Last night, 60 Minutes aired its segment about the lack of progress at the World Trade Center site, noting, "This was the year that Ground Zero was supposed to be transformed into a soaring statement of American spirit... So we wondered: why is Ground Zero still a hole in the ground?"
It's a good, if depressing, summary of the problems so far: How plans have changed under three different governors and now four executive directors of the Port Authority. Developer Larry Silverstein says, "I describe this as a national disgrace. I am the most frustrated person in the world," while current Port Authority executive director Chris Ward explains how one delay can delay everything, "This is like a game of pick-up sticks down here. Every single part of this project touches another piece."
We also appreciate how New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger chimes in about the revised Freedom Tower design's concrete bunker, "It was called by the governor the 'Freedom Tower.' But I said at one point around then, I wondered if it shouldn't be called the 'Fear Tower' instead." Anyway, when asked whether the proposed buildings would be built, Ward would only say, "What I can tell you is that downtown will come back."
Last week, Mayor Bloomberg criticized the Port Authority for not taking Silverstein's financial proposals seriously, "The Port Authority has their constituency, their fiscal responsibility, but it's time to stop this craziness of everything and we've just got to move forward here... I'm not going to leave this world with that hole in the ground 10 years from now. Silverstein—we asked him to come up with something, he's done and the Port Authority, it's their turn to do this. And I will push as hard as I can—they either should do this or just get out of the way."
