The PA doesn't deserve the $2.75 billion. Silverstein has been paying rent on land that he hasn't been able to lease.
And Silverstein agreed to pay it.
The government has been collecting free money. They should give it back to Silverstein.
Hardly free, they had to clear out and level the sites for 2WTC, 3WTC and 4WTC. Now that Silverstein has gotten the work he wanted done, he wants the money to pay for it back. Seems hypocritical to me. After all, the PA already paid Silverstein Properties the penalties for the delays in turning over the sites for 2WTC & 3WTC. Silverstein has already got everything he was due.
1WTC is paid for, it won't suffer. Neither will the memorial.
If there's a casualty it may be Calatrava's Hub. But I doubt it, the PA would just siphon the money from another project to pay for it.
No, the World Trade Center site won't suffer. But projects that far more of the region's inhabitants would benefit from will:
Maintenance on bridges, tunnels, ports, terminals and airports under the Authority's control will have to be deferred. Modernization of La Guardia, essential for it to continue operating safely, would stall. Efforts relieve airspace congestion by expanding Stewart Airport into a fourth major regional airport would fall by the wayside. Plans to raise the clearance of the Bayonne Bridge so that newer ships could make it into the harbor would collapse. A bus garage for the midtown bus terminal would not be built.
PA executive director Chris Ward put it succinctly: "Silverstein Properties (SPI) has now rejected four offers that put on the table significant amounts of public investment to move their private office towers forward. All that was asked in return was for Mr. Silverstein to take on the same risk he was asking of the public and he could not even agree to do that. It is clear SPI will accept nothing less than two fully subsidized office buildings and that is irresponsible and unacceptable. This arbitration process cannot distract from that fundamental point - that SPI would rather have public dollars at risk in place of its own private investment." In other words, Silverstein wants to have his cake and eat it, too: socialize the risk, and privatize the profits right into his pockets.
2WTC and 3WTC would look great on the skyline. But for the vast majority of people, that's the only benefit they'd have have. The other projects that would be jeopardized by the payout sought would have a far more wide-reaching benefit.