The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 121

Still more bone fragments have been recovered from the Deutsche Bank building in the past week. That brings the total to more than 450 fragments recovered.

A Sept. 11 family group, unhappy that city officials had not found the remains earlier, has asked the federal government to take over the search efforts. But White House spokesman Alex Conant said the government will let local authorities handle the recovery of remains.

''We've consulted with state and city officials, and they indicate they are proceeding carefully to recover remains, and we have been advised that federal involvement is not requested at this time,'' Conant said.

More than 500 human bone fragments have been found at the former Deutsche Bank building since workers began cleaning it last fall and preparing to dismantle it. The 41-story building suffered severe damage on Sept. 11, 2001, when the trade center's south tower partially collapsed on it. It has stood vacant since the attacks.

Retired firefighters and fire department battalion chiefs joined in the search last week for human remains that have been found mixed in with gravel on the building's roof.

One has to wonder if there are still remains to be found on the roofs of nearby buildings that were also affected by the collapsing towers, including the World Financial Center. Another week of searching is planned at the Deutsche Bank building.

Meanwhile, Fiterman Hall is still a hulking ruin that must be dealt with by CUNY, LMDC, and the Governor.

The community can thank CUNY's selfishness and the fecklessness of its rebuilding agent, the state Dormitory Authority - and also the "leadership" of Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg.

The latest bad news: The federal Environmental Protection Agency has raised extensive questions about plans to decontaminate the building - a four-to-six-month process that must precede demolition.

CUNY and its Borough of Manhattan Community College have posted a sign on the Greenwich Street side promising a new building by 2009. Eight years to replace a simple 15-story classroom structure? Ridiculous. Yet even 2009 is looking more like wishful thinking than a serious deadline.

For months, Pataki's people have tried to suggest that the tangled ruin would be down this year. Last week, Pataki's Downtown construction-coordination czar, Charles Maikish, told me that work should start "in June," and that a "substantial portion" of the wreck should be down "by year end."

He called back yesterday with a whopper of a revision: The state is now looking at an "October start date," not for demolition, but for five-plus months of decontamination.

This is a horrible gap in leadership by the governor's office to deal with this issue. It's not as though this is rocket science. The building cannot be salvaged and it must be deconstructed. A replacement building must be built for the college, and the only thing lacking is the will to make this happen quicker. Instead there is foot dragging that has drawn out the process and made the area around 7WTC an eyesore that will continue for far longer than should have been necessary.

UPDATE:
John Whitehead criticizes a report from last week that claimed that the memorial foundation was having problems with fundraising. Sorry, but I'm not convinced. Just because you're raising funds from all 50 states doesn't mean that you're reaching your fiscal goals. And that's what the bottom line is on the memorial project.

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