On the eve of the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came to an agreement about who would pay for the National September 11 Memorial Museum.
The museum was scheduled to open on Sept. 11, 2012 but its opening has been postponed until Sept. 11, 2013.
They have disagreed over funding, financing and oversight of the museum.
Bloomberg is the chair of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum Foundation. The foundation controls the memorial and museum; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns the World Trade Center site.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the 9/11 Memorial and Museum Foundation owes it $300 million for additional design and construction costs. That cost was dropped in exchange for financial oversight of the museum and memorial, according to a memorandum of understanding.
Cuomo said he commends Christie, Bloomberg, and the leadership of the Port Authority and the September 11 Memorial & Museum for their work on the agreement.
"Over the last few years, we have made extraordinary progress at Ground Zero and today's agreement is yet another milestone in our work to finally complete the site as a place where people from around the world can come to work, visit and remember," Cuomo said in a statement. "By ensuring that no additional public funds are spent to complete the Memorial and Museum, today's agreement puts in place a critical and long overdue safeguard to finally protect toll payers and taxpayers from bearing further costs, and, at the same time, put the project on a path for completion."
Bloomberg said the agreement ensures that construction on the museum will be restarted very soon and will not stop until the museum is completed.
As part of the agreement, foundation will have oversight from a eight-member committee appointed by the governor of New Jersey, the governor of New York and the memorial board.
The museum's 110,000 square feet of exhibition space will be located within the archaeological heart of the World Trade Center site, according to the website for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum foundation.
The museum, among other item, will have "photographs, videotapes, voice messages, recovered property, clothing and other personal effects, workplace memorabilia, (and) incident-specific documents."
The National September 11 Memorial is a tribute of remembrance and honor to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center site, near Shanksville, Pa., and at the Pentagon, as well as the six people killed in the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993.
The Memorial's twin reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in the North America. The pools sit within the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood.
The names of every person who died in the 2001 and 1993 attacks are inscribed into bronze panels edging the Memorial pools.
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