In case you thought the rebuilding at the World Trade Center site was going along as planned, a long overdue and
candid letter
released this week from the Port Authority of NY & NJ is your
dose of reality
.
Since the attacks of 9/11, public officials (mostly former during Governor Pataki's administration), created a
mirage of productive activity
at the 16 acres of Ground Zero. What the project needed from the get-go was fewer cooks and
one stalwart chef
in the kitchen. Some of us had hoped Governor Spitzer would step up to the plate and ask tough questions like why there's such a
massive amount of subsidized office space
planned, but he too caved and since his stay in the state capital was
cut short,
we'll never know what long term impact his role might have had.
Now, Gov. Paterson has asked THE tough question about the redevelopment of the 16 acres at Ground Zero by requesting (gasp!) an assessment. Paterson's willingness to confront the challenges of the rebuilding, (
and one of the worst kept secrets
in town) are a breath of fresh air and include: the unmanageable size of the project, the "unique interdependencies" (I guess that's the nice way to say political interests), increased costs and the "doh!" moment was "lack of an effective decision making process."
Of course the decision making process was ineffective – in large part because it was unaccountable. GJNY and
others
cautioned
early on and regularly that unless transparency and accountability were improved in Lower Manhattan, the development could have a
negative impact
– mostly on low and moderate income residents and workers. We weren't wrong (unfortunately) as billions of dollars in Federal resources were allocated in Lower Manhattan to
financial firms
and
luxury housing developers
helping to make it one of the city's
ritziest
neighborhoods.
The head of the Port Authority,
Chris Ward
, deserves credit for giving the Governor an honest critique of what has become an embarrassment.