The Battle For Ground Zero, Part XVII

The NYS Department of Transportation has a website dedicated to updating conditions on rebuilding Rt. 9A, which is West Street that runs alongside the West side of the WTC site. It was heavily damaged by the collapse of the towers, and a temporary roadway was built to restore through traffic in the area. A permanent solution is in the works, now that the possibility of a tunnel bypass for through traffic was eliminated earlier this summer.

Also, the LMDC has established a website dedicated to updates on Lower Manhattan construction progress. It includes maps of street rebuilding, infrastructure repairs, and building construction as well as timelines.

Otherwise, this has been a quiet news day on the WTC front.

UPDATE:
I located this article on Crain's New York from yesterday that adds some additional background on the Drawing Center mess.

A number of arts executives, including one on the committee that selected the Drawing Center for the site, say the center should pull out even if it gets the assurances it wants from the LMDC, because its every move will be intensely scrutinized.

"The Drawing Center just got its first dose of what it's going to be like to be there," says the executive. "Whatever it shows there will be subject to undue criticism. "

Ms. de Zegher says the Drawing Center, which has a $1.8 million budget, will continue to look for a new home in lower Manhattan if its Ground Zero plans fall through. But if it does pull out of the project, it will have lost three grueling years of work.

This isn't the only problem plaguing what was once touted as the highest-profile cultural center in the world. Just a year ago, the groups that beat out more than 100 arts institutions in a well-publicized competition for a spot at Ground Zero were the envy of the New York art world.

Now, officials at some of the groups--the other two winners are the Joyce Theater, a place for dance, and the Signature Theater, an off-Broadway company--are saying privately that they wish they hadn't been selected. A number of executives close to the Joyce and the Signature are skeptical that the performing arts center will become a reality. [ed: the fourth group is the International Freedom Center, which was at the heart of this controversy touched off by Debra Burlingame's op-ed in the WSJ.]

Last week, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation announced it would raise all the money needed for the memorial and its components--including a 100,000-square-foot commemorative museum--before any funds are raised for the cultural centers. The cost of the memorial and memorial museum: an estimated $350 million, not including a substantial endowment.

Delays ahead

Downtown officials say the foundation always planned to start with the memorial, but arts executives say they were led to believe that the fund raising for both sets of buildings would happen at the same time. Sources say the museum complex is now scheduled to be completed in 2010 instead of 2009, although the LMDC says it is still on schedule.

As for the performing arts building, its plans are even more tenuous. That building has been pushed off into a "second phase," and its tenants have been asked to refine their proposals further before the architect, Frank Gehry, continues to design the building.

"We are concerned over the lack of attention to the performing arts groups," says City Council member Alan Gerson. "Putting them on hold is unacceptable, because it will lead to the project not happening."

Curious.