[em]Post [/em]Mortems

The Mayor adds: “Although I understand Governor Pataki’s decision, I am disappointed that we were not able to find a way to reconcile the freedoms we hold so dear with the sanctity of the site.” We are left wondering how it is that the Mayor considers the decision to be the Governor's alone--or rather, we don't really wonder, the Mayor's role in downtown planning was always advisory at best. But it is worth pointing out that just last week, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation announced three meeeting to be held this week for public input. "Through these efforts we continue our open, public process," LMDC John Whitehead said in the press release. The press release continues: "The LMDC Board will use the public comments and feedback gathered through this public process to inform their discussions and determine how to proceed." The Mayor and Governor once had eight appointees each to the LMDC board, but over time, they failed to fill vacancies as they were created, and right now the Mayor is down to four, while the Governor has six. So even if the Mayor wanted to see the issue through another bloody week, and wanted an open vote when the LMDC next met Oct. 6, he would be outvoted. Of course, given the Mayor's comments yesterday, perhaps the Freedom Center felt outgunned anyway. Meanwhile, The New York Post, which has been championing the center's opponents, is the only major city daily not to have the story on its web site, since it uses only AP national feeds. But we expect there may be something in the paper tomorrow.