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The battle over control of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum has begun to hamper fund raising for the project, Mayor Bloomberg warned yesterday.
“It’s getting harder to raise money,” he said on his weekly WOR radio show.
“When we talk to them and try to solicit gifts, [they say], ‘Well, you know, what’s going to happen with the Port Authority [and] museum?’ ”
Bloomberg has helped the 9/11 memorial foundation raise more than half of the $700 million construction cost of the memorial and museum.
While the memorial plaza opened last September, there is no opening date for the museum because of a dispute that’s been raging for nearly a year with the PA over who will get to run the emotionally charged site.
“We’re working with them, and hopefully we can come up with a solution quickly,” said the mayor, who chairs the organization.
In the meantime, one source said, big donors who are being hit up in another round of fund-raising are questioning what’s going on with the project.
“There’s no panic mode,” the source said.
“The interest is still there. But it makes it more challenging when you want to go back to people who already gave.”
For months, both the mayor and the Port Authority gave the impression that their behind-the-scenes fight was over $150 million or so in infrastructure costs.
But Bloomberg said that’s essentially been resolved, with only $15 million separating the two sides “last time I tuned in.”
With the money matters largely settled, the real obstacle has proved to be control over the site — roughly one-half of the 16-acre World Trade Center complex.
The PA has insisted it retain permanent ownership of the entire 16 acres, regardless of day-to-day operations of the museum and memorial.
Despite his hard line in public, sources said, Bloomberg has softened his stance privately in an effort to restart the all-but-dead negotiations.
“Bloomberg himself has sent word he is willing to talk about the governance issues,” said one official briefed on the talks.
Although the mayor at first refused to move from his position, his new flexibility could well break the logjam in time for a final announcement before he leaves office in 2014.
Bloomberg said that there have been 4 million visitors so far to the memorial and that “it does not seem to be slowing,” even without the museum.
The 9/11 foundation’s annual fund-raiser next month is already sold out.
The PA and the Office of Gov. Cuomo, who with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie controls the bi-state agency, did not comment.