Newspaper article on Lower Manhattan rebuilding blueprint

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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ebuilding pEan unveiled ***—MAPPING GROUND ZERO’S FUTURE-* Transit, roads priority of downtown project The preliminary blueprint to rebuild lower Manhattan, approved by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp, yesterday, calls for:

By PAUL HA SHIN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER CHANGES AT ©SI I Creation of permanent memorial at ' ****■,... STREET LEVEL New plans for Ground Zero start with years of up­ grading mass transit and roads — before the con­ Trade Center * - \ struction of buildings at the site. J- ® A rough blueprint for the crip­ pled area — unveiled yesterday AN EDITORIAL SSurHinnddvIc park that oigimlzallons by the Lower Manhattan Devel­ opment Corp. — envisions a ma­ Blueprints show city's Creating- jor transit hub with more hous­ on tile track back a. a perma­ ing and retail space than before the Sept. 11 attacks on the mGE32 nent memorial I ' v \ on the World Trade World Trade Center. Other high­ Center site, possibly lights of the plan include: one project. “The governor has including a museum of free­ ■ Building a memorial on the made it clear to all of us that he site with a museum of freedom wants to have a plan for the me­ dom and remembrance. and remembrance. morial park and the memorial I Restoring the street grid to ■ Restoring streets eliminated this year,” said Charles Gargano, b. r integrate the former Trade in the area 35 years ago. chairman of the Empire State Center site with the rest of ■ Burying the southern end of Development Corp. downtown. This may include the West Side Highway. While Garvin lauded the un­ extending Greenwich St. from Barclay to Liberty Sts., extend­ r«n Increasing housing and But aboveground construction precedented level of coopera­ would not begin until at least tion among government agen­ ing Fulton St. from river to river retail use in lower 2004, officials said. cies, others hinted at conflict and extending Morris St. and Manhattan, including an They made clear yesterday ahead. upscale regional mall. the waterfront to create a that the transit hub A senior official of Exchange Place over the Battery continuous park wrapping Tunnel entrance ramp. needs to be created “TtlG DISH hSS th® Port Authority, Creating space for cultural around lower Manhattan before major rebuild- which owns the Turning West St. into a tun­ and civic organizations, including a new home for from the Brooklyn Bridge to ing to replace the to fit together Trade Center site, ar- nel for all or part of its Battery Park City. Trade Center com- gued privately that length from Chambers St. to the New York City Opera and a plex can move for- like 3 IlgSSW many streets should the Battery Park underpass. This downtown branch of the ward. be limited to pedes- would reconnect Battery Park City Guggenheim Museum. “Redevelopment is DUZZie. ” trians because vehi- to the rest of lower Manhattan an extremely compli- cles would interfere Linking new and existing Penn and create a 260-foot-wide swath StaUoi cated matter,” corpo- john WHITEHEAD millions of open space on of land for other development. o, ration chairman John Whitehead said. “In the end, the tourists expected at the memorial each year. “You’re plan has to fit together like a jig­ going to have a tremendous OCHANGESW saw puzzle.” amount of pedestrians coming UNDERGROUND One exception will be 7 World by car, by train, by ferry who Trade Center. have nothing to do with the peo­ 'Gh Reconstruction could begin in ple [who work] here,” the offi­ the fall because owner Lany Sil­ cial said. S SSS! locations Transit verstein has agreed to major con­ Mayor names 4 to panel Hub cessions. Most importantly, his Bloomberg announced four proposed building would not appointments to the agency yes­ I Creation of bus, truck and flvery >«*- dead-end Greenwich St. the way terday: Stanley O’Neal, presi­ car terminal 7 World Trade used to. dent of Merrill Lynch; Sally Her­ under part of the old Trade Tunnel The planners said they hope nandez-Pinero, a former deputy *19 connecting Center site 1/9 with to link 14 downtown subway mayor under Mayor David Din­ N/RDnes lines with PATH trains and per­ kins; Billie Tsien, an architect, X. 5a haps the Long Island Rail Road. and Carl Weisbrod, president of “These are things that have to the Alliance for Downtown New come early on because they will York. A Beefing... determine everything else,” said subway platfonn Bloomberg bristled when up mass on the No. land Alexander Garvin, the chief plan- asked whether the choice of g sones transit in lower ■■

- n®’"' O’Neal created a conflict of inter- S Manhattan. This may “Our pnonty is to make it an est, since Merrill Lynch owns -< include overhauling the South easier place to get to and easier 20% of Bloomberg L.P., the may- m Ferry subway platform on the No. place to get around,” said Depu- or’s multibillion-dollar finnnrial S 1 and 9 lines so riders don’t have ty Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, May- information company. “Stan “ to be in the first five cars to get Wy-y;,;.. or Bloomberg’s liaison to the O’Neal is a quality human being on or off the train. Other propos­ city-state development agency. [who] was appointed because als include connecting the N and The panel has been under he can really help the people of < R lines with the 1 and 9 lines at pressure to outline its goals as New York,” the mayor said. station at Church St. the excavation of the Trade Cen- “'There is nothing to do with the = Rector St and creating ferry serv­ would include underground ice from Long Island City, Queens, ter site draws to a close, months fact that Merrill Lynch owns « walkways connecting to the ahead of initial expectations. 20% of Bloomberg. Period.” S’ I for Long Island Rail Road riders. . Creating a transit hub near b. I the Trade Center site to link PATH trains to subways 1, 9. N and R lines. There is also an alternate proposal to rebuild the PATH station two blocks east, near Creating a bus, truck and wV livery car terminal under a portion of the Trade Center site to accommodate an antici­ Whitehead said more specific plans should be decided on by June, though public input will be gathered for years. He also defended his decision not to appoint relatives of Sept. 11 victims. “What I tried to do was to pick people who had the p and a new URR line extended the Broadway/Fulton St. pated surge in visitors and But the state’s economic devel- skills that they needed for the m from Brooklyn. The rebuilt PATH subway station. freight service. opment chief said Gov. Pataki general development,” he said. § wants faster action on at least With Greg Gittrich

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