[Views and News on Rebuilding Lower Manhattan]
Got a story you want to tell?
 The recently-reopened Dow Jones building in the World Financial Center has a new feature: frosted glass windows. The windows prevent building occupants from looking out into the void at Ground Zero. Is it a metaphor for our collective consciousness?
11/04/02
And yet our government doesn't seem to want to do much about the situation, other than beating the war drums on Iraq, which could exacerbate terrorism. Still, 14 months after 9/11, and we have no homeland security department. So I've decided to do something. I'm going to publish an unexpurgated version of a story that I wrote for my day job about the horrifying state of our homeland security. I won't bother you with the gory reasons as to why the story that I wrote was never published (it has something to do with editors, let's just say), although an emasculated version of it ran a month or so ago. The more important thing is to get the information out. Read the story. Get outraged. Call your Congress-people. If we don't get cracking on this counter-terrorism effort, we'll only have ourselves to blame next time the terrorists strike. And it's only a matter of time before they will.
9/13/02
 My favorite pic. Taken in front of the Raccoon Lodge bar on Warren St.
8/05/02 NEW STORIES!!! I've been meaning to publish these two stories that illuminate very different but equally important aspects to post-9/11 life for some time now. Finally, I've carved out some time to publish them. Praise the Lord! A FIFTH GRADER'S ODYSSEY By Harry Maurer This story was written by a co-worker of mine. It's about his 10-year-old son, who attends P.S. 150, a school downtown that was closed after 9/11. The story chronicles the ordeal that he and his family experienced trying to re-open the school. A SHOE MAN TRIES TO GET BACK ON HIS FEET
GROUND ZERO GETS NEW VIEWING AREA
 In the past few weeks, officials have continued to open up viewing areas and closer access to the perimeter of the site. The southern edge of the site along what used to be Liberty Street was just opened up recently. And this picture was taken along the eastern edge along Church Street. 
Here's the view along Liberty Street. The site continues to draw thick crowds.
7/16/02
REBUILDING: LET THE CONVERSATION BEGIN
Now it's our chance to provide feedback on the designs. The LMDC Web site says the public can send comments about the concepts to InfoLMDC@empire.state.ny.us or via phone at 212 962 2300. I haven't had a chance to closely look at the concepts but the initial buzz about them is that they are uninspiring, as a recent NY Times story suggested. I'll post my views on the plans shortly. If they aren't up to the task then it's incumbent on us to let the higher-ups know and to submit better ideas. Given the history of the World Trade Center and the fact that its planning and development took place behind closed doors and was rammed down the public's throat, officials have said they are very interested seeking and listening to feedback. We'll see how true that is in the coming months.
6/10/02
6/06/02
A Fire Department bell tolled 20 times - the traditional tribute to a fallen firefighter - at 10:29 a.m., the exact time the north tower fell to dust on Sept. 11. I caught some of the ceremony on TV at work. It was incredibly sad, and brought up many bad memories. I, like many others, was stuck in a funk all day. But there was a tinge of hope, I guess. Now the focus is on rebuilding, on making a better future and moving on as best as we can. In that spirit of closure, I toured Ground Zero on Sunday June 2. I wanted to snap some shots of the site before it was transformed into a construction site.
 I took this photo from a crack in the wall of the recontructed walking bridge lining Liberty Street. It was re-opened just a week or two ago. It's the best shot I've taken of the site from a close-up view. Notice the train tracks being built on the lower right hand side.  "Here's the insides of the walking bridge.  This is one of the saddest photos I've ever taken. The family and friends of this kid from Jersey, Bobby Hughes, hung up his baseball uniform and cap on the railing of the cemetery on Church Street. I grew up near Sayreville so this display really hit home.  This is one of those air monitoring devices that the Environmental Protection Agency has spread around town.
5/14/02
The ethereal twin beams of light that lit up the Manhattan skyline as a memorial to the victims of the World Trade Center attacks may be gone. But like so many other poignant memorials, they will never be forgotten. I took these photos of the light sculpture apparatus on April 14, the day the structure was dismantled. The structure, which included two base stations, was located in the parking lot of the Battery Park Regal cinema for about a month. Eighty-eight powerful searchlights created two parallel beams that illuminated the sky every night from dusk to 11 p.m. Many New Yorkers came to love these lights, as they so eloquently captured the sense of immense loss while also suggesting for the first time a sense of renewal and positive action. For the last night of the Tribute, the city kept the lights until dawn, and then turned them off as the lights were swallowed by the coming day.
4/12/02
The other thing I like about the site is that the LMDC has published its meeting schedule and the minutes of past board meetings. According to the site, "the LMDC Board meets regularly. Meetings are normally held in Manhattan, One Liberty Plaza, 39th Floor conference room at 8 am, lasting approximately two hours. LMDC Board meetings are open to the public and media."
The following is a tentative meeting schedule through July, 2002:
LOCAL WEB SITE PUBLISHER EMBRACES DIGITAL VIDEO
One of the reasons I haven't posted these videos sooner is that I've been struggling to figure out how to incorporate them into the site. I still haven't figured out an optimal way, but screw it. Enough pondering. I'm just going to post them and in old school Web fashion finetune the production along the way. VIDEO: At night, Ground Zero can feel really eery. Smoke spits out of the shredded streets as workers ply away on the night shift. This was taken on January 8 on Greenwich Street, three block south of the pit. (1.6MB Quicktime) VIDEO: It's weird how beauty can co-exist beside the most baleful sites. I shot this pan of the Hudson and Ground Zero from the roof of my building on January 14 . (3.3MB Quicktime) VIDEO: Cars riding down West Street are a sight to behold. I shot this on Saturday March 30, the first day West Street was open. (2.1MB Quicktime)
4/10/02
The pit itself continues to shapeshift. Notice the new frontage road on the left side of the pit and the new ramp near the bottom right.
As part of the rebuild, workers have begun excavating dirt and concrete in the small park adjacent to my building. I hear they are going to redo the sidewalk and refill the park with fresh dirt and landscaping so the kids can play without fear of being harmed.
3/25/02
On March 11, the six-month anniversary of 9/11, Mayor Bloomberg and other city poobahs unveiled this sculpture called the Sphere. The Sphere and the poignant and hopeful beams of light are first official memorials commemorating the Trade Center tragedy. The Sphere was originally located in the plaza between the two Twin Towers, and it somehow survived that day. Its new home is Battery Park. I found the damaged and scarred carcass of the Sphere to be a powerful yet painful reminder of 9/11. I guess others agree. The Sphere is attracting pretty decent-size crowds. 
About two weeks ago, life for downtown New Yorkers improved considerably when the city opened up Trinity Place, the only major northbound artery in lower Manhattan. Transportation costs and times immediately dropped 25%-50%. I took this photo while taking a cab up the street. Notice the newly-reopended Century 21 on the right side. Directly to the left is the east border of Ground Zero. 
We've all heard about how 9/11 has devastated the downtown restaurant community. One beautiful gem of a victim that hasn't received much attention is Gigino's, a nice little Italian joint that sat at the tip of the Battery. Not only was the food fresh and tasty, but Gigino's was one of the best outdoor dining spots in the city. I remember one night I was having dinner with a friend and our meal was pleasantly interrupted by a fireworks display across the harbor near Brooklyn. No more. Notice the homeless woman who has taken up residence underneath the restaurant's alcove. At least someone is getting use out of the building. TIME TO SPEAK UP The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has posted has its "Draft Assistance Plan for Individuals." The six-page plan details the type and amounts of assistance that may be potentially provided to downtown NY residents and businesses. The deadline for contributing comments is March 13, 2002. Following the initial comment period, the LMDC will submit the plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Then there will be one final round of public comment before final approval. Comments may be transmitted via email to LMDC@empire.state.ny.us or sent to:
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
On Wednesday March 6 I attended the annual meeting of our condominium. It was standing room only. There was much to talk about, including most prominently the ongoing property tax strike and our threatened eviction. I missed the early part of the meeting but folks tell me that the Battery Park City Homeowner's Coalition is abandoning our effort to reduce or eliminate the PILOT tax because it is too complicated to change. Instead, we are lobbying for an increased grant/subsidy and negotiating a cap on future increased to the PILOT tax and ground rent. The mood seemed somewhat positive and hopeful. One of the BPCHC reps said we were scheduled to meet with the BPC Authority and talk about all the issues. We'll see...
2/20/02
Some background: The Battery Park City Homeowners Coalition (BPCHC), which represents 11 condominiums in BPC, is holding the property taxes in an escrow account. The BPCHC has put forth a "Residential Stabilization Abatement Program" that would essentially eliminate property taxes for up to four years. The withheld property taxes are one of only levers we can use to negotiate with the city, state and BPCA. "BPCA is aware," reads the letter, "that the events of September 11, 2001 and their aftermath, may have impacted on you. However, your Board of Managers is leaving BPCS no choice but to commence legal action in order to compel payment of rent that is overdue to BPCA. We in no way want to minimize the impact that the tragedy may have had on your life; nevertheless, BPCA cannot continue to operate without the payment of rent." It continues: "If you want to avoid possible litigation then please contact the Board of Managers and direct them to release to BPCA any rent strike money which you have paid..." This letter makes me want to throw up or hit something really hard. Why is the BPCA doing this? Don't they realize that they are shooting off both their feet? We remaining residents are keeping this damn place alive. And if the BPCA force us out, then BPCA will never recover. Furthermore, it's just untrue that the BPCA "cannot continue to operate without the payment of rent." Thanks to years of tax payments, the BPCA is a cash cow that has delivered tens of millions of dollars in surplus revenue to the city. Why is the BPCA playing hardball? It's not as if it is a public corporation that needs to meet a quarterly earnings target. Instead of threatening to sue and evict us residents, the BPCA should be trying to work with us and help us rebuild the neighborhood. Besides this letter, the BPCA announced a plan to provide $15.6 million in direct suppport to homeowners. That comes to less than $3,000 per unit--not much when you consider the huge hit that property values have absorbed. I don't think the BPCA would ever follow through on this plan. It's a PR nightmare waiting to happen. I can just see the headline: POLS BOOT OUT LOCAL BATTERY PARK RESIDENTS. But if our own supposed representatives are part of the problem, then it's a pretty depressing situation.
2/19/02
Ground Zero photo taken on February 12, 2002. Notice that the dirt ramp has been cleared away, and the metal structures at the bottom of the photo.
The Red Cross set up shop in a building in Battery Park City. I visited them a few weeks ago and took this photo. It was the middle of the day and the room was pretty full with people seeking assistance.
2/04/02
Over the last month I've noticed a lot more kids in the hood. This is a good thing. In fact, the playground behind my building on West Thames re-opened a few weeks ago after the parks department filled the swing set area with a whole new truckoad of sand. Behind the fence, you'll notice a motor home with the umbrella logo of Traveler's insurance. It's been there for months now, serving as a base for customers to process their insurance claim forms.
Disaster stickers pasted on the side of the Traveler's motor home. I wonder what title they'll come up with for 9/11?
The attacks have left behind many scars--both psychological and physical. This is a photo of West Thames street, right in front of my apartment building where workers used Battery Park as a staging ground to carry out the clean-up process. The twisted and charred steel beams of the Towers chewed up the pavement, leaving indelible and strangely beautiful marks of their destruction.
Despite the incredible clean-up of the neighborhood, remnants of 9/11 still dirty the area. The trees behind my building were clotted with various types of debris that hurled down the street as the Towers collapsed. Some of the plastic bags are still stuck in the tree, hanging like some sort of unintentional and haunting art project.
1/22/02
Refrigerators that have been thrown out by residents. Many people were forced to leave food in their frigerators on 9/11. The food stunk up the boxes so bad that they had to be tossed.. THE BIRDS
SENIORS SPEAK UP
1/14/02
PIZZA
1/10/02
Madelyn also gave the latest scoop on the LMDC. Apparently, each of the 11 LMDC board members has been asked to set up various subcommittees that will advise the board members and LMDC staff on a host of redevelopment issues. Madelyn, for example, has been asked by LMDC chairman John Whitehead to appoint 10 to 15 people to subcommittees on three issues: local residents, arts and education. "We’ll spend the next two months in a listening mode," she told me. I asked her how people get picked for these committees and she said names have been submitted by LMDC board members, the governor and the mayor. So much for an open process. "The process will be done in a few days," she told me. However, she said that if people want to nominate individuals for these committees they should call John Whitehead's office directly at 212 755 3131. Clearly, as I've said before, the process needs to be more open. Even basic pieces of information such as when the LMDC will meet are hard if not impossible to come by. Madelyn told me that the Empire State Development Corp. is sending out the notices on the meetings but I couldn't find anything about the LMDC on its Web site. I guess I'll try to call them. Finally, Madelyn says the date and time of the next LMDC meeting have not been set. They are thinking of holding the meeting on 1/25 or 1/29. IF I hear anything I'll let you know.
1/09/02
Newsflash: I found out today that Community Board One will be holding a Town Hall meeting on Tuesday January 29 at 6pm in Stuyvesant High School to discuss the issues around rebuilding and CBOne's role in the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp. process. One thing I've realized recently is that the LMRD needs a huge dose of transparency. It feels like the group and its proceedings are taking place in the dark. As far as I can tell, LMRD does not have an office, a phone number or a Web site. Pathetic. I'm trying to find out more about the meeting and the agenda. I have a call into CBOne rep Madelyn Wils but have yet to hear back from her. Finally, I read in the Times (p. B6) that "government officials and downtown executives" will within a week appoint former Gov. Pataki adviser Louis R. Tomson as LMRD executive director.
Also, I've posted some new links, including one to a superb video site and an excellent weekly newsletter from Dow Jones about rebuilding Wall Street.
News: Cleanup's Pace Outstrips Plans for Attack Site. For weeks, I've been thinking about the issue that this story raises. This much is clear: The Ground Zero workers are doing an unbelievable job cleaning up the site. Now it's time for the politicians to rise to the occassion and get a real redevelopment plan together. Unfortunately I fear that they won't be up to the task. Consider that the bums in Washington couldn't even put together an economic stimulus package.
Dear Spencer: Although the 600 building at Gateway reopened last week, I have yet to return. First off, I moved most of my stuff out to get it decontaminated. Lefrak [the owner/landlord of Gateway] "assumed" that I moved out, even though I never wrote them or told them, did not ask for my security deposit back, etc. They disposed of my remaining possessions in the trash. So, litigation is next. I was back at the apartment on Sunday. My dishwasher is broken, the refrigerator has science experiments growing in it, and I do not have a smoke detector (which was wired to their computer dept) because their assholes threw it out with my stuff. I told them that the apartment is not ready for occupancy, and to call me when it is. I won't hold my breath. I too believe that we must keep writing about 9-11. There has been much debate about the "viewing stands". First, Giulianni said no tourists. Now, he flip-flopped and built them. I suppose that the argument could be made that the USS Arizona is a memorial, so should be the WTC. Actually, the best views are from the roof of my building.
News: Subway Line In Attack May Re-open Much Earlier. More good news. Train officials say the Rector Street and South Ferry stops on the 1 and 9 line will be reopened in November, more than a year earlier than planned. One of the major inconveniences post-9/11 down here is that, with West Street and the 1/9 lines shut down, it's a major pain in the ass to reach the West side of the city. The only options are to take a cab around the FDR drive and then cut across the whole city, or take the N/R line to Union Square and walk or take a cross-town bus. The sooner we can reopen a West side transport line the better. Heck, let's run ferries up and down the Hudson.
News: At Ground Zero, New Manager, New Machines, New Focus. Good update on the site cleanup from The Times.
In the wake of the World Trade Center Attack, Ground Zero Diary is a Web site dedicated to chronicling the process of rebuilding downtown New York. After such a tough and painful year, I can't think of a more positive way to kick off 2002 than by launching this project.
A Brand New Day: View of New York Harbor and Lady Liberty from My Battery Park City Patio on January 1, 2002 Ground Zero Diary is mostly a labor of sanity. Over the last few months, I realized I need some sort of whiteboard for all the thoughts and impressions and feelings coursing through my being as a resident of New York’s Battery Park City post-9/11. And since I’m a writer and editor who knows a thing or two about technology, a Web site seems like an obvious outlet to focus my energies. There’s another reason for Ground Zero Diary: New York needs a witness, for its own citizens and for others who live far away. The local media, especially the New York Times, has been doing a fantastic job of covering the Metro side of the War. But even the Times can’t capture every story. What’s more, my sense, based on personal observations and anecdotal evidence, is that non-New Yorkers are particularly hungry for a ground-level, human perspective on New York’s ongoing transformation. My hope is that this site becomes a valuable reference point in the post-9/11 conversation. And finally there’s history to consider. If history is not recorded and remembered, then there is no history. I know it sounds a bit hokey and grandiose, but 100 years from now people will want to know what it was like to live in downtown New York in the wake of the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history. To find out, they will dig up grainy CNN footage and dogeared copies of magazines and newspapers. And they may even dredge up Web sites like this. In fact, as one friend astutely pointed out to me, every war is associated with a particular recording technology. World War II had radio. Vietnam had TV. And the Gulf War had cable. Well, for better or worse, this war is stuck with the Web. In the weeks and months ahead, I hope you’ll tag along with me as I make this journey. Down here, things change every day, and I hope to capture many of these changes through the wonders of the Internet and digital technology. And from time to time, I may even get up on my soapbox. There are many, many important decisions that need to be considered and made over the coming months and it’s imperative that members of the local community have a strong say in the decision-making process.
In the meantime, I’ve got a lot of stuff in the pipeline that I’ll be publishing over the next few weeks. So come back in a week or so. And Happy New Year to all. I’ve never been more excited to finish up one year and start anew.
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