Et Pataki Et Patata

Just because nothing's happening these days - except for this cold ass, never ending winter refusing to go away - is not a reason to stay silent. Scream, jump up and down, and be heard. If you have nothing to say, sing. And if you can't sing, shut the fuck up.

This week-end is the most quiet I've seen in a while. I was out at Miss Kim's place yesterday to eat one of the best meals I've recently had, spiced up with many exotic drinks lovingly prepared by our hostess. Miss Bijoux was with me, of course, as well as Mr. Moto, Mr. Bérêt & a few others. We listened to music and drank until I started slipping away, and it was time to leave. Tonight, nothing's going on, and tomorrow we're bringing Miss Bijoux' furniture in. Sounds like an official, final moving move ? It is. She's in.

*

Things are looking tempestuous in NYC. Anybody who read Phillip Nobel's SIXTEEN ACRES, a book about the behind-the-scenes battle to gain control over Ground zero, since it was reduced to what it is now on 9/11, is now following the Silverstein saga through various press organs in the US, most notably the New York Times.

Silverstein is "working" on a $7 billion project that will include the Freedom Tower, but only disposes of $2.9 billion in insurance proceeds. His negociations with Port Authority are dragging and observers - and direct players, including governor George Pataki - strongly doubt that he'll be able to begin, as he is supposed to, construction of the tower in April.



On March 15th, no deal was reached between the Port Authority and Silverstein over the control of the site. The Port will examine their legal options and if Silverstein fails to act in April, they'll tell him to "move out of the way".

Pressures from Pataki and mayor Michael Bloomberg - who talked about the matter during his weekly radio show - are also applied on Silverstein Properties.

On March 17th, after Silverstein launched a new negociations offer, Port Authority refused it and released a statement saying they would unveil their own proposal for the site next week. Now that sounds like another life-long battle for what's going to be built there. Will we see the tower rise one of these days ?! With the fundraising problems regarding the World Trade Center Memorial, there's a dead weight in Manhattan and the fact that the building process takes so long to start is a disgrace.

When "all talk and no action" get in the way of architecture, Spahn Ranch spokesman Athan Maroulis might not like it. And you don't really want the guy to get out of anonymity and come back on the front of the scene.