assemblyman said yesterday he will introduce legislation requiring Ground Zero debris carted to a Staten Island landfill to be returned to the World Trade Center site for burial. The bill will mirror a law signed last week by New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey that calls for the bistate Port Authority to put the debris in containers for its ultimate return to lower Manhattan. (New York Daily News)

4,000 File For 9/11 Injuries - Dec 30, 2003
More than 4,000 people claiming Sept. 11-related injuries have applied for federal compensation, surprising fund administrators with a deluge of last-minute applications. (Associated Press)

Transcripts Show That Cops Feared More Planes On 9/11 - Dec 30, 2003
Worried that the Sept. 11 attacks could escalate, jittery Port Authority cops asked La Guardia Airport traffic controllers if any other planes were headed the city's way, newly released police communications transcripts reveal. (New York Post)

Heightened Security For New Years - Dec 30, 2003
With the city at a heightened state of alert, unprecedented security measures will be in place on New Year's Eve in Times Square, where revelers will have to pass through metal detectors borrowed from city schools for the night, officials said yesterday. (New York Times)

The Engineer Behind The Freedom Tower - Dec 30, 2003
In hard hat, Guy Nordenson was one of the structural engineers who clambered for months through the smoking rubble of the World Trade Center. Now, minus the headgear, in the hushed spaces of his office near ground zero, he holds forth about torque and taper, about Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot. He speaks with considerable stillness and insistency, just as he does with his architecture students at Princeton. (New York Times)

9/11 Air Traffic Controller Transcripts Released - Dec 30, 2003
A set of tape transcripts released yesterday open a small window onto the flow of information among aviation authorities on Sept. 11, 2001, showing that air traffic officials in New York knew no more about the attacks than anyone watching television. (New York Times)

Giuliani Criticizes Freedom Tower Design - Dec 29, 2003
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani yesterday gave a thumbs-down to the new Freedom Tower design and other World Trade Center rebuilding plans, saying they don't pay tribute to the heroes who died or evoke the horror of what happened. (New York Post)

Tourists Return to New York - Dec 29, 2003
The tourists are back. Official statistics are hard to come by. But for the last week, more than 1,000 tourists a day have been dropping by NYC & Company's Visitor Information Center, a level not reached since before Sept. 11, 2001, a spokeswoman said. (New York Times)

PATH Traffic Down Significantly Since 9/11 - Dec 28, 2003
The new World Trade Center PATH station is moving just over 1/3 of the riders it did before 9/11 -- a dramatic indication of the job and economic losses in Lower Manhattan, Port Authority data show. (New York Post)

Firefighter Reunited With Colleague He Rescued on 9/11 - Dec 28, 2003
Louis Cacchioli saw himself in the Daily News more than a year ago, in a photo showing him helping a fellow firefighter escape from the World Trade Center collapse. Yesterday, he finally met the man he rescued. (New York Daily News)

$1.2 Million in 9/11 Aid is Returned - Dec 27, 2003
A major program to help small businesses in Lower Manhattan recover from the Sept. 11 terrorist attack has taken back $1.2 million in erroneous payments it made to 66 companies, according to the state agency administering the program. The agency, the Empire State Development Corporation, said the money was recovered from businesses that were found to have been overpaid, in some cases because financial information they submitted did not hold up in audits, though their applications were not necessarily fraudulent. (New York Times)

No Fear On Christmas - Dec 26, 2003
New York celebrated an Orange Christmas with defiance and grit, as the spirit of the holidays conquered all fears of terrorism. From the Empire State Building to the Rockefeller Center tree, New Yorkers and tourists ignored the nationwide orange alert and enjoyed a sun-soaked Christmas Day. (New York Daily News)

Two Visions Meet At 1,776 Feet - Dec 26, 2003
A week before they were to present it to the public, the architects David M. Childs and Daniel Libeskind had yet to find a form on which both could at least sign off, even if neither embraced it entirely. Their standoff was the latest in an architectural evolution that, however tortuous, wound up producing a remarkably well-regarded design. (New York Times)

New Jersey Law Calls For Return Of WTC Ashes To Ground Zero - Dec 25, 2003
The Port Authority must collect the ashen remains of World Trade Center victims now piled at the Fresh Kills landfill, under a law signed by New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey. The law calls for the ashes - remains of everything incinerated in the WTC attacks - to be stored in containers for eventual use at the Trade Center's permanent memorial. (New York Daily News)

Security Violation Spurs Airport Evacuation - Dec 25, 2003
Hundreds of passengers were forced to temporarily evacuate the Delta Air Lines terminal at La Guardia Airport last evening after a security breach by a passenger, officials said. Four departing flights were delayed, and passengers were required to pass through security checkpoints again, said Dan Maynard, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. (New York Times)

Wind and Light for Freedom Tower - Dec 24, 2003
A year after architect Daniel Libeskind first told the world about a 1,776-foot building reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty that he wanted to see built at the World Trade Center site, he watched David Childs explain how Childs kept the two ideas of wind and light and designed a new office building slated to rise at Fulton and West Sts. by next September. (Downtown Express)

Silverstein, Port Authority, Close Deal for $229 Million - Dec 24, 2003
Developer Larry Silverstein got more than $229 million in cash - all wrapped up in time for the holidays - when he closed a deal yesterday with the Port Authority to restructure the finances of his World Trade Center lease. The holiday bundle includes the return of the $98.5 million that Silverstein and his partners plunked down as equity when they leased the trade center from the Port Authority in July 2001, just weeks before the terror attacks. (New York Post)

Bloomberg Confirms City Request For Air Patrols - Dec 24, 2003
Ah, Christmas in New York. The tree in Rockefeller Center. Roasted chestnuts from street vendors. And F-16 fighter jets roaring overhead. Mayor Bloomberg confirmed yesterday that the NYPD has asked to have military jets patrol the skies over the city in response to the country's latest terrorism alert. (New York Daily News)

A Few Families Reject Compensation Fund - Dec 24, 2003
A handful of families have eschewed the money available to victims of the terrorist attacks, filing neither a lawsuit nor a claim through the federal Victims Compensation Fund. The exact number of families who filed is not yet known, because claims that were postmarked by the Monday deadline are still trickling in. As of yesterday, though, the Justice Department said that the families of 2,833 victims - more than 95 percent of the 2,976 killed on Sept. 11 - had filed claims. (Newsday)

Firefighters' Families File Suit Against City For 9/11 Radio Failure - Dec 23, 2003
The families of 12 firefighters who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks filed a lawsuit yesterday against New York City, claiming that the firefighters died unnecessarily because the city had issued them radios that did not work in high-rise buildings. The families have already filed with the federal Victim Compensation Fund, which required that they waive their right to most civil actions. However, their lawyers say that the language of the law that established the fund allows an exception for suing to recover money from insurance companies and similar sources. (New York Times)

Freedom Tower Follows Windmill Trend - Dec 23, 2003
The growing popularity of windmills as a clean way to generate electricity was on display Friday, when officials unveiled the design of the building that will be erected on the World Trade Center site. The plan calls for an unspecified number of windmills to be installed in the uninhabited top-third of the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, where they will catch the wind off the Hudson River and generate 20 percent of the building's electricity. (Newsday)

City Asks For Resumed Air Patrols - Dec 23, 2003
City officials are so concerned terrorists will use jetliners as terror weapons again that they're talking to the Pentagon about resuming regular air patrols over New York, police commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday. (Newsday)

Applicants Rush to Meet Deadline As 9/11 Compensation Program Ends - Dec 23, 2003
After a last-minute surge, 95 percent of eligible relatives of Sept. 11 victims had applied to join the government's ambitious but much-criticized compensation effort as the deadline neared last night. Officials with the federal Victim Compensation Fund, who worried just weeks ago that many eligible survivors would not sign up, said applications had come in by the hundreds as the hours to the midnight deadline wound down yesterday. (New York Times)

Despite Clamping the City Down, Bloomberg Urges People to Enjoy the Season - Dec 22, 2003
Faced with a rising national terror alert, Mayor Bloomberg ordered a new security clampdown yesterday even as he urged New Yorkers to enjoy the holidays in "the safest city in the world." (New York Daily News)

New Yorkers Shrug Off Heigntened Threat Level - Dec 22, 2003
New Yorkers weren't quaking in their boots with the word yesterday that the Department of Homeland Security raised the threat of a terrorist attack nationally from "elevated," or code yellow, to "high," or code orange. The move didn't actually alter New York City's threat alert level, which has been at Code Orange since the color coding system began. So for many people in the city, this was nothing to get nervous about. (Newsday)

City Reacts to Heightened Security Threat - Dec 22, 2003
National Guard units specially trained in counterterrorism will be posted in the city through the holidays, city officials said yesterday after the federal government raised its threat alert level. The national alert level was raised to orange, the same one the city has been under since the months after Sept. 11, 2001. (Newsday)

9/11 Fund Applications Surpass Goal - Dec 22, 2003
With the deadline for applications to the Sept. 11, 2001 victims' compensation fund only hours away, more than 90 percent of families who lost loved ones in the attacks had filed claims, the fund's chief administrator said Monday. (Newsday)

Slow Down! says Giuiliani - Dec 22, 2003
STOP. Start over. It is not too late to get it right. So argues Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has studied the eight designs being considered for a World Trade Center memorial and does not like what he sees. (New York Times)

Deadline For Federal Victims Compensation Fund Looming - Dec 21, 2003
People who lost loved ones or were injured in the 9/11 terrorist attacks have until midnight tomorrow to file with the federal Victims Compensation Fund. Officials expect nearly 90% of those eligible to file, depite a slow start and months of controversy. (New York Daily News)

Online Poll Shows Support for Freedom Tower Design - Dec 21, 2003
The redesigned Freedom Tower skyscraper to be built above Ground Zero is miles above the original plan, according to a Post Web poll yesterday. Readers were asked to judge the bold design for the 1,776-foot skyscraper, a glass tower that gracefully twists into the sky and is topped by a 276-foot spire that pays homage to the Statue of Liberty. A whopping 85 percent of Post Web site visitors favored the revised design for what will be the world's tallest skyscraper - unveiled to the public Friday - compared with 15 percent for the original plan. (New York Post)

Victims' Opinions On Tower Differ - Dec 20, 2003
Two survivors of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centers yesterday had sharply different opinions of the redesigned Freedom Tower skyscraper to be constructed at Ground Zero. (New York Post)

Is Freedom Tower Really the Tallest? - Dec 20, 2003
It will certainly be the world's tallest cable-framed, open-air, windmill-filled, spire-studded superstructure, rising atop 70 stories of offices, restaurants, a broadcast center and an observation deck. Whether that makes it the world's tallest building is another matter. (New York Times)

Freedom Tower Is Unveiled - Dec 20, 2003
After fervent public debate over how to mend the New York City skyline and a five-month effort by competing architectural giants that was one part collaboration and two parts quarrel, the design of the first tower of the new World Trade Center was unveiled yesterday. The torqued and tapering skyscraper, called the Freedom Tower, would rise some 70 stories, then dematerialize in its upper reaches among cables, windmills and antennas before piercing the clouds at 1,776 feet. At this height, it might be the world's tallest building upon completion in 2008 or 2009. (New York Times)

Tower Described As Safe, Environmentally Friendly - Dec 20, 2003
They're calling the planned Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center the safest building in the world. The skyscraper's designers and owner also lay claim to making it one of the most environmentally friendly. (Newsday)

Pataki Served as Mediator in ArchitectsÕ Feud - Dec 20, 2003
The relationship between Childs, who was charged with designing the tower, and Libeskind, the master planner of the site, was so difficult, both sides agreed, that several weeks ago the two architects practically stopped speaking and Gov. George Pataki had to mediate. (Newsday)

Freedom Tower Will Be A Boon For City Economy - Dec 20, 2003
The skyscraper planned for the World Trade Center site is expected to provide the city with one of its biggest economic boosts since the original WTC was built three decades ago. The greatest impact, at least initially, will be felt by the city's construction industry, which is anticipating that at least 2,000 jobs will be created for the building of what's known as the Freedom Tower, which is to be the world's tallest building (Newsday)

Freedom Tower Now Has a Design, But No Tenants - Dec 20, 2003
"The first firm to sign a lease will get huge media attention," said downtown real estate broker Brad Gerla of CB Richard Ellis. But right now, downtown leasing is dismal. Freedom Tower developer Larry Silverstein, who also is building and marketing 7 World Trade Center, isn't finding takers for that property. (New York Daily News)

9/11 Relics Rust in Hangar - Dec 19, 2003
There are no planes behind the mammoth locked doors of Hangar 17 at Kennedy International Airport. Instead, it hides history. This is where a 100-foot-tall by 100-foot-wide section of the lower facade of the north tower Ă‘ the infamous Gothic arches Ă‘ is kept, disassembled into 25 pieces weighing 80,000 pounds apiece. Laid out on the floor are the crumpled remains of the north tower antenna. Parked in one corner is an assortment of crushed fire trucks. Here rests the last column removed from ground zero, complete with the graffiti from firefighters and ironworkers who recovered victims and cleaned the site. (New York Times)

Pataki to Release Freedom Tower Design on Today Show - Dec 19, 2003
Gov. Pataki will unveil plans for Ground Zero's new skyscraper on national television this morning, drawing criticism that he's playing politics with the rebuilding effort. Pataki will offer the first glimpse of the Freedom Tower to Katie Couric, the popular host of NBC's "Today" show, prompting gripes that the governor is using the Sept. 11 tragedy to bolster his own national political ambitions. (New York Daily News)

Guards Abused Detainees After 9/11 - Dec 19, 2003
As many as 20 guards in a Brooklyn federal prison abused detainees after 9/11, according to a Justice Department report released yesterday. In June, the Justice Department concluded that there were "significant problems" with the treatment of prisoners detained for immigration violation. Yesterday's report recommends discipline for ten of the guards involved, and counseling for another two. (New York Post)

Lead Analysis Indicates Minimal Effect from 9/11 - Dec 18, 2003
Downtowners may never know the exact source of the elevated lead found in nearly one-third of apartments cleaned and tested by the Environmental Protection Agency after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, experts say. Cities often have high background amounts of lead, making it difficult to pinpoint whether the amounts found in Lower Manhattan apartments come from the World Trade Center or other sources that can include lead found in paint or soil. (Downtown Express)

Kids of 9/11 Victims To Get Cash From State - Dec 18, 2003
The state's World Trade Center fund is handing out the rest of its cash to children who lost a parent in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, officials said yesterday. The fund has roughly $4 million left and will spread the proceeds to about 2,800 children who lost parents in the terror attacks of 9/11, Gov. Pataki said. The fund also will dole out up to $3,000 a person to those certified by the American Red Cross as being injured in the attacks. (New York Daily News)

Regent Hotel on Wall Street to Close in January - Dec 18, 2003
The Regent Hotel, the Greek Revival landmark at 55 Wall Street, was once home to the fledgling New York Stock Exchange, to Herman Melville when he was a deputy customs inspector and to Citibank as it rose to national prominence. Reborn in 1999 as the Regent Wall Street hotel, the Regent ballroom and the 55 Wall restaurant, it has been a social and political hub ever since. It is preparing to close on Jan. 17 after one of the shortest runs of any deluxe hotel in the city's history. It is a victim not only of the attack on New York Ă‘ through which it resolutely stayed open, sheltering and feeding victims, workers and neighbors Ă‘ but of an economy that was souring even before Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times)

Jury Member Breaks Silence - Dec 17, 2003
One of the 13 people who will select the design for the World Trade Center memorial broke the groupÕs public silence last week and responded to some of the criticism that has been leveled at the eight proposed plans he and his fellow jurors picked in November. The juror, James Young, an English and Judaic studies professor at the University of Massachusetts, also said he is looking for a design that will be able to evolve over generations. (Downtown Express)

Looking At The Forced Marriage That Spawned The Freedom Tower - Dec 17, 2003
When Governor George Pataki unveils the design plans for the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero on Dec. 19, it will mark the end of nearly six months of heated argument between two architects with radically different visions for what will be the tallest building in the world. What will emerge is a hybrid of the two very different architectsÕ visions for the signature skyline element of the new World Trade CenterÑforged in an uneasy compromise. (New York Observer)

Decision on Memorial Design Delayed 'At Least A Month' - Dec 17, 2003
The panel mulling the permanent memorial for Ground Zero has ordered up changes in some designs and is delaying its decision at least a month, sources said yesterday. The 13-member jury, made up of architects, artists, historians and others appointed by Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg, had been expected topick a design by the end of the year. (New York Daily News)

Man Sentenced for 9/11 Charity Fraud - Dec 17, 2003
A Long Island City man who used telemarketers to solicit hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for a bogus charity for families of slain police officers, including some killed Sept. 11, was sentenced Tuesday to more than 8 years in prison. (Newsday)

Feelings on Memorials Vary, Two Separate Studies of Public Opinion Indicate - Dec 17, 2003
A report released Tuesday by Imagine New York concludes that many people view the jagged wreckage and other relics from the attack more favorably than the final eight memorial designs. Negative comments on the memorials outweighed positive comments for all eight finalists, the report said. A Pace University exit poll taken at the Winter Garden where the designs are on display offered another take on public reaction. Sixty-two percent of people backed the selection process, which has been controversial in some quarters. Two designs, Votives in Suspension and Suspending Memory, got the most positive reviews. (Newsday)

For the First Time Since 9/11, An NY Firefighter Is Killed by a Fire - Dec 17, 2003
A rookie firefighter died yesterday while battling a fire at a second-floor warehouse in Upper Manhattan, becoming the first New York City firefighter to die by fire since Sept. 11, 2001. The firefighter, Thomas C. Brick, 30, was one of the first in his company to enter the mattress and furniture warehouse, officials said, and had gone farther into the building than other firefighters said they were able to get because of the ferocity of the four-alarm blaze. (New York Times)

Childs Reduced Height of Tower to Reach Agreement with Libeskind - Dec 17, 2003
In the end, the magic number for resolving the design impasse over the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site turned out to be 276 feet. That was how much the architect David M. Childs reduced the height of the tower he is designing for the developer Larry A. Silverstein, one of several gestures that allowed Mr. Childs's counterpart, Daniel Libeskind, to certify that the Freedom Tower would fit in with his overall master plan for the site. (New York Times)

Schumer Wants to Use Federal Rebuilding Funds for Kennedy Rail Link - Dec 17, 2003
Weighing in on a fractious debate over transportation priorities in Lower Manhattan, Senator Charles E. Schumer offered a plan yesterday to pay for the construction of a much-discussed rail link from downtown to Kennedy Airport without any state or local money. (New York Times)

Compromise Reached on Freedom Tower - Dec 16, 2003
Months of architectural wrangling over plans for the tallest building at the World Trade Center site Ă‘ and in the world Ă‘ have apparently ended in a 1,776-foot compromise that would include an asymmetrical spire favored by Daniel Libeskind rising atop a cable-framed wind farm proposed by David M. Childs. Though the design will not be made public until Friday, an announcement yesterday by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation seemed to indicate that agreement had been reached on the broad outlines of the building, called Freedom Tower. (New York Times)

Architects Reportedly Near Compromise on Freedom Tower - Dec 15, 2003
Warring architects Daniel Libeskind and David Childs are inching toward a compromise on the design of the Freedom Tower, and officials hope details can be finalized as early as today, sources said. Gov. Pataki had initially set today as the deadline for the architects to present him with a fully realized scheme for the tower. (New York Post)

9/11 Rugs Not Big Sellers on New York Streets - Dec 15, 2003
With an appraiser's scrutiny, Ed Cutting, a New York City firefighter, stared at a fine Afghan rug painstakingly hand woven in a style centuries old. Its handiwork depicted an epic scene. He stood Saturday in a weekend flea market at Avenue A and 11th Street in the East Village, at a booth displaying rugs. Several of the rugs, in a style usually reserved for depicting landscapes or abstract tribal patterns, showed a crudely rendered interpretation of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. (New York Times)

Debate Over Traffic Flow at Trade Center Site - Dec 15, 2003
While the public is transfixed by the struggle over the Freedom Tower and the memorial at the World Trade Center site, an equally vital debate has been occurring over the layout of streets around the site. Decisions made now about the street plan will determine how hundreds of truck deliveries are made, and how buses, autos, taxis, limousines, emergency vehicles (including a fire engine and fire truck quartered on Liberty Street) will share small slices of asphalt and concrete. The ripples from these crosscurrents will be felt down to the Battery, over to the Brooklyn Bridge, up the Avenue of the Americas and down Seventh Avenue. (New York Times)

Trade Center Fireproofing Tests Suggest A Wider Problem - Dec 14, 2003
Hundreds of buildings nationwide with fireproofing similar to that used in the World Trade Center could be far more prone to structural damage during major fires than previously thought, according to preliminary calculations by federal investigators. The investigators are studying the precise causes of the World Trade Center collapse. Their work includes calculations of how heat moves through steel building components with small gaps or imperfections in fireproofing insulation. Their inquiry, which is still in its early stages, shows that during a fire such flaws can act as sluice gates for heat, allowing it to enter the steel, where it becomes trapped, weakening the structure. (New York Times)

Federal 9/11 Victim Compensation Program May Cost Far Less Than Expected - Dec 13, 2003
The unprecedented program to compensate victims of the Sept. 11 attacks may cost far less than its original $6 billion estimate, the fund's administrator told The Associated Press. The total payout from the program could run as low as "$2 to $3 billion -- well under what had been estimated," Kenneth Feinberg, the fund's special master, said in an interview just days before the Dec. 22 deadline for families to file for compensation. (Newsday)

Democrats Protest Use of Liberty Bonds for Queens Power Plant - Dec 13, 2003
A group of Democratic lawmakers yesterday denounced New York State's offer to a Massachusetts-based energy company of $400 million in tax-exempt Liberty Bonds, which are intended to revive Lower Manhattan after the attack on the World Trade Center. A state-run agency administering the Liberty Bond program announced on Thursday that it had awarded the bonds to Astoria Energy to help finance the 1,000-megawatt power plant it seeks to build in Astoria, Queens. (New York Times)

Pataki Vetoes 9/11 Pension Bill - Dec 13, 2003
Gov. George E. Pataki vetoed a bill late Friday that would have given thousands of city workers who responded to the Sept. 11 attacks better retirement benefits by allowing them to claim many medical problems that stemmed from the hazardous conditions at the site. (New York Times)

First Beam Up at 7 World Trade Center - Dec 12, 2003
The final shape of the new World Trade Center may still be in doubt, but one part of the complex started going up yesterday. The first steel beam that will support the weight of office space was erected yesterday at 7 World Trade Center, marking the formal start of tenant floor reconstruction. The beam was headed for the 11th floor, where the first office tenants will rent space. The first 10 floors, already partially built, will house transformers for a Consolidated Edison substation that will supply electricity to much of lower Manhattan. (Newsday)

Number of Firefighters Rises to Pre 9/11 Level - Dec 12, 2003
It took more than two years, but the Fire Department finally has built back its staffing to where it was before the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when the department lost 343 men. With the new class of probationary firefighters that began training this week, the department has 8,660 firefighters on its rolls, 12 more than on Sept. 10, 2001. (New York Daily News)

Liberty Bonds Issued to Queens Power Plant - Dec 12, 2003
A massive new power-plant project in Queens, opposed by a group of city politicians, got $400 million in Liberty Bonds yesterday, sparking calls for a federal probe. The bonds were approved by the New York Liberty Development Corporation (NYLDC), which is considering issuing an additional $200 million in bonds to back the proposed 1,000- megawatt plant in Astoria. (New York Post)

9/11 Counselor Examined for Lung Problems - Dec 12, 2003
A Colorado cop who counseled cops after 9/11 has returned to the Big Apple - this time to undergo tests for a lung disorder he developed after working at Ground Zero. Police officer Tony Sanchez's bittersweet visit to the city was prompted by his need to prove to disbelieving Colorado health officials that a bacterial virus wracking his body since October 2001 was contracted amid the smoky ruins of the World Trade Center. (New York Post)

Cops Called to World Trade Center "Watergate" - Dec 12, 2003
Developer Larry Silverstein's Freedom Tower design team was so upset over an alleged raid on their offices by staffers of Ground Zero planner Daniel Libeskind that they brought in former Police Commissioner Howard Safir to investigate, sources said yesterday. (New York Times)

Ground Zero Architects Claim Cooperation - Dec 12, 2003
Despite reports of bitter feuding, two renowned architects said Thursday they're working together to complete a plan by next week for a 1,776-foot tower at the World Trade Center site. "People know there are differences," Daniel Libeskind said. "It's not easy. But we're working toward reconciling those differences and creating something that everybody will be proud of." David Childs added: "We've been working together since the middle of July, and we've made tremendous progress. We're not finished." (Associated Press)

Pragmatism for New York New Visions Co-Founder - Dec 12, 2003
Fame is what Daniel Libeskind, the big winner in the urban reality sweepstakes to anoint a lead architect for the resurrection of the World Trade Center, is basking in or suffering through, depending on his appetite for cutting a high-profile swath by creating world-class architecture from a disaster. Resignation is almost what Bruce S. Fowle, a prominent yet low-key peer Ă‘ no kooky glasses, no silly scarf, no gel on the cranium or speckled beard Ă‘ is feeling as the towers grow taller and clunkier and the planning ordeal crawls on. But not quite. (New York Times)

Goldman Sachs Wants to Build Tower Across from Ground Zero - Dec 12, 2003
Goldman Sachs is seeking subsidies to build in New York, where its headquarters have long been located. Henry M. Paulson, the firm's chairman, has told the governor and the mayor that Goldman wants its own tower, on what is known as Site 26 at Battery Park City, and wants some of the same cash grants, tax breaks and tax-free financing that are available downtown right now, according to state and city officials who are working with the bank. (New York Times)

Freedom Tower Collaboration Breaking Down - Dec 11, 2003
The fight over the Ground Zero Freedom Tower has spiraled completely out of control, with accusations of a "Watergate break-in" and bitter feuding between the two key architects, sources said yesterday. As the two go head to head over their dueling plans for the 1,776-foot tower's design, top aides to Gov. Pataki and officials at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation were scrambling yesterday to salvage the fractured partnership. (New York Post)

Concern Over 9/11 Health Registry - Dec 11, 2003
Some Lower Manhattan residents continue to feel shortchanged by the cityÕs World Trade Center Health Registry, even though anyone who lived south of Canal St. on Sept. 11, 2001 is eligible to enroll. Nearly 30 local residents and workers attended a forum on the health registry last Thursday at the Downtown Information Center at 25 Broad St. Some participants told assistant health commissioner Dr. Polly Thomas that the interview portion of the registry seemed geared toward emergency workers. If residents are not asked detailed questions about their experiences on and after 9/11, then the study will not be able to address their potential long-term health concerns, some residents fear. (Downtown Express)

EPA Releases Downtown Lead Tests - Dec 11, 2003
Lead was the most common contaminant found among the 263 Lower Manhattan apartments the Environmental Protection Agency tested for a range of possible 9/11-related toxins, according to results released on Monday. Of the 222 apartments E.P.A. contractors tested before and after cleaning, 70, or 31.5 percent, had lead levels before cleaning that exceeded the agencyÕs conservative benchmark of 25 micrograms per square foot. After cleaning, 16 apartments still had levels of lead above the E.P.A. standard. E.P.A. spokesperson Mary Mears cautioned that urban environments often have background lead, making it hard to tell whether the lead detected in wipe tests came from the World Trade Center collapse. (Downtown Express)

Power Struggle Over Freedom Tower - Dec 11, 2003
The two architects on the Ground Zero Freedom Tower project can't agree on a design, with one even bringing his lawyer to a meeting, sources said yesterday. The fractious relationship between Ground Zero master planner Daniel Libeskind and architect David Childs imploded on Monday, exactly a week before Gov. Pataki's deadline for the two to produce a concept for the tower. (New York Daily News)

Man Convicted of Crime Avoids Jail Because of Service on 9/11 - Dec 11, 2003
At ground zero, David Margules was a celebrated figure. He took thousands of photographs of the firefighters at work and captured a famous image of crossed beams, which he called "Crucifix." One of his pictures, he says, is in the White House. But Mr. Margules had a festering problem that dated from before the terror attacks. Yesterday, his two worlds collided in Federal District Court in Brooklyn whenhe came before Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis for sentencing for securities fraud. (New York Times)

Freedom Tower Vision Will Be Childs' -- not Libeskind's - Dec 11, 2003
In the middle of what state officials are always proud to describe as a transparent planning process, a private developer has been pursuing his own vision for the World Trade Center site. This may put both Mr. Pataki and Mr. Libeskind in an awkward spot next week, when the governor is supposed to receive the final design and then, presumably, present it to the public. Artful language may be needed to reconcile Mr. Childs's design with Mr. Libeskind's plan, if the goal, indeed, is to paint this as a seamless and inevitable transition. (New York Times)

Bob Kerrey is Put on Federal 9/11 Commission - Dec 10, 2003
Bob Kerrey, the former Democratic senator from Nebraska, was appointed on Tuesday to the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a panel he will join with six months left in its inquiry. Mr. Kerrey, who was a vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee when he was in Congress and who is president of the New School University in Manhattan, will replace Max Cleland, the former Democratic senator from Georgia. (New York Times)

Libeskind's Design Was Intended to Play to the Press, Says Partner - Dec 10, 2003
Key elements of Daniel Libeskind's Ground Zero plan - including the decision to model the Freedom Tower on the Statue of Liberty - were driven as much by questions of how they would play in the media as by aesthetics or architecture, according to the planner's design partner. Gary Hack admitted he had "some reservations" about the Libeskind team's political-style methods. (New York Daily News)

Police Left in the Dark On Terrorism Intelligence, Complains State Official - Dec 10, 2003
Nearly 70,000 cops across New York who could be used as "foot soldiers" in the war against terror are out of the loop when it comes to accessing vital intelligence, a counterterrorism expert warned yesterday. "Not using police and sheriffs who are out there on the streets and highways and in our communities effectively in this regard is inexcusable," said James Kallstrom, Gov. Pataki's senior adviser on homeland security. (New York Daily News)

Memorial Needs Vision, says Libeskind - Dec 10, 2003
Any memorial chosen for the World Trade Center site should link the city to the past yet move New Yorkers toward the future, architect Daniel Libeskind said Tuesday. Libeskind, who submitted the winning design for the redevelopment of the site, said he would work to integrate the vision of the winner of the memorial competition into his guidelines for the site. (Associated Press)

More Revisions for New York's Tallest Tower - Dec 10, 2003
The nearly completed design for the signature tower at the World Trade Center site would recapture the title of world's tallest building for New York City without forcing anyone to work higher than 70 stories in the sky. Gov. George E. Pataki, who effectively controls the rebuilding process at ground zero, will unveil the plan next week. It will bear little resemblance to the asymmetrical and angular design by Daniel Libeskind that has been in the public eye for almost a year. Instead, it is largely the work of David M. Childs, the architect for the tower's developer, Larry A. Silverstein. (New York Times)

Libeskind Won With Smear Campaign, Says A Member of His Team - Dec 09, 2003
Architect Daniel Libeskind launched a political-style name-calling campaign against a rival design team to undermine its chances of being chosen as Ground Zero master planner, according to one of Libeskind's partners. In a lecture at SUNY Buffalo on Oct. 8, urban planner Gary Hack described the competition for the job - which Libeskind eventually won - as "the architectural equivalent of nuclear war." (New York Post)

Assemblyman Doesn't Want Liberty Bonds Used for Queens Power Plant - Dec 07, 2003
A Queens assemblyman is threatening legal action to stop the backers of a proposed power plant from using New York Liberty Bonds to fund the troubled project. "This is a continuing pattern of preferential treatment over more worthy projects," said Assemblyman Mike Gianaris, a Democrat from Astoria, who's weighing a lawsuit to block the bond issue. (New York Post)

Non-Finalists Discuss Their Memorial Designs - Dec 07, 2003
Some 60 people, including a 6-year-old boy, who were among the 5,000 entrants who submitted Ground Zero memorial designs, and lost, met in lower Manhattan yesterday to protest the closed-door judging process that produced the eight finalist proposals. The group ranged from a New York heart surgeon to a first-grader. (New York Post)

A Look At Some Of The Other Memorial Designs - Dec 07, 2003
The eight design finalists for a Ground Zero memorial have been met with fierce criticism and a call for the jury to take a second look at some of the 5,193 submissions that didn't make the cut - but a review of dozens of these also-rans helps to underscore how difficult the judge's job has been. (New York Post )

Corporate Incentive Program Being Rewritten to Focus on Lower Manhattan - Dec 06, 2003
A deal has been struck to renew a major corporate incentive program that will help lure jobs to lower Manhattan from outside the city, The Post has learned. The Relocation and Employment Assistance Program, known as REAP, will provide companies with $3,000 per job for 12 years if they come to downtown from outside the city. (New York Post)

Jordanian King to Advise Police Department on Terrorism - Dec 06, 2003
For the first time in NYPD history, a foreign head of state will visit Police Headquarters and address the department's brain trust about terrorism and international affairs, The Post has learned. Under tight security, King Abdullah II of Jordan will speak to an assembly of supervising cops above the rank of captain on Monday at the third session of a lecture series begun by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. (New York Post)

Judge Rules Against Forcing Disqualified Memorial Design into Contest - Dec 05, 2003
A Manhattan judge yesterday sank the Twin Piers proposal for a Ground Zero memorial, refusing to order development officials to include it among the finalists being judged by the 9/11 jury. State Supreme Court Justice William Wetzel ruled that Twin Piers designer Fred Bernstein tried to get around the rules of the memorial competition, which barred a person from submitting more than one proposal. (New York Post)

Outrage Over 9/11 Video Game - Dec 05, 2003
A ghoulish Internet video game challenging players to shoot down passenger jets before they hit the twin towers is a huge hit - outraging families of Sept. 11 victims. "My daughter was on one of the planes," Tom Roger, father of slain American Airlines flight attendant Jean Roger, told the Daily News. (New York Daily News)

Ex-Senator to Leave 9/11 Panel - Dec 05, 2003
Max Cleland, a former senator from Georgia and one of five Democrats on the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is expected to resign within weeks, creating a vacancy with only six months left in the inquiry, commission officials said today. (New York Times)

Memorial Jury Wanted to Avoid Public Pressure With Single Stage Contest - Dec 04, 2003
Anticipating a frenzy of public criticism, the Ground Zero memorial jury pushed to keep all the designs secret until a winner was picked - but officials running the competition insisted on putting the eight finalists on display, sources told The Post. Numerous jury members, including Vietnam Veterans Memorial designer Maya Lin, warned that unveiling the finalists before a second stage of judging would make it difficult for them to do their job without coming under intense public pressure, said the sources, who are familiar with the panel's concerns. (New York Post)

Feds Deliver $2.85 Billion in Tranportation Aid to Lower Manhattan - Dec 04, 2003
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta jetted to the Big Apple yesterday to announce the delivery of $2.85 billion in transit funding for lower Manhattan. The cash - part of a $4.5 billion federal transportation aid package stemming from 9/11 - will help fund three downtown projects. More than half the dough will help transform the new temporary World Trade Center PATH terminal into a permanent facility. The remaining $1.1 billion will go toward creating a Fulton Street transit center that will link 12 subway lines and the PATH train, and expanding the South Ferry subway terminal. (New York Post)

City Passes Resolution to Honor 9/11 Priest - Dec 04, 2003
An effort to award FDNY chaplain Mychal Judge a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom got a boost yesterday from the City Council. The council passed a resolution calling on Congress to honor the Rev. Judge, a beloved Franciscan friar who was killed in the 9/11 terror attacks. (New York Post)

City Employees Arrested for 9/11 Charity Scam - Dec 04, 2003
The Department of Investigation yesterday arrested 10 people - nine of them current or former city employees - for allegedly stealing more than $55,000 from 9/11 charities. The defendants, who worked for several city agencies, including the Department of Transportation and the Human Resources Administration, falsely claimed that their income had been reduced or that they had lost their jobs as a result of World Trade Center attacks, the DOI said. (New York Post)

Fire Department Sends Counselors to Station Depicted in NY Post Comic - Dec 04, 2003
The FDNY sent counselors yesterday to a Manhattan firehouse depicted in a New York Post cartoon that mocked the Bravest killed in the terror attacks. In the Post cartoon, printed Tuesday, a firefighter with a "35" on his helmet tells a dying comrade at Ground Zero: "Goodbye dear friend. By the way, is your wife free Tuesday?" Counselors talked with firefighters at Ladder 35/Engine 40 on the upper West Side, which lost 12 men in the World Trade Center attacks. (New York Daily News)

Host Marriott Gets $370 For Loss at Ground Zero - Dec 04, 2003
Host Marriott Corp., the owner of the New York World Trade Center Marriott and New York Marriott Financial Center, announced yesterday that it has received about $370 million worth of insurance payments, resolving virtually most of its outstanding issues relating to the Sept. 11 attacks. The announcement comes about two months after Bethesda, Md.-based Host Marriott entered into an agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to surrender the site and terminate a 99-year lease that was to expire in 2094. (Newsday)

Bloomberg Agrees to Give Transcripts of Emergency Calls to Federal Commission - Dec 04, 2003
In an abrupt reversal, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City announced on Wednesday that he had agreed to release records of emergency 911 calls and other materials sought by the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Mr. Bloomberg's action comes nearly two weeks after the commission announced that it had issued a subpoena to New York City for records related to the attacks. The panel said that the city's refusal to turn over the information had "significantly impeded" its investigation. (New York Times)

Nadler Criticizes Maloney's Memorial Bill - Dec 03, 2003
A proposed bill by U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney about the World Trade Center memorial has angered Downtown leaders and reignited her rivalry with U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, who accused his fellow Democrat of Òinvading my district.Ó The bill would authorize a study to see whether it is feasible to preserve the bedrock area where the Twin Towers once stood. If the area was subsequently landmarked before construction on the memorial began, the billÕs detractors say it would lead to delays, particularly since none of the eight possible designs announced in November preserve the entire footprint bedrock area. (Downtown Express)

Scorsese to Make Statue of Liberty Film as Fundraiser - Dec 03, 2003
Martin Scorsese came to Battery Park last week to announce he would produce and narrate a documentary about the Statue of Liberty to help raise $5 million in order to reopen the statue, which has been closed to the public since 9/11. (Downtown Express)

New Vision for Wall Street Will Look Nicer - Dec 03, 2003
The new plan for the financial district is to replace the pick-up trucks that obstruct Wall St., Broad St. Exchange Pl. and New St. for a couple of blocks with less unsightly security barriers. At Broadway and Wall St. and Broadway and Exchange Pl., there will be bollards to block vehicles. A few days before last WednesdayÕs announcement, the silver metal Òbicycle rackÓ barricades blocking pedestrians and vehicles from the Big BoardÕs building were replaced with black decorative fencing. In addition to the aesthetic improvement, the change increased the space where people can walk on Wall and Broad Sts. (Downtown Express)

Community Board One Rejects One Memorial Design, Criticizes the Rest - Dec 03, 2003
Community Board 1Õs World Trade Center redevelopment committee quickly ruled out one of the eight proposals for the ground zero memorial then spent most of the rest of Monday night lamenting at the lack of vision in the other seven. The boardÕs executive committee is expected to vote on a memorial resolution at its next meeting on Dec. 10, 49 Chambers St., room 709 at 6 p.m. in the hopes the 13-member memorial jury put together by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. will listen to the boardÕs recommendations. (Downtown Express)

Liberty Bonds Should Focus on Downtown, Says Rebuilding Official - Dec 03, 2003
A top downtown rebuilding official took a swipe at City Hall yesterday, saying it was "a mistake" to use tax-free Liberty Bonds outside lower Manhattan. The comment was the sharpest yet in a fight brewing between Gov. Pataki's office and Mayor Bloomberg over how to spend $8billion in bonds created to spur downtown development after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack. (New York Daily News)

Fire Department Attacks Post Over 9/11 Cartoon - Dec 03, 2003
Fire Department brass and rank-and-file Bravest blasted the New York Post yesterday for a cartoon showing a firefighter telling a dying comrade at Ground Zero: "Goodbye dear friend. By the way, is your wife free Tuesday?" Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta sent the Post a letter calling the cartoon "tasteless," sources said. (New York Daily News)

Jury Can Change Memorial Plans - Dec 03, 2003
The 13-member jury deciding on the final design of the World Trade Center memorial will have the flexibility to make changes, Kevin Rampe, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., said Tuesday. "There's a high chance the selected design will be different from any of the eight you see out there now," Rampe told more than 500 attendees at a breakfast sponsored by Crain's NY Business, where he also discussed his vision for transportation and bond financing for lower Manhattan. "What was seen in the press was more of a first draft." (Newsday)

New Evidence Suggests That Failing Floors Caused Towers to Collapse - Dec 03, 2003
Federal investigators have said that new evidence supported earlier suggestions that the floor supports in the World Trade Center began failing in the minutes before the towers fell and might have played a major role in their collapse. The investigators, who are carrying out a two-year, $16 million analysis of the collapses, made it clear that they had not yet settled on a final explanation. They said, though, that their findings gave new weight to a theory that the failure of the floors weakened the towers' internal structure to the point that the entire buildings came down. (New York Times)

Disputed Sports Museum Totes Itself as Boon to Post 9/11 Economy - Dec 03, 2003
A project called the National Sports Museum has been selling itself as a way to spark New York's economy post 9/11. Its supporters speak of getting funding from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. But those interested in starting a different sports museum in the city are not crazy about the idea. (New York Times)

Port Authority Pays Silverstein's Debt - Dec 02, 2003
The Port Authority agreed yesterday to use $710 million in World Trade Center insurance proceeds as part of a reordering of the project's tangled finances - buying back the rebuilding rights to the WTC mall and paying off the mortgage of Twin Towers leaseholder Larry Silverstein. (New York Post)

Firefighters Union Criticizes FDNY for Inappropriate Relationships - Dec 02, 2003
A powerful firefighters union boss says the FDNY outright ignored the "unquestionable certainty" that some firemen would ignore their own families and get "too close" to the widows and kids of their fallen Sept. 11 comrades. "From the get-go, the Fire Department acted irresponsibly," United Firefighters of America Manhattan trustee Rudy Sanfillipo told The Post. (New York Post)

Police Commissioner Lobbies for Security Funds - Dec 02, 2003
Kelly, regarded among the country's top counter-terrorism experts, isn't that sanguine when it comes to the way the Bush administration has been shortchanging this city. He doesn't hide his frustration at the fact that the city is getting about 6 percent of the anti-terror funding, down from 25 percent two years ago. Kelly has been shuttling back and forth between New York and Washington trying to convince politicians who dispense the money to understand that New York is still the No. 1 target. (Newsday)

Councilmember Thinks Bloomberg Should Push Harder for Security Cash - Dec 02, 2003
The chairman of the City Council's public safety committee thinks the Bloomberg administration should be doing a lot more to squeeze additional homeland security funding from the federal government. In a letter he sent to Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday, Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) threatened to hold public hearings in January if the mayor didn't turn over detailed accounting of the city's homeland security expenses. (Newsday)

Some Firefighters Have Left Spouses for 9/11 Widows - Dec 01, 2003
At least a dozen of New York's Bravest - some of them assigned to look after Sept. 11 widows - have left their wives for the spouses of their comrades killed in the terror attacks, sources told The Post. (New York Post)

Rebuilding NYC December 2002


Dozens Defrauding September 11 Relief Agencies - Dec 31, 2002
Since September 11, many people have been caught capitalizing on the grief and chaos of the moment by fraudulently claiming to have lost loved ones. New York City authorities say that they alone have made 37 arrests, and others have cropped up around the country. (New York Times)

Subway Link for AirTrain Could Be Costlier than Predicted - Dec 30, 2002
Newly discovered engineering problems could add significantly to the cost of a proposed $1.9 billion subway connection between lower Manhattan and the AirTrain commuter rail station at Jamaica, Queens. The so-called Super Shuttle proposal has been pushed by downtown landowner Brookfield Properties as a quick and relatively affordable way of creating access to lower Manhattan. (New York Post)

After 9/11, a Torrent of Money, and Anger - Dec 30, 2002
In the months after nearly 2,800 people died in the terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center, the Bush administration pledged $21.4 billion to address the emergency. More than 15 months later, some $4.5 billion to $5 billion has made its way from Washington to New York. Many victims, elected officials, business executives and others are both confused and angry about why, more than a year after the most serious terrorist attack on American soil, less than a quarter of the federal government's promise of financial assistance has been realized. (New York Times)

No Serious Health Risks for Public Near Ground Zero, E.P.A. Reports - Dec 28, 2002
Most people living or working in the area around ground zero are unlikely to suffer serious short- or long-term health effects from the terror attack, according to a draft report released yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency. But the report said anyone exposed in the early hours was at risk of chronic sickness, as many firefighters have already reported. (New York Times)

Fire Union Seeks To Stop Staff Cutbacks - Dec 27, 2002
Attorneys for the city firefighters union, claiming the World Trade Center attack had severely affected firefighter work attendance, told a state judge Thursday that he should stop the city from reducing engine company staffing. In arguments before State Supreme Court Justice James G. Starkey in Brooklyn, the Uniformed Firefighters Association was trying to halt the Bloomberg administration from eliminating the fifth firefighter per tour of duty at 53 engine companies throughout the city. (Newsday)

WTC Grant Deadline Approaches - Dec 26, 2002
It's last call for downtown businesses looking for a shot of cash. The World Trade Center Business Recovery Grant Program, which has handed out $437 million to 10,579 struggling downtown businesses since the Sept.11 attacks, will stop taking applications Dec. 31. There's $44 million in grant money left. (New York Daily News)

WTC Steel To Be Used in Navy Warship - Dec 26, 2002
Steel salvaged from the wreckage of the World Trade Center will be used to build the Navy's USS New York, a warship named in honor of those who perished in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Post)

Trade Center Plans Exhibit Helps Retailers at Winter Garden - Dec 26, 2002
Let there be ...Christmas lights adorn the World Financial Center's Winter Garden, where World Trade Center designs are on display. The exhibit of nine new World Trade Center designs at the Winter Garden has been a holiday gift to several merchants at the World Financial Center. The plans have attracted thousands of visitors since they went on display last Thursday - bringing welcome foot traffic to the shops and restaurants that ring the Winter Garden. (New York Daily News)

Architects Defend Plans - Dec 25, 2002
World-renowned architects defended their Ground Zero plans yesterday against former Mayor Rudy Giuliani after he slammed them for stressing big buildings and not a memorial. "I think that Rudy's playing both ends against the middle," said architect Peter Eisenman, who submitted one of the nine new plans. (New York Post)

Could The World Trade Center Become The World Cultural Center? - Dec 25, 2002
When architect Rafael Vi–oly unveiled the proposal for a World Cultural Center to replace the World Trade Center, he called it "a little bit extreme." On closer inspection, however, this plan developed by the THINK team (Shigeru Ban, Frederic Schwartz, Ken Smith, and Vi–oly) opens new possibilities even as it opens the sky. Among the nine new designs broached for ground zero, this was the only one not focused on office space. (Village Voice)

For Downtown Residents: Bittersweet Homecoming at Ground Zero - Dec 24, 2002
After 15 months, it is finally time to return to 125 Cedar Street, to live day to day, side by side, with ground zero, in a neighborhood at once strange and familiar. The residents of the squat turn-of-the-century loft building confront their return with a welter of emotions Ă‘ anxiety, sadness, joy, longing for the past, but mainly relief. Many had shuffled from one temporary apartment to the next, adrift in a city focused on the dead. (New York Times)

Giuliani Criticizes WTC Plans - Dec 24, 2002
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani panned the new design proposals for Ground Zero yesterday, saying they fail to capture the profound meaning of Sept. 11. "None of them accomplished overall what I thought should be [done]," Giuliani said of the nine plans released last week. (New York Post)

9/11 Dust Seen as Less Toxic Than Feared - Dec 24, 2002
The soot in the air of Lower Manhattan in the first few days after the Sept. 11 attack was less likely to cause cancer and other long-term health problems than many had feared, according to a report released yesterday. The report, by a team of environmental scientists studying the pollution caused by the burning and collapse of the World Trade Center towers, found that dust particles collected at 14 sites from Sept. 12 through 17, 2001, were primarily larger than those much more dangerous particles that are more likely to lodge deeply in the lungs and stay there. The larger particles are more easily expelled. (New York Times)

Wils: Bloomberg Plan Threatens Historic Districts - Dec 24, 2002
Madelyn Wils, the chairperson of Community Board 1, says that Mayor Mike Bloomberg's vision for Lower Manhattan poses a threat to historic districts in the Seaport and Tribeca. Wils told fellow C.B. 1 members that Bloomberg's plan, announced Dec. 12, includes a housing tower on the post office site in the Seaport's landmark district. "What we do not support - will not negotiate further on is the protection of our historic districts," Wils said at the full board meeting Dec. 17. ĂŠĂŠĂŠĂŠĂŠĂŠ (Downtown Express)

Port Authority Design Engrages Silverstein - Dec 23, 2002
A fuming twin towers leaseholder Larry Silverstein showed Port Authority architects the door after the developer saw the agency's Ground Zero work, sources said yesterday. That's because a design by architect Stanton Eckstut would create a truck access ramp and loading docks at Greenwich St., preventing the roadway from being fully restored through the World Trade Center site. (New York Daily News)

Christmas at Ground Zero - Dec 23, 2002
For the last three weeks, relatives of victims have been allowed to go to the bottom of the pit on Sunday afternoons. Many families see it as a cemetery of sorts and are eager to spend time at the site. Yesterday, about a dozen families showed up, security officials said. While the victims' families sought private moments, thousands of New Yorkers and tourists milled around the site, chatting, shopping and posing for pictures. (New York Times)

Tribute in Light Returns - Dec 23, 2002
A group of relatives of World Trade Center victims flipped the switch on their own miniature Tribute in Light on Staten Island yesterday - after City Hall blocked a full-blown display. The families parked a flatbed truck with two sets of powerful spotlights near a local WTC memorial known as the Angels Circle, at the corner of Fingerboard Road and Hylan Boulevard. (New York Post)

9/11 Memorial Park Re-opens - Dec 23, 2002
City officials will open today a redesigned Memorial Park - an area behind the medical examiner's office where hundreds of 9/11 victims' relatives gather to be near their loved ones' remains. Memorial Park had been closed for several weeks while officials remade the area into a serene shrine in time for Christmas. (New York Daily News)

WTC Plan Deadline Extended - Dec 22, 2002
A final World Trade Center site plan will be chosen within two months, said a key planning official, brushing off critics worried there isn't enough time to analyze the nine plans presented Wednesday by seven teams of renowned architects. After a two-week break, a joint committee of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and Port Authority officials will meet in January to decide on a final plan, committee chairman Roland Betts said Friday. He added that if the decision isn't made by Feb. 1, it will be made by Feb. 15. (Newsday)

Rebuilding Below Ground Zero Is at Issue - Dec 20, 2002
For months, vocal family members of the World Trade Center dead have called for the one-acre squares where the twin towers stood to be preserved for a memorial to the victims, not only on the surface but also down to the bedrock some 85 feet below street level. On Wednesday, when new plans for the site by seven groups of architects were unveiled, several drew on that sentiment. But if those plans are adopted, space reserved for a memorial below ground level could create significant challenges for officials in planning the underground elements of a rebuilt trade center site. (New York Times)

Experts Say Enormous Office Towers Ignore Downtown's Realities - Dec 20, 2002
The new World Trade Center designs may be eye-catching and inventive - but no one is likely to build the super-tall towers many of them propose, developers, architects and real-estate experts said yesterday. Many of the designs call for building enormous office towers that would dwarf the old World Trade Center buildings and be the tallest in the world. But critics said proposals like British architect Norman Foster's 1,764-foot "kissing" towers - taller than the original Twin Towers - ignore the realities of the real estate market. (New York Post)

New WTC Models On Public Display - Dec 20, 2002
Hundreds of people flocked to the Winter Garden last night to see the newest collection of plans for the World Trade Center site, in an impromptu opening before today's official public display of the exhibition featuring nine designs. (Newsday)

New Plans Praised, Criticized - Dec 20, 2002
The nine new visions for Ground Zero were praised yesterday for their innovation and visually stunning images. But one common theme - the L-shaped formation of buildings around the so-called bathtub area, which includes the twin towers' footprints - was criticized yesterday as unimaginative. (New York Daily News)

Foster's Design Top Among Post Readers - Dec 20, 2002
British architect Norman Foster's bold twin towers - which would be the world's tallest - emerged yesterday as a slim favorite in a Post Web poll on the new World Trade Center designs. But the survey also found there was no overwhelming favorite among the nine new designs - which could complicate matters for redevelopment officials as they seek public input. (New York Post)

WTC Frauds Discovered - Dec 20, 2002
Federal authorities yesterday nailed two scam artists who ripped off almost $350,000 in World Trade Center relief funds by falsely claiming their businesses were damaged by the Sept. 11 attacks, officials said. (New York Post)

Plans for Ground Zero Unveiled - Dec 19, 2002
Seven teams of architects from around the world unveiled new designs for the World Trade Center site yesterday, giving a remarkable civic tutorial on architecture and contemporary urban design aimed at mending the hole left in Lower Manhattan by the Sept. 11 attack. The designs, the subject of secrecy and speculation since the teams began work 12 weeks ago, include a broad array of elements: quiet memorial gardens and scenic plazas in the sky, soaring towers of bare scaffolding and sprawling canopies of glass. Four include what would be the tallest building in the world, and all set aside an area for a memorial to the victims of 9/11. (New York Times)

In Design World, A Mixed Reaction - Dec 19, 2002
The nine visions for the World Trade Center unveiled by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. yesterday left architects and urban design experts feeling excited, puzzled, irritated and overwhelmed. But some observers pointed out that, imaginative though they were, all the proposals were shaped by a narrow yet ambitious program issued by the development corporation, which required a massive scale and millions of square feet in office space. (Newsday)

Plans Call for Millions of Square Feet of Offices - Dec 19, 2002
If you can sell it, they may come. That was the practical assessment of real-estate experts, who said yesterday that the World Trade Center rebuilding plan that excites a potential user for the office and retail space is the one that will be economically feasible. The plans presented yesterday contain millions of square feet of offices, shops and hotels that along with public spaces, cultural and transportation facilities, will cost billions of dollars to construct. (Newsday)

Victims' Families Preferred Designs with Most Memorial Space - Dec 19, 2002
Relatives of Sept. 11 victims showed an early preference for two of the new World Trade Center designs unveiled yesterday: the pair with the greatest area set aside for memorial space. The designs by Studio Daniel Libeskind and United Architects met with approval from family members concerned with preserving the "bathtub," the six-acre expanse bounded by retaining walls built to keep seepage from the Hudson River away from the original Twin Towers. (New York Post)

Fast-track Public Process Leaves Just Weeks for Public Input - Dec 19, 2002
Downtown planners are hoping that one or two of the design proposals for Ground Zero emerge as clear public favorites - making it easier for them to narrow their options in the hurry-up time frame they've been ordered to meet. (New York Post)

Unveiling Today for WTC Designs - Dec 18, 2002
Shallow pools of water where the twin towers once stood. A memorial museum leading to the bedrock below. Trees studded with lights honoring the 2,800 World Trade Center victims. A structure soaring nearly 1,800 feet into the sky - 500 feet taller than the fallen towers. Those are some of the ideas the public will see when lower Manhattan planners pull back the curtain on nine designs for the Trade Center site today, capping eight weeks of intense work by some of the world's best architects. (New York Daily News)

Next: Funding WTC Projects - Dec 18, 2002
Not too long after the new plans for Lower Manhattan are released Wednesday, the discussion will quickly move to a less visionary topic: money. In recent months, what amounts to a preliminary budget for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site and the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan has begun to form. Mayor Michael Bloomberg offered the most detailed public cost breakdown last week. (Newsday)

City Considers Plan to Control Billions in Ground Zero Insurance Proceeds - Dec 17, 2002
City officials looking to pay for Mayor Bloomberg's vision of a revamped downtown are considering a plan that - within a year - could give them control of the billions in insurance proceeds due on the World Trade Center. Under the scenario, to which Bloomberg alluded last week when he outlined his grand scheme for lower Manhattan, the city would first have to strike a deal with the Port Authority to transfer ownership of the 16-acre site. (New York Post)

Families, Residents Offer WTC Plan - Dec 17, 2002
The World Trade Center site should be divided into three sections, including a nine-acre memorial area containing the footprints of the Twin Towers, a coalition of residents, architects and family groups said yesterday. The proposals emerged from several meetings among members of the different interest groups over the past few months which had been often portrayed at odds in the redevelopment process. (Newsday)

WTC Architect Team Also Worked on Mayor's Downtown Project - Dec 17, 2002
The architects who designed Mayor Michael Bloomberg's vision for downtown also have a plan for the World Trade Center site. Peterson Littenberg Architects, which won a $375,000 contract to provide consulting services for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. in May, is one of seven teams presenting their trade center visions tomorrow. (Newsday)

Ground Zero Architects Warned: No Leaking Plans - Dec 17, 2002
Hearing reports that The New York Times planned to publish photographs, drawings and other visual images that previewed rebuilding plans for the World Trade Center site, a state agency warned architects against cooperating with the paper. (Newsday)

New Designs to Be Unveiled Wednesday - Dec 16, 2002
When seven teams of architects unveil their designs for the World Trade Center site on Wednesday, the public will be treated to an unusual seminar on innovative design and architecture that is rarely a part of normal civic life. A news conference to introduce the designs Ă‘ a three-hour presentation, to be broadcast live on local television and edited into a videotape that will be available at every public library in the city Ă‘ will include discourses from the architects themselves, models of their work and drawings of views from the tops of buildings and upon emerging from the subway. (New York Times)

9 New Towers Among WTC Plans to be Unveiled - Dec 16, 2002
From filling Ground Zero with nine office towers to seven memorial locations that extend beyond its boundaries, the new plans for the World Trade Center site show distinctly different ways of rebuilding what was lost Sept. 11. The plans by seven teams will be unveiled Wednesday and include a sphere to dominate downtown's skyline and the world's tallest building, at approximately 1,500 feet. (Newsday)

Architects Are Proud of Their WTC Plans - Dec 16, 2002
Architect Daniel Libeskind, whose firm is one of seven teams creating new schemes for the World Trade Center site, said the work that went into the designs was intensely complex - and must be treated that way. "It's not just "a project that is a pretty picture," Libeskind said of the work, which the teams had just eight weeks to develop. (New York Daily News)

Architects: Judge New WTC Designs On More Than Aesthetics - Dec 15, 2002
Designs for a redeveloped Ground Zero will be unveiled Wednesday, and architects are pleading with the public - don't judge a building by its cover. A group of local architects, independent of the official redevelopment effort, are holding workshops at the South Street Seaport this weekend, developing aids for public understanding of the new designs based more on their impact to the area than aesthetics. (New York Post)

WTC Study: Rescuers Still Suffering Ailments - Dec 15, 2002
Fifteen months after the twin towers attack, health problems remain an intractable issue: More than half of the 2,500 rescue workers and volunteers Mount Sinai Medical Center doctors have screened to date have persistent upper respiratory inflammation and at least one in four people has abnormal breathing consistent with lower respiratory disease. That is more than triple what is found in the general population. (New York Daily News)

Kissinger Pulls Out as Chief of Inquiry Into 9/11 Attacks - Dec 14, 2002
Henry A. Kissinger abruptly resigned today as chairman of the commission intended to investigate the Sept. 11 attacks, informing President Bush that he could not serve if it meant revealing the clients of his consulting firm. President Bush, who aides said was surprised by the decision, vowed to find a replacement quickly. (New York Times)

Injured 9/11 Rescue Workers Hold Off Lawsuit - Dec 14, 2002
Almost 2,000 firefighters, cops and other workers who said they suffered respiratory ailments at Ground Zero will hold off suing the city for a year. Under an agreement that could potentially save tens of millions of dollars, lawsuits over inadequate respiratory equipment will be frozen to allow the plaintiffs, who include Emergency Medical Service, sanitation and construction workers, to apply to the federal Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund. (New York Daily News)

Transit Officials Study A Quick Trip to Lower Manhattan for Commuters - Dec 14, 2002
Transit officials are mulling a plan to whisk Long Island Rail Road riders and airport travelers to lower Manhattan by using a track on the J subway line, sources said yesterday. The move, being studied by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, would allow LIRR commuters and Kennedy Airport passengers to take a new super-express to lower Manhattan from the Jamaica station in Queens. The express would use a third line of track on the J and Z line, sources said. (New York Daily News)

Mayor's Proposal Envisions Lower Manhattan as an Urban Hamlet - Dec 13, 2002
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg yesterday offered his vision of the future of Lower Manhattan: a collection of neighborhoods stitched together by large parks and broad pedestrian walkways, with a direct mass transit link to Kennedy Airport via a new tunnel under the East River. Under Mr. Bloomberg's plan, Lower Manhattan would essentially be transformed from an ailing financial center with pockets of residential developments into an urban hamlet of housing, schools, libraries and movie theaters, as well as other businesses, some of which would benefit from a generous new federal tax package. (New York Times)

Development Corporation Ready for Next Step - Dec 13, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation yesterday authorized $300,000 to pay for the work of whichever teams are picked to refine their designs for the World Trade Center site. A final site plan, to be negotiated between LMDC and the Port Authority, is due Jan. 31. (Newsday)

New Designs for 9/11 Site to Be Shown to the Public - Dec 13, 2002
A sx-week public exhibit at the World Financial Center and public hearings in New York and New Jersey will be part of an effort by rebuilding officials to gather comment on the new designs for the World Trade Center site that will be unveiled next week. The plans for gathering comment on the new designs have upset the leaders of some civic groups that have been active in the public discussion on the rebuilding. (New York Times)

Development Corporation to Hold More Hearings on WTC Plans - Dec 13, 2002
The agency overseeing the redevelopment of lower Manhattan said yesterday it would boost public input on a new set of designs for Ground Zero to be unveiled Wednesday. Amid criticism that it wasn't allowing the public enough opportunity to weigh in, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. said it would hold at least three hearings in addition to sponsoring an ongoing exhibit of the new designs. (New York Daily News)

Relatives Call for a Two-Block Vendor Free Zone Around Ground Zero - Dec 13, 2002
Relatives of 9/11 victims said yesterday that vendors who peddle terror attack-themed merchandise near Ground Zero are selling "murderabilia" and called for legislation to keep vendors from the site. At a press conference at Church and Liberty Sts., leaders of the group said they have written to Gov. Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg and several City Council members asking for a two-block vendor-free zone around the former World Trade Center site. (New York Daily News)

Deadline for Small Business Grants is Near - Dec 12, 2002
As the deadline approaches for one of the biggest government grant programs helping the recovery of Downtown businesses, a walk-in center in Lower Manhattan that provides application assistance saw a steady stream of visitors last week. Applicants at the center at 140 William St. had mixed reviews of the World Trade Center Business Recovery Grant Program, whose deadline is Dec. 31. (Downtown Express)

Mayor to Unveil His Plan for Downtown's Future - Dec 12, 2002
Mayor Michael Bloomberg will formally weigh in today on the debate over the future of lower Manhattan and unveil his vision for the district. In a speech he will give today, Bloomberg is expected to announce an overall strategy that looks beyond the 16 acres of the World Trade Center site and attempts to articulate a future for the entire district - a sprawling area that stretches from the ritzy, almost suburban, confines of Battery Park City in the west to the gritty streets of Chinatown in the east. (Newsday)

Court To Consider Whether 9/11 Was One Attack - Dec 12, 2002
An appeals court agreed Wednesday to hear the issue of whether the two planes that brought down the World Trade Center represented separate attacks, a critical point that could double the multibillion-dollar insurance payout. (Associated Press)

Downtown Retailers Remain in a Rut - Dec 12, 2002
Sales in lower Manhattan are down considerably from two years ago but many merchants don't know whether to blame the lasting aftershocks of Sept. 11 or the economic malaise affecting uptown retailers as well. (Newsday)

Revising WTC Death Count - Dec 12, 2002
A roll call of the dead engraved on memorial placards at Ground Zero includes an inconspicuous black mark covering the name of Nickola Lampley, a 24-year-old Brooklyn woman who authorities believed dead at the World Trade Center until she turned up alive on the first anniversary of the attacks. The symbolic resurrection of Lampley will be followed by others next month when the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. revises the memorial placards. The change will be made to reflect a new official tally of those killed in the Sept. 11 attacks. It also brings to light how difficult it has been for the city to determine the exact number of the dead. (New York Daily News)

Council Criticizes Tax-free, Luxury Housing Projects - Dec 11, 2002
Councilmembers and housing advocates pressed city and state officials on Monday to allocate more Liberty Bond funding for affordable housing. At a joint hearing of the City Council's Committee on Housing and Buildings and the Select Committee on Lower Manhattan Redevelopment, City Councilmember Alan Gerson and others questioned officials charged with oversight of the Liberty Bonds. (Downtown Express)

Many Call for Forums on Lower Manhattan - Dec 11, 2002
Claiming that redevelopment agencies need to do more public outreach, a coalition of civic groups asked for another interactive public forum to collect ideas for downtown. The Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York, a coalition of more than 75 business, community and environmental groups, wants the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the Port Authority and the city to sponsor another "Listening to the City" session after the Dec. 19 release of new plans for the World Trade Center site. (Newsday)

Developer Seeks $43 Million in Liberty Bonds for Market Rate Housing - Dec 11, 2002
A developer has requested $43 million in tax-free Liberty Bonds to create 91 new apartments downtown. The project involves the renovation of 13 loft buildings and the construction of three new buildings on both sides of Front Street, between Beekman Street and Peck Slip. Nearly all the new apartments would rent at market rates. (New York Post)

Bear, Stearns Threatens Again to Leave City - Dec 11, 2002
For the third time in a decade, Bear, Stearns & Company is demanding tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks and other subsidies from the city. In what has become a familiar bargaining pattern by many of the city's largest corporations, Bear, Stearns has said it would keep the employees in New York if the city provided it with a generous subsidy to move from Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan. (New York Times)

Christmas Tree Lighted at Ground Zero - Dec 11, 2002
A 32-foot Christmas tree was lighted Tuesday at the World Trade Center site, shining with 3,000 white lights to honor the victims of the Sept. 11 attack. (Associated Press)

Senator Clinton Pushes FEMA to Show How 9/11 Funds Have Been Spent - Dec 11, 2002
Concerned that federal officials are withholding disaster aid promised to the city, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) called yesterday for a detailed accounting of how nearly $9 billion in terror recovery funds has been spent. (New York Daily News)

Congressional Committee Examining 9/11 Adopts Report - Dec 11, 2002
The joint Congressional committee investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks voted today to recommend the creation of a cabinet-level director of national intelligence, Congressional officials said. The recommendation was one of about 20 in the committee's final report, which one leader of the panel said was too forgiving of intelligence failures leading up to the attacks. (New York Times)

Master Plan for WTC Site Will Be Done By Jan 31 - Dec 10, 2002
Rebuilding officials said yesterday that the master plan for the World Trade Center site would be done by Jan. 31, just six weeks after proposals from seven teams of architects are presented to the public. The rapid timeline means officials will be soliciting public comment on the design teams' new ideas at the same time that the two lead rebuilding agencies are ruling out some of the ideas. (New York Times)

WTC Plans Include Designs for World's Tallest Building - Dec 10, 2002
Several new plans for Ground Zero call for erecting what would be the tallest building in the world on the disaster site - giving terror-battered lower Manhattan a new, distinctive skyline, sources said yesterday. The new skyscraper would rise about 1,500 feet, eclipsing the world's tallest buildings, the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia, which stand 1,483 feet. (New York Daily News)

A Huge Glass Room Proposed for WTC Site - Dec 10, 2002
One of the architecture teams working on designs for Ground Zero has proposed building what could be the world's biggest room - an enormous enclosed public space sitting over the footprints of the Twin Towers. The room and several other proposals from three of the seven international design teams working to reimagine Ground Zero were shown behind closed doors yesterday to officials from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Port Authority. (New York Post)

Researchers: Key Evidence to WTC Investigation Was Destroyed - Dec 10, 2002
World Trade Center surveillance tapes and maintenance logs are among the missing evidence essential to a two-year investigation into the collapse of the 110-story twin towers, federal officials said Monday. (Associated Press)

Many Concerned About Public Input for New WTC Plans - Dec 9, 2002
As lower Manhattan rebuilding officials move toward finalizing a new master plan for Ground Zero, concern is growing among civic leaders about how much input the public will have. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. will release seven new designs for the World Trade Center site next week - and a final plan is scheduled to be selected by February. But the agency has no intention of holding a forum similar to the summer's sprawling Listening to the City event at the Javits Center. (New York Daily News)

Families Wait for 9/11 Relics - Dec 9, 2002
Tens of thousands of personal relics carefully culled from the World Trade Center rubble - wedding rings, watches, photos and other sentimental artifacts - have yet to be returned to families of the dead. Fifteen months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the desperation of families to recover their loved ones' belongings from the NYPD has grown into a fear that the items never will be given back. (New York Daily News)

Plans To Close Firehouses Must Proceed, Says Official - Dec 8, 2002
The city will have to go ahead with plans to close several firehouses, Deputy Mayor Marc V. Shaw said yesterday, calling an agreement to set up a commission to study the issue a "political punt." Although most public figures have shied away from criticizing the city's uniformed departments in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in which 343 city firefighters died, Shaw had no problem dealing out criticism towards inefficiencies in the fire department. (New York Times)

Silverstein Bid For Taxpayer-Subsidized Bonds On Hold - Dec 7, 2002
City officials have delayed a decision on World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein's bid for $400 million in taxpayer-subsidized bonds - saying they want to make sure he really needs the money. Silverstein is applying for $400 million of Liberty bonds, which are exempt from taxes. Silverstein said 7 World Trade Center, the first building to rise again at the site, would cost $700 million. He is due to receive more than $800 million in insurance for the destroyed buildings. (New York Post)

Without World Trade Center, Port Authority Paying Less In Taxes To City - Dec 7, 2002
The Port Authority's tax payments to the city on the World Trade Center site have been whittled down to a paltry $1.7 million because of the twin towers' collapse - compared with $28 million pre-9/11. The Port Authority still collects $120 million in annual lease payments from developer Larry Silverstein, who leased the twin towers six weeks before they collapsed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. But because the city's tax structure and laws forbid governments from imposing levies on other government agencies, the city isn't entitled to any of it. (New York Daily News)

Deutsche Bank Is Moving to Lower Manhattan Tower - Dec 6, 2002
Deutsche Bank announced to great fanfare yesterday that it would move its national headquarters and 5,500 employees to the beleaguered streets of Lower Manhattan. At a news conference on Wall Street with bank officials, the governor and mayor hailed the company's commitment to the city and granted the German financial company $34.5 million in cash from the World Trade Center job retention program financed by federal aid. Despite the fanfare, Deutsche Bank committed to moving to Lower Manhattan in April 2001, when it struck an agreement to buy the downtown tower at 60 Wall Street for about $600 million as part of a plan to move its New York headquarters from Midtown. (New York Times)

Tomson Urges Real Estate Leaders to Become More Involved Downtown - Dec 6, 2002
Concerned that a third of the commercial space near Ground Zero could become vacant by 2006, a top rebuilding official urged real estate leaders yesterday to get more involved in lower Manhattan's recovery. "If there ever was a critical time to be heard from, it's now," said Lou Tomson, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (New York Daily News)

Whitehead Gave Key Donation to Republican Party - Dec 6, 2002
Downtown development czar John Whitehead gave a whopping $241,000 to the national Republican Party just before the Nov. 5 election, in the crucial final days of the GOP's successful drive to win control of Congress, records show. The Oct. 25 donation made Whitehead one of the Republican National Committee's top donors of unregulated "soft money" in the weeks before it became illegal on Nov. 6. (New York Post)

Assistance for Chinatown Rejected - Dec 6, 2002
City Council speaker Gifford Miller and several other council members criticized Gov. George Pataki yesterday for the recent decision not to award an Empire Zone to Chinatown, where business leaders and activists cite the closure of 65 garment businesses as evidence that the neighborhood is still reeling economically from the Sept. 11 attacks. The Empire Zone Designation Board voted on the day before Thanksgiving to approve the last of six zones, which create tax breaks and incentives for businesses, in Renssalaer County, the home of Republican state Senate leader Joseph Bruno. The other five zones, none in the city, were approved prior to the gubernatorial election. (Newsday)

Ground Zero Opens to Families - Dec 5, 2002
Relatives of World Trade Center victims will be allowed into the Ground Zero pit over the next few weeks, giving them a chance during the holidays to be near what many consider the grave site of their loved ones. Relatives will be allowed to walk to the bottom of the steel ramp at Ground Zero from this Sunday through Jan. 5, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (New York Post)

FEMA Enforces Deadline Despite Mail Mix-up - Dec 4, 2002
In the weeks before the Nov. 30 deadline for a federal Sept. 11-related aid program, a FEMA bureaucratic foul-up caused the temporary closing of a post office box receiving applications and the return of some applications to their senders. Responding to the news, local politicians and others intensified their demands for an extension of the Nov. 30 deadline for the program. But FEMA officials denied their request, saying that the post office box incident would not hamper people from registering for the program by phone. (Downtown Express)

Downtown Retail Hopes for Big Season - Dec 4, 2002
For weeks after the World Trade Center attack, the shelves of J & R Computer World were covered with a ghostly film of white ash from the wreckage. The massive retailer, perhaps the largest in Lower Manhattan, was devastated by the attack only a few blocks away. Customers were kept away for weeks after 9/11 by transportation snarls. J&R is still not up to its pre-9/11 sales figures. (Downtown Express)

A Leaner Nadler Outlines Downtown Views - Dec 4, 2002
At the Chelsea Greenwich Village Chamber of Commerce's networking luncheon at the Village Restaurant, Jerry Nadler made an impressive argument - in this case that the World Trade Center cleanup was horribly botched by the Environmental Protection Agency. Among politicians, Nadler continues to be the most outspokenly critical on how the federal government handled the disaster. He blasted E.P.A. chief Christine Whitman's arriving on the scene a few days after the disaster to announce the air was safe. And he called the testing procedures for Trade Center fallout in residents' apartments inadequate. (Downtown Express)

City Pushes to End Limits on Police Surveillance - Dec 4, 2002
The city hinted the NYPD was probing a secret terrorist plot yesterday as it tried to persuade a Manhattan federal judge to overturn longstanding limits on cops' ability to spy on political groups. But senior Federal Judge Charles Haight turned down the city's "unusual request" to discuss the "ongoing investigation" in chambers - and not include lawyers fighting to preserve the limits on police surveillance. (New York Daily News)

Students Unveil Their Visions for WTC Site - Dec 4, 2002
Two weeks before the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. unveils the designs of seven teams of architects, and a week before Mayor Michael Bloomberg announces his vision for lower Manhattan, 48 architecture students at the New York Institute of Technology displayed models of what they want to see on the World Trade Center site. (Newsday)

Trade Center Designs Will Be Shown Dec. 18 - Dec 3, 2002
Seven potential new designs for the World Trade Center site will be unveiled in a ceremony on Dec. 18 at the Winter Garden in the World Financial Center, a top rebuilding executive said yesterday, with a final development plan for the site to be selected by the end of February. The executive, Louis R. Tomson, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, said the agency would gather public comments on the seven designs to help it choose which features would become part of the final master plan for the site. (New York Times)

Siverstein May Pay For Construction with Taxpayer-Subsidized Bonds - Dec 2, 2002
Developer Larry Silverstein has submitted an application to finance the new 7 World Trade Center office with $400 million in Liberty Bonds, which are exempt from federal, state and city taxes. The city turned down requests from The Post to release documents about the project - whose financing appears far less straightforward than the developer has indicated. (New York Post)

Tree at Ground Zero to Honor Victims - Dec 2, 2002
A Christmas tree is scheduled to be erected tonight at Ground Zero for the second year in a row. The tree lighting is planned for Dec. 10. As tourists took pictures through the fence surrounding the site Friday, construction workers unloaded the 32-foot Canadian balsam fir. It will be placed next to the Ground Zero cross, which was found during the cleanup and erected at Church Street between Liberty and Vesey streets. (Newsday)

Rescue Dogs Subject of New Studies on Ground Zero Toxins - Dec 2, 2002
New studies on Ground Zero search and rescue dogs could shed light on whether dangerous toxins were harmful to animals and humans alike. So far, rumors about the failing health of the dogs have been put to rest. "There have been no problems that we can link to the work related to the 9/11 attacks," said veterinarian Cynthia Otto, investigator for a University of Pennsylvania study being funded by the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation. (New York Post)

Planners Vow to Cooperate in Rebuilding Trade Center - Dec 1, 2002
Stung by criticism that interagency fights have slowed the pace of the rebuilding in Lower Manhattan, officials overseeing the planning are taking a new tack: acknowledging their previous disagreements while also promising that the effort will soon pick up speed. In a speech to a municipal finance conference tomorrow, Louis R. Tomson, the president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, is expected to outline an aggressive schedule for completing a plan for the World Trade Center site, rebuilding officials said last week. (New York Times)



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