A couple weeks after I moved to Hong Kong, I had coffee with a British woman named Margaret.
Margaret had lived in Hong Kong for many years and was the director of business for a communications consultancy. When I lived in New York, I had occasionally worked as a corporate trainer, and wanted to resume Read More
A day after arriving in Manhattan from across the harbor, the first piece of the 1 World Trade Center spire has begun the trip to its final resting place atop the city’s tallest tower. We’ll have a full report of the ceremony later but wanted to share this dramatic shot now. Read More
In a subtle reminder of the connection between New Jersey and New York that undergird the Port Authority, the spire that will top the agency’s 1 World Trade Center departed its berth in the Port of Newark for Lower Manhattan this morning. Once the barge carrying eight pieces of the 400-foot tower topper arrives in Read More
After the Hudson flooded into the World Trade Center during Hurricane Sandy, it was remarkable that the site had been pumped out and work had resumed within days rather than weeks. Now, construction has recommenced in earnest, as some 750 construction workers returned to the site to finish the work of building 1 World Trade Center, the Vehicle Screening Center, the PATH station and other pieces of the 16-acre site.
Governor Cuomo announced the return of workers earlier today, as well as the fact that 95 percent of the World Trade Center site was now dry. Damage to the site, and the storms impact to the construction time table, is still being assessed. The resumption of work means cranes are in operation yet again on the site. Read More
So many parts of the city’s crucial infrastructure remain under water, most notably those Con Edison generators downtown, but the city is drying out remarkably fast following the worst storm in living memory. Even some of the subway tubes have come back, if only there was power to run trains through them.
At his press briefing this evening, Gov. Cuomo made a surprise announcement, actually in the middle of talking about what dismal shape the PATH train is in—there appear to be some five miles worth of flooding, the length the line under the Hudson from New York to New Jersey, so that is one thing that will probably be submerged for some time to come. But a place that will not be is the World Trade Center, which, after flooding a good 15 to 20 feet across the site only three days ago, is now dry and in working order.
“Work will recommence at the Ground Zero site tonight,” Gov. Cuomo declared. I was just congratulating some of the workers; there was tremendous flooding at the Ground Zero site. We went from seeing the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel turned into a flume, we walked up the World Trade Center site, where water was cascading into the site from every imaginable angle, at such a decibel level it was disorienting. The entire site was flooded.” Read More
A mandatory evacuation from the Rockaways will still cost you $3.25.
The mayor announced earlier today that all city employees are expected to come into work today at the discretion of their departments. The same goes for a few unlucky MTA and Port Authority employees manning the city’s bridges. While weather conditions may become so severe that the bridges have to be shut down, for now, the toll booths are manned, and tolls remain in effect. For once, the banks are being kinder than the toll man. Read More
Last week, President Obama visited 1 World Trade Center for an update on the project’s progress. He gave a speech and signed the beam that would top the country’s maybe-tallest tower. It would still be some time until the beam was hoisted into place.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the site, 4 World Trade Center was quietly rising. Today, Silverstein Properties announced that the tower will have its topping out ceremony this Monday, when the building reaches its final height of 974 feet.
What about 1 World Trade Center? The Port Authority did not respond to requests for comment as to when its topping out ceremony might be, but a World Trade Center source said it could come as early as Tuesday. Read More
Commuters crossing the George Washington bridge may be helping the environment and their fellow man by picking up pedestrian comrades, but they also risk running afoul of the money-grubbing Port Authority. Read More
Two weeks ago, Port Authority executive director Pat Foye announced that the agency had found a new home for Fritz Koenig’s Sphere, the sculpture that once graced the middle of the World Trade Center plaza and was nearly destroyed on 9/11. After the attacks, the giant bronze orb, now greatly dented but otherwise intact, was installed in Battery Park City, viewed by many as a sign of the city’s resilience.
“Next week, the Port Authority will announce a new temporary home for the Koenig, the iconic bronze sculpture that miraculously survived the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center,” read an email that showed up unprompted in newsrooms across the city on May 11.
Only thing is, that week, as well as this week, have come and gone without any further news. Read More
The Port Authority’s reputation as a gigantic, out-of-control and unaccountable bureaucracy is well-deserved. But every now and again, its leaders realize that something simply has to be done to placate the agency’s chorus of critics.
No doubt that’s what led PA officials to announce recently that it would cut salaries, benefits and other perks in an effort to save $41 million between now and the end of next year. What’s striking, however, is not that these perks are being cut. Their very existence—until now—speaks to the agency’s traditional cluelessness.
The agency announced that about 30 top executives will absorb pay cuts of 8 percent or so and will now have to pay up to 35 percent of their health-care insurance costs. That’s fine, but here’s the question: Why haven’t those executives been paying 35 percent of their insurance all along? Read More
