WTC blame game rumbles on.

The blame game over the lumbering redevelopment of the World Trade Center site rumbled on this week with Mayor Michael Bloomberg pointing the finger of blame firmly at the foot of developer, Larry Silverstein, who in turn said the Port Authority was the culprit.

In his 2006 State of the City address, Bloomberg said it was time to pick up the pace of construction and "build for uses that reflect the realities of the market and the needs of Lower Manhattan."

He said this could only happend "if Silverstein Properties is willing to do the right thing" by relinquishing the rights to develop two of the towers in exchange for reductions in rent. "We cannot allow the Trade Center to be a construction site for the next 15 years, which the current plan all but ensures it will be," he said.

While Silverstein Properties reacted by emphasizing their commitment to rebuilding the World Trade Center site swiftly and in cooperation with the city and state, it said the Port Authority was responsible for the current activity at the site.

Just days after inking the first major lease at the recently completed 7 World Trade Center, Silverstein spokeswoman, Janno Lieber, said, "As we have pledged many times, we will build towers 2, 3 and 4 just as soon as the government delivers the physical sites."

Lieber, director of World Trade Center development for Silverstein Properties, added, "As City Hall is well aware, the Port Authority has not yet begun this key preparation work, including excavating sites and building a protective slurry wall, and will therefore not be able to deliver the sites to Silverstein--or anyone else--for some time. It's unclear how the business proposal included in the Mayor's speech addresses this, the largest obstacle to a timely rebuilding." The Port Authority said it agreed with the mayor. "At Governor Pataki's insistence, we have been negotiating with Larry Silverstein since mid-December to resolve lease terms by March so we can accelerate the rebuilding," it said in an official statement.

Earlier in the week, Kenneth Ringler, executive director of the Port Authority, told a gathering at the Institute of Real Estate Management monthly luncheon that 2006 will be "the year of the [downtown] hard hats."

Ringler promised that, by the end of 2006, there will be 1,000 construction workers at the site, with 500 at the transportation hub. He also said that 50,000 cubic feet of concrete will have been poured and that more than $230 million in contract work will have begun.

The executive director said that the Port Authority is near completion of a portion of retaining wall just west of the new sixth PATH track location. "When that's complete, we'll move forward in the short order on several initiatives, along with Silverstein properties."

These initiatives include demolition work for the future construction of the PATH terminal, relocating PATH utilities for the Freedom Tower and the underpinning of the "1" subway line. "[We'll] prepare the east bathtub site for a new slurry wall by the end of the year," he said. "Just a few months from now, Silverstein will begin pouring foundations for the Freedom Tower. Work on the memorial will get underway in March."

"We will rebuild; we will renew," added Ringler. "Lower Manhattan will be reborn. That's a promise. Anything less is unacceptable."