Larry Silverstein and 9/11

By libertyordeath
June 29, 2006 - 13:09 ET

Developer Silverstein sues over WTC insurance cash

Mon Jun 26, 11:38 AM ET

World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Monday sued insurers to demand that they pay up on the buildings destroyed in the September 11 attacks.

Some insurers have suggested they might not make future payments owed for redevelopment because the original plan has been changed. Silverstein and the Port Authority, which owns the 16-acre site, say the money is essential to rebuilding.

The lawsuit, filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, demands that the insurers honor their payments even though an initial rebuilding plan was replaced by a new one agreed to in April.

The insurance companies named in the suit include St. Paul Travelers, Zurich American Insurance Co. and Allianz AG.

Silverstein leased the World Trade Center shortly before the attacks and has the right to rebuild the complex. The developer and the insurers still have not resolved other lawsuits over how much the companies owe.

"The financing of the redevelopment plan ... depends in large part from the property/rental value insurance," the latest lawsuit says. "The defendants, however, have persistently sought to shirk their contractual obligations to pay insurance coverage."

Silverstein and the Port Authority said in the suit that they are seeking to establish that the reworked plan to develop the site "cannot provide an excuse for any defendant to avoid its obligations."

The lawsuit in the latest twist in almost five-years of wranglings between Silverstein and the insurance companies since the twin towers were destroyed in the September 11 attacks.

Clashes over designs and security have repeatedly stalled rebuilding and many of the latest fights have also revolved around the financing.

Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said a few insurers believed Silverstein's new pact violated their insurance covenants because he will no longer own the Freedom Tower.

Instead, the Port Authority now will own the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, meant to symbolize the post-September 11 revival, although Silverstein will still build it. [end article]

Larry Silverstein, the controller of the destroyed WTC complex, stated plainly in a PBS documentary that he and the FDNY decided jointly to demolish the Solomon Bros. building, or WTC 7, late in the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001.

In the documentary "America Rebuilds", aired September 2002, Silverstein makes the following statement;

"I remember getting a call from the, er, fire department commander, telling me that they were not sure they were gonna be able to contain the fire, and I said, 'We've had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is pull it.' And they made that decision to pull and we watched the building collapse." [wmv download]

In the same program a cleanup worker referred to the demolition of WTC 6: "... we're getting ready to pull the building six." [mp3 download]

There can be little doubt as to how the word "pull" is being used in this context.

p.s.

pull:

  1. To apply force to so as to cause or tend to cause motion toward the source of the force.
  2. To remove from a fixed position; extract: The dentist pulled the tooth.
  3. To tug at; jerk or tweak.
  4. To rip or tear; rend.
  5. To stretch (taffy, for example) repeatedly.
  6. To strain (a muscle, for example) injuriously.
  7. Informal. To attract; draw: a performer who pulls large crowds.
  8. Slang. To draw out (a weapon) in readiness for use: pull a gun; pulled a knife on me.
  9. Informal. To remove: pulled the engine; pulled the tainted meat product from the stores.
  10. Sports. To hit (a ball) so that it moves in the direction away from the dominant hand of the player propelling it, as to the left of a right-handed player.
  11. Nautical.
    1. To operate (an oar) in rowing.
    2. To transport or propel by rowing.
    3. To be rowed by: That boat pulls six oars.
  12. To rein in (a horse) to keep it from winning a race.
  13. Printing. To produce (a print or an impression) from type.
  1. To demolish; destroy: pull down an old office building.
  2. To reduce to a lower level.
  3. To depress, as in spirits or health.
  4. Informal To draw (money) as wages: pulls down a hefty salary.

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