October 24, 2005

Mayor Michael Bloomberg calls for removal of commercial leaseholder Larry A Silverstein from planning for redevelopment at ground zero in Lower Manhattan, and broad rethinking of plans; calls for more housing and less emphasis on building office space; is jumping into fray at fractious moment, after Gov George Pataki removed Drawing Center and International Freedom Center from cultural building and abrupt resignation of Roland Betts from Lower Manhattan Development Corp; has no power to remove Silverstein, nor can he dictate whether housing is included; Pataki aide John P Cahill dismisses Bloomberg's comments, and Silverstein calls them 'confusing,' saying administration participated at every stage of development plans; Bloomberg's remarks come at time when Democrats charge that he has not been involved enough in planning efforts, but seem to reflect public's impatience with pace of redevelopment; photo (M)

When Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg campaigns in the backyard of his opponent, Fernando Ferrer, he points to a 32-acre eyesore just south of Yankee Stadium as a prime example of his desire to bring jobs and prosperity to the oft-neglected Bronx. The mayor praises the planned redevelopment of the Bronx Terminal Market by a private developer as a project that will transform broken streets and crumbling buildings into a shiny $394 million shopping mall with thousands of jobs and hefty tax revenues, using city land and seed money.

The Giants were 6 points shy and 83 yards away, and hope had seemed to slip away with the fading daylight. Maybe it was desperation. Maybe it was nerve. Maybe it was the knowledge that the Giants' owners, Wellington Mara and Preston Robert Tisch, are ailing so much that Coach Tom Coughlin had urged the team before the game to, in essence, win one for the owners.

THIS may be risky -- or is the word naïve? -- to suggest in New York, but how about a little truth in packaging? Last week came the surprise announcement of holiday fare discounts from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But does anyone at the authority say to the public, ''Hey, this is a sweetener to make the next fare increase easier to take, and to induce you to vote for a transportation bond issue that's on the Nov. 8 ballot''? No.

The question to Fernando Ferrer, posed amid a bruising mayoral campaign, seemed easy enough to answer: What is your middle name? But Mr. Ferrer, responding through a spokeswoman to a reporter preparing a profile of him, declined to answer.