WTC Security Plan Moving Forward

The NYPD is getting closer to its final security plan for the World Trade Center.
Last month department officials released the latest version of the WTC Campus Security Plan, the next step toward a final environmental review of the traffic, air quality and other im­pacts on the neighborhood. The plan, somewhat changed from one presented last year, involves installing security checkpoints, where cars will be screened for explosives, and the closing of one lane of Church Street, between Cedar and Vesey, to general traffic.

The site will have four entry points, each accordingly for a different purpose:

• Washington between Barclay and Ves­ey will be the primary entry point for deliveries to 7 World Trade Center and the future Performing Arts Center.
• West Broadway between Barclay and Vesey will be used by private/livery cars transporting tenants and visitors to the WTC at street level.
• Trinity Place/Church at Liberty will be the entrance for tour buses to the National Sept. 11 Me­morial.
• Liberty at West will let in delivery trucks and other vehicles en route to the Vehicle Security Center.

The flow of cars into the site will be managed “flexibly,” according to Rich­ard Daddario, deputy commissioner of the NYPD’s counterterrorism bureau, the lead agency in the campus plan.

He and other counterterrorism officials appeared at a sparsely attended April 23 hearing to solicit public feedback on the draft version of the project’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), a required study to disclose any adverse impacts on the surrounding community and environment.

“If a particular entry point is underutilized at a time when other points are over­burdened,” said Daddario, “we’ll be able to redirect traffic to equalize the load.”

Meanwhile, local residents and workers will be eligible to join the NYPD’s Trusted Ac­cess Program, which is supposed to expedite their entry into the site.

Philip Habib, the consultant conducting the study, said the plan would cause traffic problems at five intersections. He said the NYPD will try to address those problems in the plan’s final review.

Community Board 1 representatives said they were glad to see that one lane of Church Street rather than the two proposed last year, will be open only to credentialed vehicles entering the site. But they complained that they have had too little time to study the plan.

“This really was discouraging,” said Michael Levine, the board’s director of land use and planning, “because it gave us no time to prepare to read the scope of work, which was about 25 pages, and to analyze the draft EIS, which is 600 pages.”

Those wishing to comment on the DEIS should send a letter to Assistant Commissioner David Kelly at: Counterterrorism Division, New York City Police Department, One Police Plaza, New York, NY 10038, or e-mail WTCEIS@nypd.org [1] by Wednesday, May 22, 2013. A hard copy of the DEIS is available for public viewing at the Office of Environmental Coordination (100 Gold St., 2nd floor). An online version of the DEIS can be found at http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/crime_prevention/counterterrorism.shtml.