Sept. 11 Ground Zero Memorial?

[Savage Beatings]

Listening to some of the memorial services going on today, just made me realize that nothing has yet been built on the Ground Zero site in New York. It's been 7 years. What is going on to prevent something being built there? I'm sure it's all very slimey and political, but I haven't been following it at all. Does anyone know what the deal is?

 

Minnesota is just about to open the new 35W bridge after it collapsed last year. I know it doesn't compare to the size and scope fo the Twin Towers, but it is an example of how something can be planned and executed... done well and in a timely fashion if we simply put our minds to it.

[DMD]

I was just in NY in June and we went down to ground zero. There is a big mural around the corner for the firemen that died there but nothing else. Not even really an official place to put flowers or read anything that would even suggest that 3000 people died there seven years ago. There was a lot of work going on down in the "pit" but it is all fenced off so you cannot even see inside it unless you get in a building or stand up on the steps across the street to the north of the site.

 

We were disappointed and surprised to see nothing official there other than the firemen's thing around the corner. No idea who has dropped the ball but I would be mad and embarassed if I worked for the city of NY.

[budlitebrad]

Construction of the "Freedom Tower" has been going on for a couple years I think. I know they'll also be a whole memorial thing with a couple waterfalls in addition to a few other new buildings.

 

ETA: The new tower won't be done until 2012.

Edited September 12, 2008 by budlitebrad

[gsmayes]

I don't really have a problem with it. Designing and building 100-story sky scrapers takes time, and there's going to be a memorial included with the new buildings. Besides, it took 60-years to build a WWII memorial, 42-years for the Korean War memorial, 10-years for the Vietnam War memorial, so it seems to me like we're ahead of schedule.

Edited September 12, 2008 by gsmayes

[Savage Beatings]

Construction of the "Freedom Tower" has been going on for a couple years I think.

 

Not according to DMD's post right above yours.

[gsmayes]

Construction on below-ground utility relocations, footings, and foundations for the 1,776-foot (541 m) Freedom Tower began on April 27, 2006

 

You can't just toss a couple bags of quikcrete in the hole, you know.

[budlitebrad]

I was down there a couple months ago and there's definitely been some progress from last year. I know there were obvious concerns about reinforcing the foundation/base of the tower, so I guess you can't really complain if they want to make sure that it will be solid.

[DMD]

The thing is that there doesn't have to be some amazing structure as a memorial. It would have been nice for the last seven years to have had at least a 20' x 20' corner with a simple brass placque or something, anything that officially notes where you are standing and what happened there. It is hard to imagine that they couldn't so something over the last seven years of even a small, temporary nature. The war memorials are a different thing than marking the actual site of something that happened over the course of an hour or two.

[budlitebrad]

The thing is that there doesn't have to be some amazing structure as a memorial. It would have been nice for the last seven years to have had at least a 20' x 20' corner with a simple brass placque or something, anything that officially notes where you are standing and what happened there. It is hard to imagine that they couldn't so something over the last seven years of even a small, temporary nature.

 

It is pretty surprising.

 

On a similar note, Mayor Bloomberg put a op-ed piece in the WSJ a couple days ago about his growing frustration with the lack of progress at Ground Zero:

 

There Should Be

No More Excuses

At Ground Zero

By MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG

September 10, 2008; Page A13

 

The eyes of the world will again turn to Lower Manhattan this week as we mark the seventh anniversary of September 11, and as we remember all those we lost on that tragic day. Aerial views of the World Trade Center site will show steel beams that are finally swinging into place as part of the construction of the Freedom Tower and 9/11 museum and memorial.

 

Progress on the redevelopment of the World Trade Center has been frustratingly slow, owing in large part to a multilayered governance structure that has undermined accountability from the get-go. The city does not own or control the site, but we do control the streets around it. For those who widen their gaze, the rebirth of Lower Manhattan is impossible to miss.

 

For decades before 9/11, Lower Manhattan was a financial capital but not much of a neighborhood, with most shops closing their doors after 5 p.m. and on weekends. In 2002, we laid out a vision of a new Lower Manhattan that is both a global financial capital and a 24/7 residential community.

 

Our strategy for bringing more residents downtown has had two key parts: first, offering incentive programs to attract and retain businesses of every size, including local retailers; and second, investing more than $6 billion in new parks, schools, sidewalks, cobblestone streets, open space and cultural destinations. Today, Lower Manhattan is the fastest-growing residential neighborhood in the country, bustling morning, noon and night. But the rebirth of Lower Manhattan will not be complete as long as Ground Zero remains an open wound.

 

The city has used its limited leverage to facilitate consensus among the various public and private parties, and to keep redevelopment of the site moving forward in four key ways.

 

First, in 2006, the city undertook an independent study of the project's finances and determined that there were serious financial impediments that would prevent Silverstein Properties from fulfilling its construction commitments. In response, we forced all parties to the negotiating table, to help rework site responsibilities and inject accountability through clear timelines and benchmarks.

 

Second, when projected memorial costs ballooned, we stepped in and brought the budget back under control. When fund raising lagged, I volunteered to become chairman of the memorial foundation. We have already met our initial fundraising target of $350 million in private donations.

 

Third, the City and Port Authority reached agreement on a joint plan to police and secure the World Trade Center site. The agreement will pre-empt any potential turf wars and allow for a seamless integration of police operations at the site and in the surrounding area. It will also strengthen our Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, which is using state-of-the-art technology and the best intelligence techniques to prevent future attacks.

 

Fourth, the Port Authority recently accepted the city's long-standing call for a formal role in the effort to get the project on track, giving us a stronger hand in holding all parties responsible for making progress.

 

We will now push the Port Authority to make two concrete commitments. Most important, the memorial must be completed by the 10th anniversary. No more excuses, no more delays. New York Gov. David Paterson and I are in complete agreement on this subject, and it's time for the PA to formally commit to the same goal.

 

In addition, the PATH station's design, including the underground hall, is too complicated to build and threatens to delay the memorial and the entire project. It must be scaled back.

 

We will ask Gov. Paterson to dismantle the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and hand over its development responsibilities to the city. Although the LMDC, a conduit for federal funds, must remain a legal entity, turning over its other functions to the city would eliminate one redundant layer of bureaucracy.

 

The LMDC would also turn over its responsibility for demolishing the Deutsche Bank building to the already existing Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, a city/state entity. This would help the LMCCC prevent the delays that inevitably result from too much bureaucracy, greatly enhancing the prospects for meeting a July 2009 deadline for full demolition of the building. To increase accountability, we will push the LMCCC to establish benchmarks for progress and issue monthly reports. The public has a right to know whether we are meeting our goals.

 

These proposals are simple but essential steps for accelerating progress at the site and realizing our vision, without further delay, of Lower Manhattan as a global financial center, a dynamic family neighborhood, and a peaceful and inspiring place of reflection and remembrance.

[SheikYerbuti]

We drove by the WTC at 3:30 this morning. They had the 2 beams of light on ( Pic ). It was overcast, so the beams went up about 500 yards and then disappeared into the cloud cover. It was a breathtaking sight.

[Savage Beatings]

We drove by the WTC at 3:30 this morning. They had the 2 beams of light on ( Pic ). It was overcast, so the beams went up about 500 yards and then disappeared into the cloud cover. It was a breathtaking sight.

 

Awesome!