Though the collapsing economy has hit New York City hard, that is nothing new in its long history. Yes, there are more open pits or barricaded lots that may revert to mosquito laden urban lakes or parking lots while waiting for the next boom instead of boom cranes constructing the next skyscraper. Nevertheless the just ended boom was so vast that the city is still a sea of Kangaroo cranes with the skyscrapers inching skywards and 10′s of thousands of construction workers still gainfully employed.
World Trade Center rises
As good fortune would have it, the World Trade Center site viewed above is such a sea (though not only one) of construction. Funded by Insurance proceeds and the good credit of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey it’s financing has not dried up due to the insolvency of so many financial institutions. In the background barely discernible in the photo is the core of 1 World Trade Center with steel over 100 feet above grade.
In the foreground is the recently installed crane for 4 World Trade Center, the shortest at 975 feet of a group of 4 massive towers that will be rise in tandem.

[tags]Julio Hernandez-Miyares,World Trade Center, New York City Skyscrapers[/tags]