Friday, January 3
New Yorkers throughout the city will be able to comment via satellite hook-up on the new plans for the World Trade Center during two public hearings, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation announced this week. Those unable to attend a public hearing at Pace University in Lower Manhattan on January 13 will still be able to participate by going to one of five other locations in each of the four other boroughs and on Long Island. Another hearing using the same format but focusing on a memorial will be held the next day, January 14.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued a report this week that said most people living or working near Ground Zero are not likely to suffer serious short-term or long-term health effects from the collapse of the Twin Towers. Their research also indicated that rescue workers exposed to the air downtown in the hours right after the collapse could be at risk for chronic respiratory illness. The federal agency is accepting public comment on the report, which is currently in draft form.
A proposal to connect lower Manhattan to the AirTrain commuter rail station, which is under construction and will link Kennedy Airport to Jamaica, Queens, ran into some problems this week. Engineers from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that difficulties with using existing tunnels for the proposed connection could mean the project could run over the proposed $1.9 billion budget. Brookfield Properties, which owns the lease to the retail space at the World Trade Center site, has been promoting this plan as a cheaper alternative to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's idea for a $5 billion direct rail link to Kennedy Airport.
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