The Governor of New York asked for the status of rebuilding the World Trade Center. The head of the New York Port Authority, Mr. Chris Ward, responded with a 36-page report which you can read for yourself at:

Director's Report on the status of the WTC reconstruction

Before we get to his assessment, please look at the photo posted above. It is the view from the 45th floor of Tower 7 looking down on Ground Zero. Tower 7 was one of the buildings that was totally destroyed on 9/11/2001. Reconstruction started in 2002 and was completed in 2006. It is 52 stories high, 1.7 million square feet, and rebuilt by by Silverstien Properties.

Getting back to Mr. Ward's report on the progress of reconstruction, I'll reprint a few of his excuses for your convenience.

As a result of this assessment, four overarching observations became clear:

1. First, while significant progress has been made, the schedule and cost estimates of the rebuilding effort that have been communicated to the public are not realistic. In fact, as other reports by the FTA and LMCCC/LMDC have already suggested, the schedule and cost for each of the public projects on the site face significant delays and cost overruns.

2. Second, as our Assessment Team attempted to correlate each project with a completion date and cost, we found that at least 15 fundamental issues critical to the overall project had not yet been resolved, many of which are in the control of stakeholders other than the Port Authority but impact our own schedule and budget. To forecast completion dates and costs before these fundamental issues have been resolved – and before engineering and construction professionals have validated the schedule and cost impacts of those decisions – would only create a new set of commitments and expectations that are unrealistic.

3. Third, as evident by the critical list of issues that require resolution, there is a need to establish a more efficient, centralized decision-making structure – a steering committee – with authority to make final decisions on matters which fundamentally drive schedule and cost. In addition, there is no effective, centralized command and control structure to efficiently manage the enormously complex construction logistics on the 16-acre WTC site. Going forward, an accountable governance structure is needed to ensure that all the stakeholders on the site are working together and resolving challenges as quickly as they arise, thus preventing slippage in schedules and escalation in costs.

4. Fourth, the previous schedule and cost estimates were established before construction had begun and before an adequate analysis was completed as to staging and logistics. Thus, these estimates did not reflect the unprecedented challenges associated with a project this complex and a project involving so many different public and private stakeholders.

I ask each of you reading this to analyze Mr. Ward's four points against the backdrop of a completed building across the street from ground zero. Was that not a challenge? Was there more and better talent available for Tower 7? Maybe Mr. Ward should consult the Silverstein Properties to see if they put together a "Steering Committee". This a probably one of the best examples of why government cannot be efficient and productive. The leadership within government is made up of politicians, lawyers, administrators, and bureaucrats. Their paycheck doesn't go up or down a nickel if things get done or not. And that is probably why they gravitate to those types of positions in the first place. Productivity is not their strong suit and what Silverstein Properties does on a daily basis is what they consider an


RJ