BY ALINE REYNOLDS | On Monday evening, Downtown residents fired off a series of questions to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey about unsettled issues pertaining to the World Trade Center site — namely, the timing of the opening of the National Sept. 11 Museum and funding for the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center.
As for giving concrete answers to these and other queries, Port Authority officials continued to come up short.
Community Board 1’s World Trade Center redevelopment committee chair Catherine McVay Hughes asked the Port for comment on the ongoing financial dispute between the city-state agency and the National 9/11 Memorial Museum. The matter is particularly urgent, she said, since construction work has slowed in recent weeks due to the quarrels. The discussion comes on the heels of Memorial President Joe Daniels’ recent comment that a Sept. 11 completion date for the Memorial Museum is no longer realistic.
“We’ve had enough delays at the W.T.C., and we’ve missed enough deadlines,” Hughes said in front of three Port Authority officials present at the meeting. “We want to make sure the powers that be know we’re watching.”
It’s important, she added, that construction activity at the museum get back on track.
“I think you’re speaking well for the both of us,” was the reply Brian Simon, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s director of governmental relations, gave to the committee. Asked for follow-up comment, Port Authority Spokesperson Steve Coleman said, “Work continues on the Memorial Museum project.”
The committee unanimously approved resolution that calls on the Memorial and Museum and the Port Authority to resolve their financial disagreements so that Memorial and Museum can be completed “in a timely manner.”
Neither Daniels nor the Port Authority have recently specified a new date for the Memorial’s opening.
Funding for the continuation of the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, broached at Monday’s meeting as well, is also up in the air. The agency, whose future relies on continued financial backing from the city, state and federal government, currently only has the funds to exist through the fall of 2012, according to L.M.C.C.C.’s deputy executive director, Joe Simenic.
“It’s another tough year, so it’s bit of a challenge to negotiate long-term funding,” he said. “[But] we have every indication right now that, unless directed otherwise, the agency will continue until the expiration of its executive order at the end of 2013.”
C.B. 1 most recently passed a resolution last September stressing the need for the L.M.C.C.C. through the peak period of construction in and around the W.T.C.
“It’s really important that the L.M.C.C.C. extends its life beyond the 2012 date,” Hughes reiterated. “There are 56 projects within one square mile in Lower Manhattan, and, right now, [the agency] is coordinating 15,000 trucks that come into our one square mile.”
While the Port Authority’s board of directors approved the payment of $500,000 for the L.M.C.C.C. at its Dec. 8 meeting, Simon wouldn’t say whether or not it had plans to authorize additional funds for the agency moving forward.
“We understand the value of the L.M.C.C.C.,” said Simon, “and hope to be able to provide you with a more satisfactory answer in the weeks to come.”
The vagueness of Simon’s answer was particularly disappointing to committee member Liz Williams (who forcefully posed the funding question to Simon), since she will be resigning from the board in the coming weeks.
“I’m concerned, and that’s why I wanted to try to get a straight answer out of him,” said Williams. “It struck me that it wasn’t, and I felt that was not satisfactory to the committee.”
Meanwhile, the time frame for the absorption of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation into the Port Authority was yet another unsettled topic of discussion at Monday night’s meeting. The negotiations are still a work in progress, according to Williams.
“There are some kinks that we have to work on in terms of folding it in,” he said. “We hope to circle back with a report soon.”
During an interview with the Downtown Express, L.M.D.C. Spokesperson John DeLibero made a similar statement last week, saying, “The LMDC staff and PA staff are currently working on the arrangements.”
Questions were also raised about the planned use of the future Tower 5, the site of the former Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty St. When committee member Tom Goodkind inquired about the possibility of affordable housing at the site, Glenn Guzi, program director at the Port Authority, reminded the committee that the original law outlining development regulations of the World Trade Center precludes housing for the site as a whole.
“It was a complete surprise,” said Goodkind of Guzi’s reply. “I’d like to see another Independence Plaza North or Southbridge Towers where [Tower] 5 is. It’s the easiest [W.T.C.] building for the government or a charitable organization such as the ‘Y’ to fully fund that.”
There was some good, definitive news that came out of the meeting: Excavation of the Vehicular Security Center, situated on the southwest corner of the site, is slated for completion by mid-February rather than April, according to Guzi.
“We’ve made amazing strides over the last few months, so we’ve been able to accelerate [construction] as we had promised we would look at doing,” said Guzi. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job collectively dealing with [the quality of life] issues.”
“I agree,” said committee member Pat Moore, who seemed pleased with the news. Moore couldn’t be reached for additional comment following the meeting.
The Port Authority’s construction zone surrounding Route 9a is also proceeding on schedule, according to Quentin Brathwaite, assistant director of W.T.C. construction. As of December, the Port Authority completed an underpass below West Street, which allows the state Department of Transportation to resume certain aspects of the revamping of the highway.
Conclusion of the Port Authority’s work around the highway is scheduled for end of 2012 or beginning of 2013. Brathwaite assured that the remaining construction will have no negative impact on vehicular traffic along West Street.
