downtown express
Ten Years Later - A 9/11 Retrospective
2005
In 2005, The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation doled out its first round of grants to cultural and community groups. A design was unveiled for what would become known as the W.T.C. Performing Arts Center and a push began to lure cultural groups
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Downtown. Charlie Maikish was named Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center director. A heated debate arose on programming content at the Freedom Center, with some 9/11 families protesting the potential political content of future exhibits. Governor Pataki tossed the Freedom Center from W.T.C. plans, claiming that “Freedom should unify us: this center has not.” A report was released that showed that the Lower Manhattan office market was rebounding, and official talks commenced on the design of the 9/11 Museum. Construction began on the new Goldman Sachs headquarters at 200 West St. The 43-story building occupies 2.1 million square feet. Goldman was awarded $1.65 billion in Liberty bonds to cover part of the building’s $2.1 billion cost, in addition to other city subsidies. As the death toll from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan increased, the year’s anniversary of 9/11 was marked by anti-war protestors.
Wils: tunnel extension will push costs to $1 billion • Preservation has improved the W.T.C. development plan • W.T.C. Memorial group’s first meeting • C.B.
1 comments on W.T.C. memorial adjustments
• Damaged landmark Beaux-Arts building, 90 West St., readies to reopen as apartments • Charles Maikish named Downtown building coordinator • W.T.C. memorial for ‘93 victims unveiled • Mayor expected to sign compromise for Park Row • Debate over Downtown money: Weighing W.T.C. construction against other projects • Olive Leaf Wholeness
Center in Gramercy Park area offers spa for people still traumatized by 9/11 • House resolution introduced on W.T.C. memorial plan • Overlooking the site where a father recovered his son’s body, after a three-month search • Park Row buses likely to return next month • West St. tunnel money debate begins • W.T.C. vending law prohibits souvenir sales in Ground Zero area; One year later: Sales still down, vendors
• Lease signed for W.T.C. Tribute Center E.P.A.’s new testing plan has holes, critics say • Work begins on Downtown’s British Memorial Garden • Transportation and W.T.C. site are top priorities • Pataki unveils Downtown spending plan; $1.4 billion in 9/11 aid left to spend • Chinatown included in final pieces of L.M.D.C. spending plan • W.T.C. Cultural Center design unveiled • Trying to move from here to a rebuilt W.T.C. • Kicking up dust over new air testing plan • mad, residents still wary
Struggling to put on a show near Ground Zero: Eric Brown organizes Lower Manhattan Arts Festival and Variety Show to breathe life back into the area • Cultural building
receives good reviews from C.B. 1 • More streets will make the Freedom Tower less secure • ‘Liquid Assets’ outdoor cafe opens across from the W.T.C.
• Photographer Danny Lyon’s new book “The Destruction of Lower Manhattan” shows Downtown before the W.T.C. • Tower of fear, not freedom for some Downtowners • B.P.C. dog run to be named after Sirius, the canine killed on 9/11 • Critics say E.P.A. plan leaves out some workers • “Serving Those Who Serve” offers herbal supplements for 9/11 health problems • Changes for the worse at the Freedom Tower • Art groups back Drawing Center at the W.T.C. site • Racist postcard taped to W.T.C. fence door • c
2005, continued on p.28
Paying respects
For years before the W.T.C. construction site was walled off, people of all ages, such as the boy above, would place flowers, pictures or messages of hope on the fence that surrounded the site.