Silver's hopeful
for downtown aid

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver - who antagonized city and state officials by blocking the West Side stadium - may still get a package of goodies for his struggling lower Manhattan district.

Downtown development czar John Cahill predicted yesterday that a package of incentives to retain businesses in lower Manhattan and attract newcomers will be approved in Albany before the legislative session ends Thursday.

"It's going to be an issue that clearly I will be involved in over the next several days as we move to close the session," Cahill, Gov. Pataki's point man for downtown recovery, told the Daily News Editorial Board.

Cahill didn't offer specifics, but indicated the goodies might include commercial rent tax relief and a break on sales tax paid by new leaseholders on furnishings and equipment.

Silver told The News later that he met with Cahill two weeks ago and reiterated a long list of needs, including leasing incentives, to bring back the 67,000 jobs lost downtown since 9/11. "I told him what's needed is much greater than an incentives package," Silver added. "I await his reaction, but I think it's very positive that he came to you."

On another downtown front, Cahill indicated the design for the 250,000-square-foot cultural center planned for the World Trade Center site, unveiled by Pataki and Bloomberg just last month, will be scaled back. "I thought it was a very nice design," Cahill said. "But it's too large. You have to have the appropriate distance or respect for the voids [marking the fallen twin towers], for which it's supposed to be a buffer."