By FREDRIC U. DICKER in Albany and TOM TOPOUSIS in NY
Last updated: 8:16 am
July 2, 2008
Posted: 4:03 am
July 2, 2008
The finger-pointing over construction delays at Ground Zero was in high gear yesterday after the Port Authority's decision to scrap its latest timetable for the beleaguered project.
The chief target for blame is ex-Gov. George Pataki, who led the rebuilding effort until leaving office at the end of 2006 - with very little visible progress completed at the site, other than a ceremonial steel beam erected for the Freedom Tower and a cornerstone.
"We laid the cornerstone to the Freedom Tower I don't how many years ago," said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, of the July 4, 2004, ceremony led by Pataki at Ground Zero. "We never put another stone on top of it.
"But that's typical of what's happened here. Let's do the practical. Let's stop serving the political needs of various people in making announcements and let's get the job done," Silver said, stopping short of naming Pataki.
The Paterson administration has said that it would be focusing only on getting the projects back on track. "If we blamed any one governor or any one person, that wouldn't be fair," an administration source told The Post.
Former officials who served under ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer laid the blame on Pataki and his chief of staff, John Cahill. One said, "He was governor when the attack occurred, and he promised to lead a rapid rebuilding. He sent Cahill in there to do it, and he failed."
A source close to Pataki, however, insisted that Spitzer just didn't get it when it came to Ground Zero, failing to continue to hold weekly meetings among the principals in the redevelopment.
Meanwhile, the troubles continued as the PA confirmed yesterday that the World Trade Center's transit hub will not be built with an expensive roof that opens like a pair of wings.
And the long-delayed demolition of the former Deutsche Bank Building, where two firefighters died in a blaze last year, suffered another setback: It flunked its first post-fire environmental inspection, due to inadequate cleaning.
