It took eight years from the time John Kennedy declared we would go to the moon to the day an American landed on it, 40 years ago this week. It was also eight years ago this September that terrorists struck the World Trade Center, the site of which continues to be a hole in the ground and a national disgrace.

Yes, New York politics is complicated. There were lawsuits over who owed what to whom, countless constituencies to please, and no single accountable political authority governing Ground Zero....