Transcript of Governor David A. Paterson’s Remarks on the World Trade Center Rebuilding

Red Room
State Capitol
June 30, 2008

I remember September 11, 2001 very vividly.

I remember the horror of accepting the great loss of life by an attack on our country from terrorists that was nothing less than evil.

I remember the anguish of the survivors, the looks on their faces, the pain they endured.

I remember the families looking for possible survivors, some of them, to this day, never able to find the bodies of their loved ones.

And we all remember the 411 firefighters, police officers, emergency service workers, and Port Authority personnel who gave the ultimate sacrifice that tragic day.

And we all tried to console ourselves, in solidarity, and tried to help each other with our individual grief.

And we all remember the outpouring of love that came from Americans, and people around the world, many of them converging on New York City to help us.

And now we look back at that time, and we want to build a monument to the victims that will be commensurate with the sacrifice and loss of life that occurred on September 11.

Not to be mentioned really in the same sentence, but New York City deserves a reinvigorated site that will place this city back in the position of being the financial capital of the international market.

But before doing so, we have to take an earnest look at the truth about that site.

The rebuilding is not going as it was scheduled.  The promises of the past do not seem realistic.  Major reconstruction has only begun within the past 18 months.

There is good news.  Ground Zero is now a flourishing construction area that is booming with rebuilding.

But the critical questions about whether the project is on time, whether it’s at cost, reveals results that are nothing less than unacceptable.

This is the reason that we need to address this problem, and we need to address it now.

It would only minimize the gravity of this problem to assess blame, point the finger, or in any way cajole those who, we assume, worked very hard to try to show resilience to the terrible attack on this country that occurred on September 11.

But the fact is that this situation needs to be fixed—and it is my intention to fix it.

We needed new leadership at the Port Authority, and that’s why I appointed Chris Ward to be Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

On June 11, I asked Chris to report back to me at the end of the month with the truth about the rebuilding of that project.  To tell the truth about the cost assessments and the schedules of that project.  To tell the truth about the viability of that project, and what direction we must go in at this particular time.  The truth.  No spin, no phony optimism, and certainly no gloss.

This is what Executive Director Ward and his staff have come back with, and I am very happy.  I want to congratulate them for their immediate and very hard work.  They have given us a clear-eyed perspective of the schedules and timetables for that project and a road map that we feel will be workable and sensible.

Now let’s look at the hard facts about this project.

The rebuilding effort—the schedules and the dates—are unrealistic.  Each project is fraught with delays and cost overruns.

Secondly, and even more troubling, there are 15 open questions that are vitally relevant to the additional work that must be done on these projects.  The resolution of these issues is paramount to future construction.

Next, because the past speculations are so remote from the reality of that site, it would not be possible for us to give any dates or any timetables at this time.  That would just put us back in the place that we’re in right now.

And finally, for what may be the most difficult and ambitious construction undertaking in history, we do not have a central command structure that can supervise the driving costs and schedules, nor do we have an entity that can oversee the management of the construction.

So, what are we going to do?  Well, here’s what we’re not going to do.  We’re not going to give any phony dates or timetables, and then follow it up with phony ribbon cuttings or encouraging words and no follow-up.  We are instead going to change the culture of the way the management of this project is working.  We are telling the truth about the state this project is in now, and what we expect for the future.

I’ve asked Executive Director Ward to meet with the stakeholders, and all those involved with the project, to solicit their input, to try to find some workable, sensible and achievable goals.  We need them to report back to us by the end of September—90 days from today—so that I can hold the Port Authority and the stakeholders accountable, and the public can hold me accountable.  We are opening and hopefully creating transparency into this process, so never again will we have to worry about the goals and the timetables and whether we are fulfilling them.

Many of us have gone to visit Ground Zero.  If you walk along the edges, you can find family members, survivors, just Americans, coming to see this site to pay homage to those who lost their lives in remembrance of that tragic day.

We owe them the responsibility of not only being resilient, but being responsible, as we try to erect many, many facilities that will demonstrate our ability to return that area of Lower Manhattan to a leadership position in financial services and management all around the world.

Those are our goals, and those are our principles, and I pray that we will never stray from them. 

I again want to thank Executive Director Chris Ward and everyone at the Port Authority for their hard work and their rather expedient work on this issue.  And I hope to report back at the end of September with a more accurate road map to progress on this site.