The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 63

The Daily News would like to see Larry Silverstein pushed aside, claiming that the economy should do so. Of course, the Daily News ignores the reality that Silverstein actually managed to rebuild 7WTC in three years time, all while the rest of Ground Zero was mired in politics, squabbling, and design troubles that were the fault of politicians and the Port Authority.

The current mess is made worse because the Port Authority continues failing to meet its contractual obligations to turn the site over to Silverstein after carrying out preparatory work on foundations and related features. Yet, the Daily News appears to find fault with Silverstein. Curious.

Silverstein now needs to get credit lines secured. Those credit lines dried up as a result of the credit market meltdown through no fault of his. The Daily News would like people to think that Silverstein isn't putting any of his own money up for the projects, but that's just so much nonsense. This is a credit line, enabling him to go ahead with the projects that have been delayed as a result of the Port Authority's own foot-dragging.

If there's anything that must be put to an end, it is precisely that. There remains a lack of urgency on the part of the Port Authority to rebuild the office complex and prepare and turn the site over to Silverstein to complete the office towers despite the contractual penalties built into the current development arrangement.

Throw in the fact that the former Deutsche Bank Building remains standing despite the need to get it torn down to make way for access to the rest of the site; it's a precondition to working on the entirety of the site as it will house the security center and underground access.

Problems and delays in building memorials honoring the memories of nearly 3,000 people murdered on 9/11 isn't confined to the National 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero. Jersey City has a similar problem. Ground was broken on a memorial in 2004, and the project has barely progressed as a result of lawsuits. All the while, the costs have spiraled out of control.

The New York Times reports in its Sunday editions that little work has been done on the 1.6-acre site at Liberty State Park. The proposed design includes two steel walls in line with where the World Trade Center towers stood and engraved with the names of the 744 New Jersey residents that died in the attacks.

A pending legal dispute, an estimated price that has increased from $15 million to $22 million, and challenges in raising funds have stalled the memorial.

The state of New Jersey and the Port Authority have contributed $13 million to the project.

Costs have increased 31% and what do they have to show for it.

UPDATE:
Steve Cuozzo takes the Daily News and Mayor Bloomberg to task for their editorial and lack of activity to push both the Port Authority and Silverstein to make a deal, respectively. Cuozzo reminds people that the Daily News is owned and operated by real estate mogul Mort Zuckerman, whose properties would compete with any construction at Ground Zero and sees Silverstein as a rival, rather than wanting to see construction completed at Ground Zero.

For his part, Bloomberg has been absent from the discussion on Ground Zero rebuilding, other than calling for the construction of residential real estate on the site rather than office space a few years ago. Now, when both Silverstein and the Port Authority can't agree on moving forward, he's silent. The same goes for Gov. Paterson and the legislature.

UPDATE:
On a more positive note, the Port Authority jumped the massive crane on the South Core of 1WTC (Freedom Tower). Here's video of the jump, which pushes the crane nearly 20 stories into the air.