Mayor Bloomberg during his re-election campaign vowed to play a more forceful role in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan. Yesterday, just eight days after his victory, Mr. Bloomberg moved to grab control of the rebuilding process, naming some of the top players in his administration to the board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

In recent months, as Governor Pataki stepped in and overruled the LMDC on matters concerning ground zero, some, including LMDC board members, have speculated that the citystate agency created to oversee the rebuilding had become powerless and irrelevant. Yesterday morning, Mr. Bloomberg questioned whether the LMDC should have been created in the first place.

By yesterday afternoon, when the mayor announced his six appointments to the board, it became clear that although he may think Lower Manhattan could have been rebuilt without the LMDC,he intends to use it to his advantage to push forward his administration’s redevelopment goals.

“I think it both validates the LMDC and expands it to do what it was never intended to do but should have done,” the executive director of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Rick Bell,said. “It shows the mayor is putting his key people where his rhetoric has been.”

The director of public affairs for the Regional Plan Association, Jeremy Soffin, said, “The people he named to the board are his most trusted advisers. That’s a really strong statement.”

Mr. Bloomberg’s appointees include the deputy mayor for economic development and rebuilding, Daniel Doctoroff; the deputy mayor for operations, Marc Shaw; the finance commissioner, Martha Stark, and the city planning director, Amanda Burden. He also appointed two top business leaders who aren’t part of his administration: the real estate developer at the helm of the Association for a Better New York, William Rudin, and the president of Verizon Communications, Lawrence Babbio.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Rudin said he was “honored” by his appointment, and that he thinks the new round of appointments would usher in a new era for the development corporation.

“I think the LMDC’s role is evolving, and I think the fact that the mayor has appointed some of the senior people of his administration to the board and Larry Babbio … and myself signifies in at least the mayor’s view that this board is still very relevant and has a lot to contribute to the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan.”

Ms. Stark said this project is “one of the most important things the city needs to do to continue it’s future.”

Last night, Governor Pataki’s office announced he was filling two of his three open seats on the LMDC board. Mr. Pataki also chose top deputies: the chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, Charles Gargano, and the governor’s senior adviser for counterterrorism, James Kallstrom.

Technically, it’s up to Mr. Gargano, who heads the LMDC’s parent agency, to approve all new appointments to the board of directors.

While the exact course Mr. Bloomberg will take is unclear, the mayor’s comments indicate that he will likely try to change plans for the rebuilding,inserting more residential development into the site plan for the 16 acres, for example.

The director of the Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute at Baruch College, Henry Wollman, said that some of what the mayor said on the campaign trail was likely motivated by politics, but he said the mayor has raised some important and valid points about the redevelopment project.

In the direct aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Newman Institute recommended a three-year “pause” before the city made any permanent decisions. In the coming weeks, the institute will bring together academics from public and private universities to research the future of downtown within the broader metropolitan context.

“There are a whole range of issues that now need to be looked at and this is not a call for a slow-paced academic report,” he said.”The moment for really critical thinking is now at hand.The questions that are now on the table are focused in a much clearer way.”

Yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg indicated that he was ready to re-evaluate the program for Lower Manhattan – even if it meant conflicting with certain other stakeholders: “The mayor’s administration’s interest may very well differ from others, and we’re going to be very vocal in trying to make sure that our interests are taken into account as well.”