He says he is working feverishly to raise money and meet with a cross section of New Yorkers.
The dinner afterward, held at the 35th-floor Sony Club, was a cross section of New York's cultural worlds.
But the idea has infuriated a cross section of New Yorkers, who feel the ship will lure V.I.P.'s away from the city.
Perhaps Mr. Grella is reluctant to talk because Mr. DeLay's idea has infuriated a cross section of New Yorkers, much to the delight of Democrats and the embarrassment of some Republicans.
But if tickets were few, they were given to a cross section of New York gathering places, including a cafe in Greenwich Village, a bar in the Bronx, a bingo parlor in Brooklyn and an Arab community center in Queens.
As platters of blini and caviar, borscht, satsivi chicken, beef stroganoff, dumplings, smoked fish and grilled shashlik are carried from table to table, a cross section of New York's Russian-American population funnels in and out of the restaurant, adding to the pell-mell atmosphere.
The crowd: a cross section of New Yorkers, some tourists seeking shelter from the storm, some office workers from the surrounding buildings.
The murals, each 9 feet tall, depict a cross section of New York City cultural icons — Close himself among them, bald and owlish — all rendered in his signature style, photo-based images transposed with meticulous care onto psychedelic grids.
This situation gives Mr. Beal the chance to portray a cross-section of New Yorkers around the entrance, near which workers in hard hats are still at work.
"Ground Zero," the ultimate reality show, would follow every movement and moment in the lives of a cross-section of New Yorkers who live or work in or near the site of the World Trade Center.
