The head of the agency overseeing Ground
Zero reconstruction said yesterday the placement of the
Sept. 11 memorial is up to the panel that will select
the design.
"The door is slightly ajar, but not very far ajar" on
a proposal to raise to street level the sunken memorial
in architect Daniel Libeskind's plan, said John
Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development
Corp.
He added that changes to Libeskind's vision will be
made only if the design jury feels "that another plan is
much superior."
But later, Whitehead backpedaled in a statement,
saying, "We are committed to preserving Libeskind's
vision, a hallmark of which is the recessed memorial
setting, and the winning memorial design must be
consistent with that vision."
Some downtown tenants and Carl Weisbrod, a
development corporation board member, have called on the
jury to scrap the concept for a memorial 30 feet below
street level. Detractors argue it will prevent
pedestrians from easily crossing the 16-acre site.
Remembering rescuers
Meanwhile, Whitehead and other board members declined
to address statements made by Mayor Bloomberg last
weekend calling for special recognition at the memorial
for uniformed rescue workers.
But in an emotional closed-door executive session,
all board members said how they felt, and some teared up
as they spoke, sources said.
"It was a passionate meeting," said one source.
In other developments:
The development corporation said it will vote next
week to go forward with an environmental-impact study
for the site, except for portions dealing with
transportation, which will be handled by the Port
Authority.
The work is scheduled to be completed by March.
Bloomberg said he'll ask Albany lawmakers to pass a
bill that will speed up construction of projects that
the mayor outlined in his vision for lower Manhattan
last year.
"It would permit us to move forward quickly on
redeveloping lower Manhattan," Bloomberg said.
Before the meeting at 1 Liberty Plaza, protesters
gathered outside to denounce the agency for failing to
earmark money for low-income and moderate-income
housing.
Victor Bach, senior housing policy analyst at the
Community Service Society, said, "Are we saying that
rescue workers can die here, be memorialized here, but
they cannot live in a lower Manhattan to be built
exclusively for the affluent?"
Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff said City Hall hopes some
money would be used to create such housing units near
Ground Zero.
Originally published on June 13,
2003
