Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Interview With James Seymour

Aired July 20, 2002 - 12:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour with another painful step in the nation's recovery after September 11. Thousands of New Yorkers are meeting today to decide on rebuilding plans at ground zero, which includes creating a memorial. CNN's Brian Palmer joins us live from Manhattan with more. Hi there, Brian.

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon. Well, behind us, the 5,000 people participating in this electronic town hall have been listening to some of the factors, some of the constraints that will govern the reconstruction of the World Trade Center. We just heard from the chief architect of the Port Authority, the owner of the site.

With us, we have the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Joseph Seymour. Thanks for being with us.

What are some of these factors, some of these constraints that are going to govern the reconstruction of the site, Mr. Seymour?

JAMES SEYMOUR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PORT AUTHORITY OF NY AND NJ: Well, first and foremost is the transportation system. It needs to be restored; it needs to be restored quickly. There's still 85 million square feet. This is the third largest downtown in America. The transportation system's been injured. The path train from New Jersey has been severed; 65,000 people a day came from New Jersey. One of the nine transportation (UNINTELLIGIBLE) has been severed.

Not only do we want to restore that, but we want to improve upon it. We want to build a concourse, a seamless transition, if you will, from the Winter Garden over to the Fulton Street, the Transit Center.

Second is the memorial. We need to define the site for the memorial so that we can define -- give the opportunity for a profound and honorable memorial to be built and constructed. And then, third, of course, is restoring commerce to the downtown. And this is going to be done in a much different way than it was before. When we first built the Trade Center, we built the entire 10 million square feet at once, and then it was absorbed.

Now it's going to take years to absorb, because it will be privately financed, and our estimates are that it would be absorbed maybe a million square feet a year. So you're really talking at least a decade or more to build this up, and that's a long time. So what we're really talking about now is defining disposition proposals in a re-use plan. A site for the memorial, a site for the transportation system, and then a site for redevelopment.

PALMER: Great. Mr. Seymour, thank you very much for your time. We wish we could spend a little more time with you, but essentially, these 5,000 folks are going to be listening to the six proposals that are put on the table. Now, there's nothing binding on the Port Authority to accept their recommendations, but they say they're here to listen -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much, Brian Palmer from Manhattan.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com