Goldman will put up $161 million up front for the lease. It will also pay $155 million for parks and civic improvements, $3.5 million for a new public library nearby and $1 million for a community center.Those are good things that Goldman will bring to the community. And it should, considering that it is getting more than $150 million in tax breaks, despite the fact that it was bumbling by the Pataki Administration that delayed the company's decision to build and reconsider building at the site.
One cannot fault the company for holding out to get tax breaks. However, one can fault the politicians for falling over themselves to give tax breaks to the company, despite the fact that they could have avoided the situation in the first place by tackling the issue of the tunnel placement at the outset.
Meanwhile, the Port Authority is expanding its online photo collection of photos recovered from the site so that families and former workers at the WTC complex can eventually claim the items.
To access the Web site, an employee of a former tenant may log on to www.panynj.gov/wtc and enter a user name and a password.
The user name is the first three letters of the individual's first name and the full last name. The password is a combination of the World Trade Center building number and primary floor to which the individual was assigned.
UPDATE:
Cox and Forkum have a very provocative cartoon, which was republished by LGF. I don't think you can get any clearer than that as to what the IFC intends to do at the site.
UPDATE II:
The New York Post editorial page once again slams the Pataki Administration for involving the IFC at the Ground Zero site and calls for the IFC to be pulled from the site, despite the IFC agreeing to have some kind of agreement in place by September 23, 2005 that would be acceptable to the LMDC and families' groups.
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