The Battle for Ground Zero, Part 191

We're finally getting into the business of rebuilding in a major way.

For the past two days, concrete trucks are going in and out of the site, delivering the concrete that will form the base for the Freedom Tower and the Santiago Calatrava designed transit hub. Hearings have also been held on the design, location, and related issues for the security screening center that will be located where the Deutsche Bank builing is currently situated. The building is being deconstructed because it sustained heavy damage and was heavily contaminated by the collapsing twin towers.

Meanwhile, Bovis Lend Lease, which was one of the major contractors who assisted in the relief and recovery efforts at Ground Zero, is appealing the decision to permit thousands of Ground Zero workers to have the right to sue.

Lend Lease subsidiary Bovis Lend Lease - which was on the site of Ground Zero hours after the attacks and was a lead contractor supervising the nine-month clean-up - received about 1900 negligence claims for lung ailments allegedly caused by toxic fumes and dust released during the clean-up.

Last month Justice Hellerstein ruled defendants, when responding to a civil emergency, had a certain period of immunity under state and federal legislations however he did not indicate when that immunity ended, stating the court needed to asses "further evidence".

Lend Lease, which was one of more than 50 defendants facing the claims, will now appeal that judgement.

The question will be when will the limited immunity ceases, and Bovis Lend Lease would be subject to claims. Potentially billions of dollars is at stake here with the thousands of claims pending against the city, state, and private corporations involved in the cleanup efforts. To date, 1,900 claims have been brought, though that number is expected to rise.

Meanwhile, a Muslim many was acquitted on charges of perjury stemming from 9/11 investigations.

Osama Awadallah, 26, turned to look at his crying father as the verdict was read. Jurors began deliberating on Thursday.

"I knew that justice would prevail," he said to reporters. "My goal will be to continue to be a very good citizen in this country."

Awadallah was detained 10 days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and held as a material witness for three weeks while investigators probed his friendship with one of the hijackers.

Awadallah had lived in the same San Diego community as Nawaf al-Hazmi, who helped seize the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. They attended the same mosque and saw each other dozens of times in 2000 before al-Hazmi moved to Virginia. FBI agents became curious about Awadallah when they found his phone number in al-Hazmi's car.

Investigators ultimately decided that the two men were merely acquaintances, but Awadallah was charged with perjury over two statements he made to a grand jury on Oct. 10, 2001.

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, Pataki, LMDC, urban policy, Freedom Tower, IFC, International Freedom Center, spitzer, silverstein, mount sinai, respiratory ailment, wtc cough, bloomberg.