A New York agency that just won’t die

How do you shut down a useless bureaucracy? Seems the only sure way is not to start it up in the first place.

Case in point: The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

The LMDC is a city-state agency set up in the wake of 9/11 to distribute federal funds to help redevelop the area around Ground Zero.

That was supposed to be a finite mandate, and as far back as 2006, the then-head of the LDMC announced it had completed its mission and was preparing to “sunset” the agency.

Unfortunately he spoke too soon. Not only is the LMDC still with us today, it looks set to get a new lease on life, courtesy of a very powerful backer: Mayor de Blasio.

“We’re looking at the LMDC with fresh eyes,” says a spokesman for City Hall. “Even though its functions have become more limited, it still has responsibilities to fulfill before its work is complete.”

When you translate this into plain English, it means: “Just keep it going. We’ll come up with a justification later.”

Though its mandate is about distributing federal funds, the LMDC has managed to blow city and state funds on the salaries of people who authorize boondoggles such as the $100 million in seed money for a Frank Gehry-designed performance-arts space at World Trade Center.

Which still remains on the drawing board.

When it’s not wasting money, it’s getting into turf spats with the Port Authority.

For example, The Post’s Steve Cuozzo has reported how the agencies have squabbled over the siting and rebuilding of the Greek Orthodox St. Nicholas Church at 130 Liberty Street.

No wonder Gov. Cuomo called for the LMDC to be shuttered, with its responsibilities handed over to the Port Authority.

That put him on the same page as former Gov. George Pataki and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who have each said the LMDC has long outlived its usefulness.

Conversely, count Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver as happy the LMDC stays up and running: No doubt, he plans to continue exerting control over the federal funds flowing to his district.

We’ve called for the LMDC to be closed down many times before on these pages. But money-sucking bureaucracies have more lives than cats.

Especially in New York.