13 Years Later: Remembering 9/11

I've written essentially the same opening each of the past few years. It's still appropriate to remember today, as it was when I first wrote this:

September 11, 2001. New Yorkers were heading to the polls to vote in primary elections to determine the next mayor of the city. It was a morning full of promise and baseball fans were excited about the Yankees' chances of making the playoffs, the Mets thinking about the future, and the start of the new football season. In other words, it was a day not unlike the ones we've experienced once again this year.

While everyone was focused on the day ahead, another group of people were thinking about the mission that would forever alter the skyline of NYC and alter history. Al Qaeda's terrorists were already on board four jets bound for New York and Washington DC and had already overpowered the crews.

I was on a NJ Transit train with my dad when I first noticed something wrong at the WTC out of the corner of my eye; it was smoke coming from the upper reaches of the tower.

It was just around 8:45.

The world changed, and I didn't quite realize it. No one did.

People watching the morning news didn't know it either at first. But they would soon be glued to broadcasts that showed the horrors of the worst terror attacks ever perpetrated.

The damage done on that morning was nearly impossible to comprehend. In the mere blink of the eye, nearly 3,000 people were condemned to death and the World Trade Center would soon be reduced to a pile of rubble that would burn for weeks on end. Reports would come in that a third plane had struck and damaged the Pentagon.  But the death rattle of the Twin Towers would continue for just under two hours and victims trapped above the fires had to make the choice to stay and choke on the heat and smoke or jump to a certain death. All too many make that decision to jump. Firefighters on the ground also succumbed before the towers fell - falling debris hitting firefighters and fleeing people alike.

Victim Number One would be there to comfort those who fell. Rev. Mychal Judge of the FDNY was comforting fallen firefighters and office workers alike when he was struck and killed by debris. So many people inside the Department and around the City thought so highly of him that he was honored as the first victim of the attacks - so that he could comfort and aid all those many others who were murdered on that day - to guide them to Heaven.

All too many would unfortunately follow him - and not by their own choice.

Here are remembrances of a few of those killed on 9/11, as written by my friend legalbgl for Project 2,996:

Steven Harris Russin (2014).
Lt. Col. Jerry Don Dickerson Jr. (2013).
Mary Lenz Wieman (2012).
Mark Francis Broderick (2011).
Captain Patrick J. Brown (2010).
Hagay Shefi (2009).
Alison Marie Wildman (2008).
Daniel Thomas Afflito (2007).

By happenstance, I happened to come across Hagay Shefi's name, which was found on the North Memorial Pool:

Stephen Siller, whose name is memorialized in the annual Tunnel to Towers Run to raise funds for responders.

 He's also memorialized at the Staten Island 9/11 Memorial thusly:

Stephen Siller's memorial on Staten Island

Coming full circle, on May 1, 2011, the United States finally caught up with Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. In a daring raid on a compound near Pakistan's military academy, US special forces killed bin Laden and captured a treasure trove of intel.  That's small consolation for the thousands of families and friends who still grieve the senseless murder of their loved ones in New York, Washington DC at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The profound loss is a heavy burden on all those who were there and on those who lost loved ones.

Local commemorations are already underway and will continue through the week throughout the region. In fact, this is the first year that the WTC Museum will be open on 9/11. The museum has not opened without controversy. There's the question of the incredibly high cost for entry, the tacky gifts included in the gift shop, potentially locating restaurants in the museum, and lawsuits filed over the installation of the WTC cross. The cost to entry is still too high (it should be free) and the lawsuits to block the installation of the WTC cross, which were filed by an atheist group, lost.

Part of the reason that the WTC Museum charges fees is that it's a private foundation operating the site. They have to deal with security and overhead of the facility, which is quite significant. I've long called for the National Park Service to take over and that this would necessarily reduce the overall costs and improve the accessibility to the site. While I don't need to be able to visit the museum myself, the museum is for those who weren't even born yet or understood what actually happened at the WTC site on 9/11 and the weeks, months, and years that followed. The museum should be free for all to come and bear witness to the events. This should be a no-brainer, and yet no one can agree on making that happen.

Meanwhile, the federal government created the James Zadroga health and compensation fund because of the ongoing health concerns of those who carried out relief and recovery efforts at Ground Zero. More people continue to seek assistance via the program, including those emergency responders who came from across the country to spell the FDNY and NYPD and PAPD in the grim task of recovering the remains of those murdered. The Zadroga Act wasn't perfect by any means and it has come too late for some, but it's a start to compensate and aid families of responders who are suffering from all manner of ailments  attributed to Ground Zero exposure. The Act is scheduled to sunset unless it is reauthorized, and given the dysfunction in Washington, it can't be taken for granted that it would be continued.

Construction at the site doesn't domination the front pages of local papers as it used to, as construction is nearing the end on several portions of the site. The entire Western side of Ground Zero is now essentially built out - between the Memorial, Museum, and 1WTC.

The South Memorial Pool looking towards 4WTC. 

1WTC (aka the Freedom Tower) has finally recaptured part of the skyline and is regarded as the tallest skyscraper in North America at 1,776 feet. 1WTC is set to open later this year even as work continues around its base.

Looking down Fulton Street from West Street towards Church across the WTC. 1WTC is on the left, and the memorial to the right.

The North and East sides of 1WTC

Construction of the Transit Hub is also underway, and Santiago Calatrava's design shows its final form, even as the cost pushes past a staggering $4 billion. That's nearly $2 billion over the original budget estimate, and the costs associated with this has sapped the Port Authority's ability to build new infrastructure in the region, which is its core mission. Instead, the agency has poured billions into a project that doesn't add any cross-river capacity.

The WTC PATH transit hub with nearly 50% of the spikes installed. Every day, the structure looks more and more like a stegosaurus. The structure on the left is 3WTC, which just saw construction restarted this past week. To give a sense of size, the tips of the spikes are probably 10-15 stories tall at their peak and extend out from the main structure by 50-75 feet at their widest points.

One of the tower cranes preparing to hoist one of the ribs into its final location on the north side of the transit hub.

Work continuing on the PATH transit hub.

The North Memorial Pool looking towards the PATH transit center.

The price does provide for a lot of marble though.

The mezzanine level for the PATH terminal; there is marble as far as the eye can see.

The Port Authority has announced that they expect the transit hub to be open by the end of next year. I personally don't see it happening, unless the Port Authority will open it the way the MTA has done at the Fulton Center. I fully expect that sections will be closed off for construction to continue as the main transit hall is largely available.

So, while the hub will be visually interesting and definitely become a photographer's favorite, the problem with the PATH transit hub and all that spending is that it doesn't exactly add capacity to the system.  The Port Authority is fudging the figures so as to claim that 250,000 pedestrians will use the transit hub daily. That's not exactly true. 35,000 people use PATH daily in and out of the WTC. The rest are people who the Port Authority expects to visit the mall being built as part of the hub, and the people who are working in 1WTC and 4WTC as those spaces are filled out. 250,000 people are not going to be taking PATH daily.

4WTC is nearly done, though I'm surprised that there's an exterior lift still attached to the south side of the building. Even 1WTC has been buttoned up, and it was topped out after 4WTC. That's odd to say the least, but tenants are supposed to be moving in there next month. Maybe.

2 WTC remains a stub, and construction has finally resumed at 3WTC after Larry Silverstein finally secured financing and other commitments to build out the building that had reached about 10 stories before grinding to a halt. Silverstein signed GroupM to lease 500,000 square feet of space in the tower, which enabled the developer to move ahead and secure additional financing from the Port Authority. That financing raised questions from some, who thought this was a giveaway but ignores that this was a loan guarantee - the agency wasn't actually putting the money up. The only way the Port Authority loses on the deal is if Silverstein defaults, which isn't likely to happen.

Lagging behind all the other structures is the Vehicle Security Center that runs along the south side of the WTC and which was previously occupied by the former Deutsche Bank building. There's a new platform and entrance area being built for vehicles servicing the WTC complex, but it's years behind schedule and over budget (like everything else at the WTC).

Much of the fault for the slow pace of rebuilding is the result of Port Authority actions and omissions to limit cost increases, especially when it comes to the transit hub and the delays in building led to still more costs incurred. In order to complete construction of the memorial in time for the 10th anniversary, the Port Authority needed to spend $500 million more on the transit hub to build out the memorial while the site was erected around the transit links.

At the same time, the Fulton Center, which is a block East of the WTC site is nearly open, and will eventually link to the PATH transit hub via the Dey Street connector, and ultimately those working at the World Financial Center (Brookfield Place) would be able to access Fulton Center without having to travel outside. It's likely to be opened in time for when 4WTC is fully opened for business.

The skyline will never be the same. Neither will our hearts, which are heavy with the loss and supreme sacrifices made on 9/11 by the rescue personnel who bravely rushed up the towers even as people were racing to get out of the towers or gasping as people were forced to jump to their deaths to avoid being burned alive in the fires that racked the towers.

We remember.

The media will be out as usual. The Memorial is busy preparing the site for the memorial service and the media is getting set up. These photos were taken on September 10, 2014:

PIX11 news van at corner of Church and Vesey.

NYPD security barriers being arranged ahead of tomorrow's events.

Flags being hung from 3WTC

Preparations for the memorial services underway.

This year Century21, the department store whose main location is across from the WTC and which was badly damaged by the attacks, has unveiled a building wrap in time for tomorrow:

Century21 department store doing a full block wrap

The Century21 Department Store installing a full-block wrap on their Church Street frontage.

What the Century21 wrap will look like when done.

We remember.

The Tribute in Light

Reaching towards infinity

The view of Lower Manhattan from the Staten Island 9/11 Memorial at St. George.

Looking across the Hudson River from Hoboken.

For my prior year recollections and postings, see September 11, 2013, September 11, 2012, 10 Years Later,  September 11, 2010, September 11, 2009,  September 11, 2008, September 11, 2007, September 11, 2006, and September 11, 2005.

Cross posted at LGF.

12 Years Later: Remembering 9/11

September 11, 2001. New Yorkers were heading to the polls to vote on the next mayor of the city. It was a morning full of promise and baseball fans were excited about the Yankees' chances of making the playoffs, the Mets thinking about the future, and the start of the new football season. In other words, it was a day not much different than those September days we've been experiencing in the New York City metro area this year.

While everyone was focused on the day ahead, another group of people were thinking about the mission that would forever alter the skyline of NYC and alter history. Al Qaeda's terrorists were already on board four jets bound for New York and Washington DC and had already overpowered the crews.

I was on a NJ Transit train with my dad when I first noticed something wrong at the WTC out of the corner of my eye; it was smoke coming from the upper reaches of the tower.

It was just around 8:45.

The world changed, and I didn't quite realize it.

People watching the morning news didn't know it either at first. But they would soon be glued to broadcasts that showed the horrors of the worst terror attacks ever perpetrated.

The damage done on that morning was nearly impossible to comprehend. In the mere blink of the eye, nearly 3,000 people were condemned to death and the World Trade Center would soon be reduced to a pile of rubble that would burn for weeks on end. Reports would come in that a third plane had struck and damaged the Pentagon.  But the death rattle of the Twin Towers would continue for just under two hours and victims trapped above the fires had to make the choice to stay and choke on the heat and smoke or jump to a certain death. All too many make that decision to jump. Firefighters on the ground also succumbed before the towers fell - falling debris hitting firefighters and fleeing people alike.

Victim Number One would be there to comfort those who fell. Rev. Mychal Judge of the FDNY was comforting fallen firefighters and office workers alike when he was struck and killed by debris. So many people inside the Department and around the City thought so highly of him that he was honored as the first victim of the attacks - so that he could comfort and aid all those many others who were murdered on that day - to guide them to Heaven.

All too many would unfortunately follow him - and not by their own choice.

Here are remembrances of a few of those killed on 9/11, as written by my friend legalbgl for Project 2,996 (and updated to reflect his additional memorializations for 2011 through 2013):

Lt. Col. Jerry Don Dickerson Jr. (2013).
Mary Lenz Wieman (2012).
Mark Francis Broderick (2011).
Captain Patrick J. Brown (2010).
Hagay Shefi (2009).
Alison Marie Wildman (2008).
Daniel Thomas Afflito (2007).

Coming full circle, on May 1, 2011, the United States finally caught up with Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. In a daring raid on a compound near Pakistan's military academy, US special forces killed bin Laden and captured a treasure trove of intel.  That's small consolation for the thousands of families and friends who still grieve the senseless murder of their loved ones in New York, Washington DC at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The profound loss is a heavy burden on all those who were there and on those who lost loved ones. While television crews jockeyed for spots overlooking the Ground Zero site, the death of bin Laden would not bring solace to those who lost loved ones, nor would it bring their loved ones back.

Local commemorations are already underway and will continue through the week throughout the region. And there are those in the area who are still suffering from the medical effects of exposure to the air at Ground Zero.

The federal government created the James Zadroga health and compensation fund because of the ongoing health concerns of those who carried out relief and recovery efforts at Ground Zero. More people are seeking assistance via the program, including those emergency responders who came from across the country to spell the FDNY and NYPD and PAPD in the grim task of recovering the remains of those murdered.

Emergency personnel were at Ground Zero around the clock for weeks on end before officials would claim that the site had officially been cleared of remains. Many of them, plus those living near Ground Zero would later become ill from the effects of breathing in all the dust and debris that was pulverized by the collapsing towers, and it is one of the sadder chapters from 9/11 that we are still burying victims of the attacks to this day, including James Zadroga.

People who risked their lives to save others and to help families who lost loved ones find remains of the victims are themselves victims of the attacks. The Zadroga Act isn't perfect by any means and it has come too late for some, but it's a start to compensate and aid families of responders who are suffering from all manner of ailments  attributed to Ground Zero exposure.

The death toll, which was once feared to be more than we could bear - in the tens of thousands, would eventually drop to around 2,742 at the World Trade Center. However, that count continues rising as more emergency personnel working at Ground Zero succumb to ailments attributed to exposures at Ground Zero. The head of the PBA says that the total number of cops who have died from medical ailments related to the 9/11 attacks is greater than the number who died during the attacks themselves. More than 1,100 people have cancers attributed to exposure at Ground Zero. Over 65,000 are registered with the WTC Registry. Some of their names will eventually be added to the roll of those killed in the attacks.

Construction at the site now dominates discussion, though there are unsettling discoveries made from time to time. Workers at the site of the proposed Park 51 / Cordoba House Islamic Center found part of the landing gear of one of the planes wedged between the building and an adjacent one.

The past 10 years have been a near constant reminder of the profound sense of absence. 1WTC (aka the Freedom Tower) has finally recaptured part of the skyline. 1WTC is still under construction but the antenna and external structures are complete. The base and interior work continues.

Construction of the Transit Hub is also underway, and Santiago Calatrava's design now peeks out above ground as well.

The WTC Transit Hub from Greenwich Street at Vesey

Looking down Greenwich St at the WTC Transit Hub and 3 and 4 WTC

4WTC exterior finished; the building needs interior work, but is in its final form.

2 and 3 WTC are only being built as a stub capable of being completed to their originally designed heights. Unless Larry Silverstein receives commitments to lease space, they will remain as stub buildings that provide retail commercial space for the foreseeable future. 4WTC will be opened to business in November. It's likely that work will restart later this year on 3WTC as there have been rumblings of a deal in the works for leases of significant amounts of space in the tower with GroupM. The 1WTC Observatory will take longer to open,  but Conde Nast will be moving into its offices in 1WTC in 2014 and retail spaces in 3 and 4 WTC will be opening in the coming year courtesy of Silverstein and Westfield Properties.

Fiterman Hall

Meanwhile, Fiterman Hall has now been opened for a full year as students from the Borough of Manhattan Community College have been able to use the facility for classes.

While the National 9/11 Memorial opened in time for the 10th anniversary, the National 9/11 Museum at the World Trade Center had been delayed due to an ongoing battle over who is responsible for certain costs. The museum foundation and the Port Authority had fought over hundreds of millions in costs, and the resulting delay meant that the earliest it would open is early 2014.

The delays were made worse as a result of the damage done by Hurricane Sandy. That included flooding of the museum facilities that are under the podium containing the memorial. It turns out that the battle over costs between the memorial foundation and the Port Authority was a blessing in disguise. It meant that facilities weren't finished out and artifacts weren't in place when lower Manhattan was flooded by Sandy. It also means that the facilities will have to address protecting the artifacts from future storms.

Then, there's the cost to operate the museum when it eventually opens in conjunction with the memorial. The WTC Memorial Foundation estimates it will cost $60 million a year to operate the memorial and museum, which is far out of line from other memorials operated by the National Park Service. It makes tremendous sense and it is logical for the 9/11 museum and memorial to be operated by the NPS instead of the private foundation because of cost containment and the ability to manage the myriad details that come along with such a sensitive site and one of national and international importance.

Millions of people have already paid their respects and visited the 9/11 memorial, and the site has fast become a touchstone for those visiting the city. Tourists from around the country and the world flock to the area to see the new construction and to visit the memorial.

One of the stumbling blocks continues to be whether the museum will charge a fee for entry. I've long argued against any kind of entry fee as well as stripping the memorial foundation of the authority to run the facility and instead put the NPS in charge. The NPS does a tremendous job managing sites around the nation, and the memorial and museum should come under the NPS umbrella. However, without Congressional action, the situation will remain in flux and we should expect to see entry fees imposed on those visiting the site (we already see the foundation making "mandatory" suggested donations for access to the memorial). I wouldn't be surprised if the entry fee runs $20 or more. As more than 4 million visit annually, that would mean $80 million in revenues towards operations.

The Port Authority, which owns the entire site, had been building the infrastructure necessary for other components of the site, including the Vehicle Security Center, the PATH transit hub, and the museum. All three are seriously over budget and are years behind schedule. The PATH Transit hub was among the worst offenders. It was supposed to have been completed in 2009 for $2.2 billion, and yet the earliest it may be finished is 2016 at a cost of more than $4 billion.

When one looks at the recently enacted toll and fare hikes, the cost overrun for PATH turns out to be nearly the entire amount of revenue expected to be raised from the hikes. That's inexcusable; the overruns on the transit hub sap the Port Authority's ability to handle other critical infrastructure projects around the region, and commuters to Lower Manhattan and businesses that want to consider Lower Manhattan have to take into account that the World Trade Center area is still one vast construction site.

When one realizes that the Port Authority gave up the trademark rights to the World Trade Center and WTC to a foundation started by a former employee of the agency for $10, you can begin to understand how poorly the authority had handled its assets over the years. A new report by the Bergen Record found that the Port Authority has no record of this deal being done, which makes this whole situation even more bizarre. After all, it's a former head of the agency involved - Guy Tozzoli.  It's why I don't think the agency has managed its assets well, nor handled the rebuilding in a cost-effective and efficient manner.

The Port Authority said Monday that it had no record of its governing board approving a 1986 deal that handed over ownership of the World Trade Center name for $10. And the agency’s top executive at the time said he didn’t recall it ever coming across his desk.

That added to the mystery surrounding how the Port Authority came to sell the vaunted name of its Manhattan landmark to a group run by a retiring agency executive who made millions in the years that followed.

The Christie administration, which jointly steers the agency with New York’s governor, slammed the deal on Monday, in response to a story in The Record a day earlier.

“You can be sure that would never happen under this administration,” Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said. “I’d venture to say that if something like that was done today, it would probably draw the attention of the United States Attorney’s Office.”

The Port Authority essentially handed over one of its most valuable assets to a former executive who has made a ton of coin over the deal, and has even cost the agency money to continue using the name. Had the agency retained the rights to the name and licensed the name to other entities as the WTCA has done, the Port Authority would have had millions of dollars of revenue that it could have used to fund ongoing operations and projects.

Meanwhile, nearby transit projects are slowly inching towards completion, including the Fulton Transit Center a block east of Ground Zero. That project, run by the MTA, is similarly over budget and late. However, it's far closer to completion than the PATH hub. When finished, the Fulton Center would link with the PATH transit hub by the Dey Street connector, and ultimately those working at the World Financial Center would be able to access Fulton Center without having to travel outside. It's likely to be opened in time for when 4WTC is opened for business later this year.

The skyline will never be the same. Neither will our hearts, which are heavy with the loss and supreme sacrifices made on 9/11 by the rescue personnel who bravely rushed up the towers even as people were racing to get out of the towers or gasping as people were forced to jump to their deaths to avoid being burned alive in the fires that racked the towers.

We remember.

Tribute in Light

Looking up at 1WTC and 7WTC.

More photos of Ground Zero and the rebuilding at the World Trade Center, as taken from 4WTC, which is scheduled to open next year.

The WTC as seen from Hoboken.

For my prior year recollections and postings, see September 11, 2012, 10 Years Later,  September 11, 2010, September 11, 2009,  September 11, 2008, September 11, 2007, September 11, 2006, and September 11, 2005.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 169

Yesterday's commemoration of the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks also coincided with news reports about a deal struck to resume construction on the National 9/11 Museum, which had been in limbo since the Port Authority and Memorial Foundation fought over who was responsible for construction costs.

The Port Authority claimed that the Foundation owed it $300 million, but ended up settling for $17 million instead. The Port Authority will also supposedly figure out a way to find another $150 million in cost savings, but who knows how that will happen when the Port Authority has seen its construction costs soar towards double their initial estimates for work done at the site. Why did the Port Authority hold up construction for a year if it was willing to settle for $17 million (which is a drop in the bucket in its multibillion dollar budget). The NY Post editorial page has similar questions. That's a billion dollar question as the agency continues to show itself as incapable of controlling costs or making prudent business decisions to manage the site reconstruction.

Everything at the site has cost far more than originally anticipated and taken far longer to complete than hoped.

Work on the Vehicle Security Center has been progressing, and new details have emerged about its street-level design and the incorporation of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and Fritz Koenig's The Sphere sculpture figure prominently on the site that is immediately to the south of the 9/11 Memorial below Liberty Street.

Now, the steel latticework of the VSC’s truck ramp is clearly visible from nearby towers. In addition to being the entrance and exit for deliveries, the center of the doughnut-shaped ramp will also support the 60 by 60 foot church sanctuary. Steve Plate, the Port’s director of construction, said work on the park will begin this time next year. AECOM is designing an open space that will swell approximately 30 feet above the Liberty Street entrance to the VSC, creating a man-made hill on the south side of the World Trade Center site. State of the art security, engineered by Liberty Security Partners, will allow all vehicles to be x-rayed on their way in.

The church sanctuary will rise another 56 feet above Liberty Street, a full 78 feet above the sidewalk. Church architect Nicholas P. Koutsomitis said that the Port stipulated that the church not rise above the September 11 Memorial Museum’s roof plane. An additional emergency exit will drop Cedar Street below grade and into the VSC complex.

Fritz Koenig’s Sphere for Plaza Fountain, which sustained substantial damage on 9/11 and now sits in Battery Park, appears destined for the VSC site as well. It appears prominently in the renderings, and Koutsomitis confirmed that the sculpture will be included in the new park.

The Sphere has been a particularly contentious issue. It was recovered from Ground Zero after the attacks, damaged but mostly intact and it became a symbol from the attacks. It was temporarily placed in Battery Park City, but that site is now being developed so an alternative site was proposed within the WTC Memorial. The Port Authority and Memorial Foundation balked by claiming that the site couldn't support the bulk of the statute, but it now appears that the Sphere will figure prominently in the garden area between West Street and the church that will be constructed atop the VSC.

I'm heartened to see that the Sphere will be placed in a location of significance considering its iconic status and relevance to the WTC site.

Meanwhile, at least a portion of the VSC site may be sold to the Port Authority by the LMDCC and the Port Authority will turn over ownership of the memorial and museum to the memorial foundation.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 168

The new Fiterman Hall, which is part of the Borough of Manhattan Community College Campus, is set to reopen next week. The original building was heavily damaged by the collapsing Twin Towers and 7WTC during 9/11. It sat in limbo until 2009 when city and state officials agreed upon a course of action to demolish and rebuild the structure.

The building differs greatly from the design aesthetic of the other towers going up in and around the World Trade Center complex. Rather than glass curtain walls, Fiterman Hall is dominated by concrete panels that mimic the look of brick and mortar. Despite the use of the brick-style panels, there's something cold and antiseptic about the design.

Meanwhile, families groups are still fighting over where and how to retain the remains of the unidentified victims from the attacks. Officials had planned to put the remains in a secured vault/crypt area beneath the Memorial/Museum complex, but some families want them to be located at a ground-level location. The latest fight over the remains has extended to demands to make public the list of all victims' relatives names and addresses so that those fighting for the changes can have the names to poll them.

Memorial developers plan to keep them 70 feet below ground, entombed behind a granite wall emblazoned with the Virgil quote: "No day shall erase you from the memory of time."

Rosemary Cain, whose firefighter son George Cain died on 9/11, said keeping the “sacred remains” in the basement is “not respectful” and “not a tribute to any of the blessed victims.”

“We want them above ground, we want them in a place of respect and dignity,” she said. "They don’t belong in the bowels of a museum, turning that place into a freak show.”

Many relatives, like retired FDNY deputy chief Jim Riches, whose firefighter son, Jim Riches Jr. was killed, want the city to build an aboveground commemorative tomb.

“We want a proper burial for our loved ones,” Riches said. “They’re American heroes, they died heroes that day and they deserve better than to be put in a basement of a memorial museum."

A spokeswoman for the 9/11 Memorial declined to comment on the appeal Monday and referred questions to the city. The memorial is not a party in Siegel’s lawsuit.

In the past, representatives of the museum said that the remains would not be on display and that the space would be managed by the Medical Examiner's office.

In addition, the museum also plans a private family room adjacent to the repository where relatives can reflect in privacy.

The remains will be periodically tested by the Medical Examiner to continue attempts to identify them.

In the past, several 9/11 family members wrote a letter of support for the plan, saying it "treats the remains with the utmost care, respect and reverence."

A spokesman for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum has said rebuilding officials have repeatedly consulted with families, through many mailings, forums and hearings over the past 10 years.

"[The families] have repeatedly stated it is essential the remains return to the sacred bedrock of the site," the spokesman has said.

A fight is continuing over plans to restore the Ground Zero cross to the Museum. Atheists have fought the plan, claiming that that would be state-sanctioned support of religion, but that ignores that it was an artifact revealed in the decimated remains of the World Trade Center complex, and that it came to be a source of hope and support for those working to find victims and remains of those murdered in the attacks.

Junior High School Students Tossed From 9/11 Memorial For Tossing Trash

The NY Daily News is reporting that students from JHS 292 in Brooklyn were kicked out of the National 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center for throwing trash into the reflecting pools that are intended to symbolize the destruction of the Twin Towers.

A group of Brooklyn students on a school trip to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum were booted from the hallowed site after they callously hurled trash into its fountains. The vile vandals from Junior High School 292 in East New York treated the solemn memorial — its reflecting pools honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks — like a garbage dump. 'They kicked us out because of littering in the water. Kids were throwing baseballs in the pond thing,' said eighth-grader Anthony Price, 14, of East New York, who insisted he wasn't one of the troublemakers. In addition to the baseballs, witnesses reported seeing empty plastic soda bottles and other refuse in the water on Thursday. 'They were making jokes and throwing stuff in the fountain. It didn't seem like a big deal,' added another student on the trip who refused to give his name. Department of Education officials have launched an investigation into the students' shenanigans. Tourists visiting the site Saturday said they were disgusted by the students' filthy acts. 'That is an absolute disgrace,' said Sharon Hooks, 55, a school teacher from Hartford, Conn. 'I don't care if these children were too young to remember the events of that day. They need to be taught to be respectful.' Rene LaRosa, of Saddle Brook, N.J., pinned the blame squarely on the shoulders of the students.

It's all the more reason that the museum needs to be opened and people understand the importance of the site. These kids apparently have no understanding of the importance of the site and don't have any respect for what happened, the site itself, or how to act in solemn manner. They were more interested in figuring out whether trash floats or gets carried off into the pools over the waterfalls into the abyss below. And apparently another kid from the same group had several bullets confiscated during the security screening.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 165

There's been little movement on the resumption of construction of the National 9/11 Museum, despite a visit from President Obama last week and the principal politicians and bureaucrats involved in the museum and memorial process all present at the same time.

New York and New Jersey Governors Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie have called on the National Park Service to get involved in the memorial and museum endeavor, but both Governors ignore that they hold key roles in the redevelopment and rebuilding process. They're the ones to whom the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey answers. If the governors had wanted to get the process restarted and completed, they could have forced the Port Authority to cut a deal with the memorial and museum foundation.

Instead, we're seeing nothing but delaying tactics from the Port Authority and shifting and denying blame for the delays.

And the New York Post is reporting that Governor Cuomo appears to have it in for Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who holds a key position in the memorial foundation - a personal spat is blocking redevelopment:

Gov. Cuomo is so angry about his dad being dissed by Mayor Bloomberg, he’s holding funding for the 9/11 Museum hostage until a new mayor is elected, sources told The Post.

Officials close to Cuomo said it all became personal because of how his father — former Gov. Mario Cuomo — was treated by the mayor’s people at Ground Zero ceremonies last Sept. 11.

The elder Cuomo was first hassled about 6:45 a.m. that Sunday as he tried to clear security and get into the perimeter of the World Trade Center site.

A short time later, he was again blocked — that time as he tried to access the 9/11 memorial. That confrontation was defused only when a PA official intervened,
One of the governor’s top aides, Joe Percoco, was also hassled by city staffers at the event, even though he was in the governor’s entourage.

Events that day only added insult to injury for the governor.

He was already enraged over the way he felt City Hall tried to minimize his role in planning the ceremonies. He was also angry at being assigned a reading from Franklin Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech, because it had been read at a previous 9/11 event by former Gov. George Pataki.

“Mario didn’t want to cause a scene [on 9/11] so he was quiet about it, but it was certainly raised internally. Everybody has heard about it,” a source involved in the city-state museum talks told The Post.

A source close to the mayor said Bloomberg’s feeling about the governor’s reaction is that “on the chart of crazy, it’s off the charts.”

I'm not quite sure how much we can read into this, but personal politics has driven the redevelopment of the World Trade Center off the rails from the outset. It was Gov. Pataki's decision to pick Daniel Libeskind's master plan despite better designs offered up by the likes of Sir Norman Foster (who had experience doing major projects of the size and scope).

That led, in turn, to all kinds of problems with Libeskind's skyscraper designs that led to choosing other architects to design and build the towers that are rising around the site. Libeskind may have his name on the master plan, but his name isn't associated with any of the tower designs. All that added up to years of extra delays and higher rebuilding costs.

And the personal politics continues - with personality conflicts likely playing a role in bringing construction of the museum to a standstill.

I've argued for some time now that the NPS should have been involved from the get-go and that they are uniquely qualified to tell the story of 9/11, the 1993 WTC bombing, and the history of the site. The memorial foundation may have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for that purpose, but they're still short on how to fund ongoing operations once the museum is open. That's a huge concern going forward because the museum is not only meant to teach current generations about what happened at the World Trade Center, but to inform future generations.

It should not be subject to entry fees to learn about this critical era of American and world history.

UPDATE:
Governor Cuomo's office calls the NY Post story 100% absolutely false. However, the issue of control over the site is the real reason work has come to a standstill:

Bloomberg and the governors disagree on who should foot the costs—Bloomberg wants the Port Authority to continue paying, but the governors reportedly "contend the PA is willing to pay its share but won’t write a blank check that could amount to hundreds of millions down the road. The governors also insist that the PA maintain day-to-day control over the entire WTC site. The 9/11 Museum is operated by a private foundation chaired by the mayor." One Port Authority official told the Post, "This whole fight is Cuomo and Bloomberg. And it’s about which one of them is going to control the legacy of 9/11."

There's no reason that the Port Authority should maintain day-to-day control; they've botched nearly every aspect of rebuilding - from the planning and design to the containment of costs and missed deadlines at every opportunity. Much of the work above ground has proceeded despite the efforts of the Port Authority - not because of the agency.

So, while Cuomo and Christie are calling on the National Park Service to get involved, they aren't pushing the Port Authority to do what is within its power to do - namely finish the rebuilding process in a timely and cost-effective manner. That's on them - not the memorial foundation or anyone else.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 163

The problems with completing the WTC Museum continue. The earliest that the museum will be open is mid 2013, and that's growing increasingly unlikely considering that the money issues between the Memorial Foundation and the Port Authority remain unresolved. Hundreds of millions of dollars are at issue, and each side blames the other for delays and costs that should inure to the other.

Meanwhile, a group of 9/11 families has again raised the suggestion that the National Park Service should take over the memorial and museum. I can't think of a better suggestion, though it would have to address shifting the fundraising proceeds to the Park Service.

The Parks Service already runs a number of memorials, including the one in Shanksville, Penn., where hijacked Flight 93 crashed. The group, 9/11 Parents and Families of Firefighters and WTC Victims, has been harshly critical of the private non profit which runs the memorial now.

The group points out that instead of collecting $300 million owed by the memorial/museum, the Port Authority agreed to take just $50 million over a number of years. "What happened to the remaining $250 million? Why are taxpayers being expected to pick up the tab for the cost overruns by a private foundation," the group asks.

The group is also critical of bills in Congress that would contribute $20 million annually to the museum "with no strings attached."

The NPS has been down this road before. They know how to manage national parks and protect the assets they've been given on a limited budget.

There has been serious mismanagement with the memorial and museum, and the Port Authority has seen costs skyrocket with every phase of construction, including for its portion of the memorial and museum (as well as the PATH transit hub, the costs of which have more than doubled and delays have pushed completion well beyond what was originally anticipated).

The Port Authority is responsible for much of the delays and cost overruns, but the memorial foundation isn't blameless either. They have done a miserable job of containing costs and the administrative costs aren't in line with the job they're doing and the functions involved.

Putting the memorial and museum in the hands of the National Park Service would eliminate much of the costs and overhead, and qualified people at the National Park Service would make sure that the site is treated with the respect and solemnity it deserves. The money raised by the foundation would be able to serve as an endowment for preservation, maintenance, and operations, and instead of charging access fees to the museum, it could impose a fee on tour operators for bus access to the site - paying for mitigation and bus security as well as funding the museum's operating budget. That makes far more sense than imposing access/entry fees to cover the cost of going and learning about the 9/11 attacks, what precipitated the attacks, and the aftermath. The museum is a learning center - and that access should be unfettered by entrance fees.

UPDATE:
President Obama will be in Lower Manhattan on Thursday to attend a pre-topping out event at 1WTC. 4WTC will be topping out in July, but without the same kind of fanfare. I'm not quite in agreement with the author of this piece that 4WTC blends into the skyline more than 1WTC; both use reflective glass as part of the design, but 1WTC is unmistakable from afar because of its size and heft. 4WTC doesn't reach the same heights, and its orientation for the upper floors means that it has a reduced presence. However, both are imposing structures from street level (and from my window at the office). (HT: Curbed)

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 162

Despite the fact that there's been no work done on the WTC 9/11 Museum for months, that doesn't mean that the fight over what the museum will contain and display hasn't continued.

I find it mind-boggling that there's a fight over whether to include photos of the 19 Islamic terrorists who carried out the attacks. We need to see the faces of those who are responsible. It's like having a museum about the Holocaust and not including any of the names and faces of the key Nazi officials behind the Wanasee Conference and the orders to carry out genocide against the Jewish people.

Displaying the photos is necessary and critical to the museum's mission to reflect what happened before, during, and after the 9/11 terror attacks.

New York City’s fire chief protested that such a display would “honor” the terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center. A New York Post editorial called the idea “appalling.” Groups representing rescuers, survivors and victims’ families asked how anyone could even think of showing the faces of the men who killed their relatives, colleagues and friends.

The anger took some museum officials by surprise.

“You don’t create a museum about the Holocaust and not say that it was the Nazis who did it,” said Joseph Daniels, chief executive of the memorial and museum foundation.

Such are the exquisite sensitivities that surround every detail in the creation of the National September 11 Memorial Museum, which is being built on land that many revere as hallowed ground. During eight years of planning, every step has been muddied with contention. There have been bitter fights over the museum’s financing, which have delayed its opening until at least next year, as well as continuing arguments over its location, seven stories below ground; which relics should be exhibited; and where unidentified human remains should rest.

Even the souvenir key chains to be sold in the gift shop have become a focus of rancor.

But nothing has been more fraught than figuring out how to tell the story.

The entire process has been an absolute mess, as my ongoing Rebuilding of Ground Zero series (and the preceding Battle for Ground Zero) has detailed for nearly a decade. Every proposed move has been scrutinized and yet key details are likely to get short shrift.

Yet, I think the most important detail that has yet to be worked out is the one that has tremendous symbolic meaning. After all, we're talking about the National September 11 Memorial Museum, and yet museum officials are contemplating imposing entry fees to defray the costs for operating the museum. That's absolute hogwash, and Congress needs to set aside the necessary funds to make sure that the museum is free to the public.

Future generations need unfettered access to the site to understand what happened, what was lost, and what the ongoing effects are on those who went to Ground Zero to help with the rescue and recovery operations.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 161

Construction remains at a near standstill on the WTC Museum. The anticipated September 2012 deadline will be missed and it's looking like mid 2013 is the earliest that anyone should expect the museum to be opened. That's perhaps being optimistic considering the money involved and that the Port Authority and the Museum Board, which includes Mayor Mike Bloomberg are fighting over the development costs that differ by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Even if both sides are able to work out a deal, there's no word on whether entry fees that could be as high as $25 per person will be imposed to help cover the $50-$60 million annual operating costs. As it stands, Congress appears completely unwilling to foot that bill, even though this was the site of the worst terror attacks in world history and more than 3,000 people were killed in the attacks (and subsequently falling ill and dying of injuries sustained from working on the Pile).

Within the next few days, a federal officials will rule whether certain cancers will covered under the 9/11 Victim Compensation Package for first responders who have suffered a variety of health ailments since working in the rubble of the Twin Towers.

Despite the problems with the museum, and even a small fire at 1WTC (Freedom Tower), President Obama will be visiting 1WTC on June 14 to see the progress at the site first-hand.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 158

It looks like the Port Authority and the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum have come to an agreement on construction costs. Payments will begin going out to subcontractors starting today, but the deal still requires finalization and approval by the Port Authority's Board.

The subcontractors were caught in the middle of a dispute between the Port, which owns the World Trade Center site, and museum officials over who is responsible for $150 million in costs on the project. They have been negotiating with the Port Authority, because it signed their contracts.

Representatives from the Port and the museum didn't return calls for comment.

Sources said the two are close to working out an agreement, and that Port officials may have a deal to report to its board by its meeting next Thursday. However, the two sides have been saying for weeks that a settlement was within reach.

Mr. Berger said subcontractors are owed a total of $50 million. However, the majority of that stems from work that was changed from the original tasks, making billing a longer process.

The downside is that the delays pushed completion of the museum to June or July 2013.

Subcontractors have been screwed through this whole process since they're at the whims of the Port Authority, which is overseeing the construction.

This deal would seem to end what was a dispute that ranged more than $440 million between what the Port Authority claimed it was owed and what the Museum Foundation says it was owed.

Yet, even if the museum construction is completed next year, funding for maintaining its operation has yet to materialize and Congressional Republicans, led by Tom Coburn, has shown an unwillingness to fund the memorial/museum operations. Funding should be made available for the National 9/11 memorial. This is the site of the nation's worst terrorist attacks.

Coburn can qualify his comments any way he wants, but the bottom line is that he's blocking funding for the the memorial and museum funding.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 156

1 WTC (the Freedom Tower) is poised to be the tallest building in New York City within the next two weeks. It's just a matter of time before the steel perimeter reaches its apex and work can proceed on the roof and antenna levels.

"The World Trade Center perimeter steel is up the 100th floor," said Foye, at a press conference following the authority's monthly board meeting today. "I think if not today, tomorrow, next week, shortly we're gonna be the tallest building in Manhattan, eclipsing even the Empire State Building."

The Empire State Building is 1,250 feet tall, according to the Skyscraper Museum.

The tower will eventually reach 1,776 feet, but that includes a roughly 400 foot high antenna mast.

Meanwhile, there's been little progress made on resolving the financing and construction of the museum complex adjacent to the tower. That means that the completion date will continue to slide later and later and will likely mean at least a 2013 open at the earliest. It should have been opened around 3Q 2012.

At the same time, work is proceeding on the podiums for 2 and 3 WTC, though no word has been given as to whether they will be built out to their anticipated heights or just built for the retail space on the lower levels.

4 WTC construction continues, though at a slower pace.

Infrastructure for Greenwich Street, which runs atop the 1/9 subway box continues to be installed, and it will be a matter of time before that critical project is completed.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 154

While the Freedom Tower (1WTC) is closing in on being topped out later this year, the financial picture for the World Trade Center redevelopment is grim. In fact, grim isn't quite the word. It's downright scary and awful. An audit demanded by both New York and New Jersey governors Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie shows just how bleak the situation is.

The Port Authority has so severely mismanaged the project that the audit released this week only scratches the surface on the dysfunction.

First among the problems is the compensation packages provided to Port Authority employees that leads to structural costs that are resistant to change:

• Promotion within the organization is primarily based on seniority, with little evidence of advancement or compensation being tied to performance. As a result, the organization has a concentration of long tenured senior and middle management employees.
• The magnitude of growth in size and cost of the security apparatus warrants an in depth review of its efficiency and relative effectiveness, as is currently being conducted.
• Overtime and other forms of “add‐on” compensation resulted in an additional $20,559 per employee in 2010. Overtime expenses alone topped $85 million in 2010.
• Total “add‐on” compensation, when combined with all other benefits, results in incremental average cost per employee equivalent to approximately 70% of base salary, a relatively high fringe benefit rate.
• 93% of employees make no contribution to their health care; by contrast, 100% of New York State and New Jersey State employees contribute to health care.
• Total cost of compensation and benefits for the average active Port Authority employee is estimated to exceed $143,000 annually.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

While Steve Cuozzo, myself, and others take the Port Authority to task for the out-of-control costs for rebuilding the PATH terminal (costs rising from $2.2 billion to now $3.8 billion and rising), but the rest of the site work is a mess.

The auditor takes the position held by the Port Authority that it is owed monies by the city of New York and WTC 9/11 Museum foundation, but that's not necessarily the case. That would add hundreds of millions of dollars more to the costs that the Port Authority can't cover.

All this throws the agency's capital plan into doubt, and that includes the plans to raise the Bayonne Bridge, replace the obsolete Goethals Bridge, airport improvements, and replacement of the stringers on the George Washington Bridge.

Moreover, the problems with the Port Authority are going to lead to further delays on reconstruction efforts that will in turn lead to higher costs. These are on top of the delays and problems once a master plan was settled for the Ground Zero redevelopment - problems that could have been avoided.

Now, the auditor's solution is value engineering, which means using less expensive materials and architecture to arrive at a solution. That's not going to happen as the planning is too far underway for the Port Authority to cut its losses on the PATH hub, even though that is the area most ripe for cost-cutting.

Far from scaling back the costs, the Port Authority seems prepared to see the project through to completion as is, even as it claims that it will attempt to reduce further cost overruns.

Many of the problems can be traced back to the decisions by the Port Authority to stonewall Larry Silverstein in his reconstruction efforts, and the delays that the Port Authority created when it was preparing the siting for 2, 3, and 4 WTC. Those delays also meant that Silverstein could not obtain the critical funding for building the towers and potential tenants stayed on the sidelines while the Port Authority dithered.

This is yet another reason that the Port Authority should have gotten out of the real estate business in all of its aspects. It simply cannot do what it was entrusted in doing - providing improvements to the bistate infrastructure.

The fact that the PATH hub is out of control shows that the agency can't even manage its core functions properly. After all, the Port Authority has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build three temporary stations. The first temporary station, opened in late 2003, cost $253 million. That station opened out on to Church Street and provided five tracks and three platforms. The station entrance on Church Street was then moved north to accommodate construction elsewhere within Ground Zero, but that temporary structure was also demolished and a new temporary station entrance was built at Vesey Street across from 7WTC. That's where the present location is, but it too stands in the way of rebuilding efforts for both the loading docks for 1WTC and the performing arts center that will be built on the site.

The delays are intolerable as it is, but the shifting construction around the site has revealed that the Port Authority has squandered countless hundreds of millions of dollars in shifting the temporary PATH station around the site all while overbuilding the capacity at the outset.

The temporary station is currently using only three tracks and two platforms, yet it was rebuilt in 2003 with 5 tracks and 3 platforms. Why was that even necessary given the planned reconstruction and the need to demolish what was just built. Those are costs that could have been saved on both ends - in not rebuilding with the extra platform and two tracks, and the subsequent demolition that added to costs and complexity.

None of that was addressed by this particular audit, and will get short shrift at the end of the day.

Mind you, I'm a regular rider of PATH and have seen how the site is being rebuilt on a daily basis. It's amazing to watch the structures going up all around, but knowing how much money was wasted in the process of building and subsequently demolishing what was just built is absolutely infuriating.

It is well past time to hold those involved in the process accountable.

Sen. Tom Coburn Rejects Funding For WTC Museum

Funding for the WTC Museum and Memorial has been a longstanding problem. This is a national memorial and shrine to those who were killed in the attacks, and a museum to educate future generations as to what happened. So it is extremely disappointing to see that Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican is blocking a $20 million funding proposal of the WTC memorial and museum.

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, is blocking $20 million a year in annual taxpayer funding for the National September 11 Memorial.

“The legislation creates a permanent duplicative federal funding stream for a privately operated facility,” Coburn wrote in a letter to Sen. Mitch McConnell. “The museum has received more than $75 million in federal assistance over the past two years and remains eligible to apply for additional funds from a variety of federal programs if necessary. Yet, this legislation authorizes at least $200 million over the next ten years for the effort, but does not include any provision to pay for these potential costs, adding to our more than $15 trillion debt.”

Almost 2 million people from around the world have visited the Memorial since it opened on the 10-year anniversary of the attacks. Coburn makes it clear he has no objection to the memorial and museum, just the annual federal funding.

“The events of September 11 hold a special place in our nation’s history and in each of our hearts,” Coburn wrote. “The national and personal significance of this tragic day has been, and continue to be, appropriately memorialized and remembered.”

“A full accounting of previously awarded federal funding, as well as detailed breakdown of the project with itemized cost estimates, would be useful for learning more about current sources of funding, and potential need for this legislation,” Coburn wrote.

Funding should be made available for the National 9/11 memorial. This is the site of the nation's worst terrorist attacks.

Coburn can qualify his comments any way he wants, but the bottom line is that he's blocking funding for the the memorial and museum funding.

All this isn't to say that the memorial and museum could not be more efficiently managed; it hasn't. Compensation for officials at the Memorial Foundation have soared and cost controls are sorely needed. However, if the choice is between imposing fees to access the memorial and the museum or finding federal funding to cover operating costs, this should be funded.

This is something I've written about in the past - if fees need to be imposed to cover costs at the museum and memorial, it should be imposed on parking fees for tour buses and cars (an additional fee could be imposed on parking garages in Lower Manhattan and on tour buses that deliver tourists to the area).