Tour bus finally ticketed

July 27, 2011

The NYPD (not the PEP, managed by Gayle Horwitz and Tess Huxley, who are refusing to enforce illegal parking) finally began ticketing illegally parked behemoth tour buses dropping off people to visit the 9/11 Memorial. This photo was taken on West Thames Street in a city bus stop “no parking” zone.

As most BPC residents know, these privately operated tour realized long ago that thy can park anywhere in South BPC, even in bus stops, and not be ticketed. BatteryPark.TV has a requested an interview with the Joe Daniels, CEO of the 9/11 Memorial, but has so far been stonewalled.

Port authority and City Spar Over Escalating World Trade Center Expenses

The planned 2012 opening of the Sept. 11 museum at the World Trade Center is in jeopardy amid a dispute over hundreds of millions of dollars in unexpected costs related to redeveloping the site, people familiar with the matter said.

Construction on the sprawling museum has slowed considerably since September, when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey stopped approving new contracts and extensions of existing contracts, people familiar with the matter said. Its planned September 2012 opening will likely be pushed back, the people said.

Rob Bennett for The Wall Street Journal

The $800-million-plus project is the latest pressure point in a series of funding disputes at the World Trade Center site, where the redevelopment tab has reached more than $11 billion.

The fight puts the Port Authority—controlled jointly by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie—at odds with the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the chairman of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum foundation.

Fueling the battle is $156 million that the Port Authority—which is building the museum—says the foundation owes for construction costs. Port Authority officials have said privately they are concerned about the museum having enough money to finish the job, people familiar with the dispute said.

The foundation denies it is responsible for the cost overruns, and for its part believes it is owed more than $100 million on account of delays, a person familiar with the matter said.

The two sides are negotiating a set of conditions for arbitrating the dispute outside of court.

Representatives for all sides on Sunday said the issues would ultimately be resolved.

“The Port Authority, the city and the museum are working collaboratively to resolve these matters,” said Patrick Foye, the Port Authority’s executive director.

Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for Mr. Bloomberg, said in a statement that funding disputes have been overcome before. “We’re confident we will work them out again,” she said.

The World Trade Center redevelopment has been plagued by near-constant disputes among public agencies as well as with private developer Larry Silverstein, who has the rights to develop three towers.

Most of the billions in added costs over the years have been absorbed by the Port Authority, which owns the site and is in charge of the rebuilding.

The overruns at the museum have been in dispute for months, but those and other problems were left unresolved until now, in part because officials wanted to avoid a public fight before the 10th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks, people familiar with the discussions said.

The city and the Port Authority also have recently been fighting over who will pay for up to $300 million in security costs related to the site, people familiar with the discussions said.

Mr. Cuomo has begun to take a more active approach with the Port Authority, a typically cash-rich agency that has been weighed down by the costs of rebuilding. He recently installed Mr. Foye, a former economic development aide, as its new executive director, and put four new appointees on the agency’s board.

The agency appears to have taken a more aggressive approach with funding issues lately, and it has added pressure on the memorial foundation by not approving the contracts for the museum.

The dispute is partially over whether the $156 million in overruns are the responsibility of the museum, or whether they are broader infrastructure that the Port Authority should pay for. Generally, the foundation is responsible for the museum’s cost. The Port Authority is paying for site-wide infrastructure.

The Port Authority claims the foundation is responsible for such unexpected costs. But the foundation denies it is responsible and is preparing a claim of more than $100 million against the Port Authority, for additional costs caused by construction delays and the operational complications of opening the memorial when the surrounding streets and sidewalks weren’t yet open, one person familiar with the situation said. Talks have been active. Mr. Foye met Friday with city officials including Deputy Mayor Robert Steel.

The Port Authority has raised broader concerns about the foundation’s ability to pay for the full cost of the museum. Mr. Foye told members of the agency’s board earlier this month that Joseph Daniels, the foundation president, said he expected a “cash squeeze” early next year, a person familiar with the board meeting said.

Michael Frazier, a foundation spokesman, said it “has reached its funding commitments and will continue to do so.”

Should New York Waterway be evicted?

A community board member suggested at the most recent meeting that the polluting New York Waterway ferry boats should the  be evicted from the WFC Vesey Street slip until they replace the engines? Do you agree?

Please take our two-question, 20-second, survey by clicking here

Exclusive: The missing Goldman Sachs ferry boats are found

November 2, 2011

By Steven Greer, MD

The New York Times first reported in March that Goldman Sachs had purchased two new luxurious state-of-the-art ferry boats to carry employees across the Hudson River and doc at the WFC Vesey Street slip. The boats were supposed to go into commission in April but never did. In fact, the boats seem to have mysteriously disappeared.

We previously reported that neither Goldman Sachs nor the CEO of the BillyBey Ferry Company would comment on the fate of the boats. Last night, all of the parties who would know were present at the CB1 meeting. We asked the Port Authority, DOT, and BillyBey CEO Paul Goodman what became of the Goldman Sachs ferry boats and they all refused to comment (see video). The Port Authority spokeswoman said nervously, “I do not have privy to that information.” The BillyBey CEO essentially filibustered and changes the topic.

We spoke with the New York Times reporter who first covered this story, Pat McGeehan. A credible rumor circulating to explain this hush-hush over the Goldman Sachs boats is that the vessels were purchased somehow using federal bank stimulus or bailout monies, then the Goldman executives realized that buying catamaran river yachts might give a bad appearance to the press so the boats were sold or returned.

We then spoke directly with the boat manufacturer. All American Marine, in Bellingham, Washington, to ask whether they knew the fate of the Goldman Sachs boats. The marketing account manager who “handled that deal from start to finish” and has “been to New York for this many time”, told us that he “…had no idea why Goldman Sachs is not using those boats. They are still tied up to the pier in the Hudson River. They are perfectly fine, accepted, and ready to use. They just tell us that “the timing is not right” to put them into commission.”

All American Marine explained that the state-of-the-art boats made for Goldman Sachs have the least polluting engines available now which fall into the EPA’s Tier-2 category. They use Caterpillar diesel engines with exhaust particulate filters. He said, “We in the marine industry are now being pressured to clean up our act (with regards to exhaust emissions). The particulate filters are an experiment on process. The downside to strong filters are that they can back up the exhaust and hurt the engines.” He said that each boat cost Goldman Sachs approximately $2.75 Million per boat.

The Goldman Sachs mystery ferries have now been located. Why they are out of commission is still a mystery.

New York Times

Big meeting tonight to discuss the fate of the polluting NY Waterway boats

November 1, 2011

By Steven Greer, MD

The CB1 Battery Park City subcommittee will meet tonight to discuss the fate of the BillyBey Ferry Company’s air and noise polluting ferry boats (6:00 PM, 1 World Financial Center, 24th floor). After several meetings leading up to this one, scheduled to be in attendance tonight are the CEO of BillyBey, representatives from Senator Gillibrand and Rep. Nadler’s offices, the EPA, the DOT, the non-profit environmental watchdog group the NRDC, and The New York Times.

Key issues to be determined will be:

• What did BillyBey do with the more than $7 Million in grants provided by an arcane grant from the State and City specifically meant for cleaning up ferry boat exhaust? “The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), in partnership with the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), announces the Deployment Phase of the New York City Private Ferry Emission Reduction Program.”
• BillyBey claims that several of their boats have already been retrofitted with diesel particulate filters. However, per our filming and reporting, not a single New York Waterway ferry that docks at the Vesey Street slip seems to have any such filter.
• BillyBey also claims to be completely replacing older diesel engines with more modern “clean diesel”. When will this take place?
• What happened to the brand new super-clean and quiet Goldman Sachs ferry boats, seen briefly in April and reported by the New York Times? They seem to have disappeared and never made it into service. BillyBey CEO Goodman refused to answer that question in our previous call with him.
• What powers does the federal Clean Air Act give our local EPA to enforce pollution violations that appear to be committed by the BillyBey New York Waterway ferries? The well-funded non-profit environmental watchdog group, the NRDC, and the EPA, will shed some light onto that.
• What role will the Port Authority, operator of the Vesey Street slip and contractor with BillyBey, play in resolving this public health problem?
• What role will the city play now that the city is in contract with BillyBey for the East River new ferry services?

After decades of being subjected to noise and air pollution from the BillyBey New York Waterway ferries, our community seems to the most support ever for resolving this problem. Please attend the meeting tonight.

(unedited filming of ferry boat pollution)

Exclusive: Did Goldman Sachs buy ferry boats on TARP money and return them?

One of the ferry boats purchased by Goldman Sachs to provide less noisy less polluting service to Battery Park City, by The NY Times

October 18, 2011

By Steven Greer, MD

BatteryPark.TV received call today from a reporter at a national newspaper asking whether we knew the fate of the two new Goldman Sachs ferry boats purchased to carry employees between the Vesey Street slip in Manhattan, owned by the Port Authority, and other slips in New Jersey. Recall, after the new Goldman Sachs headquarters opened on West Street and Vesey Street, BillyBey Ferry Company, owner of the New York Waterway ferry boats, began new routes crossing from Jersey City at earlier times in the morning, and the noise was a source of complaints. For decades, noise and pollution from the boats have angered BPC residents on the Hudson River.

The New York Times reported in March that two new boats had arrived from a shipyard in Washington State, and were rumored to cost $5 Million dollars. They were supposed to have gone into commission in April, but never did.

Goldman Sachs, in customary fashion, will not comment on the fate of the new boats. We called Paul Goodman, the CEO of BillyBey Ferry Company, operator of the New York Waterway branded boats and the yet-to-be commissioned Goldman Sachs boats. He said, “I have no comment one way or the other…I will see you at the November 1st Community Board meeting.”

Given the lack of clarity provided by Goldman Sachs and BillyBey Ferry, we are forced to speculate on rumor. One leading theory on the fate of the Goldman Sachs luxury ferry boats is that they were purchased with TARP funds or other federal stimulus money and have now been sold or returned in order to avoid a scandal. We will learn more at the next CB1 meeting.

The next CB1 is schedule to have speakers including the CEO of BillyBey Ferry and representatives from the EPA, Senator Gillibrand, and Rep. Nadler. For all of our previous coverage of this topic, click here.

Update: EPA’s response to our letter on NY Waterway ferry pollution

August 31, 2011

By Steven Greer, MD

CB1 Battery Park City committee Chairwoman Linda Belfer requested that BatteryPark.TV present our video of the NY Waterway ferries billowing black diesel particulate pollution at the Vesey Street slip on Tuesday, September 6th.

Updating our open-letter to the EPA, BatteryPark.TV spoke with a member of the enforcement staff of the EPA’s region 2. This person works for Kenneth Eng in the Clean Air division. He said, “Boy, you really caused a lot of fuss around here …numerous emails have been going back and forth…(based on your video and story)”.

This EPA official said that his office investigated the matter and concluded it was not enforceable by their offices because the pollution source is “Not stationary for more than six minutes”. This is an assertion that is disputable since, during rush hour, multiple ferries are docked, revving engines and stationary, for periods of time. longer than six minutes

The EPA official went on to say that this specific problem of ferry boat pollution was of great interest to more senior ranks within the EPA. It has been investigated in the past after complaints.

A second EPA official, also of the Region 2 enforcement office, explained that an update to the Clean Air Act, to start in June of 2012, would possibly govern marine vessels with diesel engines, possibly like the NY Waterway ferries in question. He referred us to this EPA document. He said that in June of 2012, the vehicles deemed to be regulated by this law will have to use cleaner diesel fuel and add diesel particulate filters.

The EPA also referred us to a different enforcement office run by the State of New York, the DEC and the staff of Mr. Sam Lieblich. The DEC did not return our messages, but the EPA and local CB1 members have told us that the DEC previously investigated various complaints about the boats (noise and pollution) several times but declined to enforce any law.

BatteryPark.TV reached out to the press offices of Governor Cuomo, Manhattan Borough President Stringer, Mayor Bloomberg, Assembly Speaker Silver, and U.S. Rep. Adler, but the Labor Day holiday has caused delays in responses.

To learn more about the health consequences of combustion engine pollution, and how the Clean Air Act has worked to reduce pollution, we refer you to this excellent discussion.

A letter to the EPA about the NY Waterway ferries polluting the children’s playgrounds

Kenneth Eng

Chief, Air Compliance Branch

US EPA, Region 2

Mr. Eng

I am a medical doctor and am reporting a serious air quality health hazard at the west end of Vesey Street where the New York Waterway ferries dock. They have old, unclean diesel engines in all of the boats. When they dock, the boats rev the engines and dark black exhaust spews out (see video). This happens every day.

The direct and acute health hazard comes from the fact that 60 yards away, on land, is a well-kept and popular series of children’s playgrounds. At certain times of the day when multiple ferries are docked at once, the fumes are so powerful that they burn the eyes and throat. These fumes contain benzene, ozone, and many other toxic compounds that the Clean Air Act would never find permissible.

Since these boats fall under interstate commerce, no single city or state seems able to do anything about this problem. I believe that your “Mobile source unit”, led by Mr. Michael Moltzen, might be able to deal with this and use new clean diesel regulations to deal with the problem.

We contacted the CEO of New York Waterway, Mr. Paul Goodman, and he refused to comment.

The EPA would certainly make thousands of friends down here if you can be the agency to finally solve this health hazard.

We filed a report at the EPA, # 987024

Steven Greer, MD

BatteryPark.TV

The deadly crossing

Construction on Route 9A, also known as The West Side Highway, and closure of the pedestrian bridge south of Albany Street have created a very dangerous situation. The ground-level crossing of The West Side Highway at Albany Street can be a death trap.

In February of 2009, Battery Park City resident Marilyn Feng was killed and her boyfriend seriously injured when a drunk driver struck the couple. Ms. Feng was an intern in Manhattan Borough president Scott Stringer’s office. In late September of 2009, another pedestrian was struck by a motorist, but he survived.

Funding for the permanent pedestrian overpass has been cancelled. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer discusses the problem.

Grass field well on its way to becoming a mud field again

September 6, 2011

The CB1 Battery Park City committee met last night to discuss the protection and upkeep of the luxurious expensive West Thames “Tire Swing” Park grass field. Recall, the BPCA refused to care for the field in 2010 when it was opened, not using the BPC Park Enforcement Patrol (PEPs) to enforce rules. As a result, overuse by adults in soccer cleats turned the field into a mud wrestling pit. This time around, after spending hundreds of thousands more of taxpayer dollars to re-sod the field, the BPCA claimed that it had resolved the dispute with the DOT and would be tending to this field as it does with the other grass spots within Battery Park City. However, that is clearly not happening.

Since opening on August 15, the West Thames field has not been patrolled by the local and numerous BPCA PEPs, of which there are more in number than any other region of the city. This has been intentional as the BPCA claims the land is owned by an obscure entity called the Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT). More than a mile away at Pier 40, the HRPT has a smaller PEP force responsible for a larger area. The BPCA claims that these PEPs, rarely ever seen down in Battery Park, will be the ones responsible for patrolling the field and making sure that gangs of soccer players, etc. do not ruin the field again.

Astonishingly, at the CB1 meeting, BPCA spokesperson Leticia Remauro, and BPCA executive Anne Fenton sitting behind her, displayed very little concern for the rapid abuse and vandalism that the West Thames Park has already endured. When asked where the HRPT PEPs were physically based, Remauro replied, “I couldn’t tell you.”

In the short time since the grass field was re-opened, the field now has numerous dead spots caused by dogs urinating and defecating on the field, and the grass is 40% killed in areas due to overuse. The BPC Parks Conservancy, run by Tess Huxley, has failed to fence off areas periodically, as they effectively do the other grass spots. In short, the grass field, costing well more than $100,000 for the sod alone, is well on its way to becoming a mud field yet again.

To express your opinions on this, contact BPCA CEO Gayle Horwitz at gayle.horwitz@batteryparkcity.org or (212) 417-2000, and Parks Conservancy Director Tess Huxley at thuxley@bpcparks.org (212) 267-9700.

NYPD 9/11 bagpipe parade 2007

Over 118,000 views and counting

(This is the file with the 100,00 views originally posted on YouTube at another location of ours)

NYPD 9/11 bagpipe parade 2009

The annual NYPD commemorative bagpipe parade honoring the police killed in the September 11th, 2001 attacks.

How the FDA could rapidly generate 100,000 jobs in NJ and NY

By Steven Greer, MD

September 4, 2010

The Commissioner of the FDA, Margaret Hamburg, could become the single biggest job creator in the Obama administration and generate hundreds of thousands of  jobs in the New Jersey and New York areas. How?

FDA Commissioner Hamburg

Pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing, as well as clinical trial development, have been outsourced to China, India, Ireland, and other countries, taking with it the jobs required to do these functions. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 300,000 jobs involved in pharmaceutical manufacturing alone back in 2008. Data are not readily available on the number of people employed in non-U.S. drug and device plants, but the FDA tracks more than 100,000 international facilities. Therefore, the number of jobs that are outsourced to manufacture drugs and devices, which are then imported to the U.S., seems to be well into the hundreds of thousands.

Monitoring safety is the primary mandate for the drug and device divisions of the FDA. It has become increasingly more difficult for the FDA to properly monitor all of these overseas plants. We recently spoke with the Commissioner of the FDA and the Director of CDER about this.

The FDA recently added a fee to the drug industry to allow the FDA to hire more overseas inspectors in the wake of numerous drug safety horrors, such as counterfeit Chinese-made heparin that killed hundreds and resulted in the execution of the director of China’s equivalent of the FDA. However, the new number of FDA inspectors will still only inspect a small fraction of the overseas plants, according to the GAO.

A much more effective solution would be to mandate that the majority of drugs and devices be made right here in the United States. How many jobs could be rapidly created in the Tri-State area by such a decree? One can easily imagine 100,000. When Roche assimilated Genentech like a Star Trek Borg, it eliminated as many as 8,800 employees at just one plant in Vacaville, California when it outsourced the biologics manufacturing to Singapore. We also know that tens of thousands of jobs were lost after the Pfizer/Wyeth and Merck/Schering Plough mergers. Many of those jobs were replaced by China and India plants. It is reasonable to assume they would return if the FDA mandated U.S. drug and device manufacturing.

Making drugs meant for Americans in American plants is the only sensible thing to do from a safety standpoint, but the financial power on K Street of the drug industry has allowed the rules to become relaxed so much that we now have the vast majority of our pharmaceuticals being made in China and India. Never before would it have been conceivable to change this practice, but with the prolonged economic depression and 10% unemployment for the foreseeable future, the political climate might just allow such a bold regulatory change.

Of course, such a radical change by the FDA would require presidential and congressional support. This could be the most effective and bipartisan popular move the President can make. Governor’s Cuomo, Christie and the various Senators/congressmen of the states could also help out.

Images of devastation from Battery Park City

(In full screen 1080iHD)

August 28, 2011

The ratings-motivated TV “news” stations have gone beyond hyping Hurricane Irene and have crossed over into pure propaganda. The images of New York City being shown are of the worst areas, the isolated small flood, of trees blowing without zooming out for proper context, etc. The reporters are appearing wet and weather-beaten even when the conditions are not that bad, and so on.

As Irene turned out to be a major dud and delivered very little wind and rain, the stations are trying even harder to mislead you with exaggerated images. The Mayor and MTA are also on the defensive and are issuing reports accentuating the isolated damage.

Battery Park City was a forced evacuation center and site for much of the news crew. We thought you might want to see what the conditions were REALLY like down here. Please enjoy our short film. It’s a comedy.

As predicted, we just got rain

Calm seas over NY Harbor as the storm passed

As BatteryPark.TV first predicted on Thursday the 25th, Hurricane Irene hit shore far more west than the models predicted, hitting the Carolinas and then dissipating into an eye-less tropical storm. Even after that occurred, however, New York Mayor Bloomberg and the TV stations reaping the rewards from hyped coverage, continued to scare tens of millions on the Eastern Seaboard. Bloomberg made the controversial move on Thursday to shut down the MTA subways and order the first-ever mandatory evacuation of the city.

The result of Bloomberg’s actions, copied by other leaders in the Northeast in a domino effect, has been the biggest man-made disaster in memory (aside from terrorism). As air travel, Amtrak, and the NYC subways have come to a halt during peak tourism season, and with hundreds of thousands forced from their homes due to evacuation, the cost of lost revenues will certainly be in the billions.

To protect their reputations, the TV stations, the MTA, and the city officials are hyping the alleged damage from the storm. As of 12:00 PM Sunday, the storm is far away from NYC, downgraded to a storm rather than a “hurricane”, yet officials still warn of deadly flooding from a “storm surge”, despite there never having been the wind to create such an epic flooding. The city is still a ghost town with no mass transit.

Manhattan can process massive amounts of rain water and high winds without significant flooding. What NYC received from “Hurricane” Irene would have been otherwise completely insignificant if it were not for the hyped status as “Deadly hurricane”.

As the weeks go by, the details of this scandal will unfold. Questions to ask will be:

1. Did Mayor Bloomberg simply overreact?
2. Was his absence during the winter blizzard a factor in this overreaction? Was he afraid of doing a George-Bush-Katrina misstep?
3. To boost ratings, did the TV stations report misleading images or stage any shots, such as making themselves wet when there was no rain, etc?
4. Did the TV weather producers use out-of-date older radar images of the hurricane to look more menacing than the reliable NOAA satellite images BatteryPark.TV relied on which clearly showed the storm breaking apart and losing the eye?
5. Did Con-Ed fabricate an excuse for warning that electricity might be cut in parts of NYC in order to scare people from their homes and comply with evacuations?
6. What role did President Obama and FEMA play. They were conspicuously absent from this process.

Hurricane Survey

As of August 27 at 11:00 AM, Hurricane Irene has hit land in North Carolina and is losing power (as we predicted more than 24 hours ago). Will the storm pick up steam and make Mayor Bloomberg look like a bold leader for forcing the evacuations of hospitals and coastal areas? The results of our survey are below:

1. Did Mayor Bloomberg panic by forcing evacuations for the first time in NYC history?

• Yes 81%
• No 19%

2. What will Hurricane Irene do from here?

• Dissipate over land as it hits the Carolinas and be just a rain storm when it gets to New York 87.5%

• gain steam and become a category 2 or more when it hits New York 12.5%

• Be a “Once in a lifetime” disaster with massive flooding to New York 0.0%

3. Do you think that Mayor Bloomberg’s absence during the 2011 blizzard as he was on vacation contributed to his overreaction to Hurricane Irene?

• Yes 100%
• No 0.0%

4. Is the TV and print press hyping Hurricane Irene to get ratings?

• Yes 93.8%
• No 6.3%

We will post on Sunday the final results to see how views change as the storm comes and goes. Click here for the active survey.

Did Mayor Bloomberg panic?

August 26, 2011 5:00 PM

Mayor Bloomberg issued the first ever mandatory evacuations in parts of New York City due to Hurricane Irene, now off the coast of North Carolina. It is easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. Therefore, it might be interesting, right now before we know the outcome of Hurricane Irene, to take this survey.

- Is Mayor Bloomberg overreacting because he was asleep at the wheel for the big blizzard this year?

- Will the hurricane fizzle out or be the “Big One”?

This is a tough call. What would you be doing right now if you were the Mayor?

Click here for the survey

We will post the results on Sunday.

This is an interview with an NYU Langone Medical Center executive opposing the Mayor’s forced evacuation plans.

Rockrose allows pedophile to move into 41 River Terrace

August 26, 2011

A few weeks ago, a resident of the northern part of Battery Park, a practicing cardiothoracic surgeon with young children, approached BatteryPark.TV with a concern over a registered sex offender

Registered pedophile Phillip Riback, now living in Battery Park

who had been allowed to move into a nearby high-rise condo directly adjacent to Stuyvesant High School: 41 River Terrace. In our preparation to cover the story, we became aware of some nice reporting already made by the Tribeca Tribune. We refer you to their articles for the details.

According to the Tribeca Tribune, Rockrose Development mistakenly allowed the registered sex offender, former pediatric neurologist Phillip Riback, to sign the lease without properly checking his background. The paper updated the story on August 18. Riback’s lawyer, famed defense attorney Paul Shechtman, a Tribeca resident, stated that Rockrose had terminated his lease and that Riback was not contesting he matter. It is unknown when Riback plans to move out, or whether these facts are correct at all.

41 River Terrace, by Carl Glassman

The Tribeca Tribune also reports that the New York City Department of Probation, charged with tracking sex offenders, was not answering any of their questions.

During our own investigation, Rockrose management completely stonewalled us. Our calls were not returned and the names of the managers, such as Richard Edmonds (listed by the Tribeca Tribune) were withheld from us.

To inquire for yourself as to whether the sex-offender Riback actually moves out, and to where, you can call Rockrose at (212) 847-3700. The Rockrose offices are at 666 5th Avenue if they do not return your calls. Riback’s attorney, Shechtman, can be reached at (212) 223-0200.

Attorney Paul Shechtman

Please send us an email if you have any updates to this story that you think should be covered.

Waste, fraud, and cost overruns at the 9/11 Memorial

9/11’s White Elephant

By JOE NOCERA New York Times

There is nothing wrong — and much that is right — with building a national monument to memorialize the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 9/11 attacks a decade ago. The awful events of that day traumatized the country — and changed it. The dead deserve to be remembered. Far be it from me to suggest otherwise.

What I do want to suggest, though, is that what’s being built in the name of 9/11 — a staggering $11 billion worth of government-sponsored construction on the 16 acres we now call ground zero — is an example of just about everything wrong with modern government. When the World Trade Center site is finally completed, it will include a state-of-the-art train station whose cost overruns have surpassed $1 billion. The 9/11 memorial itself, which covers the footprint of the former twin towers, was so far behind schedule that it is now being hastily constructed, out of sequence, so that it will be ready by the 10th anniversary of the tragedy.

And then there’s 1 World Trade Center, scheduled to be completed in 2013, which will add 2.6 million square feet of office space in a city that doesn’t need it, at a cost so high that it will be a cash drain for decades to come. Where’s the Tea Party when you need them?

Last year, I wrote about 1 World Trade Center, pointing out that its $3.3 billion price tag made it, by far, the most expensive office building ever constructed in America. At the time, Richard Gladstone, the project manager for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is in charge of rebuilding ground zero, told me point-blank that despite its costs, the new skyscraper would not affect the commuters who pay the tolls to cross the six bridges and tunnels the agency operates.

But, on Friday, that statement was shown to be — how to put this nicely? — untrue. The Port Authority, with the complicity of Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie, the governors of New York and New Jersey, who oversee the agency, approved a series of toll increases so onerous that by 2015, a typical commuter who uses the George Washington Bridge will have to pay $62.50 a week to get to work.

What has been especially galling has been the cynicism surrounding the efforts to get the toll increases. First, the Port Authority said that unless it could increase the tolls, it would have to “slow or stop” the construction of 1 World Trade Center. Though this scenario was highly unlikely, it got the construction unions duly aroused, as it was intended to do. They began calling in favors among the politicians.

The Port Authority was originally going to propose two increases of $2, spaced a few years apart. But the politicos in both Cuomo’s and Christie’s offices suggested that the agency come forth with a much higher initial toll increase — thus allowing the two governors to look like heroes when they “persuaded” the Port Authority to lower the increases. The governors also railed on about waste and fraud at the Port Authority, while knowing full well the real problem was the fact that $3.3 billion — money that could have been spent on needed infrastructure improvements — was instead diverted to a white elephant at ground zero.

I understand that it’s hard, even for a blunt-talking fiscal conservative like Christie, to openly criticize 1 World Trade Center. For many people, its rebuilding has enormous symbolic importance. George Pataki, the former New York governor, who pushed hardest for the rebuilding, originally named the building Freedom Tower. Recent editorials in the New York tabloids objecting to the toll increases nevertheless tiptoed gingerly around the outrageous costs of 1 World Trade Center.

But despite the shroud of patriotism that its supporters have always cloaked it in, it’s really just a big, fancy office building. An office building with such poor economics that it will soak New Jersey and New York commuters for decades to come. An office building only the government could love.

Lately, supporters of the project have begun saying that its economics have improved. They point to the fact that Condé Nast, the publishing giant, has agreed to be the anchor tenant. What they fail to point out is that Condé Nast’s rent is less than half the break-even cost of the 1 million square feet it will occupy. In other words, a company that publishes high-end magazines aimed at rich people will be getting an enormous government subsidy for the foreseeable future.

And who will be paying for that subsidy? The mailroom attendants who use the Lincoln Tunnel to get to work. The middle-class New Jersey-ites who use the George Washington Bridge. The firefighters and police officers who live in Staten Island. Thus, in the name of 9/11, does New York and New Jersey place another economic burden on the already overburdened middle class. How sad.

Bureaucrats shamed into a grass field deal

Update: August 15, 2011

The fence was removed and the field is now opened for public use.

August 12, 2011

By Steven Greer, MD

Well, after having our friends at Pix11 TV news and The NY Post begin stories on the West Thames grass field disgrace, the DOT announced today that the field would open on Monday, August 15th. Recall, it was delayed two weeks due to an absurd “crab grass” excuse. Prior to that, the field was out of use for almost two years due to bickering between the DOT and the BPCA.

In their brief release, Adam Levine of the DOT wrote, “The New York State Department of Transportation and the Battery Park City Authority are pleased to announce that the West Thames Park lawn is scheduled to open Monday, August 15, 2011.  The park will be maintained by Battery Park City Authority through the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy.”

This beautiful real grass field cost the tax payers more than $200,000, for the grass alone, yet was held hostage as part of this bureaucratic dispute. To express your outrage over having to view an unsightly chain link fence in your neighborhood for many months, and having your children deprived of an entire summer of recreation, contact:

BPCA CEO Gayle Horwitz at (212) 417-2000 gayle.horwitz@batteryparkcity.org

Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, Tess Huxley  thuxley@bpcparks.org

DOT’s Region 11 Director Phillip Eng at (718) 482-4526 peng@dot.state.ny.us