The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 72

Mayor Mike Bloomberg came out and gave a blistering attack against the Port Authority for bungling the rebuilding efforts and standing in the way of Larry Silverstein rebuilding office space on the site. Moreover, he criticized the bistate agency because it was falling behind on deadlines to rebuild the 9/11 memorial, museum, 1WTC, and the transit hub.

Meanwhile, Silverstein announced that he's going to arbitration to compel the Port Authority to carry out its obligations.

Mr. Silverstein said in a statement that the authority’s inability to complete the transit hub, a vehicle security center and other projects at the World Trade Center site had undermined his company’s ability to build three office towers along Church Street, a claim that was immediately disputed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Mr. Silverstein has insisted in recent months that the authority finance two of the towers because he is unable to obtain real estate loans and corporate tenants for the project. Reluctant to invest in speculative office space, the agency has asked Mr. Silverstein to risk his own money before it agrees to put up additional funds.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, and separately, Gov. David A. Paterson, have tried to resolve the impasse with no success.

“Today’s action is designed to provide a complementary — and expedited — route to resolving this impasse,” the developer’s statement said. “One way or another, we must resolve, once and for all, the disputes that have arisen as a result of the Port Authority’s continued and admitted delays.”

The Port Authority is clearly at fault for the delays, and would lose at arbitration, which makes its position all the more curious.

The Port Authority, which managed to rebuild the PATH temporary station (twice), now appears to be dragging its feet and doesn't feel the slightest bit of urgency in completing work necessary to prepare the site for Silverstein to build the office towers as per their contractual obligations.

Then, there's the whole issue of financing. This is a project of national importance, and yet no one appears willing or able to contact the Obama Administration to inquire about obtaining the necessary financing to get the projects built.

Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver also finds the Port Authority at fault for dragging its feet and not doing enough to make sure that the site is rebuilt. While he calls on Silverstein to increase his financial commitment to the site, the real issue is obtaining financing, and no one seems willing to tackle that issue in any serious manner.

Instead, we're going to be left with a hole in the ground that will stand as a monument to the failure of the politicians to rebuild; one that dishonors all those who were murdered on 9/11 because of the lack of political will to see the reconstruction through to completion.

UPDATE:
The Port Authority released its updates on Ground Zero construction, and they claim they met 19 of 20 construction milestones. Curiously, one of the milestones includes jumping one of the two tower cranes on 1WTC 68 feet. But, if you look carefully, the steel forming the tower hasn't grown in size during the quarter. Some progress was made on the North core of 1WTC, but it's still lagging behind.