Freedom Tower Caught up in Blame Game

New York, NY —

After 9/11, officials said rebuilding the World Trade Center would be a top priority. But three and a half years later, no structures are being built and officials are blaming each other. WNYC’s Andrea Bernstein reports.

REPORTER: Ten months ago, Mayor Bloomberg, Larry Silverstein, choirs, bagpipers and Governor Pataki joined together for a ceremony at Ground Zero.

PATAKI: Today we lay the cornerstone for a new symbol of this city and of this country and of our resolve to triumph in the face of terror today we build the Freedom Tower.

REPORTER: But the cornerstone laid that day was for a building that will never be built – not in the form the public envisions, at least. And the bonhomie from July 4, 2004 quickly dissipated in a torrent of acrimony and blame that has now become public. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver represents Lower Manhattan.

SILVER: All we’ve gotten was announcements. All we got was patriotic speeches, we never got action.

REPORTER: The setbacks have been mounting. Number 7 World Trade Center is almost complete, but it has no tenants. Goldman Sachs announced it was putting its plans to build in Lower Manhattan on hold. It won a key victory when the state scrapped plans to build a tunnel under West Street. But that makes the Freedom Tower as currently planned vulnerable to terrorist attack, the NYPD says. Necessary design changes could delay construction, supposed to start last month, for at least a year. Silver became apoplectic.

SILVER: They coordinated on the west side of Manhattan, they sing the song of the NY Jets every day but they can’t get together and rebuild downtown Manhattan bigger and better than ever.

REPORTER: Silver said Mayor Bloomberg has been too focused on the West Side. Daniel Doctoroff, the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding, has been in hot pursuit of the 2012 Olympics. As for Pataki, even some allies privately scratch their heads over his lack of focus on Lower Manhattan while he travels the country building his profile in the national Republican party. But Pataki says there’s no reason to worry.

PATAKI: As you go from concept to construction there are engineering questions there are fiscal questions there are other technological questions as you go forward.

REPORTER: But in private conversations, many players say the project ISN’T moving forward. They’re sounding more pessimistic than ever about building an iconic tower at Ground Zero. Supporters of Master Planner Daniel Libeskind say the problem is developer Silverstein’s large building. A narrower one, they say, could easily be moved. But Silverstein’s allies say Libeskind sited the building too close to the West Side highway. Now, they say, the delay should entitle them to government subsidies. The Governor himself pushed back, noting the state could use eminent domain to seize the property from Silverstein, though he said that was premature. Meanwhile, his appointees are blaming the NYPD for raising their concerns now. And NYPD partisans are particularly bitter about what they see as the brush off from the Port Authority, which owns the trade center land. Paul Goldberger, author of Up From Zero, says the fissures on display show that when it comes to developing Manhattan, 9/11 didn’t really change everything.

GOLDBERGER: Things in the rebuilding process began very differently with a lot of high ideals and high hopes that we would be operating at a whole different set of values and parameters and then it got more and more ordinary.

REPORTER: For now, officials are moving forward with plans for the memorial and the Path station. As for the Freedom Tower, no one expects steel to arrive for at least a year, for a building that has be re-designed. The cornerstone, however, remains on display at Ground Zero.

For WNYC, I’m Andrea Bernstein.