Prompted by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's May 8 call for a meeting of the key stakeholders--including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, developer Silverstein Properties Inc. and the governors of New York and New Jersey--Mayor Michael Bloomberg arranged Thursday's closed-door sit-down. Following the meeting, Bloomberg told reporters, "We cannot allow this to not get done. It is intolerable to leave this hole in the ground."

However, Bloomberg reportedly added, "Private development should be fundamentally backed by private capital." He was referring to one of the key disagreements that has threatened forward movement at Ground Zero: the question of whether the Port Authority should help SPI finance two or more of the towers it plans to build. The authority has already committed to helping finance SPI's Tower 4, where the bi-state agency will be headquartered. SPI has sought the authority's assistance in backstopping construction financing on at least one more tower as the credit markets remain largely frozen for large-scale projects. The developer has reportedly offered to delay construction on the third tower.

As reported on GlobeSt.com earlier this month after a scaled-down WTC plan came to light, SPI maintains that carrying out the 2006 agreement to build three towers at Ground Zero in addition to the authority's 1 World Trade Center is "essential so that Downtown can re-emerge as an economic powerhouse for New York City." Janno Lieber, president of developer Larry Silverstein's World Trade Center Properties, said in a statement earlier this month that the Port Authority "received more than $2 billion out of the rebuilding fund based on their promise to cooperate in executing that exact vision. Now, with 10,000 construction workers standing ready to get to work, there is absolutely no reason for turning our backs on the promises."