September 22nd - September 28th, 2006

Agreement Reached for WTC Site Build-Out

Friday, September 22^nd: Governor George Pataki, Governor Jon Corzine, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Thursday a series of agreements between the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and developer Larry Silverstein formalizing the conceptual framework for the World Trade Center site agreed upon by the two parties in April. The agreements, which redefine the terms of the lease signed by Silverstein just weeks before September 11, 2001, establish a timeline and long-term financial plan ensuring full build-out of the site and are expected to help expedite the entire redevelopment process. For more on this story, please click here.

Careful Deconstruction of 130 Liberty Begins Soon

Wednesday, September 27^th: A team of regulators from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, the New York State Departments of Labor and Environmental Conservation, and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection have approved a plan for the deconstruction of the 39-story 130 Liberty Street tower. Deconstruction will likely commence within a month. For more on this story, please click here.

Group Wants City Hall Park Open

Tuesday, September 26^th: Friends of City Hall Park, a neighborhood group upset that the northern section of City Hall Park has been closed to the public since September 11, 2001, has threatened to file suit, the New York Daily News reported. The group claims that the city has no right to take away public parkland without legislation, the Daily News added.

Smithsonian Opens Arts Pavilion

Friday, September 22^nd: The Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian is unveiling the Diker Pavilion, a $5 million arts and performance space that adds 6,000 square feet to the museum, increasing the museum's public space by one third, the Associated Press reported. The pavilion has a stage for music, dance, and storytelling and will be open to the public on September 30^th. An exhibit entitled "Beauty Surrounds Us" will debut in the new space, the AP continued.

The pavilion aims to provide "a more complete picture of our native identity, an understanding of the life, languages, history, and the arts of Native cultures, and to convey a sense of optimism about our future," W. Richard West, Jr., National Museum of the American Indian director, said at a press preview, the AP reported. The pavilion is named for New York art collectors Charles and Valerie Diker, who donated most of the funds for the new space, according to the newswire.