April 24, 2006
Everybody Hates Larry
Punching bag, Larry Silverstein be thy name. Anti-Silverstein sentiment has been bubbling for a while, but with the Port Authority's latest proposal to the World Trade Center leaseholder, people are getting antsy for something definitive to happen. For instance, Mayor Bloomberg, who says that negotiations are way past over and he rather have a hole at Ground Zero and fight it out in court than what's currently happening. But some people blame both Governor Pataki and Bloomberg (like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver!) for the holdup, though, from our recollections, it was always Pataki who was supposed to have "more" control. The blame game is a great way to pass the time, but, really, everyone just wants something built. It'll be five years since September 11 in four and a half months and all it feels like we've got are revised revisions of buildings that may never get built.
The Daily News asked Silverstein to "get lost" in an editorial (the NY Times' editorial urging Silverstein to just take a deal and move on is more reserved), but does has a feature about him that tries to humanize him - it recounts how he was nursing a broken pelvis (drunk driver hit him on East 57th Street) when he was working on his $3.2 billion bid for the WTC. And Senator Charles Schumer wants the search for human remains at Ground Zero to be handled by an "elite military unit", which would probably hold up the demolition of Deutsche Bank.
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Why can't we just build this and get on with it already?
"But some people blame both Governor Pataki and Bloomberg (like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver!) for the holdup, though, from our recollections, it was always Pataki who was supposed to have "more" control."
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Bloomberg has NO control. Only influence and Liberty Bonds. (Both potent forces.)
BTW, I agree that they should rebuild the twin towers.
Not to mention the collapse of WTC7...(as well as the totally improbable collapse of WTC1 and WTC2...
Cancel the leasehold using the power of eminent domain. Rebuild the towers, except taller.
Best line I've heard so far is, we currently have a skyline by al-Qaida.
MNYNYA: This design is restorative, meaningful, respectful, it honors the dead while showing the strength of the city.
Which, of course, is why it will never get built, right Governor Shitforbrains?
Maybe Spitzer will do better.
Aw, poor baby. Give me all his money and I'd be happy to suffer a little bit of criticism. People like him "suffer" all the way to the bank.
Its too bad that the same 9/11 insanity that helped re-elect George W. Bush (on fear) also reduced the rebuilding to two pits in the ground and ONE new tower only as tall as the originals.
Osama took much more than the towers, New York lost its edge.
This state of paralysis has been, is and probably will continue to be a national disgrace. Just think about what the Port Authority could do in the 60s and the kind of ineptitude displayed by that Agency and the State now. Back then the PA added a second level to the GWB and an extra tube to the Lincoln Tunnel. it greatly expanded Idlewild (JFK) Airport and started builduing the WTC towers themselves!
Nowdays, the best it can do is to paint the GWB in five years (it took four to build it from scratch). They also wasted over a $1 million by adding armor to the hanging cables. Just think. It would take hours to burn or saw through just one cable (not the supension ones, that would be weeks) surrounded by cameras all over the place and in the end you wouldn't achieve anything since it would take cutting through dozens before any danger were felt. The bridge was so over-engineered by Ottmar Ahman that it can take a third level, which, ironically, is the reason why it can take all of the weight of that extra and unnecessary armor.
The present day PA is run by idiots (greedy ones as the $6 bucks toll attests)!
Schumer does plenty of fear mongering. He and plenty of other Democrats are constantly claiming that we're totally unprepared (probably true) and that only Democrats can fix things. Of course, in typical Democratic fashion they never spell out the details and are then completely baffled when they lose elections.
And Democrats have been playing the fear game on Social Security for about 70 years and have added Medicare. While Bush may be a disaster on both counts the Democrats position that there is nothing wrong with either prgram is hardly true. Their unwillingness to confront Medicare's realities is hardly bringing in new votes.
And if you think Spitzer is going to do anything you're living on Mars. Spitzer does whatever will get him headlines with the least amount of work. Why prosecute white collar crime when you can extract a fine that is a fraction of the bonuses Wall Street paid out last year. They were probably lighting cigars with $1000 bills after Spitzer let them off the hook.
The present day PA is run by idiots (greedy ones as the $6 bucks toll attests)!
[8] Posted by: jmchez |
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Here's a question I've never seen adequately answered:
Why, if the Port Authority has an equal number of members from each state (NY and NJ), does it always (purportedly) tilt toward the interests of New Jersey?
That man needs some serious Botox injections.
Seriously
Best option: rebuild the WTC bigger, better and safer.
Other option: build nothing, the big hole in the ground is a chilling memorial.
The complex reactions to Silverstein reflect, I think, the complex nature of the man's work. I went on a tour, sponsored by Open House New York (www.ohny.org) of the new 7 WTC. It's the first speculative tower to earn a "green" rating (rain water will be re-used for cooling, the windows are clear glass, steel use is minimized, etc.). One of the city's top architects, Skidmore Owings and Merill, designed the tower. There's a terrific Jennie Holzer installation in the lobby. A new park has been created in front of the building. A third of the space has been leased (a Chinese entrepreneur has taken the top five floors) and a major corporation is in negotiations for naming rights.
At the same time, Silverstein focuses on the main chance, paying millions of insurance dollars in rent to preserve his development rights at the WTC site. He has been utterly recalcitrant in his dealings with the state and the city. For once, Pataki and Bloomberg have agreed on a practical approach: offer Silverstein a range of options and insist that he take one. Let's hope it works.