John Zuccotti, the United States chairman of Brookfield Properties, which owns the World Financial Center at Battery Park City and a former chairman of the City Planning Commission, has written a letter to the city's Department of Planning claiming that the grand staircase in the center's spectacular Wintergarden skylit atrium "would require people to maneuver around the wall as they enter the W.F.C. and the Winter Garden from the new [Fulton Street transit center, create choke points and [a major inconvenience for pedestrians, severely impeding the flow of traffic," according to an article today by Aline Reynolds in the Downtown Express.

The very grand marble staircase had been damaged in the terrorist attacks September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center and "subsequently rebuilt" and "will likely be taken down again - this time, by the building's owner," the article said.

"Brookfield Properties will likely be demolishing the steps and a 15-foot-high wall that supports them, after nine months of staff meetings and studies about the renovation project," the article stated, adding that "community residents that see the staircase as a symbol of the 9/11 attacks are not happy."

The article quoted Linda Belfer, chair of the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1, as stating that "it stands as a monument to the things that we've lost," adding that "the neighborhood has been very upset about it."

"Brookfield," the article continued, "plans to fill the vacant space with a 35-foot corridor that leads to escalators from a tunnel underneath West Street that connects W.F.C. to the new transit center. The company defends its plan in the letter by saying that the wall holding up the staircase is a physical barrier for pedestrians entering the W.F.C. via the tunnel. Brookfield says the 'retention scenario' also obstructs the view of the Winter Garden and the World Trade Center complex. The staircase wall 'would not only create an obstacle between the escalators from the underground tunnel and the Winter Garden, but would also waste a once-in-a-century opportunity to open the interior of lower Manhattan to the waterfront,' according to the letter."

"When the staircase is removed," it added, "'A pedestrian will be able to proceed from the new transportation center across the Memorial, through our new glass pavilion, through the Winter Garden, across the upper Plaza, down and across the lower plaza to the water,' the letter says. Spokesperson Melissa Coley said in a phone interview that the demolition plans haven't yet been finalized. Coley wouldn't comment on when a final decision will be made."

The article noted that "City Planning Director Amanda Burden maintains that the staircase and wall should be preserved. '[The stairs create a transitional area between the tree canopies, high glass ceiling, and the ground floor,' she says in a letter to Zuccotti that contests Brookfield's plans. The stairs encourage public use of the building's upper floors, provide 'attractive and generous circulation' between the building's first two floors, and highlight the building's interior dome. Contrary to what Brookfield suggests, Burden argues in her letter, 'The stairs give visitors an elevated and elongated view of the water, while also drawing people to the second floor, where a unique, raised view of the Memorial awaits them.' The staircase, she added, also provides office workers space for informal meetings and phone conversations."

Community Board 1 passed a resolution in late July requesting that the staircase be preserved, noting that "This restored grand staircase became a symbol of recovery and renewal and a much beloved community amenity where performances can be viewed, friends and families can meet, lunches can be enjoyed with views out to the Hudson."

Brookfield will discuss its plans at the September 28 meeting of the Community Board.