Sunday, January 12, 2003

Should We Rebuild Taller?  Here's an AP story addressing the question... By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press Writer January 12, 2003, 2:38 PM EST NEW YORK -- Replacing the fallen World Trade Center towers with the world's tallest building would demonstrate courage. Or would it be hubris?  Five of the nine designs for a rebuilt trade center propose structures that would surpass Malaysia's 1,483-foot Petronas Twin Towers as the tallest in the world. The trade center towers themselves were once the world's tallest at 110 stories each, or 1,350 feet.  A public hearing is set for Monday to gather public opinion on the designs. A final plan is to be selected in the next few weeks. Some people believe the new structure must be a dramatic statement  "Failing to rebuild full scale is what paints a bull's-eye on other landmarks," said Louis Epstein, founder of the World Trade Center Restoration Movement. "It emboldens the terrorists to do more." Beverly Willis, director of the Architecture Research Institute and a founder of a community group called Rebuild Downtown Our Town, agrees that the "wound" in New York's skyline should be repaired with something tall and distinctive. However, she said, creating the world's tallest building without regard to the neighborhood "just seems to be not only impractical, but ostentatious and generally in bad taste."  The nine designs by seven teams of architects were commissioned by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which together will choose one plan by next month. While no one is suggesting the new construction will faithfully reproduce any of the models, officials will base their plans on one of the designs. Some, like Norman Foster's "kissing towers," offer office buildings taller than the twin towers destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack. Others would consist of airy structures that invoke the towers without replicating them. Daniel Libeskind's design includes a spire with the symbolically significant height of 1,776 feet, but only the first 70 stories of his building would house offices.  Above the office level, tourists could visit his "gardens of the world," Libeskind said. "It's like going to the high point of the Eiffel Tower," he said. "You don't go there for more than a few minutes."  Greg Lynn, whose United Architects presented a design that combines five buildings into one crystalline structure, described a system of stairways connected every 30 floors by areas where people also could move horizontally.  "From any point in the building you have literally thousands of ways to get down to the ground, so it's a very safe complex," Lynn said. His team's proposal also includes a 1,620-foot tower.  But if they build it, will anybody come?  Last August, a New York Times/CBS poll found that 53 percent of New Yorkers would not want to work in an upper floor of any new building at the trade center site. Fifty-nine percent said that whatever is built at the site should not be as tall as the towers it replaces.  That could change in the decade it will take to build the new offices. "By that time, I believe all of the safety concerns will have been addressed," said Meyer Feig, who heads the World Trade Center Tenants Association.  Feig, who ran a recruiting firm in the trade center's south tower, said his group consists of about 130 smaller tenants from the towers. Most group members who responded to a recent survey said they wanted to see at least a 110-story building on the site.  "It makes the statement that we may have been attacked, but we'll rebuild and come back stronger than ever," Feig said. 6:46:21 PM

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

A Word from Paul Blair: The two messages below are from Robert Yaro, who chairs the Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York, and were intended for distribution to a broad public. The Civic Alliance is the organization that earlier this year held extensive public forums (in convention halls and online) on the various proposals for the World Trade Center. Apparently the powers that be are seeking to avoid such extensive organized public discussion of the proposals they will unveil tomorrow. In response, the Civic Alliance is going to provide a mechanism for registering comments through its website, as Yaro details below; in the email below that he provides contact information for the officials responsible for blocking these forums. I urge those interested to be heard. >Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 18:34:20 -0500 (EST) >From: Listening to the City <ltcemail@weblab.org> >Subject: Message from Robert Yaro, Regional Plan Assoc. > >Dear [...], > >This is a message to all Listening to the City participants. > >While the public agencies have ignored our call for a through public >process on rebuilding Lower Manhattan, you can still make your voice >heard. The Civic Alliance has prepared a worksheet for evaluating >the seven LMDC plans for the WTC site, which are to be released >Wednesday at an event to be televised live on NY1 at 10 a.m. I >encourage you to visit the Civic Alliance website: > >http://www.civic-alliance.org > >... and print the form you'll find there: > >http://www.civic-alliance.org/pdf/scorecard.pdf > >Refer to the form when you view the designs. You can then return to >the Civic Alliance website and enter your scores, which we will >tabulate and publicize. > >This is far from an ideal public process, but we must start >somewhere. I hope you will continue to call and write to the public >agencies to urge them to hold the public process that we deserve. > >Regards, > >Robert D. Yaro >President, Regional Plan Association   >Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 15:09:09 -0500 (EST) >From: Listening to the City <ltcemail@weblab.org> >Subject: Listening to the City > >Dear [...], > >On behalf of the Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York, I am >writing to encourage you to join us in calling on rebuilding >officials to continue the thorough public process begun at Listening >to the City before final rebuilding decisions are made in Lower >Manhattan. As a participant in July's Listening to the City you know >what a real public process looks and feels like, and I ask that you >urge rebuilding officials to initiate a process that includes the >following: > >1) Display the concept plans prepared by all public entities at >satellite sites in addition to the Winter Garden, including >Chinatown, Lower East Side, all boroughs of New York City and New >Jersey; > >2) Provide a feedback mechanism for the public to easily judge and >rank the plans, and a designated area for display and viewing of >public comments at the Winter Garden and satellite locations to >foster a dialogue amongst public viewers, along with accepting and >posting online comments for all to see; > >3) Hold another public forum or forums similar to Listening to the >City. The event(s) need not be quite as large, but participants must >be representative of the region's demographics and the format must >be interactive, with results quickly tabulated and made available >on-site for media and participants. Public officials should be >expected to respond formally to the results of the forum. > >We are at a crucial juncture in the rebuilding process, and the >public must be included in reviewing new plans. I hope that your >experience with Listening to the City and your interest in >rebuilding Lower Manhattan will convince you to join us in calling >or emailing rebuilding officials to ask them to host another >Listening to the City: > >Lower Manhattan Development Corp, >President Louis Tomson >Ph: 212/962-2300, Fax: 212/962-2431, email: lmdc@empire.state.ny.us > >Port Authority of NY/NJ >Executive Director Joseph Seymour >Ph: 212/435-7777, web: www.panynj.gov > >City of New York >Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff >Ph: 212/788-2958, Fax: 212/788-2460, web: www.nyc.gov > > >I look forward to continuing the rebuilding dialogue with you. For >more information please email info@listeningtothecity.org. > >Sincerely, > >Robert D. Yaro >Chair, Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York > >- - - - - - - - - >Special note to online participants: Several of you have requested >hard copies of the Listening to the City final report. Our online >partner, Web Lab, has not forgotten this request and they hope to >have arranged for shipment of these booklets in the next few weeks. >On behalf of Web Lab, apologies for this delay! >- - - - - - - - - 4:47:12 PM

Thursday, November 14, 2002

New Tall Tower Proposals: Two new proposals to build tall on the site have been added to Louis Epstein's resource link page (the most recent, Niels Koizumi's "Gigadime" project "Towers over Fear",which he is launching a leaflet campaign for,was just added today...he got some press for it on pagesix.com). 3:53:27 PM

Friday, October 04, 2002

WTC Rebuilding Notes From Louis Epstein: Right after yesterday's email Michael Smerconish reminded me, as I had noted to the list once before,that he will be guest-hosting the national Jim Bohannon radio show tonight,and will focus on rebuilding the WTC for the first hour,which starts at 10 PM Eastern. A representative of Team Twin Towers will be on the show, and we hope Smerconish will find time to mention our rally, ONE WEEK FROM TODAY. A web article that needs pro-Towers responses: http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/dhenninger/?id=110002383 So far pro-Towers responses posted on the website are a minority. We need to have our voices heard! (Robert Bartley's pro-building,though not explicitly pro-Towers, column at that site September 23rd has drawn no responses that explicitly urge very tall towers either). I note that the New York Observer has come out with an editorial urging that the whole site be left as an empty memorial.Criticism of this attitude should be sent to editorial@observer.com. The time each of you spends making your voice heard may be what saves(brings back) the Towers,whether it's writing an email or attending our rally.Silence is what lets the other side win. The parks department rally permit has been picked up. Volunteers and potential speakers,please contact me! Resource list: http://www.put.com/wtc/ Email list archives: http://www.put.com/wtc/archive.html 3:45:48 PM

Thursday, September 26, 2002

Hot off the Presses: Here's the latest from Louis Epstein.  Support rebuilding by attending the October 11 rally in NYC! 3:30:30 PM

Thursday, September 12, 2002

From: Andymart20@aol.com Subject: Rebuild the Twin Towers Says Syndicated Radio Columnist RADIO COLUMNIST, FORMER WORLD TRADE CENTER TENANT, DEMANDS NEW YORK CITY "STOP DELAYING AND START REBUILDING" WORLD TRADE CENTER TWIN TOWERS A PROGRAMMING NOTE FROM "ANDY MARTIN'S AMERICA"     (NEW YORK) Nationally syndicated radio columnist Andy Martin will host a special radio/Internet news conference edition of "Andy Martin's America" Thursday, September 12th at 1:00 P.M. to demand that New York City officials stop delaying reconstruction of the World Trade Center.     Martin is the only talk radio host who was a tenant of the World Trade Center and spent years working there.     "New York's response to rebuilding has been a disgrace," says Martin. "They got a commitment for $20 billion to 'rebuild,' but they have not rebuilt anything. They keep squabbling about memorials and footprints. American taxpayers have a right to demand action.     "There is an overwhelming national consensus that we cannot convert the World Trade Center into a 'memorial.' I am sick of victims trying to intimidate the public with exaggerated demands for memorials. The largest single block of national support is for taller and bigger towers.     "If the 9/11 + 1 coverage impressed anything on me, it is that the American people want action, and they want reaction. New York City's disgraceful delay in beginning reconstruction of the WTC should prompt President Bush to suspend further financial aid unless and until the Twin Towers start rising again.     "The Pentagon was rebuilt. Reconstruction is complete. New Yorkers haven't put the first shovel in the ground.     "If we can't agree on a bigger and better--and taller--World Trade Center, we still have the blueprints for the old towers. Let's update the old plans and start pouring concrete.     "Once, brave Americans said 'Let's roll.' Now it is time for Americans to tell New Yorkers 'Let's rebuild.' NOW."     Martin's controversial program "Andy Martin's America" is a fulcrum of foreign policy, political analysis and contemporary commentary on the Internet. Martin is a national columnist for Out2.com.     Martin has been involved in various aspects of broadcasting for 34 years. He has been an adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York, is a Washington foreign policy consultant in the areas of military security and intelligence and was an assistant to U.S. Senator Paul H. Douglas.     Martin's radio program "Andy Martin's America" covers national and international matters from 1-2 P.M. Radio call-in (800) 810-9727. Internet radio website 1340wpbr.com (click "on air"). See Out2.com (Govt. & Politics) for some earlier Martin statements. E-mail andy@andymartin.com. 2:10:19 PM

Monday, August 19, 2002

New Article on Rebuildings the Twin Towers: Here's a National Review article on the growth of the rebuilding movement. 9:42:58 PM

© Copyright 2004 Brian Yoder.