The Daily News calls a retaining wall at the World Trade Center site the "wall of shame" (as well as the "Berlin Wall of Ground Zero") because it's the source of tension between the Port Authority which is overseeing construction and developer Larry Silverstein. Although the site has been turned over Silverstein to start his construction--and the Port Authority paid over $43 million in $300,000/day late fees because they were late with finishing their work--......

Responding to pressure from Governor Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg, the Port Authority is promising to finish the 9/11 memorial in time for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack that felled the twin towers. In June, Paterson said the redevelopment of the 16-acre site was over budget and behind schedule, and he ordered the Port Authority to hammer out a plan to get at least part of the job done by 2011. Port Authority officials......

Governor Paterson spoke with NY Times reporters today about his frustrations with the rebuilding at Ground Zero and how greatly behind schedule and over budget it is. He said that the process was "more of a mess than you know" with more details expected in a forthcoming report. He reiterated the impracticality of shutting down the LMDC, but said that he would like to speak to Mayor Bloomberg directly about the mayor's suggestion that it......

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Architect Craig Dykers (of Norwegian-based design firm Snøhetta ) was joined by Mayor Bloomberg and other officials at 7 World Trade Center this morning to unveil new renderings for a downsized World Trade Center memorial museum and pavilion at the site of the former twin towers. The $80 million polygonal pavilion, which is being financed by New York State, will range in height from 57 to 72 feet and have about 40,000 square feet to......

After months of financial concerns about constructing the transit hub at the World Trade Center as designed by Santiago Calatrava, the Port Authority appears to be giving up a "key element" of the design, according to the NY Times. Calatrava had designed a "vast underground mezzanine free of columns," but that is expensive and complex. The architect, who already revised the design, believes it can be built on budget, and his statement said, “It......

The NY Times reports that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention will give $30 million "to hospitals and clinics that monitor and treat residents, students and other so-called nonresponders who were exposed to dust and smoke at ground zero." The money will come in three installments of $10 million each, and hospitals and clinics can apply for grants. NY lawmakers are glad the money is coming, but think it's long overdue (it's true--it's going......

In August of 1974, a 24-year-old Frenchman named Philippe Petit snuck into the World Trade Center, reached the top, and walked across a wire cable that was strung between the Twin Towers. New York watched captivated below. Some fun facts: it took 6 years to plan the stunt, the gap between the towers was 140 feet, and even though it was illegal, charges were dropped and Petit was merely sentenced to entertaining kids in Central......

Photo of the Twin Towers in Beijing's World Park. Infinite emails (all from the same source) flooded inboxes citywide last night (following a Reuters photo that was published) with messages pondering "how Americans would feel if they knew that just before the Olympics start, a theme park in Beijing still shows the Twin Towers standing in a NYC exhibit of mini models?" With many Americans already protesting the Olympic Games, this might not help......

A Bronx neighborhood was outraged last month when a building's mural memorializing 9/11 and a local firefighter who was killed at the World Trade Center was tagged by a graffiti artist. The tagger painted his initials directly over the face of Peter Bielfeld. Tips eventually led police to arrest 16-year-old Avery Prince, who goes by the tag SIPS and has since apologized for defacing the mural. Artist Eddie Gonzalez has since restored Bielfeld's face......

Photograph of the World Trade Center site, taken by Joe Woolhead, courtesy of Silverstein Properties The Port Authority released its status report of sorts about World Trade Center rebuilding, and it's a document (PDF) that grimly forecasts lots of patience and money--along with the difficulties--needed to see the whole thing through and. PA Executive Director Christopher Ward prefaces his assessment with a note that highlights how previous costs and rebuilding timeline estimates were not......

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found former EPA head Christie Todd Whitman not liable for saying Ground Zero air was safe after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Back on September 18, 2001, Whitman issued a statement saying, "Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, D.C. that their air is safe to breath and their water is safe to drink."......

The New York Post continues its saga of poor document management by the Port Authority today, after exposing how a homeless man found confidential building plans for the Freedom Tower in a trash bin last week. The paper was contacted by a pair of "salvage experts" in the wake of that story, who wanted to let it know that they had reams of documents--all marked confidential--that they discovered in a dumpster behind 115 Broadway, where......

Proving that there's a market for oversize shredders, a homeless man discovered two copies of blueprints for Freedom Tower, aka World Trade Center Tower One, in the trash at Sullivan and Houston Streets. The Post puts Mike Fleming (a "homeless, recovering drug addict") on the cover and questions the security lapse, pointing out, "It's a good thing Osama wasn't walking through SoHo yesterday morning." Fleming had been looking for cardboard to sleep on when he......

Yesterday, the Daily News created map showing how the World Trade Center will turn the prior super-block of open plazas and buildings into a heavily guarded and gated compound, with entrance limited to those who have been screened and or inspected. While little mention is made of what restrictions pedestrian visitors wanting to see the WTC Memorial will be, vehicles getting anywhere near the Freedom Tower or any of the other buildings will have to......

Architect Robert Woo is hospitalized but in stable condition today after the construction trailer he was working in was crushed by a load of falling steel that a crane dropped. The crane was elevating the steel at the site of the new Goldman Sachs building at the World Trade Center. The accident occurred yesterday morning when a nylon sling snapped and seven tons of steel fell 25 stories. Woo was the only person injured......