Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 22:13:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Louis Epstein Subject: WTC Rebuilding #249:September 11th Comes Again Two years ago today mass murderers destroyed beloved icons of America and of freedom that America is in danger of showing it lacks the courage to replace without diminution,thereby treating the thousands of fallen with no greater honor than soldiers fleeing a battlefield because comrades died there. Two years ago at this hour I had already sent my first pro-rebuilding emails...three days later I would send out the first of these list emails,which are archived at http://www.put.com/wtc/archive.html . We can not win by being silent or leaving the battle to others. Please,I implore you,send letters to the New York Times criticizing the following editorial and calling the Libeskind plan a problem rather than a solution that needs to be discarded before it is too late in favor of something more reminiscent of the old Towers. As many of us as possible must do this. SEND TO letters@nytimes.com STAY UNDER 150 words INCLUDE a postal address and phone number. Speak with your own voice,whether you want Yamasaki clones, or Derek Turner's design,or Erik Sieb's,or Lawrence Shen's, or some other design I do or don't web-link to.But make clear that you do NOT support continuing the official mistakes. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 20:15:56 -0400 (EDT) Subject: NYTimes.com Article: A Day to Look Forward \----------------------------------------------------------/ A Day to Look Forward September 11, 2003 For the second anniversary of Sept. 11, New York's leaders have planned a simpler ceremony than the one held a year ago, which marked the conclusion of 12 months of deep mourning. The less-elaborate event at ground zero in many ways suits the moment. It signals a city slowly beginning to mend, a community moving toward the hope that something worthy, even inspiring, will come of so much grief. Anyone who stands at the fence around the World Trade Center site now sees more than the gaping hole of a year ago. The substructures that will eventually house a much improved network of mass-transit connections are beginning to take shape. Nearby, in buildings that overlook the full 16 acres, planners sift through proposals and computer projections, slowly settling on which powerful ideas deserve to fill the remaining space. With each week now, more detail about the future of ground zero is coming into focus. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has picked Santiago Calatrava, the famed Spanish architect, to build a new PATH train terminal. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority, which owns the site, hope to announce by later this fall the finalists in the competition to design the memorial, which will serve as both the physical and emotional center of the area. Another competition is taking place as well, one that underscores the vision of the new Lower Manhattan as a vibrant multifaceted neighborhood where the very richness of the life on the streets and inside the buildings makes the best possible rejoinder to the terrorists' intents. That involves the search for a cultural center. City Opera is one possibility. Another intriguing proposal would create a new national theatre. A complex of museums focusing on the city's history and the details of the trade center tragedy will also be part of the mix. Gov. George Pataki, who has worked to meet his own demanding timetable for the site, has done well recently as the head referee among the many competing forces. His timetable, criticized by some as too speedy, seems more like creative prodding to us. But he needs to make certain that Daniel Libeskind's grand design stays intact as the buildings take shape, and he should be more aggressive in making sure that the public keeps participating in this process. This being New York, such matters are subject to debate, some emotional or even acrimonious. There is nothing wrong with these disagreements. But they cannot go on behind closed doors - even the esoteric discussions about designs or the gritty dialogue over square footage. The people making these choices may regard them as a natural part of their jobs, but others will help make sure they aren't subtly eroding the Libeskind design or neighborhood hopes for the layout of their reinvented and renewed community. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/opinion/11THU3.html?ex=1064325756&ei=1&en=41e9b8dab11c2b87 Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company \----------------------------------------------------------/ I do not know how much of my letter on the August 31st piece on the WTCRM they may print in the September 14th Arts & Leisure section...they are apparently not going to print the reference to majorities in polls preferring our goal of new Towers at least as tall as the old,while only small minorities have ever backed Libeskind. This editorial,however,needs immediate and wide anti-Libeskind reaction. Don't let them think we can be silenced! Other news items of interest are from the NY Post and others: http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/5520.htm covered the family-group protest yesterday with their signs with the "Bedrock to Infinity" slogan...they want Libeskind's ghastly pit more than twice as deep.Letters to letters@nypost.com critical of their stand are welcome too...whether or not you believe the footprints of the Towers should be left empty, treating murder scenes as permanent empty death zones is illogical and the morbid pit is both unsightly and unsafe. This demonstration was also covered in http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/116671p-105248c.html (the letters-to-editor column there is voicers@edit.nydailynews.com) which mentioned Giuliani endorsing the push for an even-bigger memorial. http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/wtc/nyc-rudy0911.story goes further on Giuliani attacking plans to restore the site's economic function as based on "greed"...and insisting our descendants would judge us by the megamemorialists' standards. (letters@newsday.com is the address you can write to there...but again,right now the important letters to write are ones slamming the Times editorial above). http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/5541.htm looks to the future assuming Libeskind's master plan will largely hold,and looking to the official memorial competition to possibly change it...but given the terms under which Rampe et al are operating it,this does not seem likely at all. http://nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/5487.htm is by Nicole Gelinas,commendably condemning Libeskind's vision. http://nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/5488.htm is by Steve Cuozzo,basically cheering for going ahead fast and accepting Libeskind with minor modifications. I note,of course,that it's September,and the final "Scope" for the Libeskind Environmental Impact Statement that was supposed to be out in August is not out yet.The schedule is we hope slipping beyond Pataki's control.At every stage of this review we must play up the flaws of the Libeskind scheme and demand serious consideration of a technologically updated "Restoration Alternative". And of course we must proceed with our own architectural competition for proper new tall-Tower-based designs. Friday of next week we should have volunteers getting support from workers at the site,as the PATH tunnel gets ever closer to reopening. Izeklah's restorewtc.com hosted a chat yesterday, but their main page doesn't seem to link to the chatroom. See the NYCS topic (NYC Skyline being linked from http://www.put.com/wtc/ of course) for links. This morning I was a guest on Michael Smerconish's Philadelphia radio show...I got a chance to make the basic case to a sympathetic listener. So far,there has been no volunteering of new support directly related to this appearance...but we can hope. WABC this morning had a show with hosts who were for the pit, but only one out of their six callers-in supported it,the other five calling for rebuilding tall Towers instead. A NYCS message has been urging contact to another WABC personality, Monica Crowley (monica@wabcradio.com) who also appears on Fox News. There is a caution that she admires Governor Pataki,who is to blame for much of the problems,but every channel we can use to get our views across needs to be pursued.Thus far we have seen no response from New York One. Email list member Eric Lange called me from Colorado today, to thank me for the mailings and wish the cause well. I appreciate the support all of you have given to the cause, but remember we have to push our views against hostile officialdom at every possible opportunity for the Towers to rise again, and continue to get our message out to others who may help us! That's what this is all about. Two years have passed. We need to show the strength of our recovery,not the severity of our wounds,by our actions and by the designs chosen to replace Libeskind's pit-centered eyesore. Today's ceremonies will be the last of their kind,as recovery proceeds. In months there will be commuters arising from the ground at the site again. The children who read names today were given a week to rehearse so as to pronounce the names correctly...will they really want to grow up with emptiness where their loved ones were lost,or would they rather have the chance to rise again into the skies and hold the same dreams their lost ones did,working on the high floors? See you on the 111th floor on 9-11-11! -=-=- The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again, at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.