Friday, Nov 14
This week, Con Edison began rebuilding two power substations destroyed in the September 11 terrorist attacks. The substations will be placed at their previous location at Seven World Trade Center, but their design has been altered to allow for the extension of Greenwich Street through the site. Con Edison expects the substations to begin providing power to Battery Park City and other areas in lower Manhattan by next summer.
Most of the requests for Liberty Bonds, which were established to encourage investment in the area below Canal Street, are coming from companies looking to develop in other parts of the city, according to Frances Walton, chief financial officer of the Empire State Development Corporation. The New York Times, for example, is seeking $150 million in Liberty Bonds to build new offices in midtown.
Public officials are asking for private donations to reopen the Statue of Liberty. The monument has been closed since 9/11 because of the threat of terrorism and needs about $5 million in security improvements to reopen, according to the National Park Service. Also, Senator Charles Schumer has asked the US Coast Guard to do a "top to bottom" review of security on cruise ship passenger piers.
The Bush administration announced on Thursday that it would provide the New York City region with $64 million in the latest round of payments for antiterrorism programs, an amount that several New York lawmakers called inadequate.
On Wednesday, November 19, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation is expected to announce the eight finalists selected in the World Trade Center site memorial design competition. The final designs will be selected from 5,201 submissions, and one will ultimately be chosen as the memorial to remember those who died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. Jury members, who will select the winning design, have requested that all of the submissions be put on display for the public.
Friday, Nov 7
Governor George Pataki outlined a new schedule for rebuilding Ground Zero yesterday, saying that architects Daniel Libeskind and David Childs must agree to a design for the World Trade Center site's iconic "Freedom Tower" by December 15. Speaking to the Association for a Better New York and the Downtown Lower Manhattan Association, Pataki said that plans are "right on track" to complete a memorial, transit complex and the first office tower on the site by September 2006.
Eight proposals for the 9/11 memorial will be selected by November 17 and will be exhibited at the Winter Garden before the jury selects a winning design, Pataki said. The PATH station at Ground Zero will reopen on November 23, one month ahead of schedule. Also in November, the security barricades around the New York Stock Exchange will be taken down, and a pedestrian bridge will open to connect Battery Park City to the World Financial Center.
Earlier this week, the mayor's office also made an announcement about rebuilding downtown, saying that the Ground Zero master plan should include one more full street, and more retail space above ground. In a letter sent to state officials, Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff said that Cortlandt Street should be restored between Church and Greenwich Streets.
The city removed 40 names from the official tally of World Trade Center victims this week, bringing the number to 2,752. In updating the list, investigators found people alive who were believed to be dead and uncovered cases of fraud.
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