Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Much Ado About Ground Zero
May 17, 2005
Much Ado About Ground Zero
Now that it's official that the Freedom Tower design will be redone due to security concerns, it turns out that maybe the Port Authority knew about the NYPD's concerns last year. The Daily News reports that Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism, Michael Sheehan, expressed the department's concerns in letters sent in August and October of 2004. While there's no official statement from the Port Authority, some PA sources say that one letter may have never reached then-director Joseph Seymour; also, the letters may have come in between Seymour's resignation announcement and actual resignation. Hmm. Gothamist thinks that a letter from the NYPD about Freedom Tower safety conerns goes into the "Transition folder" for your replacement, versus tossing it with your junk. But perhaps Sheehan should have over-CC'd the letter, to ensure someone would have seen it; we know there is bureaucracy, but we are also sometimes terrible optimists.
And, worried what he'll do for free press now that he's married and since the Apprentice finale is Thursday, Donald Trump has announced he has created a 111-story World Trade Center design alternative to Freedom Tower. While the only substantiation for the design are his words, "We have a beautiful model that has been built, a very big model" - and apparently not Melania - the Post says Trump thinks his design is better-looking, stronger, and "more vivid and beautiful." Plus, Trump is on the record as hating Daniel Libeskind's "eggheaded" design. No word on when he'll unveil the building, but Gothamist has a request of the Port Authority and Governor Pataki: Puh-lease, get the collective act together to shut Donald Trump up.
Much Ado About Ground Zero
Now that it's official that the Freedom Tower design will be redone due to security concerns, it turns out that maybe the Port Authority knew about the NYPD's concerns last year. The Daily News reports that Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism, Michael Sheehan, expressed the department's concerns in letters sent in August and October of 2004. While there's no official statement from the Port Authority, some PA sources say that one letter may have never reached then-director Joseph Seymour; also, the letters may have come in between Seymour's resignation announcement and actual resignation. Hmm. Gothamist thinks that a letter from the NYPD about Freedom Tower safety conerns goes into the "Transition folder" for your replacement, versus tossing it with your junk. But perhaps Sheehan should have over-CC'd the letter, to ensure someone would have seen it; we know there is bureaucracy, but we are also sometimes terrible optimists.
And, worried what he'll do for free press now that he's married and since the Apprentice finale is Thursday, Donald Trump has announced he has created a 111-story World Trade Center design alternative to Freedom Tower. While the only substantiation for the design are his words, "We have a beautiful model that has been built, a very big model" - and apparently not Melania - the Post says Trump thinks his design is better-looking, stronger, and "more vivid and beautiful." Plus, Trump is on the record as hating Daniel Libeskind's "eggheaded" design. No word on when he'll unveil the building, but Gothamist has a request of the Port Authority and Governor Pataki: Puh-lease, get the collective act together to shut Donald Trump up.
# posted by "Faces of the Brave" @ 10:42 PM 
