January 2004

Arab Culture Near Ground Zero - Jan 31, 2004
In the wake of 9/11, and especially in Downtown Manhattan, Alwan for the Arts is trying to highlight the diversity of Arab culture, showing New Yorkers that it is more than just the destructive force we witnessed two years ago. It can also be extraordinarily creative. (Downtown Express)

17,300 Sign Up For World Trade Center Health Registry - Jan 31, 2004
The New York City Department of Health said Friday that more than 17,300 people had so far enrolled in its World Trade Center Health Registry, which tracks the health of people who were exposed to dust and debris after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on lower Manhattan. (1010 Wins)

1,168 Staten Islanders Sign Up For World Trade Center Health Registry - Jan 31, 2004
Of the 17,304 people who have enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry as of December 31, 2003, 1,168 are from Staten Island, according to a report released yesterday by the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (Staten Island Advance)

Man Charged With 9/11 Equipment Theft - Jan 31, 2004
Firefighters responding to a report of smoke in a Brooklyn apartment did not find a fire, but they did find firefighting equipment that had been lost at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, the Fire Department said Friday. (Newsday)

Bush To Seek Extension For Liberty Bonds - Jan 31, 2004
President Bush plans to ask Congress to extend until 2009 the Liberty Bond program, which provides tax-free financing to help New York City rebuild after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The program permits the state and city to issue a total of $8 billion in tax-exempt bonds for commercial and residential construction projects, primarily in Lower Manhattan. Financing with such bonds lowers the cost of the projects. (New York Times)

Senators To Introduce Legislation To Extend 9/11 Commission's Deadline - Jan 30, 2004
The two key Senate authors of the bill that created an independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11 attacks said Thursday that they would introduce legislation next week to extend the panel's deadline by eight months, to next January. (New York Times)

Ground Zero Reconstruction To Cost Over $11 Billion - Jan 30, 2004
Rebuilding the office and retail space at the World Trade Center will cost close to $7.5 billion Ñ part of a total Ground Zero reconstruction tab of more than $11 billion, The Post has learned. (New York Post)

Judge Says 1993 World Trade Center Lawsuits Can Proceed - Jan 30, 2004
More than 175 lawsuits filed over the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center against the agency that owns the site may proceed to trial, a Manhattan judge ruled Thursday. State Supreme Court Justice Stanley Sklar refused to dismiss the lawsuits, saying one of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's own committees had warned as early as 1984 that the trade center site, which included the now-destroyed twin towers, was a vulnerable and likely terrorism target. (Associated Press)

Battle Over 9/11 Commission Becomes Political Challenge For President - Jan 29, 2004
Long-simmering tensions with the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks became a more immediate problem for the White House this week as the panel released a series of damaging revelations about missed opportunities to stop the al Qaeda hijackers and opposed the administration by asking for more time to complete its work, according to panel members and political experts (Washington Post)

In One Family, Ugly Court Battle Over How 9/11 Money Is Spent - Jan 29, 2004
As the sole heir of deceased World Trade Center firefighter William Lake, 9-year-old Kyler Lake received a small fortune in charity funds and death benefits. How that money is being spent is at the heart of a vitriolic court battle, the longest-running and most hotly contested Sept. 11 case in Kings County Surrogate's Court. (Newsday)

British Citizen Faces Deportation Over 9/11 Scam - Jan 29, 2004
A British citizen who tried to scam redevelopment officials out of $12,000 in downtown residential grants intended for post-9/11 relief has been sentenced to six months in jail and will be deported. (New York Post)

Wealthy Woman Pleads Guilty To 9/11 Scam - Jan 29, 2004
An elderly millionairess pleaded guilty yesterday to taking advantage of the mass murders at the World Trade Center by scamming money from 9/11 relief organizations. (New York Post)

Flight Attendant Was Calm On 9/11 - Jan 28, 2004
Shortly before Flight 11 slammed into the World Trade Center, the American Airlines operations center received a calm phone call from one of its flight attendants. (Associated Press)

9/11 Hijackers Used Mace, Pepper Spray - Jan 28, 2004
The hijackers of Sept. 11, 2001, blasted Mace or pepper spray at flight crew members and passengers to keep them away from the cockpits and wielded knives in their orchestrated takeovers of the aircraft, according to a report issued yesterday by the commission investigating the attacks. (Washington Post)

Flight Attendant Was Calm On 9/11 - Jan 28, 2004
Shortly before Flight 11 slammed into the World Trade Center, the American Airlines operations center received a calm phone call from one of its flight attendants. (Associated Press)

ACLU: 9/11 Suspects Mistreated - Jan 28, 2004
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint with the United Nations Tuesday, alleging that many immigrants imprisoned and deported during the probe into the Sept. 11 terror attacks were denied fundamental rights under international law. (Newsday)

9/11 Commission Says It Needs More Time - Jan 28, 2004
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks announced on Tuesday that it was seeking an extension of its deadline to complete the investigation until at least July, raising the prospect of a public fight with the White House and a final report delivered in the heat of the presidential campaign. (New York Times)

9/11 Commission Faults US For Letting Hijackers In - Jan 27, 2004
The U.S. government fumbled repeated opportunities to stop many of the men responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks from entering the country, missing fraudulent passports and other warning signs that should have attracted greater scrutiny, according to a preliminary report released yesterday. (Washington Post)

New York Officials Criticize Homeland Security Funding - Jan 27, 2004
New York politicians in both parties say they are troubled that federal antiterrorism money specifically intended for the nation's most vulnerable cities is being spent in parts of the country that do not have urgent security needs. (New York Times)

Battery Park City Residents Face Rent Hikes As 9/11 Grants End - Jan 27, 2004
Battery Park City is bracing for change as the bulk of 9/11 rental assistance winds down and residents evaluate whether they can afford to remain in the area without the monthly government subsidy. (Downtown Express)

Poet Criticizes Memorial, In Verse - Jan 27, 2004
Opinions about the plans for a World Trade Center memorial are easy to find. Precious few qualify as poetry, though. Eugene Schlanger's thoughts carry no more weight than anyone else's. But their lyricism is unmistakable, agree with them or not. (New York Times)

Nuts And Bolts (And Water) Challenge Memorial Design - Jan 26, 2004
The jury has reached its verdict: two enormous square voids, set on the spots where the twin towers once stood, will be the centerpiece of the World Trade Center memorial. But now a jury of a different kind must weigh in: the engineers, horticulturists, carpenters, electricians, and plumbers who will actually build it. (New York Times)

On Memorial, Great Minds Think Alike? - Jan 26, 2004
A memorial for Ground Zero designed by Stuvyestant High School students last June contains several now-familiar features: A series of ramps leading to two reflecting pools at the Twin Tower footprints. A wall of names around the pools honoring those people killed on 9/11. A handful of trees surrounding the pools on a street-level plaza. A cultural building nearby on Greenwich St. (Downtown Express)

2,749 May Be Final Death Toll Of 9/11 - Jan 23, 2004
2,749. Unless something unexpected happens, this figure could well be the final count that history books will record as the number of victims who died in the World Trade Center attack, city officials said yesterday. (New York Times)

The New PATH Station - Jan 23, 2004
In aesthetics and logistics, Mr. Calatrava's design aspires to be far more than a commuter rail station, vital as that is to Lower Manhattan. Its admirers are already mentioning it in the same breath as the old Pennsylvania Station, which was torn down in the early 1960's, and Grand Central Terminal, which Mr. Calatrava claimed as his "deepest inspirational object." (New York Times)

Roxbury Firefighters Honored For Work On 9/11 - Jan 22, 2004
A plaque of appreciation from the New York City Fire Department, along with two framed chunks of steel taken from the wreckage of the World Trade Center have been presented to the volunteer firemen and first aiders in Roxbury Township, New Jersey. (Roxbury Register)

Deutsche Deal Near At Ground Zero - Jan 22, 2004
Development officials hope to work out a deal to buy the damaged Deutsche Bank building next to Ground Zero in coming weeks, at the same time they resolve an insurance dispute that has threatened to stall downtown rebuilding plans, sources told The Post. (New York Post)

PATH Station To Be Unveiled Today - Jan 22, 2004
A design for a permanent PATH station is to be unveiled this morning by Gov. George E. Pataki, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which will build the $2 billion project. Though the PATH terminal is the third key element of the trade center redevelopment project - in many ways, quite literally its heart - the design will almost burst on the civic consciousness, since work has proceeded quietly, with none of the discordant prelude that accompanied Freedom Tower and the memorial, "Reflecting Absence." (New York Times)

Peter Walker: Memorial Designer - Jan 22, 2004
Peter Walker is secure that he, a landscape doctor with a proclivity for transforming negative urban spaces into positive ones, is the man to refine Michael Arad's design. "To cut two giant holes in the ground, and do it in a way that will get people to read it the most dramatic way, is the discipline behind the plan. At this point, I think Michael and I are joined at the hip: what we're trying to do is make emptiness visible." (New York Times)

Silverstein Agrees To Safety Checks, But Critics Remain Unsatisfied - Jan 21, 2004
In an effort to reassure the public that new buildings at the World Trade Center site will meet government-mandated safety standards, the Port Authority and developer Larry Silverstein have agreed in principle to subject their construction projects to several new and independent safety checks, according to a draft of the proposal obtained by The Observer. But members of a postÐSept. 11 advocacy group, whose criticism of Port Authority safety policies helped bring the issue to the fore, labeled the proposal a "sham," citing what they saw as a lack of enforcement powers. (New York Observer)

A New Contract For Memorial Designers - Jan 21, 2004
In approving a contract renewal Tuesday with the winning designers of the World Trade Center memorial, the board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation established, for the first time, the consulting fees the two men will be paid. (Newsday)

Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Chief Quits To Work On Jets Stadium - Jan 21, 2004
Matthew Higgins, chief operating officer for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, said yesterday that he was leaving the agency to join the New York Jets, where he will assist the football team in building a proposed stadium and convention center on Manhattan's West Side. (Newsday)

Michael Arad: Memorial Designer - Jan 21, 2004
What made Michael Arad stop feeling like an outsider and start feeling like a bona fide New Yorker was, he says, the horror of Sept. 11: he watched the second plane hit from his rooftop, raced downtown to find his wife and, from Fulton Street, experienced the collapse of the first tower. Even before the memorial contest, he began work on a memorial. (New York Times)

Next For Ground Zero: Noise And Traffic - Jan 21, 2004
Snarled traffic, long shadows and noise - a decade's worth of noise - will be the inevitable byproducts of the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, according to a 2,000-page study approved yesterday by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. (New York Times)

9/11 Disability Pensions Raise Questions - Jan 20, 2004
Four top fire union officials who left or were voted out of office after Sept. 11, 2001, and who had spent most of the previous eight years doing administrative work have retired on tax-free disability pensions, city records show. (Newsday)

At Ground Zero, Rebuilding With Nature In Mind - Jan 20, 2004
While most of the anguished debate about ground zero has focused on recreating and remembering what was once there, another effort has been moving forward to create on the site something that never existed, an environmentally sensitive city within a city that is attuned to nature as well as the real estate market. (New York Times)

Stories of the Memorial Jury - Jan 19, 2004
Above all else, it was a jury. It was sequestered, for six months, from those who would intrude. Its members were trapped in deliberation until consensus could be established. It called for expert testimony, then called for it again. It quarreled. It soul-searched. It schmoozed and, yes, it laughed. (New York Times)

Police Commissioner's Security Measures - Jan 18, 2004
Interview: Police Commissioner Ray Kelly Discusses His Department's Work At Fighting Terrorism And General Crime (WNBC)

The Juror Who Gave Birth While Considering Memorials - Jan 17, 2004
She was pregnant in the spring when she and her fellow jurors attended combative public meetings about the World Trade Center memorial. She gave birth in June, and then worked with her colleagues considering 5,201 ideas before selecting the revised plan by Michael Arad and Peter Walker that was unveiled to the public on Wednesday. (Downtown Express)

Victim Compensation Fund Enrollment At 98 Percent - Jan 17, 2004
Ninety-eight percent of the families of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks have applied for federal compensation, the special master of a government fund said Friday. Kenneth Feinberg said 2,925 families have applied. The official death count was 2,976. (Associated Press)

Bloomberg Would Have Preferred Ground Zero School To A Memorial - Jan 17, 2004
Mayor Bloomberg disclosed that he would have built new schools where the World Trade Center once stood - instead of a memorial commemorating the dead. Talking on his weekly radio show yesterday, Bloomberg was careful not to criticize the winning design for the memorial, titled Reflecting Absence. But he suggested that a better approach would have been building new schools. (New York Daily News)

Revisions Please Some, Leave Others Wanting More - Jan 15, 2004
Reaction to the revised Reflecting Absence varied within the network of victims' family groups, with some embracing Arad's model and others saying the plan needed further adjustment. (Newsday)

Public Introduced To Memorial Designer - Jan 15, 2004
Michael Arad is not accustomed to the public arena. That much is clear. In presenting his winning World Trade Center memorial model Wednesday in the glare of the international press and New York's political honchos, Arad seemed barely able to breathe. He spoke softly. His emotions seemed scarcely restrained. He seemed intimidated by the stage he now commands -- or perhaps it was that rarest of public qualities: an awestruck humility. (Washington Post)

Victims' Families Renew Request For 9/11 Records - Jan 15, 2004
Families of victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attack said Wednesday they will go back to court to find out more about the final hours of their relatives' lives on September 11, 2001. (CNN)

Memorial Name Order Final - Jan 15, 2004
The controversial decision to list the names of the World Trade Center victims in random order - with rescue workers getting special designation - is final, officials said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Memorial Will Cost Over $350 Million - Jan 15, 2004
It will cost more than $350 million to build the "Reflecting Absence" memorial at Ground Zero, a top development official said yesterday. The preliminary estimate includes the cost of building the tribute's signature reflecting pools and waterfalls, the park, and an underground museum that will contain 9/11 artifacts, such as a crushed fire engine or the last steel column to be removed from Ground Zero. (New York Post)

An Abundance Of New Ideas In Revised Memorial - Jan 15, 2004
It seemed unlikely that there could be more surprises yesterday when the tweaked, updated, reconciled - and leaked - World Trade Center memorial was unveiled by Gov. George E. Pataki, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. After all, the name of the dark-horse winning design - Reflecting Absence, by Michael Arad, 34, and Peter Walker, 71 - was trumpeted last week, and artists' renderings and many of its signature features had been revealed on Tuesday. But though no curtain was parted to reveal the latest model at yesterday's much-anticipated ceremony, a wealth of new details was presented. (New York Times)

Starting Over: A Firm Rebuilds After Being Hit Hard On 9/11 - Jan 14, 2004
When the planes slammed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, few companies were as hard-hit as a small, close-knit firm called Sandler O'Neill. Of the 83 people in the office that morning, only 17 got out alive. Employees lost mentors, assistants lost bosses, friends lost friends. This is the story of what happened next. (Fortune)

New York Senator Criticizes Security At New York's Passenger Ship Terminal - Jan 14, 2004
New York's Passenger Ship Terminal does not use the new travelers fingerprint-identification system to check cruise ships - making the city more vulnerable to a terrorist attack, Sen. Charles Schumer said yesterday. (New York Post)

Order Of Names In Memorial Draws Criticism From Firefighters - Jan 14, 2004
The controversy over how to list the names of rescue workers in the Ground Zero memorial heated up yesterday, with firefighters voicing disapproval of a plan to list all the 9/11 victims together in random order. (New York Post)

Artifacts, Bedrock of Footprints Included In Revised Design - Jan 14, 2004
Here is the long-awaited final design of the Ground Zero memorial called "Reflecting Absence" - a tranquil urban forest surrounding two cascading pools sunk into the footprints of the Twin Towers. (New York Post)

Revised Memorial Design Addresses Criticism - Jan 14, 2004
The finished design for the World Trade Center memorial site will build on the original concept of twin voids marking the location and outlines of the twin towers, but will add lusher landscaping, create an underground center to house artifacts from the attack and establish a cultural center at the recreated intersection of Fulton and Greenwich Streets. (New York Times)

Firefighters Renew Effort For Memorial Name Distinction - Jan 13, 2004
Firefighters who want the names of 9/11 rescue workers listed separately in the Ground Zero memorial renewed calls yesterday for Gov. Pataki to back their demands. (Firehouse.com)

Freedom Tower Struggle Far From Finished - Jan 13, 2004
It's not unusual for developers, politicians, and architects to clash over real estate projects in New York City. But there's never been anything like the battle over the World Trade Center site. (Fortune Magazine)

Families Of 9/11 Victims Start Fundraising Drive For Cultural Events - Jan 13, 2004
Relatives of Sept. 11 victims said yesterday they hope to raise $9.11 million by the third anniversary of the terror attack for educational and cultural programs tied to the Ground Zero memorial. Monica Iken, a World Trade Center widow who heads a family group called September's Mission, said money raised through the "9/11 Campaign" will pay for things like museum displays or workshops. Money for the construction of the memorial will be raised through a separate foundation being organized by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (New York Post)

9/11 Effects Still Straining Relationships - Jan 12, 2004
Mental-health professionals said they were not surprised at the real-life soap operas that emerged after the twin towers fell. An initial screening of 7,000 World Trade Center workers at Mount Sinai Hospital found that a high percentage experienced relationship problems after 9/11. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

About Michael Arad, Memorial Designer - Jan 12, 2004
Upon being notified of the decision, Michael Arad called his parents in Jerusalem to tell them the news. "I'm very proud, happy, and emotionally moved," Moshe Arad told The Jerusalem Post. "I hope that the significance of this will be appreciated by both Israelis and Americans." Arad has been living in the U.S. since finishing his military service in the Israeli Defense Force in 1991. He received a BA from Dartmouth College, and a MA from Georgia Tech's College of Architecture. (Israel 21c)

Firefighters Still Calling For Name Distinction In Memorial - Jan 12, 2004
Firefighters who want the names of 9/11 rescue workers listed separately in the Ground Zero memorial renewed calls yesterday for Gov. Pataki to back their demands. (New York Post)

Turning Three Visions Into One Memorial Design - Jan 12, 2004
Now that Michael Arad and Peter Walker have been chosen as the designers of the World Trade Center memorial site, they are working intently to design it. They met last week at Mr. Walker's office in Berkeley, Calif., and this weekend at Studio Daniel Libeskind on Rector Street, three blocks from ground zero. They are trying to mesh Mr. Arad's arrestingly stark vision for the site with Mr. Walker's distinctive landscaping and Mr. Libeskind's master plan for the entire trade center site. (New York Times)

As Complaints Mount, Memorial Is Revised - Jan 12, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the agency in charge of rebuilding the trade center site, and the selection jury it appointed have been trying to strike a delicate balance between artistic independence and responding to public concerns while considering revisions to Reflecting Absence, recently selected as the 9/11 memorial for Ground Zero. (Associated Press)

Relaxation Of Security At Empire State Building Causes Worry - Jan 11, 2004
The Empire State Building has stopped screening visitors at its entrances, leaving tourists and some tenants worried because it remains a tempting target for terrorists. These days, visitors to the 86th-floor observation deck are amazed to find that anyone can stroll into the lobby, the basement and much of the second floor before being checked by security. (New York Post)

New York Daily News Donates $100,000 To Statue Of Liberty - Jan 11, 2004
The New York Daily News donated $100,000 to the reopening of the Statue of Liberty, and asked its readers to add to that. $5 million of new security is needed to reopen the statue to visitors. It has been closed since 9/11. (New York Daily News)

Israeli Architect Chosen As Memorial Designer - Jan 10, 2004
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has chosen Israeli architect Michael Arad, a resident of New York, to design the monument at the devastated World Trade Center site in Manhattan. Arad, 34, was born in London. He lives in Manhattan and is an architect at the New York City Engineering Department. (Haaretz)

Culture To Return To Memorial - Jan 10, 2004
Michael Arad wanted to take out almost all of the cultural buildings adjacent to the World Trade Center memorial in his original Reflecting Absence design, but his revised plan selected by the jury this week will restore most if not all of the museum and performance spaces, according to planning officials. (Downtown Express)

Childs Takes Freedom Tower Design to Community Board 1 - Jan 10, 2004
Freedom Tower architect David Childs offered more details Wednesday on security and public access for his building, a collaboration with site planner Daniel Liebskind that could restore DowntownÕs skyline as early as 2006. At a Community Board 1 meeting, Childs stressed that much about the design for the 1,776-foot tower remained subject to change. But he presented one certainty along with the ÒfluidÓ plans: The building would be among the safest in the world. (Downtown Express)

Summing Up Rebuilding - Jan 10, 2004
A summary of rebuilding, an attempt to lay out the cast of characters and locate each portion of the mammoth project on the continuum between pipe dream and the actual laying of pipes. (Newsday)

Firefighters' 9/11 Tapes Ordered Released - Jan 10, 2004
An appeals court has ruled that the Fire Department cannot edit out statements about emergency workers' personal feelings when it releases documents and audiotapes showing the response to the 2001 terrorist attacks. (Associated Press)

Memorial To Preserve World Trade Tower Columns - Jan 09, 2004
The 9/11 memorial will preserve traces of the north tower's steel columns and the building's bedrock footprint, which visitors will be able to view in an underground room, sources said yesterday. The revised memorial design, which is being fleshed out this week, would respond to groups of 9/11 family members who have demanded the footprints of both World Trade Center towers be preserved at bedrock. (New York Post)

New Yorkers Complacent About Attack Despite 9/11 - Jan 09, 2004
Though home to ground zero and the worst horrors of Sept. 11, 2001, "citizen complacency" toward terrorism remains a serious problem in New York state, a state legislative committee has concluded. Sen. Michael Balboni, chairman of the Senate's Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs, said too few New Yorkers know how to deal with another terrorist strike. (Newsday)

The Spirit Of The Freedom Tower - Jan 08, 2004
The shining tower planed for the gawked-upon gap of the World Trade Center may be the first skyscraper to pray for its city. The designer of the wind turbines that will occupy the top of the "Freedom Tower" wants the rotors to serve as prayer wheels, cycling through mantras of peace. (Village Voice)

Ideas For JFK Rail Link To Be Presented This Month - Jan 08, 2004
Four options for a direct rail link from lower Manhattan to Kennedy Airport will be unveiled this month and one will be selected in April for development, Gov. Pataki announced yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Reconciling The Site Plan And The Memorial Design - Jan 08, 2004
The two designers of the winning entry for the World Trade Center memorial are to meet today with Ground Zero master planner Daniel Libeskind in Berkeley, Calif., to begin the prickly task of making their disparate schemes fit together, sources said. (New York Daily News)

How Memorial Acquired A Second Designer - Jan 08, 2004
When a proposal called Reflecting Absence was submitted last year to the World Trade Center memorial site competition, there was one name on it: that of Michael Arad, a young architect for the New York City Housing Authority. When Reflecting Absence was announced on Tuesday as the winner of the six-month competition, there was another name: Peter Walker of Berkeley, California, who has 45 years of experience in the teaching and practice of landscape architecture. (New York Times)

Memorial Design Faces Revisions - Jan 08, 2004
The design of two pools standing in the World Trade Center's footprints was among the most minimal of entries in the Sept. 11 memorial competition. Its simplicity conveyed both profound loss and rebirth, a jury found in choosing it. But a day after hearing that designer Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker would present a significantly revised version of their ``Reflecting Absence'' design next week, some wondered how much of the original plan would be left. (Associated Press)

Memorial Design Wins Fans - Jan 08, 2004
Visitors to Ground Zero yesterday voiced approval of the minimalist memorial design chosen for the tragic site. "They went out of their way to make sure that the right memorial was chosen," said Gary Scarder, of Brooklyn. "It's definitely a compliment to those who we've lost." (New York Post)

Cop Caught Videotaping Girl In Shower Blames 9/11 - Jan 07, 2004
A Port Authority cop who admitted to videotaping an 11-year-old Queens girl while she showered blames the horrors of 9/11 for his candid-camera work, his lawyer said yesterday. (New York Post)

With Changes, 'Reflecting Absence' Is The One - Jan 07, 2004
A minimalist design that marks the World Trade Center footprints with two cascading pools of water is the surprise winner for the Ground Zero memorial, officials announced yesterday. A statement from the jury said the winning design "has evolved significantly" since it was first shown as one of eight finalists last November. (New York Post)

To Jury, Less Was More - Jan 07, 2004
In the end, the jury seemed to see the same thing so many people have seen at the World Trade Center site since Sept. 11, 2001: what is not there. Faced with many possible additions to the site, jurors in the memorial competition chose subtraction instead. As conceived by Michael Arad, Reflecting Absence would evoke the outlines of the twin towers as pool-filled voids in the earth, 30 feet deep and almost an acre each in extent. Perhaps more than any finalist, this design expresses loss in stark, unambiguous visual terms. (New York Times)

Experienced Architect Added To 'Reflecting Absence' Team - Jan 07, 2004
Yesterday, in announcing that Reflecting Absence had beaten two other designs that were informal semifinalists last week, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation said "significant" changes had been made in Mr. Arad's original design. The corporation also said Mr. Arad was collaborating with the landscape architect Peter Walker. Mr. Arad was virtually unheard of until the finalists were selected, while Mr. Walker has worked with some of the biggest names in architecture, including I. M. Pei, Rem Koolhaas, Norman Foster and Yoshio Taniguchi. (New York Times)

'Reflecting Absence' Picked As Memorial - Jan 07, 2004
The memorial at ground zero will be a teeming grove of trees above two deep reflecting pools within the outlines of the twin towers. At least that was the initial concept. For though the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation yesterday announced the winner of the competition to memorialize those slain at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and Feb. 26, 1993, it delayed a complete description of the design and its image, as well as access to its creators, until a high-profile unveiling planned for next week. (New York Times)

Woman Who Scammed 9/11 Charities Sentenced to Prison - Jan 06, 2004
A 9/11 scammer who snookered charities out of $80,000 was tossed in the slammer for at least two years yesterday. (New York Post)

Reliving 9/11 -- With Fire As A Teacher - Jan 06, 2004
The World Trade Center was burning again Ñ at least one small part of it Ñ in a fuel-soaked, full-size recreation of a Marsh & McLennan office on the 96th floor of the north tower, where the first plane struck on Sept. 11. This office is inside a towering laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. And it is only one fragment of the disaster being replayed for a federal investigation centered here. (New York Times)

Memorial Design is Chosen - Jan 06, 2004
After six weeks of deliberation, the jury assembled to choose a memorial for the site of the World Trade Center has made its decision, which it will announce today. The full description of the winning design will not be made until next week, said Matthew Higgins, the corporation's chief operating officer. (New York Times)

Better Security Needed On Cargo Planes, Says Congressman - Jan 05, 2004
The federal government hasn't done nearly enough to thwart terrorists who might target cargo planes flying in and out of New York airports, Sen. Chuck Schumer warned yesterday. (New York Post)

Jury May Decide On Memorial Today - Jan 05, 2004
The Ground Zero memorial jury will meet today and may pick a winning design, sources familiar with the competition said. The 13-member jury has narrowed its choices down to three designs and will focus on them in their discussions today. (New York Post)

Congressman Defends Times Square Security Comment - Jan 03, 2004
Connecticut Rep. Chris Shays said yesterday that he doesn't regret warning people to stay out of Times Square on New Year's Eve, even though the celebration went off without a hitch. (New York Daily News)

PATH Station Design Interferes With 'Wedge of Light' - Jan 02, 2004
The design for a new permanent PATH station at Ground Zero makes significant changes to Daniel Libeskind's World Trade Center master plan by moving the terminal building northward to overlap with the "Wedge of Light," sources told The Post. (New York Post)

Setback For Silverstein In Insurance Suit - Jan 01, 2004
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein suffered a setback yesterday in his legal bid to collect two insurance payouts totaling $7 billion by defining the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the towers as two events. Manhattan federal Judge Michael Mukasey ruled that jurors at the Feb. 9 trial can be told of a recent appeals-court ruling that found that Silverstein's contracts with three of the insurance companies involved in the dispute made it clear a terror attack would constitute only one occurrence. (New York Post)

Maritime Security Lags - Jan 01, 2004
Almost 5,000 ships and about 80 percent of the nation's ports, ferry terminals and fuel-chemical tank farms did not meet yesterday's deadline to submit maritime security plans spelling out how they will deal with terrorism threats, the Coast Guard said. (New York Post)

Bloomberg Criticizes Congressman For Times Square Security Remark - Jan 01, 2004
Mayor Bloomberg yesterday questioned the character of a congressman who said he wouldn't spend New Year's Eve in Times Square because of fear over a terrorist attack. Bloomberg went on three TV network morning shows to decry remarks Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) made on Tuesday saying that he "wouldn't go to Times Square" because it's a "tempting target" for terrorists. (New York Post)

Security Concerns Don't Stop The Partying - Jan 01, 2004
Helicopters swept the sky, and clusters of police officers stood guard on street corners. But for revelers in Times Square, the New Year's Eve countdown was about party, not panic. (New York Times)

Man Behind 9/11 Victims Fund Claims Victory, With Reservations - Jan 01, 2004
Kenneth R. Feinberg looks more fatigued than he did two years ago, when he agreed to work free as the administrator of the federal program to compensate the eligible relatives of Sept. 11 victims. The job, he now says, was "by far the most difficult assignment" of his legal career. But if he has worked almost nonstop, getting only three or four hours of sleep a night, Mr. Feinberg is not complaining now:97 percent of those eligible enrolled in the program (New York Times)