The waterfalls are flowing at the National September 11 Memorial. (Photo: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he still wonders if the choice of a design for the 9/11 memorial may have been too rushed.

Bloomberg told The Associated Press ahead of the 10th anniversary of the attacks that he always thought it was "a little bit wrong" to pick the design immediately and wait to do the fundraising for the project.

He said Wednesday it's best to "have the perspective of history as opposed to journalism to design things that go on for a long time."

A decade ago, Bloomberg told voters that his years building and directing his media empire would help him repair the city's economy. Now the mayor says that a focus on the city's finances is a key way to honor the dead.