President of Sept. 11 memorial foundation resigns

By AMY WESTFELDT | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

5:39 PM EDT, May 26, 2006

The head of the foundation raising money for the Sept. 11 memorial quit Friday, saying the protracted battle over the memorial's budget and design had grown to include too many players.

Gretchen Dykstra resigned after just over a year as president of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. Critics said she failed to raise enough money, just over $130 million in a year for a memorial that is budgeted at close to $1 billion.

"There is general agreement that the multiplicity of authorities makes it difficult for anyone to move expeditiously," Dykstra wrote Thomas Johnson, chairman of the foundation's executive committee. "Perhaps it would help if there were one less player."

The foundation officially suspended fund-raising earlier this month after a contractor estimated that building the memorial -- two reflecting pools shaped like the twin tower footprints that extend 30 feet below ground -- would cost $972 million.

Politicians immediately capped the cost at $500 million. The memorial's architects, including Michael Arad and Peter Walker, are meeting with a leading developer to make design changes to meet the budget.

The resignation of Dykstra, the former city Consumer Affairs commissioner, takes effect immediately. The foundation's general counsel, Joseph C. Daniels, will serve as acting president.

"It is regrettable to lose Gretchen," Johnson said Friday. "In her time with the foundation, we raised almost one half of our total goal to build the memorial and museum and extensive plans have been made to build and operate them."

The foundation was in charge of raising money to build the memorial and museum and to operate them. It also is charged with raising money to build a performing arts center, which has not been formally designed.