Bloomberg Confused Over Responsibly Of 9/11 Sphere Relocation Project

“It’s up to the Port Authority," he said. "I’ll support whatever they decide to do." - Mayor Bloomberg

The sphere was surrounded by construction fencing Friday. The Mayor had another Bloomberg Moment today as he apparently forgot who was responsible for the controversial plan to move the iconic Sphere. The Sphere, along with Eternal Flame are being moved as part of a controversial $18 million Battery Park & Perimeter Bikeway - Parks Department/DOT/EDC/ Battery Park Conservancy-redesign project.

The Mayor said the Sphere should remain in Battery Park but supported "whatever" the Port Authority decided to do. The Port Authority however is not involved with the redesign project other than it has to find another location for it's sphere now that it is being being kicked out of the park.

After news broke in April 2011 of the Battery Park bicycle path project administration officials have refused to comment on it. The plan also calls for relocating twelve monuments to along the perimeter of the park.

The .3 mile portion of the Manhattan Greenway will connect with the Hudson River Park bikeway to the west and the bikeway built as part of Peter Minuit Plaza to the east. The $18 million project was funded through State and Federal grants and over $10 million in MTA mitigation funding, and $300,000 in design fees contributed by the LMDC.

The Sphere, the Fritz Koenig bronze sculpture had stood between the two Twin Tower buildings as a symbol of world peace. The sphere and the Eternal Flame were installed in Battery Park shortly after the horrific World Trade Center tragedy and became symbols of hope and resilience for visitors and 9/11 families.

Despite being in the works for years a new location for the sphere has yet to be found. (Photos: Julie Shapiro/DNAinfo) - Geoffrey Croft

Manhattan

Despite Port Authority opposition, Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks the iconic 9/11 sphere should remain in Battery Park, he said Monday, according to DNAinfo.

Bloomberg lent his voice to the wave of critics who have decried the Port Authority's plan to move the Fritz Koenig Sphere — the dented, bronze sculpture that was pulled from the wreckage of the World Trade Center and became a symbol of hope and resilience following the 9/11 attacks — out of Battery Park.

"I think it’s beautiful where it is,” Bloomberg told reporters at an unrelated press conference in West Chelsea, explaining that leaving the sphere in its current location helps visitors understand the scope of the impact of the attacks.

"You have people going elsewhere to understand this is something that affected the whole city, not just on the World Trade Center Site," he said.

Still, Bloomberg said that, once a new location is chosen, he won't interfere.

World Trade Center Sphere Leaving Battery Park By End of April. Rosemary Cain, whose firefighter son George Cain was killed on 9/11, is shown after a 2011 meeting where she advocated for the sphere to return to the rebuilt World Trade Center.

“It’s up to the Port Authority," he said. "I’ll support whatever they decide to do."

The agency had originally said it would haul the 25-foot sphere to a storage hangar at JFK Airport's Hangar where it stores other large 9/11 artifacts by the end of April — but reversed course following a public outcry from many 9/11 families, who feel the sculpture should be returned to its original home, between the Twin Towers, inside what is now the 9/11 Memorial.

The Port Authority released a statement on May 11 saying that it would announce a new, temporary home for the sculpture last week — but has yet to make an announcement about its fate.

“We believe this sculpture should continue to reside in a location where New Yorkers and people from around the region, nation and the world can view this important reminder of survival and resilience,” Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye said in a statement at the time.

The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but spokesman Steve Coleman has said that the park was never meant to be a permanent home for the sphere, which was moved to Battery Park in 2002 after being pulled from the rubble at Ground Zero.

On Friday, the sculpture was surrounded by construction fencing, suggesting the move will be happening soon.

One possibility the Port Authority privately floated last year was to put the sphere in the future Liberty Park, just south of the 9/11 Memorial, but that won't be open for another couple of years.

Koenig's bronze sphere was originally installed in Battery Park during an emotional ceremony on the six-month anniversary of the attacks, and became a symbol of hope and resilience for many visitors and 9/11 families.

The sphere in Battery Park in the spring of 2010. It has to move for the $ 18 million dollar Battery Park & Perimeter Bikeway construction. (Photos: Julie Shapiro/DNAinfo)

Read More:

Mayor Bloomberg Says 9/11 Sphere Should Remain in Battery Park

DNAinfo - May 21, 2012 - By Jill Colvin

Battery Park Bicycle Path Plan Orphans "The Sphere" - 9/11 Symbol

A Walk In The Park - May 14, 2012

Battery Park Bicycle Path Plan Orphans "The Sphere" - 9/11 Symbol

"It simply cannot be mothballed in some musty hangar at JFK," Schumer said. "It must remain, like now, accessible as a public touchstone for New Yorkers and the visitors from the four corners of the globe." - Senator Charles Schumer.

The Sphere, the Fritz Koenig designed sculpture had stood between the two Twin Tower buildings as a symbol of world peace. It was moved to Battery Park after the destruction of the World Trade Center. A controversial $18 million Battery Park & Perimeter Bikeway project moves will move the sculpture to an unknown location. The eternal flame was dedicated on September 11, 2002.

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

The Sphere "endures as an icon of hope and the indestructible spirit of this country," and was placed in Battery Park as a temporary memorial to all who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, according to the city's dedication plaque.

However plans for a Battery Park bicycle path call for restoring and relocating twelve monuments to along the perimeter of the park. Despite being in the works for years a new location has yet to be found.

The Port Authority and Parks Department initially planned to store the now ionic sphere at a storage hanger at Kennedy Airport - which many found to be is unacceptable including Senator Charles Schumer who recently weighed in on the subject. Some Sept. 11 victims' family members have been pushing officials to return it to its original spot and incorporate it into the National September Memorial at the World Trade Center or the yet to be built Liberty Park, south of the World Trade Center site.

Over 7,200 hundred people have signed an on-line petition demanding its relocation to the 9/11 Memorial site.

PEDAL TO MEDDLE: Plans for a Battery Park bicycle path call for relocating several monuments, including "The Sphere." The sphere from the original World Trade Center was moved south to Battery Park. The 22.5 ton sculpture was rededicated with an eternal flame as a memorial to the victims of 9/11. (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images) (Photo: Chad Rachman/NY Post)

"The designers of the memorial have ruled that it CANNOT be returned. In order, they said, to protect the integrity of the design," the petition states.

"The memorial design will include over 500 trees. Mayor Bloomberg and his deputy mayor, Patricia Harris, will not permit any of those trees to be cleared to create a proper space that allows the return of the Sphere and respects its history and significance."

After a barrage on new negative publicity last week on Friday the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said they were close to finding a temporary new home that will keep it in the public eye but they wouldn't say where. The agency is continuing to look for a permanent place for the sphere.

The approximately. .3 mile portion of the Manhattan Greenway will connect with the Hudson River Park bikeway to the west and the bikeway built as part of Peter Minuit Plaza to the east.

The $18 million Battery Park & Perimeter Bikeway project was funded through State and Federal grants and over $10 million in MTA mitigation funding, and $300,000 in design fees contributed by the LMDC.

The project was supposed to break ground in 2011 and construction expected to last eighteen months.

Dedication Plaque - Battery Park.

The cash-strapped Parks Department will spend millions of dollars to dig up and move more than 10 Battery Park memorials, statues and sculptures -- including "The Sphere," which has stood as a tribute to 9/11 victims – to gussy up a new bicycle path, the New York Post wrote last year.

Even as Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe is threatening to raise fees and lay off groundskeepers, he allocated $4.75 million for the project that would relocate the memorials -- many unmoved for decades -- along an expanded 600-yard Battery Park bikeway and "monument walk."

The change "will result in improved, dignified settings for each of the monuments, as well as creating more open, uninterrupted green space," say planning documents for the Battery Park & Bikeway Perimeter.

The expanded bikeway along Battery Place and State Street is scheduled to be completed in 2012. It will eventually link the Hudson River Park Bikeway to the East River Esplanade.

It is part of an $11.8 million "master plan" by the nonprofit Battery Park Conservancy to overhaul much of the park.

The 25-foot bronze Fritz Koenig designed sculpture stood between the two Twin Tower buildings for thirty years as a symbol of world peace.

Read More:

Sen. Schumer: Move World Trade Center sphere to somewhere prominent!

New York Daily News - May 12, 2012 - By Jonathan Lemire

World Trade Center Sphere Being Moved From Battery Park To Storage

WCBS 880 - April 6, 2012 - Sean Adams

An assault on Battery Bike path to uproot park monuments

New York Post - April 2, 2011 - By John Doyle and Chuck Bennett