January

While not issuing any statement on this latest application, Silverstein has never made a secret of his belief that the rebuilding of the World Trade Center required substantial Liberty Bond financing. "Monies are absolutely essential. We will still need Liberty Bond financing. It will be absolutely critical to get it rebuilt," he said earlier this year. And last year, during in a series of city council hearings on funding for Lower Manhattan redevelopment, John Lieber, senior vice president of World Trade Center LLC, a Silverstein Properties company, issued a call that the funds remaining in the Liberty Bond pool should be allocated and preserved for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site.

It is anticipated that approximately $3.5 billion has not yet been earmarked for specific projects. The Liberty Bond Program is designed to provide tax-exempt bond financing for major projects to revitalize Lower Manhattan and New York City using $8 billion in bond issuance authority. It is part of the $21-billion package of spending and tax provisions that New York received in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.