Mayor Bloomberg yesterday flatly contradicted a report by the Port Authority that work is progressing on the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
“I read in the paper that the Port Authority said construction continues,” said the mayor. “That really isn’t true. Construction on the museum has basically been stopped for more than a year now.”
The PA claimed just the opposite in response to a scathing letter from more than 200 9/11 families who on Wednesday demanded it get moving to finish the historic project, which had originally been scheduled to begin receiving visitors in September.
A lingering dispute, ostensibly about infrastructure costs, has delayed the opening indefinitely.
“Work has never halted on the museum,” PA spokeswoman Lisa MacSpadden insisted two days ago, citing the workers who are reporting for duty there each day.
But the mayor dismissed that effort as routine maintenance, not full-scale construction.
“There’s always a handful of people who have to maintain things,” he said. “But, fundamentally, nothing.”
MacSpadden stood her ground yesterday.
“It simply isn’t true that construction stopped at the site,” she reiterated.
“Dozens of workers are on site working on the museum daily, and the PA and state spend upward of $2 million every month to advance construction on the museum,” she said, adding that 84 PA employees died on 9/11.
There’s no sign that the fight is going to be resolved quickly.
Bloomberg said he spoke last week with Gov. Cuomo and received assurances that the issue was on his radar.
“He said to me that he’s really focusing on it and that he understands the need to get the memorial museum done,” the mayor said. “We need to get this back on track, and Gov. Cuomo, I know, is working as hard as anybody can do.”
The Post has reported that Cuomo is miffed that his father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, was treated shabbily at the 10th-anniversary commemoration of 9/11, which was overseen by the city. The Governor’s Office has denied that.
“Let’s stop all the shilly-shallying and do it,” the mayor concluded. “There’s nothing substantive between us.”