Workers hold NYC rally to push for quicker rebuilding at World Trade Center site

Workers urge faster rebuilding at ground zero site

NEW YORK — Construction workers hoping to speed up the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site chanted “Build it now!” at a rally Tuesday to urge quicker movement on the project.

Construction is under way on 1 World Trade Center, a memorial and a transit hub, but the building of other planned towers has stalled as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey battles developer Larry Silverstein.

The authority, which controls the property, wants more private-sector cash for the project than Silverstein has offered and prefers to delay construction on two of the towers until the real estate market improves.

An arbitration panel gave the two sides until Friday to hammer out a new schedule for rebuilding parts of the site of the 2001 terror attacks.

Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward said Tuesday the authority “is not willing to do a public bailout of Larry Silverstein.”

Addressing several hundred workers gathered next to the site, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney said, “Instead of a shining American symbol of resilience and strength, we have a hole in the ground.”

She said that rebuilding after the attacks is a moral imperative, and putting 10,000 people to work is an economic imperative.

Electrician Greg Kapps said he is working at the site now but many more union members need jobs there. “We have people out for 40 weeks before they get a job,” he said.