Date: Sat, 3 Sep 2011 02:59:18 -0400 (EDT) From: Louis Epstein Subject: WTC Rebuilding #579:The Wrong Rebuilding! Yes,it has been far too long since the last message. 9-11-11 is nearly here and we will not,as I long aspired, be seeing each other on a 111th floor that day...but we must never,never settle for what officialdom wants to be where an undiminished World Trade Center will belong forever. GOOD NEWS...the Twin Towers are virtually being rebuilt! BAD NEWS...that's in the wrong sense of the word "virtually"! http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/an-app-puts-the-twin-towers-back-in-sight/ (The NY Times is using a paywall now,but it doesn't affect finding things through Google,for instance). (A while back,Tal Barzilai sent some more articles from the same Times blogs,links after this note from him: "There are several articles in the NY Times that are talking about the death of Osama bin Laden over in the City Room section. Although they do not talk about what is going on there, I still think it would be good to have pro-Towers statements mentioned like the ones done by me in them. We need to tell them that we need to have back what he and his group have taken from us, and not a 21st century Taj Mahal, which is referring to the offical plan. Of course I am sure you know what the Taj Mahal (the one in Inida and not the casino built by Donald Trump over in Atlantic City) was built as, so I don't have to define it. Also, it would be good to mention that if Barack Obama does support rebuilding the Twin Towers, he will be a hero rather than having to continue with letting Al Qaeda have the last laugh by having what is planned. Keep in mind that there are some changes with the NY Times lately if you didn't notice. They now require a subscription to read it online, though you can still read certain sections such as the City Room without doing it. Meanwhile, for the City Room itself, they have recently changed it that only registered members can now do comments when this wasn't the case originally, but if you already have a registered account, then this is not an issue. I am sorry that the NY Times has changed this, but a lot has changed there since you weren't giving newsletters for a period of time. Nevertheless here are the articles I am talking about." http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/911-recalled-from-an-epochal-vantage/ http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/obama-to-observe-911-anniversary-in-new-york/ http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/bin-laden-on-new-york-in-his-own-words/ http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/live-blog-new-york-reacts-to-bin-ladens-death/ ) MEANWHILE,as we are left to rebuild the Towers outside the material world, the Binladin Group (Osama's father's family business) is preparing to construct the successor to Dubai's "Burj" as world's tallest building, the "Kingdom Tower",in Jedda,Saudi Arabia: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/kingdom-tower-set-world-record-tallest-mega-skyscraper-170649407.html A Bin Laden tears down our Towers,and our officials make sure that in death,his will remains triumphant over our sixteen acres as holes showcasing his triumph are all they will permit to be where they stood. Meanwhile,the pride they embodied is taken up by his estranged family...constructing something taller than the three tallest non-WTC buildings in New York stacked bottom-on-spire on top of each other. This can not be borne,or ever accepted! The September 1st New York Times had a story indicating that the non-profit Ad Council was considering "public service" appeals for people to donate to the monstrous terrorist-glorifying memorial, as if it were not controversial.They can be reached via www.adcouncil.org and it would be a good idea to tell them that leaving empty holes across streets from smaller buildings is something deeply,permanently resented and not a nice fuzzy consensus solution,and deserves every financial shortfall it encounters. (Recently,as the NY State Legislature was besieged by lobbyists for and against same-sex marriage,the Time Warner Cable channels actually aired propaganda for the pro side for free as "public service announcements"; this did not involve the Ad Council but can be cited as an instance of issues on which there are passions on both sides not being fit for treatment as non-partisan and all-agreed). The same day there was news coverage of a photo exhibit on the Twin Towers...their appearance must never be forgotten! Another thing that made me seethe lately was learning that Joplin,Missouri authorities were obstructing people who wanted to rebuild from the tornadoes there. Among other stories that have accumulated since I last wrote, Cecil Shepherd was the first to send me this: -=-=-=- May 11, 2011 Feature at Trade Center Is Halted After $10 Million By CHARLES V. BAGLI It was supposed to be an elegant solution to a very large problem: how to disguise the 185-foot-tall fortified concrete base of 1 World Trade Center so it does not look like a gigantic bunker. The plan was to drape the base with 2,000 clear prismatic glass panels and welded aluminum screens to create, in the words of the architect, "a dynamic, shimmering glass surface." But the glass has proved difficult to manufacture at that scale. In trials, the refinishing required for the prismatic effect has left the glass brittle and prone to shatter. With the steel frame of the building now rising to the 65th floor, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has scrapped the idea and sent the architects back for yet another revision. "As design moved to the testing phase, it became clear that the prismatic glass simply had too many technical problems to overcome and at a budget that was not cost effective," said John Kelly, a spokesman for the Port Authority. "We have been finalizing a design that will be far more practical while being both distinctive and magnificent." About $10 million had already been spent on the glass. David M. Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who designed the tower and the prismatic glass covering, did not respond to phone calls seeking comment. Douglas Durst of the Durst Organization, which owns a 10 percent stake in the building and is in charge of leasing it, said the switch in plans should have no effect on the timetable for the building, scheduled to open in January 2014. The new facade is likely to be made of more traditional clear glass panels, possibly with granite elements to tie it into the surrounding plazas. The problem with the glass illustrates the tension inherent in the entire $3.2 billion project: how to create a skyscraper that is at once iconic and defended against terrorism, while also containing costs. In 2003, Daniel Libeskind, the master planner for the trade center site, designated the northwest corner of the 16-acre property for a 1,776-foot tower, which was named the Freedom Tower by Gov. George E. Pataki and later renamed 1 World Trade Center. Larry A. Silverstein, who was the building's developer at the time but later relinquished control to the Port Authority, brought in Mr. Childs, a renowned architect who designed the Time Warner Center, among other notable buildings. But Mr. Childs's design went back to the drawing board in 2005, after the New York Police Department warned of the dangers posed by a vehicular bomb. Mr. Childs, who friends say sees the tower as a legacy project, redesigned the building, shifting the base away from West Street and inserting a thick concrete podium designed to lift the tower out of the path of a blast. The plan allowed for a lobby with 50-foot ceilings, but no office space until what is essentially the 20th floor. But Mr. Childs's plan for a windowless metal facade for the podium prompted some critics to describe it as a "concrete bunker," which alarmed Mr. Pataki, who was sensitive to the skyscraper's image. In June 2006, Mr. Childs unveiled a revised design with the concrete base now clad in prismatic glass welded to aluminum screens, to give the base a feeling of transparency. In the event of a bomb blast, the inch-thick glass panels, each one 13 feet 4 inches by 4 feet, were designed to crumble into small fragments the way automobile windshields do. To make prismatic glass, wedges are cut into the surface to create a prismlike effect, so that the glass will "reflect, refract and transmit light in various spectrums," according to the architect, without blinding passers-by or drivers. Prismatic glass has been used as a decorative feature for more than a century in lamps and storefronts. But the World Trade Center plan was unprecedented, at least in the United States, said William M. Yanek, executive vice president of theGlass Association of North America in Topeka, Kan. "To our knowledge prismatic glass has never been used on a building of this magnitude," he said. Above the base, workers are installing more than 12,000 more traditional, ultraclear glass panels to the building's steel frame. Three companies competed for the $82 million contract to manufacture and install the base facade, and in August 2008 the Port Authority selected a joint venture of DCM Erectors and Solera Construction. In an effort to cut costs, DCM-Solera, which declined to comment, decided to manufacture the glass in China, a move that infuriated three American companies that had provided the architect with technical support for the project, as well as the governors of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Minnesota, where the companies are based. "I'm not sure a more important symbol of our nation than the Freedom Tower will be seen in my career," Gary R. Danowski, vice president of PPG Performance Glazings, a Pennsylvania glass manufacturer, told an industry publication in 2009. "The thought that the protective skin of this icon of America will be made from glass sourced on the other side of the planet and not local material is quite a blow." But with the Chinese manufacturer unable to produce a glass panel that matched the sample from the architect, DCM-Solera ordered the raw glass last October from PPG's manufacturing plant outside Carlisle, Pa. The fabrication was still to be done in China, and some panels were sent there beginning in January. It was a complex undertaking involving cutting, as well as laminating and tempering to create the safety-glass effect. But the glass panels tended to bow after they were cut and tempered, which interfered with the lamination process. The ridges cut into the glass also proved to be too brittle and broke into large pieces, rather than tiny pellets. It is unclear whether an American factory would have been more successful, but after two years and millions of dollars, the Port Authority decided that further trials would not be prudent, and in March it quietly dropped the idea. Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company -=-=-=- January 2014...remember when the FT was supposed to top out by September 2006? Joe Wright sent the following: -=-=-=- May 17, 2011 NY Times Conde Nast Will Be Anchor of 1 World Trade Center By CHARLES V. BAGLI Conde Nast Publications, whose stable of magazines chronicles the American zeitgeist as meticulously as any anthropologist, has reached an agreement to lease one million square feet at 1 World Trade Center, giving ground zero a much-needed corporate anchor with a proven ability to attract other businesses. The company signaled its interest in moving to 1 World Trade Center several months ago. But that was just the beginning of a marathon courtship befitting one of the country's most influential buildings and one of its trend-setting media empires, which went far beyond the typical landlord-tenant transaction. Besides matters of costs, terms and incentives, the negotiations involved reams of traffic studies and security discussions, to ensure that its black cars (more than 100), its racks of designer dresses and its well-shod executives would be able to pass swiftly each day through the police-imposed security zone that is to surround the complex. To attract Conde Nast, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site, had to take on some risk, notably by agreeing to assume the last four or five years of the company's current lease in Times Square. But the deal, worth an estimated $2 billion over 25 years, still represents a victory for the Port Authority, which has suffered criticism for years of missteps, delays and political squabbling over the rebuilding of the trade center. Critics doubted whether the lead tower would attract tenants other than government agencies, making it little more than an expensive 1,776-foot-tall monument. "We built a new reality at the World Trade Center, and this transaction will be the exclamation point on that turnaround," said Christopher O. Ward, executive director of the Port Authority. The talk that Conde Nast was interested in ground zero was enough to entice other large companies to begin eyeing the neighborhood, which is steadily diversifying as financial firms have shrunk or moved away. Sirius Satellite Radio, J. Crew and the law firm Chadbourne & Parke are also considering moves downtown, and the owners of the nearby World Financial Center have even debated whether to rename the complex to reflect the growing number of nonfinancial firms downtown and the young people who live and work there. Next month, The Daily News and American Media Inc., which publishes The National Enquirer, Playboy and Men's Fitness, are moving into 4 New York Plaza on Broad Street. "For 20 years we have been talking about diversifying the economy in Lower Manhattan," said Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association. "This is an extraordinary breakthrough. It's a blue-chip tenant from a creative sector and quite a departure from financial services." Conde Nast, whose 18 titles include The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Bon Appetit and Architectural Digest, confirmed that it was concluding its negotiations at the trade center. "Condé Nast would be proud to take part in the ongoing renaissance of Lower Manhattan," John Bellando, the company's chief financial officer, said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. The lease is to go before the Port Authority's board on May 26 for final approval. On that day, the board is also expected to formalize its partnership with the Durst Organization, which will pay $100 million for an estimated 10 percent stake in the building and be in charge of leasing the tower. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Tuesday that the Conde Nast lease "sends a message to the global business community that Lower Manhattan is alive, growing and open for business." Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said: "This is a smart media company voting with its feet to relocate at the World Trade Center. Even just a few short years ago, few would have believed it possible." By all accounts, the lease is good news for downtown, but it is also a great deal for Conde Nast, which will consolidate offices now spread among six buildings. Plans call for test kitchens, private dining rooms and an auditorium. By agreeing to become the tower's anchor, it had leverage in the bargaining. The publisher is expected to move about 5,000 employees to Floors 20 through 41 at 1 World Trade Center sometime in 2014, when its annual rent will start at a little more than $60 per square foot, or roughly the same amount it is paying today at 4 Times Square, in a skyscraper built in 1999 by the Durst Organization. Penalties are built into the contract if the Port Authority fails to make the space available on time. After the company moves to the building, the Port Authority will take responsibility for Conde Nast's lease at 4 Times Square, which runs until 2019. But it should be easy for the Port Authority to find a corporate tenant willing to pay a higher rent, said Alan Desino, a real estate broker at Colliers, since there are so few large blocks of space available in Midtown. Like other tenants at the trade center site, Conde Nast received an incentive package that includes sales tax exemptions on interior building materials and furnishings, and $46 million in rent rebates over 17 years. Still, its rent is somewhat higher than those in recent deals at 7 World Trade Center or the World Financial Center, according to real estate brokers. Conde Nast executives drilled down to the finest details to understand the building and the site, pondering what would happen if, for instance, a Ralph Lauren wanted to pull up to the building in a limousine. Would he be able to get in? To give them comfort, Port Authority executives provided extensive traffic studies for both black cars and delivery vehicles, with data on vehicular flows and travel times from Brooklyn, the Upper East and West Sides and Jersey City. After much planning, officials assured Conde Nast that its armada of black cars, and their drivers, could be prescreened by the police for regular access via a route that goes south on Washington or Greenwich Street and east on Vesey Street to reach 1 World Trade Center. And for the company's thousands of employees who travel more commonly, by subway from Brooklyn or the PATH train from New Jersey, the downtown location is more advantageous than Times Square. The move may also come amid another transition, as a third generation of the Newhouse family prepares to take command of the company. Officials involved in the negotiations said they believed that Conde Nast would bring its cutting-edge sensibilities to the design of its new space. But in a sign of the challenging times for media companies, several Conde Nast writers and editors said they did not expect the company to spend as lavishly as it did in Times Square, where the cafeteria features Venetian glass and titanium walls. The new cafeteria has yet to be designed, but it was an issue during lease negotiations, because no one wanted greasy louvers spewing kitchen exhaust from the exterior of ground zero's signature tower. Architects were brought in to address the problem, ultimately by setting the louvers back behind the curtain wall so they would not be visible from the outside. In any event, other downtown landlords said they believed that Condé Nast could do for downtown what it did for the corporate office market around 42nd Street. Carl Weisbrod, who helped reshape Lower Manhattan as a city official and as president of the Downtown Alliance, called it "perhaps the most important move downtown in the last 20 years." "What Condé Nast really does," Mr. Weisbrod added, "is certify downtown as a cool place to do business." -=-=-=- The urban-utopian desire to destroy the distinctive character of the Financial District continues. Joe also sent this...remember, there is actually a NYC law against new below-ground burials south of Chambers Street: -=-=-=- http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/02/new.york.911.families/index.html 9/11 families group pushes to stop remains' storage at ground zero New York (CNN) -- Some family members of people killed in the September 11, 2001, terror attacks announced Thursday that they have requested the names and addresses of other survivors as part of an effort to stop the city from placing unidentified remains in a repository in a museum under construction at ground zero. A spokesman for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said flatly that providing the names "is not something we will do." The 17 family members filed a Freedom of Information Law request so they can notify other families and seek their input. They say they and other families were never notified or consulted about the plan, which they consider part of a commercial operation to lure tourists. "These are our beloved remains, our sons, our daughters, our siblings and spouses," Rosemary Cain said. Her son, George Cain, was a New York City firefighter killed on 9/11. "We have the right to decide where they will spend eternity." More than half of the families of the 2,749 victims of the World Trade Center attacks never received any remains of their loved ones. Many others were able to bury only partial remains. More than 9,000 body parts are still unidentified and have been stored in temporary structures maintained by the New York Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The current plan calls for the remains to be housed in an underground repository, behind a wall in the museum, and adjacent to a memorial gallery filled with pictures and artifacts of the victims. The museum, which is under construction, is located beneath the footprints of the two World Trade Center towers. The repository will be controlled by the medical examiner's office, which will continue to have access to the remains in the hope that, as DNA technology progresses, more positive identifications can be made. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum disputes the claims that families were never notified about the plans, and says it was the express wish of many families that their loved ones' remains return to the bedrock at ground zero. "Families have been part of a robust process through which they were consulted during public and private meetings with officials, as well as offered opportunities for public comment," according to a statement from the organization. "And they have repeatedly stated it is essential the remains return to the sacred bedrock of the site." Feedback from those meetings also led to the creation of a private space, open only to families, near the repository. And families will also be able to make individual appointments to visit the repository after hours, according to the 9/11 Memorial organization. In response to the FOIL request, a spokesman for Bloomberg said, "Many family members would rightly be outraged if the city made their personal information, including home addresses, public, and of course that is not something we will do." Additional FOIL requests were also sent to the mayor's community affairs unit, the medical examiner and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Retired Deputy Chief Jim Riches, who lost his firefighter son Jimmy Riches on 9/11 and is part of the group that filed the FOIL request, said he always knew the remains would come back to ground zero. "But we were told it was going to be separate and distinct from the museum and visitor's center," he said, adding that what he envisioned was more akin to the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, that would be above ground and distinct from the museum. Like the other family members he joined at the Thursday press conference near ground zero, Riches said he never received any notification about the decision with regard to the remains. In a recent opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal, family members who are also board members of the museum foundation said it was decided that an underground repository was better than an above- ground tomb. "The latter structure would be a constant magnet for disrespectful public displays and demonstrations ... and would be impossible to secure around the clock," they wrote. Riches dismissed the notion that an above-ground tomb could not be protected. Attorney Norman Siegel, who filed the FOIL request on behalf of the families, said he has seen "not a single letter ...that was addressed to the families notifying them of the plan and asking them for their input regarding the plan." In contrast, Rosaleen Tallon, who lost her firefighter brother Sean Patrick Tallon on 9/11, said she had received letters from the 9/11 Memorial regarding other matters, such as confirming the correct spelling of her brother's name and informing her of location of the name on the above-ground memorial. "Surely a letter should have been sent out on letterhead from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum and the City of New York telling us, at the very least, what they were doing with our loved ones' remains," she said. -=-=-=- More from Tal Barzilai: -=-=-=- I did get my comment highlighted on a column on the NY Times by Thomas Friedman on the Bin Laden Decade and there is a mention of calling for the Twin Towers to be rebuilt in it. http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/opinion/01friedman.html?permid=119#comment119 I did get a letter printed in the NY Post responding to a column by Steve Cuozzo that Donald Trump, who recently decided to drop out of running president, that he is no zero for calling for the Twin Towers rebuilt, though it probably got edited, because I think it was longer when I sent it. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/letters/trump_was_right_5lbqQ0gmqdVdPpTqt2 xyL I managed to get another letter on the Downtown Express not only mentioning that the new redesign in the facade wasn't a suprise, but also that it's a contradiction to going green when it's blocking the sunlight, though I think this one to was edited and possibly had some words changed. http://www.downtownexpress.com/?p=914 -=-=-=- (The NY Post URL above is missing one character because of a wrapping problem). Bernie Goetz sent this: -=-=-=- Ground Zero museum wants to charge admission--Editorial - NYPOST.com Mayor Bloomberg didn't waste any time endorsing a hefty admission fee for the over-designed 9/11 mu seum at Ground Zero. "Well, the money's got to come from someplace," the mayor shrugged on his weekly radio interview. Well, sure. The museum -- which won't be ready for September's 10th anniversary of 9/11 -- is costing more than a half-billion dollars to build, with a projected $60 million in annual operating costs. Add in the 9/11 memorial, and the price-tag likely will exceed $1 billion. The contrast with the $8 million cost of the Vietnam War Wall -- one of the most compelling pieces of memorial architecture in the nation -- is stunning. Joe Daniels, president of the museum's operating foundation, told the City Council he needs to charge up to $25 per person as a "suggested donation," or a flat $20 mandatory admission fee, to "generate revenue in line with other world-class museums." Well, the "world-class" part remains to be seen. And, even so, it's a grotesque fee for a facility meant to note the thousands of lives lost in the 9/11 sneak attack. To Bloomberg, on the other hand, the museum is little more than just another New York tourist attraction. "Given people pay 12, 15 bucks to go to the movies," he argued, "if you have a nominal charge that helps pay the bills, I certainly have no objections to that." And proving that Bloomberg's first instinct is to think like a billionaire philanthropist, he suggested that "people that gave all that money" -- $400 million that's been raised privately -- "I think you can certainly say maybe they should be able to get in for nothing." "Maybe [you] can make the case for [9/11 victim] family members," he added. Really? You think? All of this could have been avoided had a more modest -- dare we say more appropriate -- project been undertaken to begin with. Too late for that. Pony up, folks. Have an opinion on this Post editorial? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM! -=-=-=- Well,it's NEVER too late to refuse to accept such errors and keep demanding that the site be redeveloped PROPERLY.And if the museum becomes a white elephant people won't pay to visit...that could help. Joe Wright sent these: -=-=-=- 3:03 pm ET July 11, 2011 Fox News Victim's Brother Weighs In on Outrage Over Absence of Symbol at 9/11 Memorial by America Live Posted in: 9/11, Martha MacCallum Michael Burke's brother, William, lost his life on the fateful day of September 11 after two airliners crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. Martha MacCallum spoke with him about the 9/11 memorial taking shape at Ground Zero -- and why the absence of one symbol is stirring up intense emotion. A sphere which sat in the WTC plaza for nearly 30 years as a symbol of world peace was damaged but intact after one of the airliners tore through it in the terrorist attacks. The remnant which, according to Burke, represents the resiliency of America, was moved to Battery Park in Lower Manhattan. However, the sphere will have to be relocated soon due to renovations. Burke says he and other family members believe its rightful place is at the 9/11 memorial -- but officials disagree. At one September 11 anniversary memorial service, Burke was approached by the architect of the memorial, who told him that including the sphere at the site would be "didactic" meaning, in essence, it would tell Americans "what to think" about the events of that day. "It is precisely because [of the fact that the sphere] is an icon of the strength and resiliency of America that it^Ňs not being included in the final construction," Burke says. But, the outrage doesn't stop there. Find out what else surrounding the memorial has Burke and others upset http://foxnewsinsider.com/2011/07/11/victims-brother-weighs-in-on-outrage-over-absence-of-symbol-at-911-memorial/ http://news.yahoo.com/wtc-owner-memorial-construction-unhurt-walkout-141925414.html New York Post Updated: Thu., Aug. 11, 2011, 11:05 PM Christie's power play By STEVE CUOZZO Last Updated: 11:05 PM, August 11, 2011 Posted: 9:52 PM, August 11, 2011 Neither Gov. Cuomo nor New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has come off well in their "shocked" squawking over the Port Authority's bid for huge fare and toll hikes. But Christie gave away what's really at stake: Which governor will hold the upper hand at the PA? Start with Christie's claim that overspending at the World Trade Center site is behind the PA's ballooning debt, which prompted it to seek the hikes. Hah! If he's serious about curbing cost overruns at the WTC, he might try scratching the site's biggest bloodsucker: the vast PATH terminal dolled up as a "Transportation Hub." He won't, of course (and not only because undoing the scheme at this late date would wreak havoc at the whole site). The Hub is Trenton's pet project. Instead, Christie made a stink over the city request for the PA to pick up some site security costs -- and blamed it on PA Executive Director Christopher Ward's close relationship with Mayor Bloomberg. The Post reports today that WTC total cost overruns might approach $2 billion. But how surprising is that, given the site's complexity -- much of it due to the Hub's noxious impact on everything around it? The PA's one-time $200 million security contribution would be peanuts compared to the Hub's $3.2 billion-and-counting -- as much as for the entire, 104-story 1 WTC. The Hub will only serve 50,000 daily PATH riders, so why build a station the size of Grand Central Terminal, which accommodates 700,000? Yes, the Hub will also have subway links, but they could've been built for a puny fraction of the cost. Then-Govs. George Pataki and Jim McGreevey signed off on the project seven years ago in good part because much of the cash ($2.2 billion) was coming from the feds. But the minimum $1 billion paid by the PA doesn't begin to include the run-up of costs the Hub imposed throughout the WTC site. The infernal complexity of its underground sprawl incalculably jacked up the PA's infrastructure bill far beyond the Hub itself, as it also did for nearby developer Larry Silverstein and the MTA. In that light, Christie's grumbling over incidentals is akin to a guy's whining that his wife overspent on a blouse when he's indulging himself on helicopters and mistresses. In fact, Christie's noisemaking looks like a ploy to put Jersey back on top of New York at the PA. Control of the agency is equally shared in theory, but Jersey historically has held the upper hand for two reasons: 1) Trenton pays more attention to the agency than Albany does, and 2) Jersey's governor appoints the PA chairman, while New York's picks the executive director, who "reports" to the chairman. The imbalance reversed when Ward took over for New York in May 2008. Sometimes brashly, he asserted himself in a power vacuum resulting from distracted governors in both states. He proved more than a match for both the PA's Jersey faction (which had stalled on WTC rebuilding for six years) and its entrenched bureaucracy in both states. Sources say Cuomo and Christie are cooperating to an extent in getting a better handle on the PA than their predecessors had. But Christie is also clearly reasserting Jersey's power: He publicly handed his new PA chairman, David Samson, a mandate to get the PA's fiscal house in order. The PA's Jersey-side commissioners wanted Ward out from the get-go but wouldn't say so publicly. News reports that Cuomo planned to replace Ward after the 10th anniversary of 9/11 next month were attributed to Albany sources. Now Christie clearly wants him gone. Last week, he blasted Ward personally over alleged waste not only at the WTC but also in the PA's entire budget. Now, Cuomo has every right to choose his own executive director; Ward's ouster might be a done deal. Either way, get ready for a Cuomo-Christie fight. Unlike their recent predecessors, both governors are strongwilled to the point of being called control freaks, and a struggle between them over running the PA would be something to watch. For Cuomo, finding a successor to Ward who can stand up to the re-energized Jersey side won't be easy. He already has his hands full naming a new MTA chairman. Of course, Cuomo could halve the challenge by picking Ward to run the MTA. Stranger things have happened. But it wouldn't solve the problem at the World Trade Center. Much remains to be done, and Christie is not going to make it easier. scuozzo@nypost.com -------------------------------------------------------------- New York Post Updated: Fri., Aug. 12, 2011, 8:28 AM home PA plays $2B hide and sneak at WTC By JOSH MARGOLIN Last Updated: 8:28 AM, August 12, 2011 Posted: 2:04 AM, August 12, 2011 The outrageous toll hikes pushed by the Port Authority's top brass are needed to cover their wild -- and hidden -- cost overruns at the World Trade Center, The Post has learned. It will take an additional $2 billion to rebuild the site of the 2001 terror attacks, as compared to the financial plan announced three years ago by agency chief Chris Ward, documents obtained by The Post reveal. For years, top management scrambled to cover up the budget-busting numbers. "Everybody knew that it wasn't the full numbers," one expert on PA finances said. "Everybody knew the numbers were off from the start." And it could get much worse: The overruns could quickly balloon to nearly $2.7 billion. That doomsday budget scenario would come if the agency doesn't get a planned $650 million in reimbursements from the 9/11 Memorial Foundation, the cash-strapped MTA and the state Transportation Department. Drivers can sound off on the toll increases at public hearings scheduled for Tuesday. The agency's board will vote on the package next Friday. The astonishing overruns were brought about by top agency management, who bungled their assessment of the project's costs in 2008. Now motorists are picking up the tab. The secret agency documents revealed: * Construction of the centerpiece 1 WTC Tower has overrun projections by $186 million. * The transportation hub has run $200 million off the rails. * And undefined "other site infrastructure" work has increased by $422 million. The PA declined to comment. The agency -- which operates the WTC, the Hudson River and Staten Island crossings, the PATH and JFK, La Guardia and Newark airports -- already said it's running out of Ground Zero funds, without explaining why. It turns out that officials were not candid about the agency's finances -- even as construction lumbered ahead. Just months after Ward laid out his October 2008 financial plan -- saying the construction costs would be about $9.7 billion -- agency officials quietly began slipping the cost increases into official documents. "We were ready to take the [public] hit," said one ranking agency source. "But nobody caught it." But years later, the bills started coming due. Last Friday, the agency proposed massive fare hikes on the George Washington Bridge, the Holland and Lincoln tunnels and the bridges that connect Staten Island to New Jersey. For E-ZPass drivers, tolls would increase by $4 in September and then $2 more in 2014. Cash-paying motorists would see their tolls increase $7, to $15 total next month, and then to $17 total in three years. PATH fares would increase by $1, to $2.75 -- more than the price of an MTA subway ride. The PA says the new tolls would rake in $1 billion, which would help pay off current debts and help borrow more construction cash. Gov. Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who control the agency, said they were shocked by the hikes and will reject them. But they haven't said how big an increase they will accept. Spokesmen for the governors declined to comment. jmargolin@nypost.com -=-=-=- (The toll hikes were stretched out after the proposal). Of course,spending on doing it RIGHT should be fine and we should pay gladly...but never for continuing to do it WRONG. And Joy Goldberg sent _World Trade Center & Port Authority--Nicole Gelinas & E.J. McMahon - NYPOST.com_ (http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/why_the_pa_should_sell_off_the_wtc_GNinNmxKwCOQAis7flD73J) ...which falls into the minarchist error of forgetting that if the site were turned over to the private sector,the exemption from city laws limiting the size of buildings would disappear,and rebuilding on a sufficient scale would be impossible. NEVER SURRENDER! With this impending anniversary,it is vital that we must raise voices complaining about what has been built and dismissing claims that nothing else can be considered. -=-=- The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again, at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.