Fifteen years ago today, a truck packed with explosives detonated under a tower at the World Trade Center. While it failed to knock down the towers (the parking garage suffered the most damage), six people were killed and over a thousand injured. A retired Port Authority official, Peter Caram, spoke about the first bombing with amNY and said, "The country as a whole was never put on a security alert [after the '93 bombing]. We......

Better late than never: The Port Authority turned over part of the World Trade Center site to developer Larry Silverstein. This parcel of land is where two of the five planned towers will be built. As part of Silverstein's deal with the Port Authority back in 2006, the PA would control the land but Silverstein, who held the lease to the WTC during the attacks, would be able to build on top of it. The......

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is in charge of construction on the new 1 World Trade Center – AKA the Freedom Tower – is now seeking developers to design, build and operate a 34,000-square-foot restaurant on the 100th and 101st floors; whoever wins the bid may also win rights to operate the observation deck planned for the 102nd floor. The Authority is gazing into its crystal construction ball and seeing......

Photograph of the World Trade Center site by New York Daily Photo We got a NotifyNYC alert this morning:The Port Authority will be doing construction blasting at the World Trade Center site today beginning at 8 a.m. There will be a total of 7 controlled blasts during the day. This is a routine construction operation and there is no cause for concern.The only cause of concern is how the Port Authority has incurred millions......

After talk of flight caps to help ease airport congestion that leave many travelers very irritable, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced another policy to help ease airport woes. The DOT will let airports charge airlines based on the time of day and volume of traffic their planes are landing in. Previously, aircraft was only charged based on plane weight. The hope, per the USDOT, is that "airports would be able to spread traffic more......

Over two years after a jury found it negligent for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Port Authority continues to fight that claim. The NY-NJ agency and lawyers for the victims face the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court to argue their sides. In 2005, a jury found that the Port Authority was 68% responsible for the bombing in the WTC parking garage, which left six dead and over 1,000 injured. The decision meant......

Wow - yet depressingly not surprising: The Port Authority will have to pay World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein $300,000 for every day past December 31, 2007 that it does not turn over a part of the WTC site. The payment could be as much at $13.5 million or as little as $9.3 million. The PA and Silverstein worked out a deal back in 2006 where the PA would control the land but Silverstein, who......

The low-slung Port Authority bus terminal will be getting a heady addition: The Port Authority will announce a deal for a tower to be built at its north end. The NY Times reports that Lawrence Ruben Company and Vornado Realty Trust is buying air rights for $400-500 million, which the Port Authority will then be used to add 18 bus platforms, give the terminal a "major face-lift" and overall refurbishing. Well, finally - commuting to......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck at White Plains Rd. and 219th St. in the Bronx, an animal incident on Rochelle Pl. on Staten Island, and a hate crime at Columbia University in Manhattan. A tour of Jam Master Jay's studio, where the rap impressario was gunned down five years ago. A brief update on the unforgettable case where a man beat the bejeezus out of a grunting and yelping spin class......

Today at noon, animal advocates will be holding a rally outside the Port Authority's headquarters at 225 Park Avenue South (between 18th and 19th Streets) to protest the PA's decision to round up feral cats at JFK Airport. The rally is organized by Neighborhood Cats and In Defense of Animals, two of many rescue groups who question the agency's reasoning that cats pose a danger to air traffic safety. In fact, Neighborhood Cats offers......

The Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals thinks the Port Authority is a liar when it comes to how the agency will handle the the tens to possibly hundreds of cats it hopes to trap from the grounds of JFK Airport. The Port Authority ramped up its cat trapping efforts, claiming that cats were a danger to air safety and passengers, since leftover food (much of it given by airport and airline workers) would attract rodents......

The rebuilding process at Ground Zero took another small step forward today as final plans for Towers 2, 3, and 4 were unveiled. Larry Silverstein and a group of architects unveiled updated designs for the buildings, which are supposed to start construction in January. These plans are more detailed than the initial designs released last year, with more information on the lobbies, public spaces, and building facades. Silverstein says the buildings will be environmentally......

Given the suspected terrorist activity across the Atlantic in Britain and Scotland, New York City has been on the look out for suspicious activity. Yesterday, there were two incidents that brought increased police attention - as well as a partial evacuation of JFK and closing down part of Riverside Park. Now it turns out the strange package and abandoned vehicles were harmless. A lone package left outside Terminal 9 around 10:20AM at Kennedy turned......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: brush fires in Jamaica caused delays and suspensions on the LIRR west of Jamaica Station (it's okay, just booze up) - there may still be some delays; a water main break on 3rd Ave at 86th Street; and found DOA on the Belt Parkway. Being the head of a crime family isn't easy these days. Danny "The Lion" Leo, the reputed head of the Genovese crime family was arrested......

Remember how the Port Authority wanted to put Geico ads on various toll booths at the George Washington Bridge? Maybe it's a good thing that plan was scotched, because now the Port Authority is considering elmination of tollbooths at all Hudson River crossings. From the NY Sun:The plan, which is expected to reduce traffic bottlenecks on the highways leading into the city, would complement Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to charge drivers a fee to use the......

The Port Authority is investigating adding a second bus lane to the Lincoln Tunnel. There's a bus lane already (carved out of a westbound lane between 6:15-10AM), which carries 51% of all passengers who use the tunnel, but the Post calls it a "victim of its own success," since it's operating at capacity. The second bus lane would be for buses - and perhaps for drivers who would pay a premium toll (over the current......

With NYC's three major airports near full capacity and flight delays rising due to overcrowded runways and increased security regulations, Mayor Bloomberg is concerned that the city's lack of speedy entrance and egress by travellers to and from the city will start to stifle economic growth. Of the many proposals put before him, the mayor is apparently putting his weight behind one that would turn the city's waterways into runways by allowing seaplanes to land......

The Port Authority has officially agreed to fund $1 billion of the Freedom Tower's construction Dr. Denton Sayer Cox, whose patients have included Andy Warhol and John Steinbeck, told police he was beaten and burned with a chemical at York and East 73rd Street but police believe he was the "victim of a gay pickup gone wrong" in his Upper East Side apartment. Either way, he's fighting for his life. A corrections officer gets......

Uh-oh. The Santiago Calatrava-designed World Trade Center PATH transit hub is now estimated to be $1.2 billion over budget by the construction company's contractor. Previous estimates pegged building the critically-praised "bird-like" structure at $2.2 billion in 2005, after the Port Authority approved a revised design. Why the high estimate? Labor costs and materials. The Port Authority's executive director Anthony Shorris wrote in a letter to PA Chairman Anthony Coscia (hello, CYA paper trail), "We have......

Air travelers, rejoice: The Port Authority has decided to lease Stewart Airport. Both Governors Spitzer and Corzine support the plan, and the Port Authority says the deal is "a major milestone." The agency, overseen by NY and NJ, hopes that by having a fourth area airport, crowding problems at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark airports can be alleviated. Port Authority officials have projected that JFK, LaGuardia and Newark will grow from 104 million passengers to 150......

This morning, construction workers will be laying down the first part of a steel retaining wall for three towers at the World Trade Center site. The towers are the ones designed by Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and Fumihiko Maki on the east side of the site. The Port Authority is in charge of laying the foundation for the three towers by the end of 2008, and then WTC developer Larry Silverstein will complete the......

Score: Gecko, 0, and People Tired of Ads, 1. Last week, it was announced that the Port Authority and Geico had worked out a $3.2 million deal for the insurance company to place signage and marketing goods at the George Washington Bridge toll plaza as well as at other Port Authority facilities and on other Port Authority collateral. Think costumed geckos at the bus station or Geico logos on Port Authority mailers. But now......

Drivers who take the George Washington Bridge, you'll soon have a little green gecko in your sights every day! The Port Authority has agreed to allow Geico advertise on the George Washington Bridge for $3.2 million over two years. While that doesn't mean affixing geckos to the bridge itself, it does mean Geico billboards on the toll plaza, Geico signs on tollbooths, and having Geico's name appear on various Port Authority collateral and the......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: "severed limb" at PS240 in Brooklyn, a DOA/shooting on East 85th Street in Manhattan, and a "car vs. house" in Staten Island. A 4-6 month old Hereford calf escaped from a slaughterhouse-bound truck in Bay Ridge Tuesday-- he was eventually caught by the police. His future is a little unclear-- the slaughterhouse had until 1pm to get him, but if they failed to do that, he goes to a......

After years of waiting for something to happen with Ground Zero development, even the much-awaited installation of Freedom Tower's first steel beams has a problem. Luckily, it's a cosmetic one - although it's also a patriotic issue. It turns out that the flag painted on the first steel beam installed was painted the wrong way. From the AP: The Port Authority removed the decal on the 31-foot column after media outlets and readers questioned......

Not only is it turkey time, it's also time for the biggest travel day of the year! The Port Authority expects 5 million people to pass through airports, bridges, tunnels and the PATH from today till Sunday. And some people even hit the road in the wee hours today, to beat traffic. That's wild - do you have elaborate schemes to get to your Thanksgiving? Transportation officials hope travelers have some more patience during......

If you've got millions, does the Port Authority have a deal for you! The Port Authority is considering bids for naming rights to the bus terminal. And some companies might be interested, since it's in the hubbub of Times Square, even though some critics think people might be confused. But PA officials doubt that even the most ardent preservationists would bemoan the loss of "Port Authority Bus Terminal" from the cityscape. And money earned by......

The FAA is going to be busy at Newark. Yesterday evening, a plane taxiing for take-off clipped wings with another plane that was being towed. The Port Authority said "the left wing of outbound Lufthansa Flight 403, a Boeing 747, and the right wing of a Continental Boeing 757 under tow bumped at about 6:30PM." No one was injured, and the 294 Lufthansa passengers were moved to another plane. Continental says its plane was empty......

Yesterday, the Port Authority was partially shut down due to an bus rider's threat. Twenty eight year old Renaldo Aquino Batista of Wisconsin had taken a Trailways bus from Scranton, PA to the city and refused to leave the bus. He made some sort of threat, leading the police to close the bus terminal's south wing (which means all inbound and outbound buses were stalled) and many streets were closed as well. When the......

+ Looks like Hevesi could be in big trouble for not reimbursing the state for his wife's chauffeur. + Via the Gothamist Newsmap: a worker was killed when he fell off a scaffold on the Queensboro Bridge. The Port Authority Bus Terminal on 42nd was closed for an hour after an EDP made a bomb-threat. + Curbed has the story of that huge, mysterious building on the corner of 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue......