The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 68

You were warned. We all saw the warning signs before the election, but now it's coming to fruition. Mayor Bloomberg, who had essentially conceded his role in rebuilding to that of a background observer until two weeks before the election last week, is now about to step up his involvment. Gov. Pataki and the Mayor are both naming new members to the LMDC to fill open slots and there are heavyweights on both sides.

For the Governor: Charles Gargano and James Kallstrom.
For the Mayor: Dan Doctoroff and Deputy Mayor Marc Shaw, Finance Commissioner Martha Stark, City Planning Commission Chairwoman Amanda Burden, Assocation for a Better New Yorker chairman William C. Rudin, and Verizon vice chairman and president Lawrence Babbio (whose headquarters will overlook Ground Zero).

Gargano and Doctoroff have a history of not playing nice with each other. Both have competing agendas, and that's not a good sign for ensuring that rebuilding goes smoothly.

The LMDC was originally given more than $2.7 billion in federal community development grants to distribute and has $400 million left.

The mayor said his appointees would present a "unified position" and might clash with others — an obvious reference to World Trade Center site developer Larry Silverstein, the state and the Port Authority.

"The mayor's administration's interest may very well differ from others and we're going to be very vocal in trying to make sure our interests are taken into account as well," Bloomberg said.

He even questioned the need for the panel.

"I never was sure the LMDC should have been created to begin with, because it seemed to me the state and the city could have worked well without it," Bloomberg said. "But it was created, and most of the monies that they had have been allocated. So I think it's just another vehicle."

Critics contend that Bloomberg devoted too much energy over the last four years to expansion plans on the far West Side and not enough time to Ground Zero. The appointments yesterday could serve to quash those critics.

Meanwhile, a proposal to link JFK airport with Lower Manhattan appears to have suffered a fatal setback as the MTA refused to use any of its $1 billion surplus to go towards that project.***

The Gothamist is also following the LMDC maneuverings.

UPDATE:
The NY Post gives a limited and conditional approval for Bloomberg's actions in naming new officials to the LMDC. They wonder to what end Bloomberg has in mind for the site, considering that his most recent comments would essentially scuttle Silverstein's plans to rebuild office space on the site, which is based on the master plan that has been hammered out over the past four years. One can only hope that the new-found interest in Lower Manhattan will spur everyone into actually building on the site.

The NY Times notes that most observers approve of the choices for the panel, although some community leaders note that there were none from their ranks added to the LMDC. The Times also points out that Ms. Burden has "deep ties to the cultural elites who were alarmed by the governor's handling of the Freedom Center." Duly noted.

UPDATE:
*** The NYT is reporting that the federal government is set to approve a measure that would permit the City to use $2 billion in unused federal aid to go towards building the rail link from JFK Airport to Lower Manhattan. It would be nice if the MTA were on the same page as the federal government. In fact, it would be even nicer if the MTA considered the link for some of the newly expanded surplus (up to $1.08 billion from just under $1 billion only a few weeks ago).

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, Pataki, LMDC, urban policy, Freedom Tower, IFC, International Freedom Center.