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With a final plan in place, the city awaits the beginning of construction of Daniel Libeskind's design for Ground Zero. Featured Articles: •  A Year With Libeskind •  An Overview of The Plan •  Virtual Tour of the Design •  Frequently Asked Questions •  Decisions Behind The Plan Follow the progress of the memorial competition as public officials try to find the best way to commemorate 9/11. Featured Articles: •  NYC Memorials •  Looking at Memorials •  Transcript of Live Chat with Anita Contini •  Monica Iken on Her Plans and Priorities for the Memorial

With the rebuilding at Ground Zero comes the opportunity to reorganize transportation lines downtown. Featured Articles: •  Transportation And Lower Manhattan: Where Do We Go From Here? •  The (Proposed) Trains To The Planes •  Save West Street •  Does Transportation Really Deserve Top Billing Downtown? Since September 11, security remains a major concern in the minds of New Yorkers. Learn more about security and its effects on New Yorkers. Featured Articles: •  Operation Atlas and the Security of New York •  An Assessment Of The Threat From Al Qaeda •  Special Registration: A Controversial Program •  The Fire Department's Lessons From 9/11 •  Are New Yorkers Any Safer? •  Civil Liberties Since 9/11

Under the weight of a recession, the attacks of September 11, and a crushing budget deficit, the city must now attempt to rebuild its hard-hit economy. Featured Articles: •  9/11 Money Troubles •  Housing Downtown •  Transcript of Online Debate About Economic Rebuilding •  City Budgeting After 9/11 •  A Look At Doctoroff's Land Swap Proposal •  Labor Community Advocacy Network Rebuilding Statement (PDF format) The September 11 attacks have given rise to many cultural responses, from the emotional to the political. • Books • Film Documentaries • Museum Exhibitions • Songs • Television • Theater • Visual and Performance Art

• The Ground Zero Design Competition • Impact on New Yorkers • The Anniversary • Ground Zero • Charities

Choosing a Memorial for the 2,800 Lives - April 15, 2003
"The correct balance between having an elite jury select a design in a vacuum and having a completely open democratic process is a difficult one," writes the Downtown Express. "There is not an easy answer to finding the right balance but some form of public scrutiny and input needs to be built into the process." ( Downtown Express)

Rethink the Liberty Bond Program - April 2, 2003
"Any future Liberty Bond projects should have an added benefit than just more development. Future residential projects should have a higher percentage of affordable apartments - something closer to 20 percent as are required in other incentive programs - or satisfy some other important goal such as historic preservation," wrote the Downtown Express this week.( Downtown Express)

Undercutting the 9/11 Inquiry - March 31, 2003
"It's hard to believe that everything related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will not get the most thorough public scrutiny possible," writes the Times today. "But the federal investigative committee so reluctantly supported by the White House now seems in danger of being undermined." ( New York Times)

Madelyn Wils: A Necessary Voice for Lower Manhattan - March 18, 2003
"It seems unlikely that Madelyn Wils will resign or be forced to leave the board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., so we were tempted not to react to the online petition calling for her resignation," writes the Downtown Express. "But the implications of the petition and the disturbing way it has been used over the last week have prompted us to respond." ( Downtown Express)

Tough Angles - March 9, 2003
"The winning scheme is a triumph, not of design but of Libeskind's nose for politics," Patrick Pinnell writes in the Hartford Courant. "Looking at the winning design, one wonders how much was a search for memory and hope and how much was adroit calculation for the sake of getting to the finish line first." ( Hartford Courant)

Aspirations Bump Into Practicalities at Ground Zero - March 6, 2003
Daniel Libeskind's plan has "striking" similarities to one of the other nine proposals for Ground Zero, David Dunlap writes in the Times today. The parts of the plans that are similar "are likely to grow more so, as distinctive edges are shaved off the winning plan. And that gets back to the limits imposed by the program, which is meant to accommodate the long-term lease held by Silverstein Properties and a general desire to preserve as sacrosanct the acreage on which the towers stood." ( New York Times)

Eyes On The Prize - March 5, 2003
"It is possible -- although unlikely, given the public's passion about the site -- that Libeskind's plan for a sunken memorial in the exposed bathtub will be built and that much of the rest of his design will be abandoned," writes Paul Goldberger in the New Yorker. "The architectural bar has been raised in New York. Ten months ago, it was hard to imagine that the official plan for Ground Zero would be produced by one of the most innovative architects in the world. But what finally gets built will be to a large extent decided in a byzantine political process, accompanied by spin control."  ( New Yorker)

A New Dream Rises From Ground Zero - March 4, 2003
"The key to Libeskind's success is not merely that he can speak brilliantly to the public but that his buildings do as well," writes Mark Lawson in the Guardian. "Crucially, his successful designs all tell a story. In the past, theatre, cinema and literature have saved themselves from periods of public neglect or disdain by a return to compelling narrative. Libeskind has popularised modern building through narrative architecture." (Guardian (UK))

Cuozzo: Chosen Design Gets a Grade of Zero - March 3, 2003
Governor Pataki backed the wrong plan, and it will be "for future governors, and for all New Yorkers, to live with its consequences," writes Steve Cuozzo in the New York Post today. "Perhaps one day, we will look back upon Libeskind's abomination as we do upon Robert Moses' scheme for a cross-Manhattan expressway - as one of the city's mercifully unrealized follies." (New York Post)

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	Featured This Week: Where's Our $21 Billion? While President George Bush pledged $21.4 billion to New York City in post 9/11 aid, it is unclear how much has actually arrived. Representative Carolyn Maloney, who has been tracking federal rebuilding aid, writes about the differences between what has been said and what has been done. Previously Featured 9/11 Commission Final Hearings... Memorial Center Recommendations... Fulton Street Subway Station... Revisiting 9/11, Reworking 911... Governor's Rebuilding Speech... Ground Zero in Politics... (more)

	Calendar of Rebuilding Events Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Board Meeting Date:Thursday, September 9, 2004 Location: One Liberty Plaza, 20th floor conference room Time: 8 AM See full listing for additional information

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The third anniversary of 9/11 fell on Saturday, and was marked in ceremonies more modest than those taking place in previous years. At Ground Zero, the parents and grandparents of victims read the names of all 2,749 people killed in the attacks on September 11, 2001. Around the city, New Yorkers held other memorial ceremonies, including individual events honoring the firefighters, police officers, and workers from the restaurant Windows on the World who fell victim to the attack. In Staten Island, a new memorial was unveiled on Saturday evening, while the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation has still not found someone to head its $400 to $600 million fundraising drive to construct the memorial planned for Ground Zero.

Over 800 people recently filed a class action suit against Larry Silverstein, the developer who holds the rights to Ground Zero, and several companies who ran the post 9/11 cleanup, charging that the companies' negligence led to health problems. The suit seeks the creation of a $1 billion fund for health testing, and billions more for treatment for those who got sick during the cleanup. Currently, no government program offers specific funding for treatment of World Trade Center-related illnesses. David Worby, the lead attorney in the lawsuit, said that he will also take legal action against the city, the Port Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Meanwhile, the damaged Deutsche Bank building was found to contain high levels of asbestos, dioxin, lead and other contaminants. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation intends to begin dismantling the building later this year, and elected officials, environmental groups and downtown residents have already expressed concern over possible health effects. This week's findings will likely complicate both the physical and political tasks of taking the building down.

Across Ground Zero from the Deutsche Building, the new Seven World Trade Center is going up quickly. On Tuesday morning, the building surpassed 664 feet, the height of the previous Seven World Trade Center, destroyed on 9/11. Next month, the 52-story building will reach its full height of 741 feet.

To read previous editions of the Rebuilding Roundup, go to our Rebuilding Roundup archives

Bloomberg Says State Vies for Security Money the City Needs - Apr 4, 2003
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg made his differences with Gov. George E. Pataki public yesterday, suggesting that the governor is trying to claim a share of federal money that the city needs to defend itself against terrorist attacks. ``We can make a convincing case, I think,'' Mr. Bloomberg said, ``that when you catch an Al Qaeda member, in his or her pocket there's a plan to attack New York. Not to attack any one state, not to attack other cities. " (New York Times)

Millenium Hilton Near Ground Zero Set to Reopen - Apr 4, 2003
The Millenium Hilton Hotel -- which is so close to the World Trade Center site that you can see it reflected in the hotel's glass facade -- is getting ready to reopen on May 5th for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001. Miraculously, the 55-story tower at the corner of Church and Dey streets, directly across the street from Ground Zero, was left standing after the Twin Towers fell. (Newsday)

Retail-Space Developer Balks at the Design for Ground Zero - Apr 4, 2003
The company that holds the right to develop retail shopping space at the World Trade Center site has told its landlord that it believes that Daniel Libeskind's design violates the company's right to build appropriate shopping areas. The company, Westfield America, which is based in Los Angeles, first expressed its opinion in a March 14 letter to Joseph J. Seymour, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the trade center site. (New York Times)

Marriott Inn Demands More Say in WTC Rebuild - Apr 4, 2003
Host Marriott Corp. sent a letter to the Port Authority after the selection of a WTC master plan in February, saying the company expects to rebuild a hotel on the site as large as the one that was destroyed in the terror attack - and reminding the PA of the company's rights under its lease. The original hotel was 600,000 square feet, but the new WTC master plan by architect Daniel Libeskind calls for a hotel of just 360,000 to 560,000 square feet, depending on the configuration of the buildings on the site. (New York Post)

Betts' Role at Ground Zero Continues - Apr 4, 2003
Last week, Chelsea Pier owner Roland Betts, who favored the Think team's latticework towers over the Daniel Libeskind design preferred by the governor and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, was announced as chairman of an advisory committee to monitor construction. (New York Times)

City and State at Odds on Millions to Fight Terror - Apr 3, 2003
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Gov. George E. Pataki are suddenly at odds over tens of millions of dollars in homeland defense money that Congress is poised to approve, with each man lobbying at the other's expense in Washington for a larger share of the aid. The dueling messages from Albany and City Hall come at an extremely sensitive time, with leaders on Capitol Hill working out the final details on how to best allocate as much as $1 billion in federal aid to help the most vulnerable states and localities defend themselves against terrorist attacks. (New York Times)

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