Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2008 21:17:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Louis Epstein Subject: WTC Rebuilding #549:Libescheme "Scrapped"? As indicated,the report yesterday has generated a lot of press. The BBC News site certainly had a provocative headline, their main Americas story today is "Ground Zero rebuild plan scrapped": http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7483590.stm Probably by coincidence,they have a video story on their site today about pro-rebuilding tightrope walker Philippe Petit (who had a statement read at WTCRM rallies in the past)...about him,not our cause. Of course,they haven't cancelled everything,they have just given up on their current schedule...cancellation and replacement is what we have to urge all the media and so forth who will listen (or not... as Gandhi said of opponents,"First they ignore you,then they laugh at you,then they fight you,then you win.")....but we must persist with the perseverance counselled by Coolidge. The NY Post has scathed again in this editorial: http://nypost.com/seven/07012008/postopinion/editorials/ground_zero__grim_truth_117999.htm Their columnist Steve Cuozzo: http://nypost.com/seven/07012008/news/columnists/dont_send_in_the_clowns___theyre_already_118003.htm Their news story: http://nypost.com/seven/07012008/news/regionalnews/its_pa_thetic__new_wtc_chaos_117961.htm (To write to the Post,it's letters@nypost.com [writing to individual reporters won't get published] and they like the letters short). NY Daily News stories: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/07/01/2008-07-01_wtc_transit_hub_design_changes_after_age.html http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/06/30/2008-06-30_disappointed_leaders_glad_the_truth_is_o.html http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/06/30/2008-06-30_port_authority_forget_about_911_memorial.html a Daily News editorial: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/07/01/2008-07-01_towering_incompetence.html (The Daily News takes letters at voicers@edit.nydailynews.com and like the Times they want to see your postal address and phone number,though they don't print them,in order to consider a letter for publication). Joe Wright sent this story from Crain's: -======================- WTC plagued with soaring costs, delays Theresa Agovino Published: June 30, 2008 - 2:37 pm Crain's New York Business Acknowledging that World Trade Center site redevelopment is plagued with problems, delays and cost overruns, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Monday scrapped the existing project deadlines and pledged to outline a more realistic timetable and budget in September. The agency also announced it is creating a new governance structure to manage construction on Ground Zero as it blamed the lack of a command-and-control entity for some of the site's slow progress. >>>>>Funny...what's that "Construction Command Center supposed to be all about?...L.E.<<<<<< As reported by Crain'snewyork.com on Friday, nearly every project is delayed and over budget, and previous completion estimates are not viable. "While significant progress has been made, the schedule and cost estimates of the rebuilding effort that have been communicated to the public are not realistic," said Christopher Ward, the Port Authority's executive director. Currently, the Port Authority's Freedom Tower and Larry Silverstein's three buildings are due to be finished by 2012. The target date for the memorial plaza is 2010, and the one for the transportation hub and memorial museum is 2011. Government-funded site studies have estimated that the deadlines are likely to be missed by 18 to 36 months and that the $8.4 billion earmarked for the Port Authority's projects isn't enough. Mr. Ward declined to give any estimates for completing the various projects but said the memorial plaza and museum wouldn't be completed by the 10th anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center. He said that before any new deadlines can be set, 15 issues about the project must be resolved. For example, Mr. Ward said the plan for the much lauded transit center designed by Santiago Calatrava hasn't been completed yet, so it is impossible to predict completion dates or costs accurately. Published reports say that what was envisioned as a $2 billion project is now $1 billion over budget. Mr. Ward said the Port Authority is seeking ways to build the structure economically. The schedules and budgets of various other projects that depend on the hub, such as the memorial museum, can't be determined until the transit center is final. Mr. Ward also noted that in order for all the projects on the site to be completed, the Vehicle Screen Center must be built. But that's dependent on three outside factors, including reaching a security agreement with the New York City Police Department and demolishing the former Deutsche Bank building. Demolition of the tower halted last August after a blaze there killed two firefighters. The building was supposed to be torn down by the end of this year, but now the Port Authority says it is more likely to happen in the first half of 2009. Additionally, the Port Authority has yet to reach an agreement a land-rights issue with St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was destroyed on Sept. 11. That must happen before the Vehicle Screen Center can be constructed. In the report Mr. Ward created for the Port Authority board and the Gov. David Paterson, he noted that Mr. Silverstein is negotiating with Merrill Lynch & Co. to move its headquarters to the site. Mr. Paterson said it was his administration's job to help make that happen. But the report says the lease would require some redesign of the building and sub-grade areas, which could escalate costs by impacting other elements, including the transportation hub. In their hunger to create artistic statements to commemorate Sept. 11, architects and politicians lost track of such basic matters as costs and the complications of building on a relatively small parcel of land that has a train running through it, experts said. Mr. Ward said now that the planning of the site is done, the Port Authority can move forward. "The one thing the Port Authority knows how to do is build," Mr. Ward said. He added that a new steering committee should be created to oversee construction and include among its members the Port Authority, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office, Mr. Silverstein's company and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The committee would report to Mr. Paterson, Mr. Bloomberg and Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey. In his report to Mr. Paterson, Mr. Ward wrote that various stakeholders in the project were making construction decisions without thinking how their actions would affect other elements of the site. "If key decisions affecting the overall site cannot be made effectively and in a timely fashion, project schedules will continue to slip and associated costs will continue to rise," he wrote. "These decisions will often be difficult ones, requiring the balancing of one's project's goals against the greater good of the overall program." Messers. Ward and Paterson, along with Port Authority Chair Anthony Coscia, declined to lay blame for the delays at anyone's feet and acknowledged that the public must be frustrated by the broken promises about the site. "I'm sure the public feels chagrined," Mr. Paterson said. Saying he couldn't speak for what previous administrations had done at the site, Mr. Paterson added, "We will try to be as transparent and clear as we can about the project (going forward)." The candor by Mr. Ward and the Governor is winning praise. "After seven years of Alice in Wonderland fantasy plans, it's refreshing to finally be presented with a no-nonsense, realistic look at the challenges to progress at Ground Zero. We will never get this done unless we take a good hard look at the facts and chart a sensible way to move forward with renewed vigor," said Sen. Charles Schumer in a statement. -======================- An earlier NY Post story: http://nypost.com/seven/06302008/news/regionalnews/report__wtc_faces_up_to_3_year_delay_117912.htm CNN's take: http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/30/ground-zero-rebuild-late-over-budget/ Cecil Shepherd sent this from the NY Times: -======================- June 30, 2008, 1:06 pm HIGHER COSTS AND DELAYS EXPECTED AT GROUND ZERO By Charles V. Bagli Updated, 1:40 p.m. | A series of tough choices must be made at ground zero, which will delay some projects and raise the cost of completing the Sept. 11 memorial, the office towers and transportation center, according to a report released on Monday by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Port Authority, which owns the 16-acre site, plans to establish a governing board that will for the first time involve all the various parties involved in what is currently a $15 billion rebuilding effort, including the developer Larry A. Silverstein, the memorial foundation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Goldman Sachs and Brookfield Properties. The board will revise the budget and timetable and then coordinate the work. The authority had embargoed the public release of the report until the start of its board meeting at 1:30 p.m. Two officials who had read the report described it for The Times beforehand, and some details had already been published over the last week, most recently in The Wall Street Journal this morning. According to the report, although thousands of construction workers are at work on the site, the documents states that the current schedule and budget are "unrealistic," because of 15 unresolved issues. The schedule of each project on the site affects other projects on the crowded patch of land; adjusting one, in turn, affects what happens at adjacent sites. The report does not say how long some projects could be delayed or how much more the rebuilding effort will cost. But the issues that must be resolved include the completion of the final design of the $2.5 billion PATH station on the site and the memorial and its relation to a museum. Construction on much of the site is affected by the long-delayed demolition of the former Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty Street. Only after the demolition is completed can work begin on a vehicle screening center, which serves the entire site and affect construction of three office towers on Greenwich Street, between Vesey and Liberty Streets. The Port Authority and the other groups must also come up with a plan for rebuilding a Greek Orthodox church, which was destroyed in the terrorist attack and planned for a portion of the Deutsche Bank building site. The new governing board will also decided what to do with the No. 1 subway stop and train trestle that crosses ground zero. The fact that the rebuilding of ground zero is behind schedule and over budget has long been known by top government officials but rarely acknowledged in public. Indeed, a year-old report for the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center also suggested that there would be delays and cost overruns. "The World Trade Center site is so complex because of the infrastructure that runs underneath it and the requirements for rebuilding that no one should be surprised that the commercial development and the memorial will take longer than originally anticipated," said Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban planning at New York University. "There was an overemphasis on speed which is being superseded by a more realistic timetable." Professor Moss praised Gov. David A. Paterson, saying that he was "taking prudent and responsible approach, which has been missing at the state level." Many planners, officials and local residents insist that the dates and budget numbers were unrealistic the day they were announced by the Port Authority and former Gov. George E. Pataki, who made the rebuilding of ground zero a cornerstone of his administration. Still, Julie Menin, chairwoman of Community Board 1, which covers the former World Trade Center, said she was dismayed by the latest news. "For years, unrealistic deadlines were set," Ms. Menin said. "There seemed to be more interest in having press conferences declaring how Lower Manhattan would be rebuilt better than ever, than in establishing realistic deadlines and budgets. Now we're in a situation where projects could be stalled, or years away from being completed." -======================- The NY Times takes letters under 150 words at letters@nytimes.com as long as you include postal address and phone number. Bernie Goetz noted that Ward of the Port Authority would be on NY1 cable about the WTC site last night,Joe Wright said that a show there tonight would be about it...if you get this in time see what you can do to influence "The Call" at http://www.ny1.com/ ! Peter Walukiewicz alerted me to an earlier Daily News article: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/06/28/2008-06-28_port_authority_ignores_secret_world_trad.html ...and to an article by AM New York's David Freedlander, dfreedlander@am-ny.com: http://www.amny.com/news/local/groundzero/am-wtc0630,0,5461482.story We can't promise greater speed or lower cost,but we must say that doing it RIGHT is better anyway and that the LAST thing we'd want is building SMALLER when the plans are UNFORGIVABLY unambitious as it is. The Lawrence Shen plan,with the memorial-footprints integrated as the courtyards of 136-story twin towers,would certainly be a more productive use of the space,but more expensive as well. I note that the Skyscraper Safety Campaign had someone (NOT Sally Regenhard) on the TV news last night...and I've said for years that if Ken Gardner is serious he MUST find a way to run a HEAD-TO-HEAD COMPARISON with the Church Street dwarf-towers Silverstein is planning to show how much SAFER his reinforced-Twins would be (as would any Twins of sufficient size,thanks to Attia's principle).There has to be a way to run the NIST aircraft-impact simulations on the proposed designs. KEEP FIGHTING...JUST LOOK HOW OUR OPPONENTS ARE STUMBLING! -=-=- The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again, at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.