The World Trade Center’s memorial plaza will be opened according to plan by Sept. 11, 2011 – but only for a few days for ceremonies, after which full public access won’t come for another year, the Port Authority director admitted yesterday.
Testifying before a City Council committee on lower Manhattan, Chris Ward said the 8-acre plaza would not be ready for the general public until 2012.
Last week, the PA promised to satisfy a key demand from Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Paterson that the plaza be ready at the 10-year anniversary of the terror attacks.
“It is my sense during this interim period that [public access] would be unlikely,” Ward said yesterday.
The interim period, Ward said later, would run into 2012 to conclude construction of elements of the plaza, including a visitors center.