Friday, April 4
On March 31, nearly 19 months after September 11, public hearings on the World Trade Center attacks began at the U.S. Customs House in lower Manhattan. The federal panel investigating the attacks, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, heard from experts and victims' family members about what happened on that day. Former New Jersey governor Thomas H. Kean, the panel chairman, said the goal of the commission was "to write an authoritative story: what happened and why it happened."
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki are vying over tens of millions of dollars in federal security funds to prevent any further terrorist attacks. While Bloomberg is pressing for a formula that would give New York City 80 percent of the federal aid given to New York State, the governor is trying to keep a larger percentage for the state. "Keep in mind that the state has 4,500 state troopers," Bloomberg said on April 3. "The governor is trying to get overtime for that. We've got 38,000, almost 10 times the number, of New York City police officers."
Westfield America, the shopping mall developer that has a lease to rebuild on the World Trade Center site, has rejected Daniel Libeskind's design for the site. The plan "does not provide an acceptable framework for the redevelopment of our retail space," wrote the company in a letter to the Port Authority. "Unless we are able to quickly resolve our differences, we will be forced to take appropriate steps to protect our interests."
As the city and the Port Authority move closer to a deal swapping the land
at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports for the World Trade Center site, Queens
politicians are coming out against the plan. Queens State Assemblymen Barry
Grodenchik and Michael Gianaris introduced a bill opposing the swap, saying
it would give control over important Queens property to the authority, half
of whose directors are from New Jersey. Meanwhile, New Jersey public
officials reportedly want to slow down the swap talks, because they haven't
been included in the discussions.
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