As museum officials, politicians, family members, rescuers, nearby residents, survivors, real estate and commercial interests and more argue over what the 9/11 museum should contain, the Port Authority and the memorial and museum foundation are fighting over who pays the bills. The planned Sept. 11, 2012 opening has already been delayed until next year and still there is no resolution. Why haven’t Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York stepped in to resolve the deadlock, since they run the Port Authority?
Here’s the New York Times story
Construction Frozen in a Fight Over Financing
By PATRICIA COHEN
Published: June 2, 2012
For more than six months, work on the National September 11 Memorial Museum has been at a virtual standstill because of a multimillion-dollar dispute between the foundation creating it and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is responsible for the construction.
At issue is how much the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center Foundation owes for work on the surrounding infrastructure and for cost overruns. The Port Authority says the foundation’s share is more than $300 million. The foundation says it owes nothing; it argues that the authority’s delay in opening the memorial plaza has cost it $100 million.
Negotiations are proceeding, but late last year the authority all but stopped approving contracts for work.
The foundation is putting the total budget for the memorial and museum at $710 million, which it says it has raised through private donations and aid from the state and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.
But no one expects the Port Authority to absorb the remaining bills, and powerful egos and competing agendas are complicating the negotiations: The foundation’s chairman is Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, while the Port Authority is jointly controlled by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.
All sides agree on one thing: there is no way the museum will be finished in time to open this year……
