The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 66

The situation at Ground Zero is rapidly deteriorating because of the political machinations of the Port Authority and the bi-state control of the Authority between New Jersey and New York. The Port Authority is ponying up billions to assist New Jersey in the construction of the Trans Hudson Express (THE) tunnel, which was originally meant to upgrade service for NJ Transit and Amtrak, but now appears to be a NJ Transit only tunnel.

Meanwhile, Ground Zero construction is lagging and the Port Authority is stonewalling on modifying a deal with Larry Silverstein to provide him with credit lines so that he can proceed with building office towers at the complex.

In other words, the Port Authority is not prioritizing Ground Zero appropriately. It's something I've been saying for some time as there is a genuine lack of urgency on the part of the Port Authority to build out Ground Zero. Yesterday, we learned that the Port Authority wants to go ahead and build stumps of office towers, dooming the site to decades of construction going forward, rather than building out the towers fully.

We also finally heard from Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver, who wants to throw a monkey wrench in the Port Authority plans - all of them. He notes that if the Port Authority doesn't come to terms with Silverstein and get the Ground Zero construction moving, he's going to stymie other Port Authority construction projects, including the THE tunnel. Where was Silver for seven years? He was largely absent from the discussions, and the lack of leadership among New York politicians on the matter - from US Senators on down to New York City officials is part of the reason that the situation has persisted for as long as it has.

Now, the Port Authority is looking to turn part of the planned 5WTC into a residential tower and hotel. Bear in mind that there was a Marriott hotel (former the Vista International) at Ground Zero, which was along West Street and was destroyed by the collapsing towers. The Port Authority is trying to downsize the amount of office space at Ground Zero because of what it perceives to be a loss of interest in office space.

I think it's a serious mistake as construction isn't just meant for today's conditions, but for those a decade and more from now. Silverstein says that he remains committed to fully rebuilding Ground Zero's office space. He's the only optimist in the whole bunch, as Mayor Bloomberg and others have repeatedly claimed and proposed cutting back office space to build residential or other space.

Meanwhile, there is finally some good to come out of the fatal fire at the former Deutshce Bank building as new building regulations are set to make deconstruction safer.

UPDATE:
As I was leaving the PATH station at Ground Zero, there was an awful stench that reminded me of scorched metal and instantly brought back memories of the smell that hung over Lower Manhattan for months following the 9/11 attacks. As I reached street level, I arrived just in time to see emergency personnel carrying out what appeared to be a worker on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance, which may have been heading to St. Vincent's hospital for treatment. I haven't seen any reports on the incident, but I suspect that accident and the smell were related.

UPDATE:
Effective May 18, 2008 and running for the next 18 months, PATH service between Hoboken and World Trade Center will see service disruptions as construction of the permanent terminal ramps up. One of the two tracks servicing Hoboken will be out of service in addition to the 5th track that was taken out of service several weeks ago.

UPDATE:
About time. We're finally learning that Fiterman Hall will be demolished by late fall. The demolition will mean that the PATH entrance and access to 7WTC will be impaired by the construction work done at the adjacent Fiterman Hall.

It's still years away from being rebuilt, but the Dormitory Authority is finally moving ahead.

UPDATE:
It turns out that I wasn't seeing things this morning. A construction worker was injured at Ground Zero; an ironworker fell 20 feet while on a break from erecting steel for the 9/11 Memorial. His injuries weren't life threatening.

His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening, according to a spokesman for the Port Authority, which oversees construction of the underground museum and street-level memorial plaza.

Around 8:15 a.m. Guido Castro, of Cornell Crane and Steel, fell about 20 feet, from the third to the second floor. The worker was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital for treatment, but by the afternoon the hospital had yet to determine his condition.

“He was on his break, and it looks like he just slipped off the edge of the deck,” said the spokesman, Steve Coleman. According to Coleman, Castro was wearing a safety harness at the time, but it was not tethered to the structure.