The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 138

World Trade Center 7 is officially opening today, and there's even a free concert planned for this afternoon. Suzanne Vega and Lou Reed will be on hand to provide their musical stylings. WTC7 was built by Larry Silverstein and is thus far the only structure to be rebuilt. The rest of the site is still mired in controversy.

While the rest of Ground Zero's rebirth is mired in controversy, the FDNY and the law firm Holland and Knight are readying a memorial of their own:

With the official memorial to 9/11 now mired in fecklessness, confusion and finger-pointing, New York City firefighters Friday night set about commemorating the events of that epochal day in characteristic style.

That is to say, boldly and without regard for those who insist that all who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center be remembered, fundamentally, as victims.

That is the essential message in the 57-foot long, 6-foot-high solid bronze bas relief memorial now being bolted to the side of 10 House - the fire station directly across Liberty Street from the WTC which lost five men to the terror attack.

The memorial is the product of the quiet collaboration of FDNY Manhattan Borough Commander Harry Meyers and the law firm of Holland & Knight, which suffered a grievous loss of its own on 9/11: Glenn Winuk, a 40-year-old full partner and a volunteer firefighter from Nassau County, who dashed into the burning Twin Towers to save lives - and who himself died.

The New York Times Magazine has an interview with Daniel Libeskind and reveals that he loves his coffee maker and is always asked about Ground Zero at parties. His response to that question - there's more than meets the eye.

Also, some folks are taking umbrage with the fact that Penn and Teller did a piece on the mess at Ground Zero and even managed to get some footage of the private rooms set aside for families. I'm sorry those folks feel that Penn and Teller upset them, but did they actually watch the segment or just complain about it sight unseen? Penn and Teller slammed Pataki, the bureacratic process, and the political correctness that is heaped upon the site's development, the memorial, and the entire process that has left many families scratching their heads all while the actual rebuilding has stalled while the Port Authority and Governor Pataki get their act together (if at all).

9/11 compensation claims continue to trickle in, despite the fact that the statute of limitations has passed.

UPDATE:
Meanwhile, a new Frank Gehry-designed skyscraper for Forest City Ratner is moving off the drawing board and is progressing on the site of the NYU Beekman Downtown Hospital just blocks from Ground Zero. The project would have multiple uses, including medical offices and condominiums.

The tower's just-revealed 876-foot height will top off as the tallest City Hall area structure - yes, taller than the nearby venerable 792-foot Woolworth Building. Nevertheless, despite earlier reports, it will be shorter than all the new buildings at ground zero.

It will be taller, however, than the 740-foot Goldman Sachs headquarters being designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners at the World Financial Center in Battery Park City.

Plans just refiled with the Dept. of Buildings call for a 75-story building with residences above a new public school whose funding has been in doubt.

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