The original cultural groups were kicked out. The original Memorial design isn’t attracting donors.

And now the new New Jersey governor is getting in the way.

It’s time for Governor Pataki or Mayor Bloomberg to go to the World Trade Center site, hold a major press event with worldwide symbolic value and declare they’re once-and-for-all taking over and turning this worldwide embarrassment around.

Here’s a game plan to help get them in the game:

(1) Governor Corzine should be told in the clearest terms that anything he ever wants from New York will be impossible until he signs away all rights to interfere in the World Trade Center site’s redevelopment. Sure, the Port Authority – which owns the site – is a bi-state agency, and New Jersey residents died in the attack on the Trade Center. But this is New York’s problem to solve and New Jersey’s governor has no business in our business. If there’s a way to physically ban him from crossing the Hudson River, that’s the way to go. He’s not welcome here anymore if he can’t mind his own business. Polls aren’t the best way to govern, but this should be a popular move given that two-thirds of New Yorkers are annoyed by Mr. Corzine’s interstate interference.

(2) Polls also don’t bode well for Larry Silverstein, who has 94 years left on the 99-year World Trade Center lease he signed just six weeks before the September 11 attacks. Charles Gargano, a top Pataki aide and a Port Authority vice chairman (among his many governmental titles) recently called Mr. Silverstein “greedy.” Mr. Silverstein can prove that label wrong by making a generous donation to World Trade Center Memorial. Only 20% of New Yorkers think he’s doing the right thing now. Even President Bush has better approval ratings these days.

(3) Recruit a professional fundraiser to take over the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. Gretchen Dykstra is a terrific public servant who did a fine job running the Department of Consumer Affairs. And perhaps there’s still a role for her downtown. But she’s been unable to raise a meaningful amount of money for what should be the easiest fundraising job in American History. It’s not exactly a hard sell – everyone knows about the World Trade Center attacks and that nearly 3,000 people were killed in the worst terrorist attack ever to hit the Western World. Perhaps Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush have some post-tsunami time on their hands and can take the lead role.

(4) Make the memorial and related museums free. Those in favor of charging for admission point to the $8 charge at the memorial for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. That Tornado Alley mistake is not worthy of Northern imitation.

(5) That said, the World Trade Center memorial and museums should be able to make plenty of money from concession fees. All those visitors will want snacks and souvenirs. Better they get them in a tasteful, non-intrusive way that supports the memorial than from the throngs of fly-by-night pushcart vendors and sidewalk hawkers of tackiness that currently plague the streets around ground zero.

(6) Something similar goes for retailers in the mall planned for Towers 3 and 4 along Church Street (next to the planned transit hub and across from the Century 21 department store.) Retailers – at least those with prime space – should be required to donate a portion of their sales to the memorial and museum.

(7) Promise New Yorkers, along with victims’ family members from out-of-town, special access to the memorial and museums. Perhaps the first few months should be dedicated to people carrying New York drivers’ licenses or on a list of relatives of victims. Perhaps certain hours should be set aside every day. Or perhaps one day a week should be reserved.

(8) Bring in the National Park Service. Across the country, the Park Service does a first rate job running memorials of all sorts. From the obscure home of Teddy Roosevelt on East 20th Street to the iconic Washington Monument, the Park Service is the rare government agency that wins consistent praise.

(9) The candidates for governor should all pledge to respect whatever decisions Mr. Pataki and other elected officials make over the next few months. Eliot Spitzer recently mused that the Freedom Tower might be a mistake. He might be right. But this entire process will continue to wallow in uncertainty unless the future powerbrokers acknowledge the finality of decisions made by those now in power.

(10) Settle all this soon.

Mr. Goldin’s column appears regularly.

dgoldin@nysun.com