Billion Dollar Maybe

The most current estimates have the World Trade Center memorial costing nearly $1 billion, or as the Times notes, the original price tag of the World Trade Center itself:

The projected cost of building the World Trade Center memorial complex at ground zero has soared to nearly $1 billion, according to the most authoritative estimate to date.

Rebuilding officials concede that the new price tag is breathtaking — “beyond reason” in the words of one member of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation board — and it is sure to set off another battle over development at the 16-acre site, with calls to cut costs, scale back the design or even start over.

The foundation, which had planned to start construction in March, has already quietly broached the possibility with some victims’ families of moving important parts of the memorial out of the twin towers’ footprints to ground level.

Only two or three years ago, the problems faced by the memorial, the spiritual centerpiece of the site, would have been unimaginable. The underground complex, with its pools, waterfalls and galleries, was the product of a worldwide design competition that drew 5,201 entries and inspired tremendous public passion.

It was supposed to be immune to the controversies that had engulfed the commercial rebuilding at the site, with its completion assured by an outpouring of good will and open checkbooks. But fund-raising has lagged, with just $130 million raised from private contributions.

The new estimate, $972 million, would make this the most expensive memorial ever built in the United States. And that figure does not include the $80 million for a visitors’ center paid for by New York State. It is likely to draw unfavorable comparisons to the $182 million National World War II Memorial in Washington, which opened in 2004; the $29 million Oklahoma City National Memorial, which opened in 2000; or the $7 million Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, which opened in 1982.

The original World Trade Center itself cost $1 billion in the 1970’s, or about $3.7 billion in current dollars. Then again, everything at ground zero carries a big ticket, from the $478 million vehicle-screening center to the $2.2 billion PATH terminal.

As news of the cost trickles down, many are rethinking the scope of the memorial:

Knowing that the cost of the complex was becoming politically unpalatable, the foundation’s executive committee met on April 18 with representatives of some victims’ family groups, including Anthony Gardner, a leader of the Coalition of 9/11 Families, which has sued to block the memorial design, as well as Edith Lutnick, Patricia Riley and Sally Regenhard. In an attempt to cut costs and appease critics, the executives suggested broad changes to the design, according to three people who attended.

In the current design, the names of the victims would be inscribed 30 feet below street level, on a parapet in galleries surrounding underground pools within the footprints of the towers. Officials said that eliminating the galleries and moving the inscription of the names to plaza level would save money and resolve some security issues and perhaps assuage opponents.

“We’ve always made it clear to the foundation and to L.M.D.C. that we do not support this memorial as it stands now,” Mr. Gardner said yesterday, although he refused to discuss the April 18 meeting.

Roger Toussaint On The Quickest Way To Unmartyr Yourself

After reaching rock-star status, TWU Local 100 President figures out that the quickest way to come down from the cross is to rail against sensible laws forbidding public servants like police and firemen — and, yes, transit employees — from going on strike:

Roger Toussaint, president of Local 100 of the Transit Workers Union, walked out of jail shortly after 9 a.m. today, after serving less than four full days of what was supposed to be a 10-day sentence for leading an illegal strike in December.

Defiant in brief remarks outside the jail complex in lower Manhattan, he said, “We will not back down” to demands by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to limit pensions and benefits.

Mr. Toussaint was released after his sentence was trimmed to seven days because of good behavior. Following usual jail procedure, the authorities released him on the last working day before the weekend.

Mr. Toussaint denounced the law that prohibits strikes by some public employees. “The Taylor law is a bad law, an unjust law,” he said, “pensions and benefits need to be defended.”

Roger, who the fuck is working on your public relations?

Let’s unpack this for a minute. After being released from jail early — bringing to an abrupt end the schadenfreude felt by millions of stranded commuters — do you:

A) Thank your supporters and vow to carry on the good fight against rapidly shrinking benefits for the workers of this country?

B) Thank your supporters and take the opportunity to reiterate that the Transport Workers Union means business, no matter what wildly inappropriate and unfair actions the Metropolitan Transit Authority takes?

or C) Rail against a 40-year-old law that ensures that public works in the city run smoothly, a law that I imagine most people who aren’t part of the Socialist party probably support?

Of all the things Toussaint chooses to say . . . what a stooge.

Roger, there’s a time and place for bringing up Taylor Law reform. The press conference immediately following your being released from jail early is probably the worst possible time and place!

Ooh, Page Six Freelancer, I’m So Scared!

The worst thing about all these mafia stories is that it creates a culture in which Page Six freelancers shake down their subjects for either favorable or no coverage:

A freelancer for The Post’s Page Six gossip column is under investigation by the FBI on suspicion of making “extortionate demands” in return for not writing any damaging stories about Beverly Hills billionaire Ron Burkle.

Jared Paul Stern, who worked two days per week on Page Six, allegedly demanded $100,000 from Burkle, who made his fortune in supermarkets, plus an annual stipend of $10,000.

Sources close to the investigation say the FBI has been investigating for two weeks under the direction of Mark Weinstein, the chief of the economic-crimes division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and has Stern on video and audiotapes.

In exchange for money from Burkle, Stern allegedly would “refrain from writing damaging, negative stories and write puff pieces” flattering to Burkle.

Who the fuck does this guy think he is? Cindy Fucking Adams?

I’m Assuming His Attorney Didn’t Advise Him To Do This Interview

For someone awaiting sentencing on a misdemeanor charge of public lewdness, raw-food restauranteur and renowned subway flasher Dan Hoyt seems rather unrepentant:

Without skiing or bike racing as an outlet, he took to exposing himself in public. He is very matter-of-fact about it. “It’s the possibility of being caught or discovered, the thrill of doing something crazy,” Hoyt says, comparing the feeling to one he had many years ago, when he was skiing Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon and abruptly veered from the trail, flying off a 40-foot cliff for no reason. “I’ve raced motorcycles, raced bicycles, skied competitively. I’ve hit trees at 60 miles an hour. Been run over by a motorcycle. I’ve broken arms, broken my leg, tore cartilage in my knee.”

Since 1994, when he was arrested for a lewd display on the 8th Street N/R platform, his thrill-seeking hadn’t gotten him into trouble with the law again — until recently. Hoyt says he doesn’t make a habit of touching himself on the subway, but he occasionally reveals his penis in other settings. “There have been situations in a bar or nightclub where you’re fooling around with somebody and yeah, you’re exposed. It’s nothing really accessible. Just sort of hidden, but risky. If someone looked closely, they could see what’s going on.”

Some people are offended. “Everybody has their limitations,” Hoyt says. “For some people, it’s very, very wrong. Everybody has things to hide — things they don’t tell their best friend. I’ve seen Websites with scat and stuff and I think, What? Who would possibly be excited about that? But there are people who probably look at me and say, ‘How could that possibly be exciting in any way?’ “As for his R-train exploits, Hoyt says, “I’ve met women who enjoy it. After this incident happened, I had a woman tell me, ‘You know, that sounds exciting to me.’ She wouldn’t mind being on the other end.”

. . .

In his account, the perpetrator is [the victim], who misread his intentions (he claims he was already mid-masturbation when she stepped onto the train) and then humiliated him by posting his picture on the Web. He says he didn’t even realize he’d been photographed. “Even so, I wouldn’t imagine somebody throwing it up on the Internet for millions of people and destroying your life like that,” he says. “It’s one thing to take it to the police. But on the Internet, I read a lot of people saying, ‘That was not too cool of her. That was really screwed up.'”

Hoyt believes that if he and [the victim] had only met under different circumstances, she might really like him. “You know, she’d go, ‘That guy’s pretty cool. He’s got this restaurant, and he’s fun,’ “Hoyt says. “She’d probably want to go out with me.”

Never Forget . . . It Goes On The Expense Account

We could invest $6 billion to build a rail link between Lower Manhattan and JFK* but I’m fairly sure people would still be willing to spend more to get to JFK on a helicopter than on an actual airplane to, say, California, and that probably says something about either the importance of a rail link or the willingness of executives to fritter away stockholders’ earnings, I’m not sure which. Oh, and did we mention that the TSA is providing security for the helicopterists? Because you might have missed that detail:

At 7 a.m., U.S. Helicopter, a start-up company, whisked its first passengers from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, over Brooklyn, Queens and the security lines at Kennedy, to the American Airlines terminal. The hourly flights, which last less than 10 minutes, cost $139 each way.

Included in that price is the luxury of avoiding the long security screening lines at the airport. At the request of U.S. Helicopter’s executives, the federal Transportation Security Administration set up a checkpoint, with X-ray and bomb-detection machines, to screen passengers and their luggage at the heliport.

The security agency is spending $560,000 this year to operate the checkpoint with a staff of eight screeners and is considering adding a checkpoint at the heliport at the east end of 34th Street. The agency’s involvement has drawn criticism from some elected officials.

[Chuck Schumer quote deleted to avoid having to provide him an outlet in which to grandstand]

But Charles A. Gargano, vice chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the Wall Street heliport, on Pier 6 in the East River, called the resumption of the service a boon for the downtown economy.

“This is much more than just to have something nice,” Mr. Gargano said. “It is an essential element to rebuilding Lower Manhattan.”

Spare us . . .

But who actually uses this service?

Most of those passengers are expected to be investment bankers and other business travelers who want to save time and avoid the hassles of the normal trek to the airport.

. . .

Bobby Weiss, a self-employed stock trader and real estate broker who was U.S. Helicopter’s first paying customer yesterday, said he would pay $300 for a round trip to Kennedy, and he expected most corporate executives would, too.

“It’s $300, but so what? It goes on the expense account,” said Mr. Weiss, adding that he had no qualms about the diversion of federal resources to smooth the path of highfliers. “Maybe a richer guy may save a little time at the expense of a poorer guy who spends a little more time in line.”

Which companies did it say I have in my mutual fund?

*And if you ask me, the $6 billion project is of course the perfect way to honor the memory of those who perished on Sept. 11. Because nothing says, “Never Forget” like “One-seat ride between Manhattan and JFK.”