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Plenty of blame in WTC debacle

By David Freedlander | dfreedlander@am-ny.com

8:01 PM EDT, June 30, 2008

Construction crews continue work down at the World Trade Center site. A number of signature plans for WTC development may be delayed such as the Calatrava Path station. Additionally, the WTC Memorial may not be completed before the anticipated date of Sept. 11, 2011. (Emily Anne Epstein, Emily Anne Epstein / June 29, 2008)

The Port Authority called for a do-over yesterday in the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, but declined to provide an exact timeframe as to when any of the 16-acre site would be completed or how much it would cost.

The news today is a further blow to New Yorkers who have waited seven years to see progress at Ground Zero, but have instead watched as a plan to rebuild a critical piece of the city core has become mired in a pit of competing interests, bureaucratic infighting, and political ambitions.

While it is impossible to hold any one person or entity entirely responsible, there is plenty of blame to be shared. Some of the players include:

Gov. George Pataki

New York's former governor announced the creation of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to oversee the rebuilding. He selected a development plan that had been rejected by a selection committee, Once the current plan of five office towers, a museum and memorial, and transit hub were developed, the governor put forward what many believe now to be an unrealistic timeframe.

"Politics and public relations were driving the whole thing from the beginning," said one official close to the rebuilding effort who asked not to be named.

"Pataki wanted to be president so he set forth dates that were unrealistic."

Gov. Eliot Spitzer

Pataki's successor has been blamed for attempting to stall the work of the previous administration and failing to bring down the 130 Liberty, whose demolition is needed to build a new tower.

Charles Gargano, a Pataki ally and former Port Authority board member, said Spitzer was too intent on leaving his imprint on the project, thus hampering progress.

"We had the best minds in the entire country working on this," said Charles Gargano, a Pataki ally and former Port Authority board member. "I don't know why anyone would want to try to slow things down."

The New Jersey governors: Some say it's unfair to limit the blame to the governors of New York, suggesting that fault lies equally with their colleagues across the river in New Jersey.

"This is supposed to be the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey," said Glenn Corbett, a professor of fire safety at John Jay College and who is leading a campaign to alter the current rebuilding plan, which he considers vulnerable to terrorist attack. "There has been no discussion of Gov. [John] Corzine in all of this."

Others say Corzine interfered in the negotiations with site developer Larry Silverstein, accusing him of holding redevelopment plans hostage in order to negotiate a $6 billion Hudson Rail Tunnel.

Family Members It's hard not feel sympathetic for those who have lost loved ones in the worst disaster in American history, but the family members of those 3,000 lost that day have been criticized for putting their own need to grieve ahead of the city's need to rebuild.

One faction of family members helped to scuttle plans to move to Ground Zero The Drawing Center, a SoHo art space, and the International Freedom Center, which they claimed would have been disrespectful to the memory of the deceased.

Many though have said that such moves deprived the site of having the cultural component that it was supposed to.

"The governor made a unilateral decision to take Freedom Center out of the project," said Julie Menin, an area resident and activist. "The so-called public process was really circumvented. It was emblematic of a lot of what went wrong."

Larry Silverstein

The mega-developer has been praised for finishing the only completed building on the site, 7 World Trade Center, but has been criticized for trying to max out on his insurance returns and driving a hard bargain in his negotiations with the Port Authority.

"The Port Authority should have bought out Silverstein from the beginning," said Elliot Sclar, a professor of urban planning at Columbia University, "That would have taken enormous amount of the complexity out of it."

Bloomberg

Hizzoner took over when the ruins of the Twin Towers were still smoldering, and some have argued that it took him a little while to gain his footing.

The memorial and museum has been Bloomberg's pet project, but he didn't really take an active role until 2006. Some have said that it's time for the mayor to take over the from the Port Authority.

"We'd really like to see the city take a meaningful role at Ground Zero," said Sally Regenhard, whose son, Christian, was killed in the attacks.

"I know that we would have a memorial, at least, if Mayor Bloomberg was involved in it."