St. Nicholas Church at the World Trade Center
Aug 29th, 2010 by David Anderson
The New York Times July 3, 2008
The story of the tiny St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and its efforts to rebuild after the collapse of the World Trade Center is one of well-intentioned promises that led to endless negotiations, design disputes, delays and mounting costs.
It is, in other words, a microcosm of the seven-year, $16 billion, problem-plagued effort to reconstruct the entire trade center site. Within a month of the attack on the trade center, Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, pledged that the four-story church would rise “on the same sacred spot as a symbol of determined faith.” Gov. George E. Pataki agreed.But today, the church exists only on blueprints. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency overseeing reconstruction, has not finalized the exchange of land needed to provide the congregation with a new home near ground zero. Until that deal is completed, the authority cannot proceed with building the southern foundation wall for the entire site, and cannot draw up designs for a bomb screening center for buses and trucks that would go under the new church.And because security is crucial, delays in the vehicle security center mean delays in other parts of the site.On Monday, the Port Authority acknowledged that many parts of the sprawling reconstruction project — including the new PATH station, a 9/11 memorial and several office towers — faced delays of a year or more and cost overruns into the billions. With 26 interrelated projects squeezed onto 16 acres in Lower Manhattan, a delay or dispute at one project is almost certain to create problems at adjoining projects, the report concluded.
Too many bureaucrats, agencies, regulations = futility.
Mr. Anderson, you might want to extend your scope of research outside the “fox box”.
Yeah, try the unbiased Obama…er, Huffington Post.
I think the sources are the New York Times and Washington Post. What do you think the point of the post is? More Freedom for all