"It looks 200% better," he says. "The smoke is gone and you can see the whole roof of the PATH station. It looks terrific."

Shirley Jaffe, vice president of economic development for the Alliance for Downtown New York Inc., says "street life is back to normal--the ambiance has returned."

And John E. Zuccotti, chairman of Brookfield Financial Properties and incoming chairman of REBNY, notes that under the leadership of the Governor and the Mayor, "significant progress has been made on many fronts. We have a plan for the development of the site and a process is in its final stages for the creation of a respectful and inspiring memorial. There is a timetable for development of the iconic office tower, and the architectural/engineering team has been selected for downtown's new Grand Central. Numerous quality of life improvements have been identified, in cooperation with the Downtown community, and these are being vigorously pursued," he says.