RPA was pleased to welcome Lynne Sagalyn, NYC planning commissioner Carl Weisbrod and guests for an evening celebrating the release of Prof. Sagalyn’s book, ​“Power at Ground Zero: Politics, Money and the Remaking of Lower Manhattan.” The book, which has drawn strong reviews in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, describes the long and often contentious rebuilding process that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

On Thursday, Prof. Sagalyn noted that one lesson she drew from her years of examining the process was that for large-scale city development projects to be successful, public agencies need to be aligned in their interests in dealing with the private sector. Weisbrod ruefully observed that since the World Trade Center rebuilding process, public entities were even less likely to work in concert than before.

Thank you to Brookfield for hosting the event.