Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 22:40:52 -0400 (EDT) From: Louis Epstein Subject: WTC Rebuilding #319:Libeskind sues Silverstein,More I'd like to start off with an apology and correction of the name of the man who discovered the "cross" beam doing rescue work at the WTC and was the concluding speaker of our press conference on July 4th: his name is FRANK SILECCHIO. Gary Taustine has photos of the Gardner model at his gramercynews.com site and there's also a page of photos taken on the 4th. While the Post has attempted to cheerlead for the Libescheme, http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/26824.htm portraying Pataki's "pet rock" as a tourist attraction,their readers have been generally negative about it: http://nypost.com/postopinion/letters/24534.htm is entirely pro-Towers,including letters from list members Don Dunphy,Rachel Snyder,and Tal Barzilai; http://nypost.com/postopinion/letters/26998.htm is mixed but the pro-Towers side gets the headline and leads off with Bill Hough; http://nypost.com/postopinion/letters/27161.htm is pro-Towers withl Tal and Andy Martin among the writers. By all means keep writing...Rachel Snyder just got into Downtown Express recently...and don't forget the comment periods now open: Civic Alliance (email to petra@rpa.org with your thoughts on the planning process and where it has gone wrong) PATH station (until July 21st) West Street (until July 28th). And we have not forgotten the initiative to write to New York AG Spitzer. Regarding the PATH station,ridership is growing ahead of anticipated pace: http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/27144.htm HUD has agreed to release funds to the officials for the memorial/ cultural construction and demolition of the Deutsche Bank building, but these remain incompletely funded on the whole. Silverstein has requested that all remaining Liberty Bonds be used to help him build: http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/24761.htm ...and his financial situation can't be helped by the lawsuit Libeskind has now surprised him by resorting to to get his "genius fee": http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/24985.htm Here's an Associated Press story on that lawsuit. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NEW YORK -- Architect Daniel Libeskind, designer of the original plan for redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming site developer Larry Silverstein owes him more than $843,000 for creative services. Libeskind says in court papers that the fee for concept and design of a major project such as the proposed 1,776-foot Freedom Tower at the 16-acre site is usually a percentage of the architectural fee, which is a percentage of the construction cost. Because Silverstein has refused to divulge what he is paying the architect, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Libeskind has estimated his fee based on public estimates of the project's total construction cost, court papers say. Since construction costs have been estimated at $1.5 billion, an architectural fee of 1.5 percent would be $22.5 million, and the concept and design fee would be 15 percent of that, or $3.375 million, court papers say. Libeskind, saying there was a collaborative relationship of the design and architectural teams, calculated the effort of his company, Studio Daniel Libeskind (SDL) LLC, to be 25 percent of the $3.375 million, or $843,750, the lawsuit says. Libeskind's papers say he and key members of his company "fully fulfilled their commitment to the design of the Freedom Tower, which was unveiled at a press conference in December 2003." After the design collaboration ended, Libeskind's papers say, he "sought reasonable compensation for SDL's work on the Freedom Tower." Despite negotiations over the past six months, court papers say, Silverstein "has refused to pay SDL anything approaching the fair value of the services it rendered." The lawsuit says Silverstein and his representatives have acted with "reckless disregard of their legal responsibility" to Libeskind and "in furtherance of a plan to deprive (Libeskind) of promised benefits and compensation." Libeskind's lawsuit, which names Silverstein Properties Inc. as defendant, asked the court to direct Silverstein to pay the $843,750, legal fees and punitive damages. A spokesman for Silverstein, Howard Rubenstein, issued a statement saying the developer was surprised by the lawsuit. "It was our understanding that just a few days ago the Libeskinds accepted our repeated suggestion of mediation by some neutral third party and that they were in fact considering a list of potential mediators," the statement said. It said Libeskind "has already been paid many millions of dollars for his work" by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which is the agency overseeing rebuilding, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is the site's owner. It said Libeskind "is unable to provide any industry standard timesheets or other documentation that would justify an additional payment of more than $800,000." The dispute would not affect the timetable for construction of the Freedom Tower, Rubenstein's statement said. Libeskind's attorney, Ed Hayes, said his client hadn't received an offer of mediation and wouldn't agree to one. Reconstruction at ground zero was ceremonially begun last week with placement of an inscribed stone at the southeastern corner of the Freedom Tower's foundation. Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - While it's said not to disrupt the official timetable that may be bravado,depending on how things develop.Certainly we need to keep up a current of public discontent with the official plans, and the WTCRM,TTT,All One All Free,and others are working on doing that and urge you all to be part of the efforts. The sad story at http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/27075.htm reminds us that remains of those who died continue to be identified, a process that can only be hindered by dragging the remains to a memorial instead of the medical examiner's office. Brian Daroff's request for responses from people interested in meeting in the NY area,forwarded in the last list email,has drawn a lukewarm response,I hope any interested in getting together will write to him or to me so we can set a place and date for a next meeting that can introduce new activists to the WTCRM core group who have been active for some time now. WHAT YOU DO CAN MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE! Do you want future generations to ask why you didn't do more to get the Towers back? -=-=- The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again, at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.