Trumping Coverage

Over the last 24 hours, this blog has seen a surge in hits because of my coverage of the WTC reconstruction, such as it currently is (which is to say, nothing happening). Thank you to all those who have stopped by to check out the blog.

The WTC complex needs to be built, and politics is trumping building- and that includes other major construction projects proposed for Manhattan. Today there was supposed to be a vote on whether to provide public financing for the deck on which the New York Jets would build their stadium over the Hudson Rail Yards. The Jets Stadium would be about 3 miles north of the WTC site, and the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Senate Majority Leader have all sidestepped the issue of building downtown. Yet, they know that they cannot push for the stadium when nothing has been down at the WTC.

So, nothing will be built until some progress is made on the WTC. Meanwhile, the Freedom Tower plan was scrapped because of 'security' concerns, and a new plan was supposed to be unveiled next month.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has gotten his PR machine running in turbo mode and is backing a plan by Kenneth Gardner and Herbert Belton to build a new and improved WTC: Twin Towers II. He's sensing a great dissatisfaction with the current process, and is poised to capitalize on it.

Also, there is finally some news to report on the Fiterman Hall front. Fiterman Hall is a CUNY-owned building adjacent to the newly constructed 7 WTC, which was heavily damaged by the collapse of both the WTC and 7 WTC. CUNY has finally gotten its act together, coming up with an action plan. Because the building was heavily damaged, it will be demolished beginning this fall, and a new building will be erected thereafter. Why it took so long to come to this conclusion is puzzling, considering that the damage to the building was easily determined within a few weeks of 9/11, yet the whole thing languished for more than 2 years before a decision was made.

UPDATE 4:35PM EDT:
An architect's forum blogging the news conference is up in arms over Trump and his plan. They consider Trump to be usurping the power of Libeskind and essentially making a power play. They're right that it is a power play. They're wrong on the fact that it was Libeskind who has any power. He was always at the mercy of those who paid his commission - whether it is Silverstein, the LMDC, or the Port Authority. He's supposed to be doing what they want, which was to provide a master plan and a skyscraper. They gave him the freedom to come up with a unique design.

Well, the skyscraper was deficient, and it turns out, so was the master plan, because of serious issues with security. Apparently, this architect's group doesn't quite realize that Trump is simply rehashing and backing another architect's vision for downtown, not his own (Gardner and Belton). After all, some architect is going to leave their mark on the site, and all Trump has done is highlighted the fact that after more than three years, we are still staring at a hole in the ground with Libeskind as the architect of record.

Good for him. He's got people talking about this. If you want to debate the merits of a rebuilt WTC, by all means, use the comments. That's what they're there for.