The Battle For Ground Zero, Part V

Still think that it's just a few people who are opposed to the IFC and Drawing Center at the WTC? I never bought that malarky (even though the IFC and Tofel did), and now I've got numbers to back up that fact.

More than 1,100 relatives of 9/11 victims (1,120 as of this AM) have signed the Petition. 20,862 people have signed the petition, which states:

To Governor George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation:

We, the undersigned, believe that the World Trade Center Memorial should stand as a solemn remembrance of those who died on September 11th, 2001, and not as a journey of history's "failures" or as a debate about domestic and foreign policy in the post-9/11 world. Political discussions have no place at the World Trade Center September 11th memorial, and the International Freedom Center honors no one by making excuses for the perpetrators of this heinous crime. The memorial should be about what happened that day, about the brave heroes who risked their lives so selflessly, and about the innocent lives that were lost... nothing more.

UPDATE:
The NYT has an article about a new riverfront esplanade on the East River for Lower Manhattan. The article states:

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has allotted $150 million toward the project, which has a relatively modest projected cost of $200 million.

That money is coming from the nearly $800 million provided to the LMDC to improve Lower Manhattan and was supposed to get NYS Assembly Speaker to approve the West Side Yards (he didn't, but the LMDC got the money anyway). The Times left that last bit out.

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, Pataki, LMDC