Freedom Center

The Mayor walked into the Daily News building Oct. 21 to get an endorsement.    read more »

Seems like all those sweaty press conferences this summer about breaking ground on the Calatrava transit station, fortifying the Freedom Center and subsidizing Goldman Sachs did little for the way New Yorkers view the Governor. Just 18 percent of city voters want Pataki in charge at Ground Zero, compared to 24 percent in May, according to a Quinnipiac poll cited by Crain’s. Some 65 percent of those surveyed would rather the Mayor take the reins. The Mayor said yesterday that’s exactly what he plans to do.

This turn of sentiment has something, though perhaps not everything, to do with the Governor’s pushing out the International Freedom Center. The Times teamed up with Pace University for an excruciatingly focused poll also released today—of 518 residents living below 14th Street—and found them split on the Governor’s decision.

David Dunlap adds:

“And 1,011 New Yorkers were asked six weeks ago by Blum & Weprin Associates for The New York Times Magazine what they thought should be built at ground zero: something shorter or taller than the World Trade Center. Fifty-four percent replied, ‘Any size building as long as they stop arguing about it.’”  read more »

-Matthew Schuerman

The Times reports on the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's dissatisfaction with Governor Pataki's unilateral decision to bar the Freedom Center from Ground Zero--originally reported here yesterday.

Murder! Mayhem! Embezzelment! Fraud! Andrew M. Kissel, whose sister was convicted of beating her husband to death in Hong Kong in 2003, stands accused of stealing $4 million from the reserve of his Upper East Side co-op building at 200 East 74th Street. The Times also says he's currently under house arrest because of a federal complaint involving tens of millions of dollars in mortgage fraud.

The Jets don't need no stinking roof!

The Post is surprisingly evenhanded in its story on 2 Columbus Circle. The paper forgot to mention the protesters, but it did quote Landmark West, the preservation group that's been fighting the Museum of Arts and Design's tooth and nail since the renovation plans were unveiled.

City Council member David Yassky is accusing city and state officials of lowballing waterfront land slated to become the Brooklyn Bridge Park, according to the Daily News. Park officials say that's because they want to entice developers to to build "architecturally significant buildings."

And The Sun reports that the Plaza Hotel is set to sell its newly renovated space as early as next month. Prices could be in the $3,000 to $6,000 per square foot range. Stribling and Associates and Cushman & Wakefield are handling the sales.  read more »

-Matthew Grace

The response from the Freedom Center doesn't rule out locating the museum elsewhere in Manhattan--or does it?

"We are deeply disappointed that the will could not be found to continue the development of the International Freedom Center at this hallowed site. It is the site for which the IFC was created—at the Lower Manhatttan Development Corporation’s request, and as an integral part of Daniel Libeskind’s master site plan. We do not believe there is a viable alternative place for the IFC at the World Trade Center site. We consider our work, therefore, to have been brought to an end.  read more »

"We are profoundly sorry to see: --This significant blow to the idea of a living memorial that emerged from a comprehensive public process; --The loss of a museum of freedom at the place where freedom was so brutally challenged; --The failure to accept the offer of nine great universities to offer cultural programming on freedom issues in the heart of Lower Manhattan; and --This setback to one of the most ambitious and promising service and civic engagement programs in this country.

"Hundreds of people contributed to the IFC’s development, including some of the world’s best thinkers on the subject of human freedom. To all these people we offer our profound thanks for their hard work over the past four years. Freedom is humankind’s greatest, most ennobling idea, and its surest antidote to terror and tyranny. Finally, we wish those still involved in the important work of creating the Memorial the best of luck in the months and years ahead."

Governor Pataki just put the kabosh on the Freedom Center.

The statement in full:

“I strongly believe in this nation’s core principle of freedom and I personally believe that the celebration of freedom is not inconsistent with the goals of memorializing our nearly 3,000 lost heroes. The creation of an institution that would show the world our unity and our resolve to preserve freedom in the wake of the horrific attacks is a noble pursuit.

"But freedom should unify us. This Center has not.

"Since June, we have offered the International Freedom Center (IFC) the time they needed to clarify their intentions and work with stakeholders to reach a consensus. Today there remains too much opposition, too much controversy over the programming of the IFC and we must move forward with our first priority, the creation of an inspiring memorial to pay tribute to our lost loved ones and tell their stories to the world.

“Therefore, the IFC cannot be located on the Memorial quadrant. I have asked the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) to work with the IFC to explore other locations for the Center. In addition, I am directing the LMDC to continue its efforts to identify programming for the Memorial quadrant that will tell the story of September 11th.  read more »

“I would also ask all parties to now join together and unite behind fulfilling our solemn obligation to the families of those we lost. We must reclaim the spirit that we saw the days and weeks after September 11th, a spirit of unity, resolution and purpose and we must come together to build a lasting memorial for the generations to come.”

We hope it wasn't something we said.

The Times has a couple of stories that The Real Estate had the jump on yesterday: First up, a look at the Freedom Center's defense, released yesterday, of withering criticism from its opposition. Second, details on Trump Plaza: Jersey City. "Trump Plaza" and "Jersey City" … they go together perfectly.

Meanwhile, the Post reports that relatives of 9/11 victims are still upset at the Freedom Center's plan. Again, it centers on possibly "anti-American" content at the Center. Three New York Republicans, Representatives Sweeney, Fossella and King, say that none of the $2.7 billion earmarked for Ground Zero should be spent on the museum.  read more »

Governors Island needs about a billion dollars for renovations, repairs and other fixes, according to the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, says the Daily News. The dollar the city and state paid to the feds for the land isn't looking so sweet now.

The News also reports that plans for Harlem's shuttered Victoria Theater, on West 125th Street, will soon be unveiled. The Harlem Community Development Corporation has winnowed 13 development proposals down to four. The details haven't been released, but some combination of hotels and condos with a "cultural component" is expected.

John Whitehead, the chairman of the agency in charge of Ground Zero, was trying to adjourn the monthly meeting this morning when Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, a member of the agency's advisory council, spoke up:

"Mr. Chairman, before you make that--entertain that motion, I would just like to make a brief statement.

I think it is disappointing that this conclusion was reached in the way it was reached."

Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, had just put the International Freedom Center on a sort of probation for the next six weeks.

By Sept. 23, he said the Freedom Center needed to make public "specific plans, program and governance structure" in order to keep its place in a prominent building right next to the victims' memorial.

Basically, Whitehead--and the Governor who had appointed him--had had enough of Sept. 11 families unhappy with the politics and placement of the center, as we exhaustively explained in this week's Observer.

"If at the end of this process," Whitehead said, "the LMDC is not satisfied with the IFC's proposal, we will find another use or tenant--consistent with out objectives--for that space in the Snohetta building."

Doctoroff's boss, Mayor Bloomberg, has been more tolerant of the Freedom Center and the much smaller Drawing Center, which was to share the building, than has Governor Pataki. The Drawing Center is all but officially off the 16 acres.

And just to add to the intrigue, Doctoroff had been called out of the meeting just before this came to a head--sort of like what happened with Kalikow at the MTA meeting on Atlantic Yards, no?

It's so rare anything vaguely resembling vigor is in evidence at these meetings, we thought we'd give you a bit more:

Doctoroff: "As you pointed out in your statement, the LMDC went though an exhaustive process to determine the components of the cultural elements of the master plan. Many of the people here were involved in that process. It was a large amount of public comment and I think to reach this conclusion without a significant amount, specifically within this body, of debate and public comment leading up to the debate, is disappointing. I'm not necessarily commenting on the conclusion, but really much more on the process. I, for one, question what went into the decision to remove the Drawing Center--again much more focusing on the process than necessarily on the substance of the decision."

Whitehead: "May I just speak to the Drawing Center part of it? I believe the Drawing Center board is finding it difficult to comply with the requirements that have been laid down, that they must never present anything which might be offensive to families, and so they have chosen to look for other sites. They have not decided to leave the site that they're in, but they are--have chosen and are now looking actively with our assistance for other sites. This is their decision, not our decision. So that would answer your question. I don't--we tried to have--there have been discussions with so many people involved in this over the past few weeks that I apologize if we have not discussed as much with you as we should have and--"

DD: "Not so much with me. I think it's publicly as well, to entertain a process of inclusion. One of the things that have been the hallmark of the LMDC and I think that has earned it the respect and credibility of so many people, is the careful way that we have approached decisions in every case listening, certainly in every important case, significant public input and comment and so I think that said this is a disappointing process that has been undertaken here."

JW: "And I apologize for not having discussed it more with you but the process has been discussed with so many people, I have done little else but discussed the process with people in the last six weeks. So I can't say we haven't had an active discussion with lots of people, including various members of the family groups. I think we'll now ask for a motion to adjourn the meeting and move on to the press conference."  read more »

By the way, members of the families opposed to the Freedom Center who attended the meeting were still not happy. Last night, they announced a "Take Back the Memorial" rally on Sept. 10. That is just what a presidential candidate like Pataki needs as our nation's eyes turn to Ground Zero.

- Matthew Schuerman

Matthew Schuerman talks to Ground Zero planner Daniel Libeskind about the Freedom Center. He's all for building it right there on the World Trade Center site, but will the Governor have to scrap his master plan to make nice with angry victims' families?

Michael Calderone talks to the "Boy-Eloise" of the Algonquin Hotel. He's trying to raise enough money to buy it out of contention for big, out-of-town real-estate investment firms and secure it's future as a--well, as a hotel-slash-historical tourist trap.  read more »

And, this is just dirty.

- Tom McGeveran

We explore the Democrats' Rudy problem, and Mike's complex relationship with his predecessor. Note Wolfson's musings, Jimmy Oddo's letter to Verna Eggleston, and cameos from people named Tomasky and Thrush.

Matt Schuerman explains what that Freedom Center thing is, and says it's going well.

Simon Doonan demands you stop whining about the Plaza.

Sheelah Kolhatkar has a counter-intuitive look at the recently controversial shortage of female newspaper columnists.  read more »

And our editorialists congratulate Joel Klein on the test scores.