After nine years, still nothing at Ground Zero
It’s safe to say that, had Ground Zero been handled better, or handled at all, the Burlington Coat Factory site wouldn’t have been sitting there fallow to be snapped up for a song and given to Imam Feisal Rauf. The buildings around the site would have been renovated in ways that would have been respectful of it and with some positive relation to it.
It’s an unimaginable failure with many fathers: the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the politicians who control it; the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., and others. But at the top of the list of shame sits former Gov. George Pataki, who had primary statutory authority for the site and whose idea the design competition was.
Pataki’s forgettable 12-year governorship deserves to be remembered only for what he was unable, unwilling or just incapable of doing when history called on him to do something great. Instead, he dithered and fought and pouted when Rudy Giuliani got too much credit, and fantasized about running for president and finally faded away.
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I was thinking of this last night – it is the real travesty as regards the site and the country, even the world.
Schadenfreude on August 19, 2010 at 1:29 PM
Shameful.
Disturb the Universe on August 19, 2010 at 1:32 PM
They probably haven’t constructed anything there (this hasn’t been reported much, as it would tick off Americans about the mosque even more) becasue they have been still finding identifiable remains of people lost in the attack as recently as June of this year. ABC news.
Tacitus on August 19, 2010 at 1:33 PM
The left has been waiting and hoping for the anguish to seep away so they could turn the place into some liberal abomination that completely ignores the tragedy which occurred.
Bishop on August 19, 2010 at 1:34 PM
Bring back Radio Row!
http://www.qcwa.org/radio-row.htm
Del Dolemonte on August 19, 2010 at 1:34 PM
Bitch, bitch, bitch. You’re getting a mosque, stop your whining.
greggriffith on August 19, 2010 at 1:35 PM
They haven’t constructed a memorial because every time some one wanted to, it turned in to a “how much can I get out of it” pork fest. Every one in New York had their hand out, so nothing got done.
This isn’t rocket science. A simple park, with two small towers engraved with the names of the victims. Half a million in donated funds, and it could be done by spring. But nooooo. That wouldn’t grease enough palms.
No, I’m not bitter. Really.
Sgtmack on August 19, 2010 at 1:38 PM
What happened to that Freedom Tower, which was supposed to be one of the tallest buldings in the world, if not the tallest? that sounded like a great idea, sans the idiotic tolerance museum which sought to put terrorism in “perspective”.
Daemonocracy on August 19, 2010 at 1:40 PM
You’ve got it 100% right. The left or right can spin this anyway they want, but your explanation is the correct one.
asc85 on August 19, 2010 at 1:42 PM
When the smoke and ash finally cleared out of downtown, and the process of rebuilding began in it’s planning stages, this entire thing has been handled as a quintessential clusterfark by everyone involved.
As the ol’ saying goes…”Too many chiefs, and not enough Indians”.
JetBoy on August 19, 2010 at 1:45 PM
One of the articles I read about the rebuilding of St. Nicholas said that one of the sticking points was that the spires of the planned new church would be taller than the 9/11 Memorial. What 9/11 Memorial?
Cindy Munford on August 19, 2010 at 1:48 PM
Eh, it’s New York, what do you expect?
MadDogF on August 19, 2010 at 1:48 PM
The whole World Trade Center site should have been made a park. Forget the whole “if you don’t rebuild, the terrorists win” nonsense (which we heard a lot back then). It’s hallowed ground.
YYZ on August 19, 2010 at 1:52 PM
They want the mosque there thinking the Muslims won’t knock down a new world trade center that will be built near it. It might land on the mosque.
Buddahpundit on August 19, 2010 at 1:56 PM
Build them back. Taller.
thebrokenrattle on August 19, 2010 at 1:57 PM
I peopose the tallest tower in the world, with the biggest Stars and Stripes in the world flying at its summit. That and a huge sculpture of a hand flipping the bird at the exact compass direction of, ahem, bin ladens birth place.
sheikh of thornton on August 19, 2010 at 1:58 PM
They wouldn’t have won, but rebuilding certainly would have been our skyline’s middle finger to the terrorists.
That said, I would have settled for a park if I’d known the place would still be empty nearly 9 years later.
Esthier on August 19, 2010 at 2:02 PM
Meanwhile, the US State Department is greasing the palm of Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Imam behind the mosque, with taxpayer dollars to financially underwrite his fund raising trip to the Middle East this week so the Cordoba consortium can buy the rest of the land they need to construct their memorial at Ground Zero. And the Administration wonders why they are hemorrhaging in the polls?
leilani on August 19, 2010 at 2:11 PM
Yes, we need to do that.
Oil Can on August 19, 2010 at 2:11 PM
The continued success and prosperity of America (generally speaking) is middle finger enough.
YYZ on August 19, 2010 at 2:11 PM
I’d settle for ANYTHING at this point. Give it to Gutfeld for his gay bar. Build a church and a synagogue. Make it into a park. Build a HUGE skyscraper. Put in a big mall.
I don’t care anymore. Just put SOMETHING, ANYTHING up. Don’t leave a big, gaping hole in the Middle of NYC….
mjk on August 19, 2010 at 2:11 PM
How about a park with 3000 white crosses
faraway on August 19, 2010 at 2:14 PM
Sorry, the federal appeals court just ruled that crosses promote Christianity and are therefore unconstitutional. Awesome isn’t it? Link.
Tacitus on August 19, 2010 at 2:18 PM
/
faraway on August 19, 2010 at 2:18 PM
Yet the US taxpayer has been footing the bill for the construction of mosques overseas without so much as a peep from either American Atheists (who filed that suit) or the ACLU. Go figure./
leilani on August 19, 2010 at 2:28 PM
Well also, I don’t know whether the families of the Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, atheist and other victims would appreciate that gesture.
YYZ on August 19, 2010 at 2:50 PM
Groundbreaking for construction of the original World Trade Center was on August 5th, 1966. Steel construction began in August 1968.
First tenant occupancy of One WTC was December, 1970, and occupancy of Two WTC began in January 1972.
Ribbon cutting was on April 4, 1973.
The time between groundbreaking and first occupancy of One WTC was about 4 years and 4 months.
The time between groundbreaking and first occupancy of Two WTC was about 5 years and 5 months.
Time between groundbreaking and ribbon cutting was 6 years and 8 months.
6 years and 8 months from September 11th was May 11, 2008.
From the time when the debris was cleared on Ground Zero (May 2002), 6 years and 8 months was about January of 2009.
Cost of the original was $900 million in 1970, or about $5 billion in 2009 dollars. About a third of what they plan to spend on the current hole in the ground.
tbrosz on August 19, 2010 at 2:54 PM
I’m cross-posting the above to the New York Post article.
tbrosz on August 19, 2010 at 2:57 PM
If you think that’s something Google the amount of time it took to build the Empire State Building.
YYZ on August 19, 2010 at 2:57 PM
What ever happened to the American tradition of selling the land to the highest bidder? The result would be a high value commerce center and lots of jobs. If it is anything else, it is simply as waste of space.
pedestrian on August 19, 2010 at 3:07 PM
15 MONTHS.
Guardian on August 19, 2010 at 3:17 PM
Aside from the ditherings/turf wars of the politicians, the other problem was the insurance battle between Larry Silverstein, who had entered into a purchase agreement on the WTC complex with the Port Authority, and the insurers over whether or not the attacks were one single attack or – since one jet hit each of the towers — two separate incidents.
The difference in interpretation was roughly the difference between $3.5 and $7 billion — which in turn led to the other problem, which was coming up with a 1-for-1 replacement of available office space while cutting the space on the WTC pad from 16 to just over eight acres with whatever money the insurers had to pay out, because if they were going to have to fork over $7 billion to replace all that office space, they were going to make sure Larry and the Port Authority didn’t just replace 30 or 50 percent of it and pocket the rest (this is where the problems the Greek Orthodox Church is having begin, since the state wants its land and that of the neighboring former Deutsche Bank Building to make up for the area where the Tower 1-2 pad memorials will be).
So as much as Pataki showed no leadership on this — a more aggressive governor could have forced a far earlier settlement and decision on the land — the fights between the real estate people, the insurance companies and the Port Authority also share in blame for the decade of inaction.
jon1979 on August 19, 2010 at 4:09 PM