The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has no final design, location, budget and opening date for a planned central command security center at Ground Zero, according to an article by Douglas Feiden in the Daily News yesterday.
"The Authority's failure to find a home or fix a price for the facility means projects that must rely on it for security - including the Freedom Tower and the Transportation Hub - could bust their timetables and budgets, experts say," the article stated.
"After five months of inquiries from The News," the article continued, "the Authority said it would open an interim SWOCC [Site-Wide Operations Coordination Center early next year at 115 Broadway. Called the Site Logistics Control Center, it will serve as a 'war room' and use 2-4/7 video monitoring to coordinate construction and security, the agency says."
The article said that a spokesperson for the authority in September estimated the bunker's preliminary budget at $70 million, but in October the authority said there was no preliminary budget and cost estimates were still being developed. "Last week," it continued, "the Authority said: 'we do not have an exact estimate because we do not yet have a final site.'"
Apart from Larry Silverstein's gleaming new office tower at 7 World Trade Center, progress at Ground Zero has not advanced very much since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 much to the consternation, chagrin and embarrassment of most New Yorkers.
"The Authority's failure to find a home or fix a price for the facility means projects that must rely on it for security - including the Freedom Tower and the Transportation Hub - could bust their timetables and budgets, experts say," the article stated.
"After five months of inquiries from The News," the article continued, "the Authority said it would open an interim SWOCC [Site-Wide Operations Coordination Center early next year at 115 Broadway. Called the Site Logistics Control Center, it will serve as a 'war room' and use 2-4/7 video monitoring to coordinate construction and security, the agency says."
The article said that a spokesperson for the authority in September estimated the bunker's preliminary budget at $70 million, but in October the authority said there was no preliminary budget and cost estimates were still being developed. "Last week," it continued, "the Authority said: 'we do not have an exact estimate because we do not yet have a final site.'"
Apart from Larry Silverstein's gleaming new office tower at 7 World Trade Center, progress at Ground Zero has not advanced very much since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 much to the consternation, chagrin and embarrassment of most New Yorkers.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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