There’s a new battle at Ground Zero, pitting Mayor Bloomberg against Gov. Cuomo over who is going to pick up the tab for the hundreds of millions of dollars in security projects to safeguard the streets around the World Trade Center, sources have told The Post.
The dispute is playing out — so far — behind closed doors and has intensified in recent weeks as the Bloomberg administration grapples with a budget gap expected to worsen next year.
Bloomberg dispatched one of his top lieutenants, Deputy Mayor Robert Steel, to lead City Hall’s negotiating team. His assignment: get the Port Authority, which controls the WTC site, to pay between $300 million and $500 million that was supposed to be covered by the city for security improvements to city streets.
“The city insisted on these measures, but they don’t want to pay for it,” one PA source told The Post. “They just figured that the Port would cover it, but there’s no money and that’s been the message. And that’s coming right from Albany.”
Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto insisted that the dispute does not involve his boss, who has a strained relationship with the mayor.
“The governor’s office is not familiar with this issue and does not have a position,” Vlasto said.
Bloomberg spokeswoman Julie Wood said only “we work in close partnership with the Port Authority on all aspects of the World Trade Center site, including the plan to keep it safe and secure.”
Approved three years ago, the “WTC Campus Security Plan” calls for making the 16-acre trade center — twice the target of terror attacks — a high-tech modern-day fortress complete with retractable barricades, radiation detectors and an elaborate network of surveillance cameras.
The agency refused to release the plan, saying it has to be kept confidential because it details security methods.
When the city and PA inked the blueprint in 2008, one PA source said, “It was wink, wink, nod, nod. It was pretty clear back then that the city thought the PA was going to pay.”
Since then, the PA — controlled jointly by Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — has seen its fortunes dwindle, leading the agency to push through a controversial toll hike over the summer. Now auditors are combing the books in the wake of criticism from both governors.
And this month, Cuomo booted Bloomberg’s key ally at the PA, executive director Chris Ward.