A major component of doing so, said Ward, will be bringing together a steering committee that represents all of the major stakeholders in the rebuilding. This approach drew an enthusiastic if cautionary response from the Alliance for Downtown New York, the sister organization of the DLMA.

"Chris Ward has taken an important first step in identifying and acknowledging the problems," says Elizabeth Berger, president of the Downtown Alliance, in a statement. "Rather than play a blame game, he has opened the doors and invited the principal stakeholders in to plan the future together. The next steps will be tougher. Ward and his steering committee must make decisions that will not compromise the original vision for the site, though they will almost certainly alter the details, starting with the timetable."

Ward explained that progress is being made on each phase of the multi-pronged project, and promised a new timetable by summer's end. He added that one priority will be to look at how the towers can be built "smarter, faster and for potentially less money." To that end, the authority is "looking candidly" at the procurement and construction process on the project.

Touching on one of the most emotionally loaded aspects of the delays in the rebuilding process, Ward acknowledged that the WTC memorial would not be completed by Sept. 11, 2011, the 10th anniversary of 9/11. He said, however, that the memorial site would be ready for an "appropriate" ceremony by that date.

At a news conference following the breakfast, Ward pointed out that another major development project Downtown—Battery Park City—needed more than 25 years to reach fruition. One of the problems with the originally projected WTC completion dates, he said, is that they were allowed to drive the discussion of how much progress is actually being made at Ground Zero.