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Ground Zero Artifacts to be Preserved in Transit Hub - Aug 27, 2004
A 66-foot-long, travertine-paved remnant of the original World Trade Center concourse - still used every day by hundreds of commuters walking between the Eighth Avenue subway platforms and the PATH station - will be permanently preserved as part of the new trade center transportation hub, the Port Authority said yesterday. (New York Times)
Port Authority Looks for JFK Ferry Link - Aug 27, 2004
The Port Authority invited ferry operators Thursday to submit proposals for boat connections between Lower Manhattan and Kennedy International Airport. (Newsday)
Verizon Receives $77 Million in 9/11 Funds - Aug 8, 2004
Verizon Communications Inc. received another $77 million in federal funds earmarked for restoring utilities and rebuilding infrastructure damaged in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a regulatory filing Friday. (Newsday)
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Earmarks $495 Million for Security - Aug 3, 2004
The MTA has earmarked $495 million toward "enhancing security readiness" in an effort to protect the region's vast rail network, officials said yesterday. (New York Post)
Feds Plan to Extend Environmental Testing - Aug 1, 2004
Community members and scientific experts applauded an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to expand testing for 9/11 contaminants to residences and workplaces north of Canal St. (Downtown Express)
White House to Direct $2 Billion to Rail Link - Jul 30, 2004
The White House has agreed to let New York use $2 billion in Sept. 11 aid to help build a $6 billion rail link connecting the World Trade Center site to the Long Island Rail Road and Kennedy International Airport. (New York Times)
Vets Protest Iraq War at Ground Zero - Jul 25, 2004
Flashing peace symbols and yelling “Congress has spoken, the people have spoken: No more Vietnams,” eight members of Veterans for Peace came to the World Trade Center Site for about 20 minutes Tuesday to protest the war in Iraq. None of them made any mention of Sept. 11 during the protest. (Downtown Express)
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Staten Island Memorial Unveiled - Sep 12, 2004
Rounding out a long and intense day of events marking the third anniversary of 9/11, a memorial to Staten Island victims was dedicated on the borough's waterfront at the ferry terminal across the harbor from the Trade Center site. (NY1)
Fundraising For Memorial Has Yet to Begin - Sep 11, 2004
Eight months after the World Trade Center memorial design was unveiled, Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg have yet to find a prominent person willing to lead the foundation that's raising the money to build it. (New York Daily News)
Website Offers "Living Memorial" To 9/11 Victims, Families - Sep 9, 2004
A high-profile 9/11 organization launched an Internet-based memorial yesterday that will serve as a "portal of reflection, remembrance, interaction, education and scholarly research" about the terrorist attacks. (New York Daily News)
Memorial Planned For Flight 93 Victims - Sep 9, 2004
The 40 innocent passengers and crew who died on hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 should be honored because they played a role in the "only victory" during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said the father of one of the victims. That's what planners hope people remember as they submit designs for a crash site memorial in a national competition announced Wednesday. (Newsday )
Frederic Schwartz: Designer of Two 9/11 Memorials - Sep 9, 2004
Frederic Schwartz is standing on a peninsula at Liberty State Park where ground is to be broken tomorrow for the 9/11 memorial he has designed for New Jersey, only three-and-a-half hours after ground is broken in Westchester County for the 9/11 memorial he has designed there. But for a moment, his sad eyes are not focused on the empty sky across the Hudson River where the World Trade Center is supposed to be. (New York Times )
Construction on Staten Island's 9/11 Memorial Begins - Aug 17, 2004
Workers started installing a memorial to the September 11 victims on Staten Island Monday. (NY1)
Cantor Fitzgerald Finds New Home in Midtown - Jul 27, 2004
Nearly three years after 658 Cantor Fitgerald employees were killed in the attack on the World Trade Center, the stock and bond trading company has found a new home five miles from ground zero, on the East Side of Manhattan. Cantor signed a lease last week to move into space now occupied by Bloomberg L.P., the business information company founded by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, at Park Avenue and 59th Street, where Cantor plans to erect a monument to the co-workers who died in the Sept. 11 attack. (New York Times)
When museums, theaters, and other arts institutions were offered the chance to move to Ground Zero, they jumped at it. Between June and September, 113 organizations responded to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's general request for proposals for the cultural spaces on the. A report (in pdf format) released this week gives a clearer picture of the three cultural spaces for the site -- an underground museum, a performing arts center, and one or two 'cultural buildings.' It also narrows down the list of institutions it is considering to run these spaces.
Just as these organizations are eager to move downtown, New Yorkers are eager to have them. In a survey last summer, 69 percent of people "strongly agreed" that building cultural facilities at Ground Zero was important. The governor and the mayor have voiced their support for the creation of a cultural district downtown. Even developer Larry Silverstein, who has long been accused of caring for nothing but the sanctity of office space, has said he would like to see an arts center at Ground Zero.
Using culture to revitalize Lower Manhattan has been around since long before 9/11. According to Sharon Zukin, author of The Cultures of Cities the business improvement district for Lower Manhattan has been trying to bring cultural institutions downtown for at least fifteen years, following the model of Times Square, where theaters and non-profit arts groups were used to revamp the area.
Zukin claims that this strategy has become common worldwide. "Culture used to be seen as a by-product of wealth," she said. "Now culture is seen as a generator of wealth. And therefore, governments, businesses and various organizations pursue culture in a much more determined and ambitious way that they have in previous generations."
The report released this week named the fifteen institutions that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation is considering for the cultural areas at Ground Zero, though it did not describe the institutions' proposals for these sites. By April, the agency expects to choose who will fill the three main cultural areas proposed for the site. Each area may be run by a single organization, or several organizations. After that, funding for the buildings and architectural designs will be worked out.
The three cultural sites proposed for Ground Zero are:
The Memorial Center -- an underground museum on the memorial site, sized between 50,000 to 70,000 square feet. Its mission will be to tell the individual stories of the victims of the 1993 and 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and present the contributions of the rescue, recovery, and relief workers after 9/11. Artifacts from the attacks will be displayed here. Advisory boards comprised of victims' family members and community leaders will work with the public and museum directors, curators, and conservators to develop content.
• The Museum of the City of New York, The New York Historical Society, and the New York State Museum will be discussing developing content for and how to curate this site with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.
• Project Rebirth and Sound Portraits Productions/Story Corps. will be speaking with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation about developing concepts for special events at the memorial center.
Performing Arts Center -- a 100,000 to 200,000 square foot building located due east of the Freedom Tower, on the northwest corner of Fulton and Greenwich Streets. It will house either a single organization operating a large theater program, or several organizations operating theaters of various sizes within the same complex.
• The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation is considering asking the Joyce Theater Company, the New York City Opera, the Signature Theatre Company, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Tribeca Film Institute to operate in this space.
Cultural Buildings -- One or two on the southwest corner of Fulton and Greenwich Streets. Several uses are being considered for these buildings, which will create a total of 200,000 to 250,000 square feet of useable space. Possibilities include a museum focusing on the World Trade Center site, exhibits focused on international culture, educational institutions focusing on children, and a space for civic organizations to facilitate public discussion.
• The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation will be speaking with the Children's Museum Of The Arts, The Drawing Center, The Museum Of Freedom and the New York Hall Of Science about developing this site. The buildings may also offer space to international public programs and educational events from organizations like the 92nd Street Y.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation will also be considering institutions not on the 'short list.' To read the full report, which includes a list of all 113 cultural institutions that responded to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's call for proposals, click here (in pdf format).