Lower Manhattan Development Corporation

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a powerful voice in the redevelopment of downtown, wants the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to stay in business, according to his spokesman.

That puts him at odds with Mayor Bloomberg, who today called in an op-ed for Governor Paterson to disband the agency, which has divvied up much of the federal money that went to Lower Manhattan following the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Dan Weiller, a spokesman for Mr. Silver, who has previously expressed support for LMDC chairman Avi Schick, had this to say this afternoon:

"Speaker Silver said that he welcomes the sense of urgency that the mayor has expressed regarding progress at ground zero.  read more »

Governor Paterson put out a statement responding to Mayor Bloomberg's Wall Street Journal op-ed today, which called for the dissolution of the state-run Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

Absent from the governor's 204-word statement: any mention of the LMDC.

Saying that he looks forward to a report on the World Trade Center redevelopment later this month, Mr. Paterson appeared to be putting off any decision either way on the matter until October.

Statement below.

I read Mayor Bloomberg's opinion piece in this morning's Wall Street Journal and I applaud the Mayor for his leadership on this issue.

 read more »

Mayor Bloomberg called today for the dismantling of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the state's main agency involved in downtown redevelopment, advocating in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Governor Paterson "hand over its development responsibilities to the city."

 

From the op-ed:

The LMDC would also turn over its responsibility for demolishing the Deutsche Bank building to the already existing Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, a city/state entity. This would help the LMCCC prevent the delays that inevitably result from too much bureaucracy, greatly enhancing the prospects for meeting a July 2009 deadline for full demolition of the building. To increase accountability, we will push the LMCCC to establish benchmarks for progress and issue monthly reports.

 read more »

The ever-troubled Deutsche Bank building at Ground Zero seems to be moving a bit closer to deconstruction, as the state announced today that it has approved an abatement plan for the tower at 130 Liberty Street.

After a fire at the building killed two firefighters this summer, the deconstruction of the damaged tower was put on hold while officials sorted through the high-profile mess. On top of being strongly associated with the fatal fire and a couple other attention-grabbing accidents at the site, one of the subcontractors on the job, John Galt, was tainted by scandal and mob ties, as the Times revealed, and was booted off the deconstruction team.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation then selected a new general contractor last month, LVI Services, Inc., which plans to mostly remove asbestos before dismantling the building.  read more »

Almost five months after a deadly fire halted deconstruction on the former Deutsche Bank building at Ground Zero, the state has picked a new contractor to oversee its demolition, New York-based LVI Services (which also specializes in controlling the “superbug” bacteria … just in case).

Ironically, LVI was originally slated to be involved in the deconstruction of the building, though a deal with it and lead contractor Bovis Lend Lease fell apart, according to an August article in The New York Times. As a result of the failed deal, Bovis brought on board the John Galt Corporation, the company that has reportedly come under investigation for the fire on Aug. 18 that killed two firefighters. The Times has more on John Galt here.  read more »

8 a.m. Gay couples will protest the city's Marriage Bureau at 1 Centre Street.

8 a.m. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's board of directors will meet at 1 Liberty Plaza.

8:30 a.m. Implications of the mayor's long-term development plan are discussed by the chair of City Planning Commission at a Crain's New York Business breakfast forum in midtown.

10 a.m. The city's Health Department and designer Kenneth Cole unveil the NYC condom launch at Rockefeller Center.

10 a.m. A plaque commemorating the Underground Railroad used by Frederick Douglas and others is unveiled at 36 Lispenard Street.

11 a.m. Activists rally for condom distribution outside the city's Department of Correctional Services at the state office building in Harlem.

11:30 a.m. Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and others will hold a press conference discussing the "Access to Life-Saving Medicine Act" legislation in Washington.

11:30 a.m. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer discusses concerns over proposed changes to the city's Department of Education at 1 Centre Street.

Noon. Plans for a march against slave-wage working conditions will be announced by union members and their attorney at a press event at 113 University Place.

1 p.m. Plans to use 90 percent of the city's waterways for recreation are discussed at a hearing held by the City Council's Environmental Protection Committee at 250 Broadway.

1 p.m. Diabetes will be discussed at the City Council's Health Committee hearing at City Hall.

2 p.m. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will host a party for couples married 50 years or more at the New York Marriott at Brooklyn Bridge.

2 p.m. U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt will speak about a value-driven health care initiative at a business meeting at the Loews Regency Hotel.

2 p.m. The White House Drug Czar will discuss a federal report about the prescription drug abuse among teenagers at the Roosevelt Hotel.

-- Azi Paybarah

Baruch College hosts a panel discussion with David Seifman, Stan Brooks, Dominic Carter and Azi on the media coverage of the New York City elections.

The directors of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation meet at LMDC headquarters.

The Israel Project hosts a briefing with Silvan Shalom, a Likud Party member and former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister at the offices of Skadden-Arps.

The National Employment Law Project releases a report on restoring New York's unemployment insurance program at the Mason Tenders District Council of Greater New York.

The Assembly holds a hearing on the high rate of suicide attempts by Asian and Hispanic women at 250 Broadway.

Ground will be broken for new low-income housing at 115 West 137th Street, at Seventh Avenue.

Environmentalists will hold a rally in support of accused "eco-terrorist" Daniel McGowan in Foley Square.

The Stonewall Democrats host their annual holiday party at the LGBT center.

—Nicole Brydson

A meeting of the directors of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation will be held at One Liberty Plaza.

A news conference will share findings from the New American Exit Poll - the first to focus on immigrant voters - at the New York Immigration Coalition.

The Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment and Con Edison hold a conference called "The Sustainable City" at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams addresses the annual Friends of Sinn Fein Dinner at the Sheraton.

A new documentary produced by the Touro Law Center, Hitler's Courts, is screened to remember Kristallnacht in Huntington.

Update: The Village Independent Democrats is presenting Amy Goodman, "On The Role of Independent Media in time of Elections and War" tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square South. —Nicole Brydson

The Onion agrees with New York officials who said this week that it is better to celebrate our accomplishments rather than criticize our failures:

"From the wreckage and ashes of the World Trade Center, we have created a recess in the ground befitting the American spirit," said New York Governor George Pataki from a cinderblock-and-plastic-bucket-supported plywood platform near the Hole's precipice. "This vast chasm, dug at the very spot where the gleaming Twin Towers once rose to the sky, is a symbol of what we can accomplish if we work together."

-Matthew Schuerman  read more »

The directors of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation meet at 1 Liberty Plaza.

Hillary Clinton's presidential bust will be unveiled at the Museum of Sex.

Carolyn Maloney and Patrick Lynch demand better health treatment and monitoring for sick and injured 9/11 responders at Ground Zero. Then Maloney will hold a forum to help businesses recover from Queens blackouts at the Federation of Hellenic Societies.

Constituents of Jerry Nadler demand that he state whether he still believes Israel is acting with "admirable restraint" in the Lebanese conflict.

1199 SEIU endorses Nick Spano for state senate at St. Cabrini Nursing Home in Dobbs Ferry.

New York State Young Democrats holds their biennial YoungDems After Dark event at Via Bistro.

—Nicole Brydson

Buried deep in today's New York Times' article on the future, or lack thereof, of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, is the most biting critique of the agency that has been seen fit to print. Robin Pogrebin got her hands on a memo by noted arts consultant Adrian Ellis who wrote:

L.M.D.C. was one of the most unimpressive organizations with which I have worked in 16 years of consulting: the expression 'sloping shoulders' could have been invented for it -- everyone sitting across the table seemed furtive, cowed, insinuating, hand-wringing and evasive, from the first meeting to the last.

Today--in response?--the L.M.D.C. issued a press release confirming that it is disbanding "in the fall" and announcing that President Stefan Pryor had taken a job as deputy mayor in Newark Mayor Cory Booker's administration. The city will take over the remaining arts grants and Fulton Street's redesign, and no one has stepped up to defend Frank Gehry's performing arts center.

-Matthew Schuerman

Of course, they've been saying that for about a year, but today Chairman Kevin Rampe told staff the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation would close "within months," David Dunlap reports.

(via The Real Deal)

-Matthew Schuerman

You thought no one could build a memorial in this town for less than half a billion dollars? Oh, yeah? Well, the much-anticipated report by builder Frank Sciame just went up on the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's website. It suggests that embarrassingly simple changes can shave off $285.1 million in construction costs for the World Trade Center Memorial, like combining the entrance to the memorial with the one for the Snohetta-designed visitor's center. The waterfalls will stay, as will "vast museum space below-grade," and the names of victims will move upstairs. It seems like he is proposing no big slashes and burns but we will wait to study the details to say that for sure.

Hey, if you don't like it, there is something you can do about it. See the website for submitting comments. (Deadline: June 27.)  read more »

Press release after jump.

--Matthew Schuerman

In last night's interview with Dominic Carter, Attorney General and gubernatorial front-runner Eliot Spitzer rips the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, and characterizes Friday's departure of Gretchen Dykstra from the Memorial Foundation as a symptom of the agency's political inertia.

Speaking from Albany on the NY1 political program Inside City Hall, Mr. Spitzer said:

What we have now seen with [the] memorial, and unfortunately Gretchen Dykstra has just resigned, somebody of great competence, and I regret that she has left. I had always gotten along very, very well with Gretchen. But I think she left partly because there was nobody willing to make decisions. The LMDC - let me be very clear - the LMDC has been an abject failure, and those who were running the LMDC deserve an enormous piece of the criticism. I don't know where they have been, what they've been doing, or what they've been up to.

Get to the video via Bob Hardt's ItCH column.

- Tom McGeveran

Not content to sit back and absorb the adulation of the rank-and-file in Buffalo, Eliot Spitzer is using his time at the convention to lob rhetorical grenades at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which he called "an abject failure."

NY1 has a clip of him here, and will air a fuller interview tonight.

Oh, what joys they have to look forward to! Governor Pataki is reappointing Kevin Rampe to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, this time as chairman (he was the president for two years until last spring), while builder Frank Sciame has been put in charge of a "Memorial and Master Plan Design Committee" and is apparently supposed to break the backs of the architects and bureaucrats down there.

The way the press release describes that task suggests how accurate Joe Hagan's description of thin men in black jackets and square glasses arguing with one another really is:

Sciame will convene the Memorial and Master Plan Design Committee of Michael Arad, Peter Walker, Max Bond and Daniel Libeskind and work in coordination with the LMDC, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the WTC Memorial Foundation to ensure the memorial is brought in line with the $500 million budget. The Governor and Mayor have set the end of June as the deadline for resolution.

Enjoy your stay, fellas!

-Matthew Schuerman

The 84-year-old John Whitehead, a World War II veteran and former Goldman Sachs head, resigned as chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.

"Four-and-a-half years is a long time for a supposedly retired person of advanced age and I hope to have more advanced age to enjoy," he said at a meeting this morning.

The Governor and Mayor will choose his successor at the L.M.D.C. At the foundation, The Times said this morning that Thomas Johnson, now chairman of the executive committee who already took over many administrative duties, would succeed him. Foundation spokeswoman Lynn Rasic would not confirm that, saying that the full foundation board would vote on the new chairman at the next board meeting, scheduled for July.

-Matthew Schuerman

Turns out, according to The Post, fundraising for the World Trade Center Memorial was suspended last week. The vote on Monday was merely to continue that suspension. The Daily News gives the memorial a full body slam, with a five-point take-down (blaming the foundation and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation), a guest column by 9/11 widow Monica Iken (blaming Bloomberg and Pataki), and an editorial placing most of the blame on Pataki, though it suggests the memorial foundation's meetings should be open to the public. -Matthew Schuerman

What's funny about the debate over the World Trade Center Memorial's cost and fundraising is that only one of them can be a problem. If the cost can be limited to $500 million, as Bloomberg wants, then it is almost paid for: there is already $480 million in private and public funds received or pledged, if one counts the $100 million recently chipped in by the Port Authority.

The real question is who is paying for the $300 million in infrastructure costs anticipated in the latest estimate by Bovis Lend Lease, and carried in The Times and the Daily News. If the memorial foundation is supposed to bear that bill, the fundraising to date looks particularly meek. But the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the city-state agency overseeing the site's redevelopment, is pushing to get the Port Authority to bear that cost.

Guess what? Expect more bickering among governmental agencies at Ground Zero.

-Matthew Schuerman

“Guess what? The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation just gave away $28 million to all sorts of groovy cultural groups downtown. They are really going to make that neighborhood exciting.”

“Oh, yeah. Let me guess. Was the Tribeca Film Institute one of them?”  read more »

“Uh, yeah. How’d you know?”

• Tribeca residents don't shop for food. They get Hermes and BMW instead. (Metro)
• Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to spend $19.5 million on six parks and public spaces in Lower Manhattan, including the lot bordered by Canal, Varick and Laight Streets. Oh, and frozen weeds. (The New York Times)
• The planned Cirque du Soleil theater at West 42nd Street did not receive a zoning bonus meant for Off-Broadway companies, striking a blow to developer Stephen Ross of Related Companies. (The New York Times)
• Brooklyn Bridge Park is approved. Officials wait for big name stores and hotels to buy in. Law suit is on the way. (New York Post)
• Mobsters find Home Depot an overrated supply store for home repairments. Instead, they choose tools with proven use and steal from a house under construction. (New York Daily News)
• Brooklyn Rock Festival begins next week. (BRF)
• Is it surprising that a Times Square venue is the biggest offender on the health department's restaurant inspection list? (Hotel Chatter)
• Table XII is unfashionable, traditional Italian to Frank Bruni. But is traditional the same as retro? (The New York Times)
• Jonathan Miller wonders, if budget surpluses allow politicians to push their agendas without giving sacrificing other necessities, will government housing projects increase, "assuming the housing boom is largely over and the market moves sideways for a while." (Matrix)
• Also, what does it mean that The National Association of Home Builders released a report that shows optimism has grown for rental apartments, but declined for condos? (Matrix)
• Page Six is merely asking: "WHICH scion of a real estate empire was slightly aghast when his surgically enhanced daughter-in-law sat down for dinner at San Pietro in a way too low-cut outfit and both of her new breasts popped out?"

- Riva Froymovich  read more »

It's Alice Greenwald, who presently is the Associate Museum Director for Museum Programs for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington:

The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, in cooperation with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), today announced that Alice M. Greenwald will become the Director of the WTC Memorial Museum. In this position, Ms. Greenwald will create, program and direct the Museum, which will be adjacent to the Memorial.

Full press release after the jump.  read more »

Robert Douglass, chairman of the Alliance for Downtown New York, the city’s largest business improvement district, gets the final vacant seat on the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Governor Pataki announced today. -Matthew Schuerman  read more »

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s pre-election grumblings about Larry Silverstein didn’t get him very fa  read more »

Down at Ground Zero, there are concerns in the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation as to whether the planned performing-arts center will get full funding, according to The New York Times.

There's also rumblings about a pay-to-drive plan in the busiest parts of Manhattan, something that works pretty good in London.

Cobble Hill townhouse priced to move! And, uh, ignore my homeless aunties camped out on the sidewalk.

From (Ground) zero to $10 million: the Drawing Center gets a fat consolation prize after getting kick out of the W.T.C. site.

After booting out auntie, head over to the new flea market in Carroll Gardens. It opens tomorrow at Union and Smith Street. For Manhattanites, just take the G.W.B. and take the first right.

A condo board in Rego Park has learned how to circumvent D.O.B. billboard regulations--comply, and do it all over again. Pocket cash.  read more »

-Matthew Grace

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

The Times says that Mayor Bloomberg is looking for a larger role in downtown development. Too little, too late? Or is it just election-year campaigning?

Chelsea Piers jefe maximo, George Bush friend and "Pioneer" Roland Betts has quit the board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

Shopping and rememberin'. There's money for the memorial, and there's plans for 200,000 square feet of retail down downtown way. (We had it here and here yesterday [sounds of tooting one's own horn].)

The Post calls 2 Columbus Circle an "eyesore" and celebrates that it was finally sold yesterday to the Museum of Arts and Design for $17 million, clearing the way for its renovation and the mallification of Columbus Circle.  read more »

The Daily News reports on a new Bayside, Queens, development that can't handle the rain. According to various people, it's so poorly constructed that its retaining wall nearly collapsed in the last downpour.

-Matthew Grace

Tom Bernstein, the co-founder of the International Freedom Center, was revising his notes for the pu  read more »

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

Members of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation board were so exercised by the Governor usurping their authority over the International Freedom Center that some of them spoke in public for the first time in months at this morning's meeting.

“I just find the decision by the Governor to be just indefensible,” said Edward Lewis, a Bloomberg appointee and co-founder of Essence Magazine.  read more »

“I regard this as a violation of the principles we have tried to follow,” said Tom Johnson, another Bloomberg appointee and retired CEO of GreenPoint Bank.

Even Governor Pataki’s appointees chimed in. Chairman John Whitehead started off the harangue, questioning whether people the LMDC has to work with would view the board as having the authority to make decisions on its own. Roland Betts, the business partner of Freedom Center Chairman Tom Bernstein, came next: “The ad hominem attacks on Tom Bernstein were so inappropriate and so unfair. I have been Tom’s partner for 25 years and there is nobody who is more patriotic.” Madelyn Wils also took a shot at the Sept. 11th families who fought the Freedom Center: “I found myself being dragged through the mud on the Take Back the Memorial website for calling for a secular vision on the site. How criminal!” (We think she means this reference.) -Matthew Schuerman

Tom Bernstein and Peter Kunhardt, co-founders of the embryonic International Freedom Center at Groun  read more »

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.  read more »

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.

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 New York Times has an article this morning on Holly Hotchner, the director of the Museum of Arts and Design. The museum, as you will recall, is due to move into 2 Columbus Circle, the Edward Durrell Stone-designed monolith preservationists are trying save from an impending facade change. In the story, Ms. Hotchner calls the building a "designated mausoleum" and claims, "I've never heard of anyone who likes the building aesthetically," and "I think nearly everyone would agree 2 Columbus Circle is a tremendous eyesore; some of us call it the world's greatest urinal at this point." Perhaps Ms. Hotchner should read the papers?

And relatives of 9/11 victims are once again unhappy with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and Governor Pataki, this time refusing to meet with Peter H. Woodin, a mediator named to reconcile all the disparate parties involved with the W.T.C. rebuilding process.

On the same Web page, The Times reports that the City Council passed legislation that would require city-financed construction projects to adhere to "green" standards, and Baruch College, at Lexington and 23rd Street, is getting a "wedgelike glass atrium with a twisting staircase" added to its facade to the tune of $250 million.

The New York Post has a preview of the Giants' "dazzling new stadium" which is due to open in 2009. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority has to sign off on the project for it to begin.  read more »

Box 'em in! Related Companies is trying once again to get a BJ's built in the East Bronx. The company's resubmitted plans to the City Planning Commission, according to the Daily News, after losing its first bid for the store in February. The paper also reports on a proposed rezoning in Woodlawn, Queens, which would limit new buildings to a height ceiling of 33 feet, similar to earlier rezonings in Pelham Gardens, Baychester, Laconia and Throgs Neck. (Laconia? Isn't that in Greece!?!)

The folks at Curbed.com gets a letter from a "Lycee mom" on the Lycee Francais' continuing waterlogged-basement travails. Seems they have calcium deposits in the their plumbing. Ouch, our dad had that once, too.

From The Times: Looks like the former Deutsche Bank building opposite ground zero will finally be torn down. The Environmental Protection Agency gave the nod to its demolition, nearly a year after Governor Pataki said he was "pleased to announce that demolition will begin next month." Also in the article: The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation approved a $150,000 grant to the Drawing Center to find another home.

In other Freedom Center News: The New York Post reports that a mediator, a former special master for the Sept. 11 victims-compensation fund, will try to iron out differences between victims' families and Freedom Center officials. As with the Drawing Center above, people are up in arms that exhibits in the cultural space might criticize the U.S.A. As if there's anything to criticize.

Has the bubble burst? The Post says that average Manhattan condo prices have dropped by more than 14 percent between June and the end of August of this year. Let's see: It'll still take us about 20 years to even save up for the down payment.

But once we do get our act together and save up some scratch, we'll be heading over to indicted money manager's Alberto Vilar's 20-room duplex at 860 United Nations Plaza. The Post reports it's for sale for a paltry $14.5 million. But is Phoebe Cates' mother entitled to a third of it? Read the fine print before signing anything. Brown Harris Stevens has the listing.  read more »

The Daily News reports that the M.T.A. is set to accept Bruce Ratner's offer for the Atlantic Yards as soon as next Wednesday. As reported here, Mr. Ratner doubled his original offer of $50 million.

Looks like CBGB, the "punk" club (we put that in quotes because, well, how punk is it to read about this on a real estate blog?) where the legendary band the Fucking Shitbiscuits got its start, was served its eviction papers Wednesday. Good. Punk is dead. Its corpse is currently enjoying a drink poolside at the Bellagio. CBGB, please go join it there. - Matthew Grace

If Daniel Libeskind’s word is gold at Ground Zero, then the controversial International Freedom Ce  read more »

If Daniel Libeskind’s word is gold at Ground Zero, then the controversial International Freedo  read more »

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

The governor's team has been playing pretty mum in this whole flap over the Ground Zero museums, issuing stern pronouncements--but not terribly specific--about the need to be sensitive to families who'd rather have the whole "memorial quadrant" devoted to the memorial.

Then this morning, John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which oversees the trade center site, said that he had been trying to find an alternative site for the International Freedom Center and the Drawing Center.

"We are looking for another place both within in the 16 acres and immediately beyond it," he said after the corporation's monthly meeting.

One point for the families.

That's sort of a big deal--the very idea the Libeskind master plan might be changed. On the other hand, he said the LMDC had found nothing so far. It could just be a way of showing the families that the governor is trying.

The governor is trying, we are sure, to find a way out of our own little culture war.  read more »

- Matthew Schuerman

Long before the city's cultural organizations were thinking about what they might do at Ground Zero,  read more »

Every few weeks, a couple of well-connected New Yorkers-maybe Carl Weisbrod, a board member of the L  read more »

Mixed-use development projects have become part of New York's cityscape in recent years.  read more »