CITYWIDE

Government Will Lease Half of Freedom Tower

Federal and state officials have agreed to rent half of the Freedom Tower when it opens in about five years at the World Trade Center site — sealing one part of an elaborate deal that would, if finalized, divide control of what to build there.The federal General Services Administration and the state Office of General Services signed agreements last week to rent 1.1 million of the Freedom Tower’s 2.1 million square feet of office space, officials announced yesterday. The 15-year leases include space for the governor’s office and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office that once occupied one of the smaller buildings in the trade center complex. “Our collective vision for a rebuilt World Trade Center continues to be realized,” Governor Pataki said in a prepared statement.The pact is one of several needed to secure a final deal this week with developer Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the government agency that leased the twin towers to Mr. Silverstein six weeks before they were destroyed on September 11, 2001. The agency hopes to vote on the deal at a Thursday board meeting.The federal government agreed to rent 600,000 square feet of office space and the state agreed to take 415,000 square feet at the Freedom Tower, paying $59 a square foot to the Port Authority when the building opens in 2011. Officials involved in the talks said negotiations continued over the weekend over rent and other issues, such as the timing of when the developer would be allowed to begin construction on his three towers at the site.

— Associated Press

STATEWIDE

Crime Declines In New York

ALBANY — Overall crime rates continued to decline in New York during 2005 as vehicle thefts dropped almost 13 percent and robberies edged up from 2004, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation report to be released today.The rate of violent crime did tick up 1.2% in 2005 tracking a 1.3% increase nationally. But a Pataki administration analysis of the numbers shows that rate down 53.8% since 1994. Governor Pataki said an increase in crimes involving a firearm bumped up the violent crime rate and he said law enforcement authorities will get $16 million more this year to prevent gun violence. The money will be spent to improve the ways police share and evaluate information about crimes and criminals, he said. “Intelligence driven policing is the essential platform to fight crime in the 21st century,” said Chauncey Parker, the state’s director of criminal justice, of the push for analysts, crime mapping and other technology in county law enforcement.

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

Brooklyn Man Shot to Death

A 23-year-old man was fatally shot in the head in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn late Saturday night, police officials said. Kyle Barnes, of 592 Greene Avenue, was found dead by police at 11:27 p.m. in Von King Park, near the intersection of Tompkins Avenue and Greene Avenue. Police have not identified the gunman.Barnes had a history of arrests for narcotics possession, burglary, and robbery, police said.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun