Feud Intensifies in Case of Remains of 9/11 Dead

BY BRIAN McGUIRE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
June 6, 2005

 
ALBANY - A long-running feud over the final burial place for victims of the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center attack intensified last week following the passage of a Senate bill authorizing the removal of remains from a Staten Island landfill to an unidentified memorial site.

The debate over burial has remained largely out of public view, owing to the inability of legislators last year to advance a bill on the issue. The speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, is said to have scuttled talk of a bill last year because it would have called for the remains to be transported to ground zero.

"There was absolutely no way he was going to go along with the first version," a source familiar with the debate said of Mr. Silver's opposition to the original proposal. "He's committed to economic development. He doesn't want that site to be a graveyard." The source declined to speak on the record.

The families of victims could see movement on the issue this year though, because a new bill in the Assembly does not specify where the remains would be brought. The Senate bill that passed last week is similarly vague, authorizing the transport of up to 480,000 tons of ashes from the Fresh Kills landfill to "a fitting site."

The lead sponsor of the Senate bill, Thomas Morahan, a Republican of Rockland County, wrote in a legislative memo that the bill is intended to "rectify the indignity that families of victims have expressed at having their loved ones buried in a landfill." The lead sponsor of the Assembly bill, Ryan Karben, a Democrat of Rockland County, said family members of victims have pressed for action this year.

"Many of the families reached out expressing their distress that the remains of their loved ones are in a landfill," Mr. Karben said. "The pain was difficult enough of not getting bodies back, but to have no place to mourn, no grave site, no memorial was really very difficult. To have to go through that tragedy was horrible, but having to visit your loved one in a dump - no one should be subjected to this."

Lawmakers in New Jersey have already passed a measure authorizing the transport of remains. That state's involvement relates to its joint oversight with New York over the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which organized the original transport of remains to Staten Island. With a New York bill on the matter passed in the Senate, attention now turns to the Assembly, where the companion bill has been tied up since March in the committee that oversees the Port Authority.

The chairman of that committee, Richard Brodsky, a Democrat of Westchester, said the bill is under consideration. He also said the removal of the provision on ground zero makes the legislation likelier to pass, though he noted that the sheer volume of bills before his committee, about 500, could delay consideration for another year. "We're looking at it very carefully," Mr. Brodsky said. "I think that amendment has given it new life."

Mr. Karben, meanwhile, said he is confident the bill will make it to the floor this month and then to Governor Pataki for signature.

"Passion is running very high and these 9/11 survivor families very much want this bill to be passed," the assemblyman said. "They want to see this done by the end of the session, and I'm optimistic we will be able to do that."

A spokesman for Mr. Pataki did not return calls seeking comment.

http://www.nysun.com/article/14902

The Women at Ground Zero Project

Women at Ground Zero is a powerful collection of first-person stories told by 30 female firefighters, police officers, paramedics, EMTs, and others who responded to the World Trade Center tragedy on September 11, 2001. In response to the media’s portrayal of rescue workers as “firemen, policemen, brothers,” and “our brave guys,” Northern California authors Susan Hagen and Mary Carouba pooled their credit cards and set out for Manhattan shortly after the World Trade Center attack to find and interview women rescue workers and tell their stories. Despite the fact that they had no contacts, no press credentials, and knew no one in New York City, Hagen and Carouba were determined to find these women and include them in the national conversation about the heroes of 9/11.

“One of the things that bothered us most about the invisibility of women at Ground Zero was that the media presented few role models for girls and young women who might be considering careers in public safety,” Hagen and Carouba write in the book’s introduction. “Women have worked hard to make inroads into occupations that were previously available only to men, and we did not want the women working at Ground Zero to fade into the background of American history. Nor did we want to see current and future generations of children grow up believing that only men are strong, brave, and heroic.”
 
http://www.womenatgroundzero.com/index3.html

Warning from Gore on future

Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, June 5, 2005

When former Vice President Al Gore gave a long list of doom-and- gloom statistics Saturday about global warming -- warning people that rising sea levels could drown out parts of Florida, Louisiana and Manhattan -- there were no loud gasps or headshakes of disbelief from a roomful of Bay Area environmentalists.

At the World Environment Day conference in San Francisco -- a five-day U. N. gathering dedicated to adopting sound environmental practices for urban centers -- he was preaching to the choir.

"To an audience like this, Al Gore needs little introduction," Randy Hayes, founder of Rainforest Action Network, told the crowd before Gore took the stage for his keynote address.

Gore, who has made environmental activism a key component of his life since running for president in 2000, delivered an hourlong speech about climate change and global warming, which he called a "planetary emergency."

"We can't ignore it," he told the packed audience at the Fort Mason Center. "We can't put our heads in the sand."

When he wasn't presenting charts about rising levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere or speaking about the ways global warming rapidly sucks moisture out of the Earth's soil at high levels, he was, at times, uncharacteristically funny.

There were lots of strategically placed one-liners, even a cartoon skit about global warming based on "The Simpsons."

"I am Al Gore. I used to be the next president of the United States," he said to a laughing crowd. "I don't find that particularly funny."

He took a couple jabs at the Bush administration and even managed to squeeze in a political endorsement for Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, in his bid for state attorney general.

"We've got to organize politically, locally, internationally," said Brown, who met Gore on stage following the speech. "It doesn't get any more important."

By conservation, a reduction in emissions and political activism, a solution is possible, Gore said.

"The solutions are more accessible than people thought," he said. "We can do this."

The world's population explosion, which by 2050 will reach 9.1 billion, has increased the demand for energy, water and food, he said, and has contributed to the problem of global warming.

In 15 years, Gore said, there will be no more glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro. As for Glacier National Park in Montana, he said, "Within 20 years, this is the park that will be formerly known as Glacier." And the Rhone Glacier in Switzerland "is almost completely gone," he said.

He denounced critics who say global warming is not a serious threat.

"There are a lot of people, some in less responsible oil and utility companies, who say, 'Hey, what's the big deal,' " Gore said. "If we allow this to happen, it is deeply ethically immoral in every way."

He showed photos of rapidly melting glaciers in Antarctica and said that if half of Greenland and half of west Antarctica melted away, it would have a devastating effect on rising sea levels. Parts of Florida would be covered in water, he said. New Orleans would be virtually nonexistent and the future World Trade Center memorial in New York would be under water.

"Is it only terrorists that we're worried about? Is that the only threat that is worth our attention?" Gore said. "We are witnessing a collision between our civilization and the Earth."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...2005/06/05/GORE.TMP

Lloyd's faces huge new claims for Ground Zero compensation
By Katherine Griffiths in New York
05 June 2005


Several Lloyd's of London insurers may have to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars of extra compensation for the destruction of the World Trade Center, thanks to new claims from the state body which owns the land at Ground Zero.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is demanding a further $2.1bn (£1.15bn) from its insurers, which include several Lloyd's underwriters as well as France's Axa and Denmark's Copenhagen Reinsurance.

The Port Authority's claim would place a new burden on Lloyd's members who have already had to pay out about $350m of a $3.5bn insurance policy on the World Trade Center held by the property developer Larry Silverstein.

The group of underwriters have also handed over $950m to the Port Authority to cover repairs and rebuilding on several of the other buildings in downtown New York which were damaged by the attacks.

The underwriters have hired Ropes & Gray, a New York law firm, and launched legal action in federal court last week to fight the government agency's argument that it is entitled to triple that sum.

The court battle - expected to take up to two years and to incur hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees - is the latest disagreement about the final costs of 11 September 2001.

Many of the same insurers have been fighting a bitter battle with Mr Silverstein, who had a 99-year lease on the twin towers. Mr Silverstein argued he was entitled to a double payment on his $3.5bn insurance policy on the twin towers because the attacks were two events. The courts have largely upheld the opposite view that the destruction of the World Trade Center was one event.

The Port Authority is arguing that it should have additional compensation under a policy it had on the Center site that was separate to Mr Silverstein's policy. The Port Authority's contract, a general guarantee of coverage if a tenant in one of its buildings were to suddenly go bust, cannot be used given that the Silverstein policy was in place, the insurers have argued.

A source said: "It is normally the insured party that goes on the attack. The fact that the insurers have decided to take legal action indicates how confident they are about the outcome."

Lloyd's members are not expected to have to call on its central fund of emergency reserves, which currently stands at £556m. But the additional World Trade Center claim is unwelcome at a time when payouts from natural disasters around the world have been heavy, and while Lloyd's faces uncertainty about asbestos liabilities in the US.

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/new...ry.jsp?story=644154

Class of 9/11

Sarah Haines remembers being in math class at North Attleboro High School when an announcement came over the loudspeaker that two airliners had just crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center.

`` At first we were scared,'' said Haines, a freshman at the time. `` We didn't really know how we should react.''
For Haines and millions of other high school students that fall, the enormity of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks didn't truly emerge until they saw the TV images of the collapsing towers when they got home from school.

But as time passed, it became clear the world they were entering -- filled with terrorist threats, war and stepped-up security measures -- had become far different from the one they knew in childhood.

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2005/06/05/city/city2.txt

The World Trade Center Survivors' Network Holds a Memorial Service and Candlelight Vigil
 
 
The World Trade Center Survivors’ Network will sponsor a candlelight service on Sunday April 17 at 8 pm to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing as well as celebrate the close ties we have forged with the families, survivors and rescue/relief workers from Oklahoma.The service will take place at the foot of the sculpture known as “The Sphere”, located at the Eisenhower Mall at the north end of Battery Park adjacent to the Hope Garden. The Sphere stood as the centerpiece of the World Trade Center plaza as a symbol to foster peace through world trade. Although the Sphere was badly damaged on September 11, it was salvaged, and today stands as a stirring tribute to the courage of those we lost and as a reminder of the resiliency of the American spirit. An eternal flame was added at the foot of the Sphere on the first anniversary in 2002.
 
The service is our small contribution to the Oklahoma City Memorial National Week of Hope, which will take place between April 17 and April 24 to conmemorate the 10th anniversary. It includes a variety of events and ceremonies honoring those who were killed, those who survived, and those changed forever by the 1995 bombing. A candlelight service is also planned in Oklahoma City for April 17 at 7 pm, which means we will be having simultaneous services in New York and Oklahoma City. With this, we stand united in our desire for healing, unity, and peace. Candles will be provided to all who attend.For more information, email us at e-mail protected from spam botsWorld Trade Center Survivors' Network
www.survivorsnet.org
 
http://archives.moneyplans.net/frontend212-verify-10946.html

MasterVisions Etched Glass Home Décor and Furniture released a new firefighter design that came to their collection from a customer who had no idea that her search for a firefighter-themed coffee table would lead to her helping to design one.

The new design, "Axe 343", began when Teena Snider asked whether MasterVisions had coffee tables with a firefighter design for her fiancé, Jeff Schwering, a Fenton, Missouri, firefighter. With none available, Snider and Schwering discussed with MasterVisions owner Mark Scott creating a custom etching for their coffee table.

Schwering, after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, visited Ground Zero and met firefighters from around the world. At the 9/11 Memorial Service in Madison Square Garden, Schwering was chosen to be a flag bearer.

When he returned home, he tried to find something to serve as a tribute to those who gave their lives. Years later, as he and Snider helped develop the design for their table, it grew from a purely personal design into the tribute for which he had searched.

The design started with Schwering’s helmet over two crossed axes. They eventually replaced the axes with two memorial axes of the type given to the families of firefighters who have died answering the call of duty. They also replaced the fire station emblem on Schwering’s helmet with “American Heros” and the number 343: the number of firefighters who lost their lives in the World Trade Center.

Scott licensed the final design for others to enjoy as well. “It’s a beautiful piece,” he notes, “and a tribute to some of America’s greatest heroes.”

Schwering and Snider, who will marry this summer, are thrilled that other firefighters will enjoy their design. “When you’re a firefighter, that’s your life and there’s nothing else you’d rather do,” Schwering says. Snider adds, “If you look at our apartment, you’d have no trouble telling what Jeff does and it’s that way for all the firefighters we know. I’m sure this design will mean as much to them as it does to us.”

MasterVisions is the largest producer of etched glass home décor and furniture in the world, with over 100 designs etched in solid hardwood-framed mirrors, glass-top coffee tables, end tables, and coat racks. With the addition of “Axe 343”, MasterVisions honors the dedication of all firefighters and remembers those who have given their lives serving the needs of others.

“Axe 343” appears on the MasterVisions website, www.mastervisions.com, and is available in mirrors, tables and coat racks.

http://archives.moneyplans.net/frontend210-verify-9004.html

Last Man Out: Part One
Ron DiFrancesco was high in the South Tower when the plane struck. An inferno and 84 floors lay between him and his family.
  
Andrew Duffy
The Ottawa Citizen


June 4, 2005

CREDIT: Shannon Stapleton-Files, Reuters
People make their way down a crowded stairwell inside one of the World Trade Center towers struck by airliners on Sept. 11, 2001.
 
TORONTO - Almost four years later, Ron DiFrancesco still carries the South Tower with him -- tiny fragments of glass and stucco that occasionally migrate to the surface of his skin.

Mr. DiFrancesco was the last man out of the South Tower before it collapsed at 9:59 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. He was, according to the official 9/11 Commission Report, one of only four people to make it out alive that day from above the central impact zone on the 81st floor.

The stories of some of those other survivors are well-known.

But the 41-year-old Mr. DiFrancesco, a soft-spoken father of four, has scrupulously avoided the media spotlight. He doesn't like talking about his escape; he believes it's disrespectful to the families of those who died to celebrate the decisions that allowed him to live.

Mr. DiFrancesco has rejected dozens of interview requests from journalists and filmmakers. He rarely discusses the day's events, even with his children. "They know it's still raw for me, even though I'd be more open to it now," he says.

(Mr. DiFrancesco agreed to talk to The Citizen only with great reluctance and under the condition that he not be characterized as a hero.)

The almost four years since the terror attacks have been difficult ones for Mr. DiFrancesco, who continues to undergo therapy for back and hip injuries. He has also sought the help of a psychiatrist to better understand what he describes as "agitation," and the guilt he feels about his survival on a day when 61 of his Euro Brokers' colleagues died.

Mr. DiFrancesco sometimes suffers bouts of panic: when the lights flicker, for instance. Or, as was the case in August 2003, when he was caught on the subway as a massive blackout cut power across Toronto and much of the northeast.

At those times, it all comes flooding back.

- - -

As was his habit, Ron DiFrancesco woke just after 5 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 11. He washed and shaved and was out the door before his wife, Mary, and his four children had stirred from their beds.

He had to catch the 5.37 a.m. train near his Mahwah, New Jersey home in order to make the subway connection that would take him below the Hudson River to the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Mr. DiFrancesco always marvelled at the energy of the trade towers. It swept him along the moment he stepped from the PATH subway, in the fifth sub-basement of the complex. It hummed in the express elevators that sped to the skylobby of the 78th floor where he took a second elevator to the offices of Euro Brokers. There, on the 84th floor, it wafted from the office like the smell of strong coffee as his colleagues discussed overnight financial numbers from London and Tokyo.

He was at his desk by 7 a.m.

It was a postcard kind of morning with the sunrise glowing through the windows that lined the east wall in front of him on the Euro Brokers' trading floor. Mr. DiFrancesco worked as a money market broker, orchestrating short-term financial deals between international banks. He specialized in the needs of Canadian institutions.

More...

http://www.canada.com/fortstjohn/story.htm...266010529d67&page=1

People make their way down a crowded stairwell

Volunteers and rescue personnel who served during the World Trade Center disaster come forward to tell their stories in a new feature length documentary, entitled "Answering The Call." The digital film is being released this month for international distribution by Chesca Media Group LLC of Wilmington, Delaware.

"Answering The Call," is a documentary, which has been in the making for nearly 3 years. The program, produced for Chesca Media by Patricia Olesky and Bunny Dubin, is the untold story of life and death at Ground Zero. Through never before seen footage, filmed by former firefighter Lou Angeli, the viewer is transported behind the checkpoints into an emergency village that became home to thousands of volunteers and rescuers.

During the dozen or so interviews, that serve as the thread for the film, volunteer rescuers and support personnel explain what prompted them to respond to Ground Zero. "Had to be there to help" is the recurring theme, as volunteers from throughout the nation recall their tours of duty in lower Manhattan during the tragedy.

How has the 9/11 disaster affected volunteer responders and the way they operate? What are the lessons learned from 9/11/01? Their answers are candidly honest and sometimes startling.

"Answering The Call" is co-produced by Celia Stratton and Lisa DiNardo and lensed by Corey Armideo. The documentary is written by Lou Angeli and Lisa DiNardo with Bill Lewis serving as story editor. James Durham and Damien Stratton have developed the original score, which will be made available on CD.

Film distributors, programmers, agents and members of the press can request a demo screener of this new documentary by contacting Chesca Media Group.

To remember, to reflect and to rekindle hope

HOW do you wash away the tears and hush the sobs of the families who lost loved ones in the explosion, the crash, the flames and the violence in the World Trade Center twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001?

Harder still, how do you keep alive the memory of the innocents who perished where the twin towers once stood, and lay to rest those who are unaccounted for because their remains could not be identified.

How do you, as they put it in Lower Manhattan these days, "reflect absence"?

Some 10 million tourists come to the WTC to pay their respects every year, according to the Lower Manhattan Developoment Corporation.

Because the world, not just America, lost 2,979 lives on Sept. 11, 2001 when two planes hijacked by terrorists crashed into the WTC twin towers and earlier on Feb. 26, 1993 when a rented van filled with explosives, the task of designing and building the memorial has required global participation.

The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, which was created to raising funds for the complex and will be responsible for its construction, operation and maintenance, solicited designs from architects and planners all over the world

Of the over 5,000 entries from 63 nations and 49 states, the design adjudged most reverent and appropriate was the one submitted by architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker. Daniel Liebkind is master planner of the WTC site.

Construction will begin next year. The memorial complex will have three levels.

The Memorial Plaza, where visitors will enter the complex, will have an elegant grove of hundreds of oak trees. There will be two voids in the size of the magnitude of the twin towers. The voids contain waterfalls that drop nearly 30 feet into reflecting pools below.

The next level is the Memorial Hall, where galleries will ring each pool and delineate the footprints of the twin towers.

The names of those who perished in the towers will be inscribed on a low wall around each pool. Between the pools will be a hall, a vast open space where visitors can rest and reflect.

The Bedrock is the bottom level. Having noticed that families of victims have visited Ground Zero to touch bedrock every year around Sept. 11, the designers of the memorial are allowing them continued access to the very foundation of the ill-fated towers.

The exposed box beam columns that supported the twin towers will be exposed as reminder of that terrible day in September. Visitors will also be able to see and touch the cracked foundation, the tall section of the exposed slurry wall that held back during the attack-physical artifacts conveying the violence.

There will be a room for contemplation, at the center of which room will be a mausoleum for the unidentified remains.

Across the WTC site is St. Paul's Chapel where in the weeks following the Sept. 11 tragedy, "thousands of people from different backgrounds and faiths came together to provide physical, spiritual and emotional care to the rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero. In the midst of tragedy and chaos, this ministry became a symbol of the power of faith and resilience of the human spirit."

If you lost a loved one in the WTC attack, it might interest you to see "Unwavering Spirit: Hope and Healing at Ground Zero," a chronicle of the chapel's unique history and a glimpse into its extraordinary ministry following Sept. 11.

http://news.inq7.net/lifestyle/index.php?index=1&story_id=39260

Getting Along Is a Tough Job at Ground Zero

By WILLIAM NEUMAN
Published: June 5, 2005
As difficult relationships between landlords and tenants go, few can compare with the increasingly thorny pairing of Larry Silverstein, the World Trade Center developer, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the land at ground zero.
 
Deal Is Struck on Property Needed for Trade Center (June 5, 2005) The two sides have fought almost since the twin towers fell, and the disputes, which have largely played out behind closed doors, have involved nearly every aspect of the redevelopment effort.

The two sides have haggled over how much each will pay of the $1.5 billion needed for the underground infrastructure at the site, which must go in before the major rebuilding can begin. They have also squabbled over how much space in Mr. Silverstein's buildings will go to the shops and restaurants that the Port Authority wants to build. They have even sparred over how much Mr. Silverstein would charge the Port Authority for the office space its employees might one day occupy at the site where the agency lost scores of workers on Sept. 11.

Sometimes, the mutual suspicion has given rise to some high-stakes confrontations. The agency has long pushed Mr. Silverstein to produce a business plan showing he will be able to carry out the rebuilding of the site's 10 million square feet of office space. But when he produced a financial plan last summer, according to several officials involved in the dealings, the agency dismissed his numbers as unconvincing. Most recently, after security concerns about the giant Freedom Tower office building forced a delay in the project, the developer and the agency were again at odds over who would pay what he estimated as hundreds of millions of dollars in costs incurred because of the setback.

Over the course of the nearly four years of infighting, there has been periodic talk of engineering what would amount to a public divorce, according to officials involved in the redevelopment. Indeed, in recent weeks, Port Authority officials have floated among themselves a rough proposal that would allow the agency, with the building of the Freedom Tower under way, to reclaim some of the ground zero site.

Interviews over the last two weeks with Mr. Silverstein's representatives, Port Authority officials and government officials from the city and state suggest two important truths: that Mr. Silverstein will not be pushed from the redevelopment effort anytime soon, however appealing the prospect is to some at the Port Authority, and that the troubled relationship between the two principals is yet one more unhelpful aspect of a giant civic project that, despite its noble sense of promise in 2001, has suffered from delays and much public criticism.

"Is it complicated?" said Janno Lieber, Mr. Silverstein's project director. "Yes. But everybody recognizes that in order to get this done we're going to have to slog it out and work together."

The uneasy partners came together in July 2001, when Mr. Silverstein sealed a 99-year lease with the Port Authority for the World Trade Center. At the time, many in the real estate industry viewed him as a mid-sized developer who had worked tenaciously to outlast some much larger competitors to forge the deal of a lifetime.

The Port Authority, in contrast, was and is a behemoth among public agencies. Controlled by the governors of New York and New Jersey, it operates the region's three major airports, its commercial port and the PATH trains that run between New Jersey and Manhattan. The authority has a reputation for being big, bureaucratic, and getting its way. And it, after all, had built the Trade Center more than 30 years ago.

No one, then, is shocked that the two parties have struggled to work together since being forced to pick up the pieces at ground zero.

Most fundamentally, according to officials involved in the rebuilding project, the Port Authority has profound doubts about the ability of Mr. Silverstein and his investment partners to keep up their rental payments to the agency, currently at $110 million a year, as the rebuilding unfolds over more than a decade. And the authority questions, according to these officials, whether he can obtain adequate financing to rebuild the 10 million square feet of trade center office space once he has exhausted the $4.6 billion in insurance proceeds he is owed. The insurance money is expected to run out before he has finished the second of five projected buildings.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/nyregion/05port.html

Deal Is Struck on Property Needed for Trade Center

By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: June 5, 2005
A $59 million deal has been struck to acquire the next-to-last privately owned parcel needed to redevelop the World Trade Center, state officials said last week.

The vacant property, less than half an acre on the south side of Liberty Street, has been owned by the Milstein real estate family since 1978. Though small, it would play a pivotal role in the new trade center complex as the western half of the new Liberty Park, under which will be a vehicle ramp and security checkpoint leading to underground roadways, loading docks and parking spaces.

As such, its acquisition by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was deemed "absolutely necessary" by John P. Cahill, the chief of staff to Gov. George E. Pataki, whom the governor appointed in May to lead the rebuilding effort in Lower Manhattan. The deal for the 18,889-square-foot property has a price tag almost twice as high as the amount offered - and rebuffed - last September. Under the new agreement, the Milsteins would also be given the opportunity to negotiate - without competitive bidding - for development rights to the last residential sites in Battery Park City.

The Milsteins owned the entire block bounded by Liberty, Cedar, West and Washington Streets, except for a 1,210-square-foot property occupied by St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001. State officials plan to swap the church property for a larger site nearby on which a new St. Nicholas can be constructed.

Absent negotiations, the state could have acquired the Milsteins' property through eminent domain. It had already taken formal steps to do so. But condemnations frequently end up in court.

"We've been vigorously working on a deal behind the scenes in an effort to avoid any form of litigation," said Stefan Pryor, who was named the new president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation last month. "And we succeeded."

Mr. Pryor said an appraisal by Jerome Hains Realty certified that the $59 million price was comparable with the prices of other downtown properties. Given an allowable development potential of 227,000 square feet, the price amounts to $260 a square foot. The Milsteins' appraisal came in about 30 percent higher.

The Lower Manhattan Development Board has already authorized $44.5 million to acquire the block that includes the property. A $20 million supplement to that has been budgeted, but must be approved for the deal, Mr. Pryor said.

The Milsteins will contribute $500,000 toward the improvement of a downtown park that has yet to be chosen. The contribution will be in honor of Paul Milstein, who runs Milstein Properties and the Emigrant Savings Bank with his son, Howard P. Milstein.

Howard Milstein said through a spokesman that his father had bought the property with the intent of developing it. "Nevertheless," he said, "we recognize that the site is hallowed ground and are pleased to cooperate with the efforts of the governor and the mayor in Lower Manhattan."

Their property was a parking lot at the time of the attack on the World Trade Center. The City Department of Design and Construction took control of it after 9/11 and then passed it on to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The agreement does not say how the Milsteins will be compensated for having been denied the use of their property for more than three years.

At Battery Park City, they will be given the chance to negotiate for adjoining 17,000- and 20,000-square-foot development sites on North End Avenue between Murray and Warren Streets. The sites together could accommodate about 540 apartments and a large community center. The Milsteins have already developed four buildings at Battery Park City.

Timothy S. Carey, the president and chief executive of the Battery Park City Authority, said the Milsteins would be required to conform to development and environmental guidelines and to "offer a significant financial package" comparable to what they would have expected to receive through the open-bid process." As to when the discussions might begin, Mr. Carey said: "We'd like to enter into them immediately, if not sooner. We want to take advantage of this hot market."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/nyregion...ild.html?oref=login

Menin, a 37-year-old Financial District resident who first joined the board in 2002, has been running an organized campaign with promises of including new voices in the decision-making process and leading a more “proactive” board. She hopes to create a focused list of board goals and lobby on behalf of them throughout the year so key issues do not fall through the cracks.

Menin has reached out to newer board members and members that generally take a backseat at the meetings. “Some of the newer [board] members think they’re not included in the decision making process,” said Menin, who plans to create several new committees and task forces, including ones meant to address quality of life concerns and construction mitigation issues. The Executive Committee, which is comprised of the committee chairs, should be more diverse, she added, indicating that the committee leadership might be in for a shakeup under her stewardship.

She also plans to establish a by-laws committee to examine the board’s rules, including the current two-year board chair term. “I actually spent some time looking at this and it appears that the majority of the boards in the city do have annual elections,” she said.

Menin worked as a regulatory lawyer in Washington D.C. for eight years before she moved to New York in 1995. She stopped practicing law in 1999 to open Vine Restaurant at 25 Broad St. with her husband, Bruce. After Sept. 11th, 2001, she launched Wall Street Rising, a non-profit organization intended to help Downtown businesses. If elected, Menin intends to leave her post at Wall Street Rising and work full time on the board. The restaurant closed earlier this year.

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_108/cand...attletoreplace.html