After months of deflecting criticism about the pace of reconstruction in Lower Manhattan, Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg stood side by side yesterday to unveil a blueprint to spend nearly $1 billion on downtown projects.

The plan called for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to spend the last of its federal money, roughly $800 million, on revitalizing downtown neighborhoods such as Chinatown, improving transportation, increasing housing and park space, and bringing life back to the area that was economically battered by the World Trade Center attacks nearly four years ago.

The announcement comes with several significant subplots. Among them are accusations from elected officials and editorial boards that Mr. Bloomberg has been more focused on building a stadium on Manhattan’s West Side than on ensuring development of Lower Manhattan. Critics have said that the mayor and the governor have neglected Lower Manhattan and failed to make it a high enough priority, and that they are acting now in large part to win approval of the planned stadium.

Both chief executives tried yesterday to dispel those notions, saying they were making good on promises outlined back in 2002.

“I don’t think anybody should think that we’ve taken our eye off the ball on focusing on downtown,” Mr. Bloomberg told reporters during a news conference at the Golden Unicorn, a restaurant in Chinatown.

“It’s keeping our pledge,” Mr. Pataki said. “It’s keeping our word that we gave shortly after September 11.”

The plan calls for a $300 million donation to the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, which recently began raising money for a memorial and cultural center to commemorate the people killed on September 11 and to tell the story of the “first responders” who led the rescue efforts.

It also earmarks $150 million to revitalize the East River waterfront; $70 million for playgrounds, volleyball courts, a restaurant, and other facilities at the Hudson River Park; $38 million to transform the now-rundown Fulton Street into a thriving retail mecca, and $20 million for a new, 100,000-square-foot school on Beekman Street. That is in addition to funds for affordable housing, transportation upgrades aimed at opening the area to tourists and pedestrian traffic, and grants for cultural institutions.

Noticeably absent at yesterday’s announcement was the speaker of the state Assembly, Sheldon Silver, a Democrat whose district covers Lower Manhattan.

Mr. Silver has been outspoken in his view that the West Side stadium has siphoned government attention away from Lower Manhattan. Political analysts have said for months that ensuring progress downtown would be critical to winning Mr. Silver’s support for the stadium. Yet the speaker’s response was muted yesterday.

Last week, Mr. Silver called for the state and city to use billions of dollars in financial incentives and bonds to entice businesses downtown.

Mr. Silver told The New York Sun that yesterday’s plan had “nothing to do” with his proposals, which Mr. Pataki did say he and the mayor would review.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pataki said he would continue to press for a stadium vote, which was postponed yesterday at Mr. Silver’s request.