ALBANY, N.Y., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- The chairman of the 11-member commission charged with rebuilding at the 16-acre World Trade Center site and retaining businesses in Lower Manhattan said Friday to forget about rebuilding in 2002.
"This is a huge undertaking," said John Whitehead, former deputy secretary of state in the administration of President Ronald Reagan and former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs. "Plans to start rebuilding before 2003 are a bit too optimistic."
The Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp. will be a subsidiary of the state's economic development arm, the Empire State Development Corp., and fashioned after the Times Square Redevelopment Corp.
It will decide how and what gets built in Manhattan south of Houston Street, including subway lines and stations lost in the collapse of the Twin Towers. It will control billions in federal and state redevelopment funds.
The consortium that held a 99-year, $3.2 billion lease on the World Trade Center, headed by Larry Silverstein, had said it wanted to begin construction next year.
Meanwhile, State Comptroller H. Carl McCall, a Democratic candidate for governor and the first black statewide officer holder in New York, said the bipsartisan commission lacked diversity and representation from the New York City Council and state Legislature.
Seven of the commission members were appointed by Republican Gov. George Pataki and Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
"I'm concerned that the governor has made this entity a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corp.," McCall said. "ESDC does not have a strong track record of success, as my audits have shown, and does not face the same level of audit scrutiny that city and state agencies do."
Deborah Wright, chief executive of Carver Federal Savings Bank and former president of the Upper Manhattan Redevelopment Corp., is the only racial minority on the board and one of two women. Madelyn Wils, chairwoman of Community Board No. 1 of Lower Manhattan, was appointed by the governor.
In addition, Pataki appointed: Frank Zarb, former chairman and chief executive of Nasdaq; Roland Betts, owner of Chelsea Piers; Lewis Eisenberg, former chairman of the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; and Ed Malloy, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council.
Giuliani chose: Richard Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange; Howard Wilson, chairman of the city's School Construction Authority; Paul Crotty, lobbyist for Verizon and Giuliani's former corporation counsel; and Robert Harding, current deputy mayor for economic development.
"Government makes a fundamental mistake when it continues to view Latinos as not having anything to contribute to the future of this city," said Bronx County Democratic Committee Chair Roberto Ramirez. "It is an oversight that I am sure both the governor and the mayor will correct."
New York City Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, said he was consulted on the choices and he had no problem with the board members and that they are friends.
According to Giuliani, the first order of business for the commission is to choose a memorial for those lost in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and to choose a salaried executive director.
The U.S. Navy's newest destroyer, the USS Bulkeley, will be commissioned next week in New York City. It will sail by the Statue of Liberty and under the Verrazano Bridge Saturday.
"In light of the attacks, the sight of this ship shows that we are progressing and moving on," said Navy spokesman Lt. K.C. Choi.
