Archived News -- September 2003

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September 30, 2003

On September 30, NY Newsday reported that Governor Pataki said the state will maintain its time schedule for re-developing the WTC site, following a Federal judge's decision in favor of one insurer that the 9/11 attacks were a single event, entitling Silverstein to $3.5 billion.

NY Newsday: "Guv: Ruling Won't Slow WTC, 'Aggressive Timetable' Will Push on Despite Insurance Case," by Bloomberg News



September 29, 2003

On September 29, NY Newsday reported that the costs associated with redeveloping the WTC site to Libesind's plan are skyrocketing and could reach $1 billion or higher. Among the costs: $140 million to buy out Westfield's leasehold; $230 million to demolish the Deutsche Bank building (not counting the land acquisiton); an unknown sum to acquire the Milstein property adjacent to Deutsche Bank, and possibly $563 million to buy Silverstein's leasehold....all because since 9/11 the WTC site cannot hold 10 million square feet of space....

NY Newsday: "The Money Pit, Cost of Rebuilding the World Trade Center Skyrocketing," by Graham Rayman and Katia Hetter



September 27, 2003

On September 27, NY Newsday reported that a federal court rejected Twin Towers Leasehold Owner Larry Silverstein's argument to have a judge decide his insurance case. Silverstein argues that the 9/11 attacks were two incidents entitling him to a double insurance settlement: $7 billion, as opposed to $3.5 billion. A jury will decide the case.

NY Newsday: "WTC Insurance Issue Left to Jury," by Katia Hetter



September 26, 2003

On September 26, the NY Post ran a column by Nicole Gelinas calling for the Twin Towers to be rebuilt. The LMDC, victims' families, and architecture elites who rejoiced in the destruction of the Twin Towers they so hated were all lambasted in her column. "None of these groups care about sacred footprints. They see the destruction zone as a new playground for their pet projects. But they've joined forces with vocal 9/11 families to drown out calls for restoring New York's signature skyline. No sane architect would work within the constraints demanded by the special interests and the families - and approved by the LMDC. When you confine yourself to working with the insane, you get Dan Libeskind....But the elites love Libeskind and his plan. He speaks their language - and represents a chance to undo a 30-year-old 'mistake.' "

"One problem: A whole generation of New Yorkers grew up in the shadow of the towers and was heartbroken at their collapse. They want the WTC back. A July 2002 Post poll revealed that half of New Yorkers want the WTC rebuilt. People wrote to the LMDC to vote for the old WTC or the two plans that came closest to it. Civic Alliance dialogues revealed that 60 percent of New Yorkers want to see tall buildings on the site (hard to believe that Libeskind's jagged pointer is what they had in mind)."

"LMDC chief Rampe might want to re-read his mail: Not all who lost loved ones on 9/11 want to condemn Downtown to Libeskind's outlandish design. One man's letter to the agency ended with this: 'Just as I want my wife back, people want their towers back. The main difference is the latter is possible, the former, not. Walk around Times Square or the Village and look at how many photos and postcards of the Twin Towers there are for sale. . . . That's what they want.' "

NY Post Opinion Columnists: "WTC Relics," by Nicole Gelinas



September 25, 2003

On September 25, the NY Post reported that General Motors Commercial Mortage Corp. (GMAC) has notified Twin Towers leasehold owner Larry Silverstein that at the end of the month it will stop the flow of insurance money that allows him to pay his leasehold. GMAC had filed a lawsuit two weeks earlier claiming that its $563 million Twin Towers loan was endangered by WTC rebuilding spending plans.

NY Post: "Silverstein in WTC Rent Flap," by William Neuman



September 24, 2003

On September 24, the NY Post printed several Letters to the Editor stating that the Libeskind Plan coupled with victims families' footprint demands result in a site that supports one vision: that of Osama bin Laden.

NY Post Opinion Letters: "Who's Dancing Around WTC Rebuilding Duties?"



September 19, 2003

On September 19, the NY Post printed a Letter to the Editor from Andy Oliff, a well-known pro-rebuilder. Of Libeskind's plan he said, "It is a plan that would truly make the zeroness of Ground Zero permanent....This rebuilding process was as 'open and democratic' as the election process in Iraq, where 100 percent of the Iraqi people were reported to have voted for Saddam Hussein."

NY Post Opinion Letters: "Trump Sees Lack of Vision Downtown"



September 18, 2003

On September 18, the NY Times reported that the World Trade Center will keep its name. Joseph Seymour, Executive Director, Port Authority said, "By naming it the World Trade Center station, it's really a statement of respect for those that died there and what happened there...At the same time, I think it's a statement of hope, that the World Trade Center will come back to be a powerful and meaningful development." Larry Silverstein also intends to keep the name on all of the office buildings at the site.

NY Times: "World Trade Center Endures. Read the Signs," by David W. Dunlap

On September 18, the NY Times ran an appraisal of Libeskind's revised plan by Herbert Mushcamp. His last paragraph summed it up: "What we saw yesterday was not so much an architectural or urban plan as a tribute to the public agencies that managed to see eye to eye as the design process unfolded. Blind-spot-to-blind-spot might be more apt."

NY Times: "A Design Rethought, With Judgment Deferred" by Herbert Mushcamp



September 17, 2003

On September 17, the NY Post lambasted the "bedrock to infinity" demand of some victims families. "they were not the only victims of 9/11. All New Yorkers - all Americans - were directly affected, because they were all under attack.

"As we have noted, the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan cannot be driven entirely by the memorial. And Ground Zero cannot be turned into a graveyard. Which means that while the families are entitled to some say in shaping an appropriate - repeat, appropriate - permanent memorial, they are not entitled to the final say," the NY Post Editorial Board said.

The Editorial Board continued, "It may sound coarse and heartless to say so, but rebuilding cannot be limited strictly to those places where no remains were found. No other devastated city in history - not London after the Blitz, not Hiroshima - has ever been guided by such restrictions. Using part of the area above bedrock, if necessary, for infrastructure needs doesn't, in any way, diminish its status as "sacred ground" or disrespect those who lost their lives."

NY Post Opinion Editorials: "Footprint Fandango"

On September 17, NY Post Columnist Steve Cuozzo wrote an article re-exposing the NY Times' bias regarding rebuilding office space downtown. The paper has an vested interest in a tower in midtow it will jointly own with Forest City Ratner. Ratner is also developing office towers in Downtown Brooklyn. Similarly, the NY Daily News' chairman is Mortimer Zuckerman who is also the chairman of Boston Properties. Boston has an empty new tower in Times Square it wants to fill with tenants paying high rents. Rebuilding 10 million square feet of office space downtown would be contrary to those interests. Thus, the NY Times and Daily News are against any substatial rebuilding.

NY Post Opinion Columnists: "Bias and Rebuilding," by Steve Cuozzo

On September 17, NY Newsday reported that Libeskind released a revision to his plan. The revised plan calls for slimmer office buidings; shifting one of the office buildings and the truck inspection zone to the Deutsche Bank site; elimination of one building; and re-locating the bus garage off the WTC site. The office portion of "Freedom Tower," as well as the four other office buildings are taller. The rooftops are less sharply angled.

NY Newsday: "Revised WTC Plans Unveiled," by Katia Hetter

LMDC Revised Master Site Plan for the World Trade Center Site



September 15, 2003

On September 15, 1010 WINS reported that Westfield America, will sell its leasehold on the retail space at the WTC site back to the Port Authority. Westfield had been dissatisfied with the Libeskind plan's treatment of the retail space and filed a lawsuit over it. The sale of the leasehold will end the lawsuit. A letter of intent has already been signed on the $140 million sale.

1010 WINS: "WTC Mall Operator to Pull out of Lease"

On September 15, Bloomberg News reported that GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. asked a judge to freeze insurance payments to Twin Towers leasehold owner Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority saying they did not protect bondholders when committing to a rebuilding plan. "Silverstein and the port authority are obligated to get GMAC's approval of rebuilding plans, and to put aside enough money to ensure that the loan is repaid, according to the loan agreement. All plans in excess of $5 million must be approved by GMAC, with the lender selecting the engineer," the report said. Bloomberg News does not post its content on the web.

Bloomberg News: "GMAC Seeks to Block Silverstein's Trade Center Insurance Money"



September 13, 2003

On September 13, 2003, NY Times reporter Edward Wyatt detailed how Libeskind's plan was selected, not by democratic process, but by official decree. Significantly, Joseph Seymour, Executive Director of the Port Authority said Libeskind's land use plan is almost exactly what the six rejected plans from Beyer Blinder Belle proposed. A shorter version of the article appeared on September 10 in the International Herald Tribune.

NY Times: "Ground Zero Plan Seems to Circle Back," by Edward Wyatt

International Herald Tribune: "Trade center design: more official decree than democracy," by Edward Wyatt

On September 13, 2003, the NY Post reported that real estate developer Donald Trump called the Libeskind Plan "A monstrosity of garbled nonsense." Trump said he would never allow the Libeskind plan to be built if he was involved with the WTC rebuilding process. "...you have to do better than what was there before, not worse. And what they've done is substantially worse than what was there before. Nobody loved the World Trade Center until its death . . . Now that it's gone, everybody loves it. I was never a huge fan of the World Trade Center. Nobody loved the architecture . . . Then [the towers] came down. Now, I see pictures and I say, 'They were great,' [but] how could they replace it with this monstrosity of garbled nonsense?"

NY Post: "Donald Trump in WTC Slam," by Don Kaplan



September 11, 2003

On September 11, 2003, NY Post columnist, Nicole Gelinas wrote an article lambasting the Libeskind plan's focus on death and destruction. "Lower Manhattan does not yet need an American Express Museum of Freedom or a 41/2-acre monument to "tragic vastness." We will probably never need an "interpretive art space" whose proprietors will more likely than not try to force us to learn something bad about ourselves that must have precipitated the attack."

"New Yorkers' only sin was to live and work and build in a world in which young men don't turn passenger airplanes into guided missiles; we cannot accept 9/11 as a referendum on the city's working skyline.

"Do we want to barter away the promise of economic recovery for an impractical, uninviting office complex built over a barren pit that fetishizes trauma? ONLY after we rebuild - after we repair the smashed skyline and heal the open wound of the old WTC foundation - can we appropriately memorialize."

NY Post Opinion Columnists: "Winning Back Downtown," by Nicole Gelinas

On September 11, Bloomberg News reported that David Childs, the architect that Twin Towers leasehold owner Larry Silverstein contracted to design the WTC office buildings said "Freedom Tower" as designed by Libeskind was structually unsound and required extensive design modifications. The article said, "'When you're 1,500 feet in the air, the world of nature rules -- wind and gravity,' Childs said in the interview. He said the plan's 'whipsawed tower' attached by walkways to a 'large blocky building' might tear each other apart. They would only be made secure through extraordinarily expensive measures, he said."

Bloomberg News: "Libeskind, Childs Mesh Competing Visions at Trade Center Site"



September 4, 2003

On September 4, 2003, 1010 WINS reported that the GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation has filed a lawsuit against World Trade Center lease-holder Larry Silverstein, stating that he is committing insurance monies to the redevelopment of the complex without making provisions to repay bondholders, which is contractually required.

1010 WINS: "Silverstein Lender Sues Over WTC Plans"



September 2, 2003

On September 2, 2003, the New York Post reported that WTC site redevelopers and the Port Authority debate over retail space at the site continues. While the city insists that shops be located at street level of above, the Port Authority still seeks to recreate at least a portion of the underground mall that was in the original World Trade Center. According to the Post, "Planners have already eliminated much of the spider-like sprawl in the site plan by architect Daniel Libeskind..."

ARCHIVED: NY Post: "WTC Mall Fight," by William Neuman



September 1, 2003

On September 1, 2003, Newsday reported that 43 former employees of Windows on the World, the restaurant formerly located at the top of the World Trade Center's Tower 1, are planning to open their own new restaurant in lower Manhattan. "We're trying to get back on our feet" says banquet waiter, Ataur Rahman. Tentatively called "Windows on TriBeCa," the group hopes to open the restaurant as early as next spring.

ARCHIVED: NY Newsday: "Windows on the World Workers Looking Through New Windows," by Verena Dobnik (AP)