Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 01:03:50 -0500 (EST) From: Louis Epstein Subject: WTC Rebuilding #489:Spitzer Wants and NEEDS Advice;ANOTHER Hearing! New York Governor-elect Spitzer is said to have discussed the WTC site, among other issues,at a recent meeting with Mayor Bloomberg...in just what terms has not been revealed. Spitzer has opened a website http://www.transitionny.org/ for his transition into the governor's office and they are taking both suggestions and job applications. AS MANY OF US AS POSSIBLE SHOULD URGE THAT HIS "DAY ONE,EVERYTHING CHANGES" PLEDGE BE EXTENDED TO WTC SITE PLANS! He has hitherto only seemed skeptical about the FT (and for being too ambitious rather than not ambitious enough) but he needs to be encouraged to discard the products of the Pataki planning process; no election in which the most popular candidate has been ruled off the ballot because of the prejudices of those running the election is legitimate,and that's exactly what we've faced in planning the new World Trade Center. Blame for delay rests entirely on those who have wasted our time and money with the process up to now,and letting the plans be built is a mistake that should NOT be made! The address to write to is contact@transitionny.org . Meanwhile,the many faces of the official process have spawned ANOTHER public hearing...this one on the vehicular security center and bus parking facility constructed as part of the PATH Terminal project. It takes place November 28 from 4-8 PM at the Richard Harrris Terrace Room of Borough of Manhattan Community College (199 Chambers Street). The PANYNJ website is very complex these days and I haven't been able to track down the exact document we're asked to comment on (there are many others from earlier in the process).There will be presentations at the hearing. The main thrust of what comments we offer,of course,should be that the facilities proposed NOT be allowed to hinder the replacement of official plans for the rest of the site. If you can't make the hearing,they offer "many ways to provide comments",including mail to: WTC VSC And Tour Bus Facility Project The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey 115 Broadway,10th Floor New York,New York 10006 telephone calls to: 212 435-5599 faxes to: 212 435-5514 Generally speaking,the more effort you put into your comment (not the more strongly you word it,but the time you spend on it, as long as you stick to the point) the more seriously it will be taken. Something that occurred to me recently...the street-grid restorationists rave about river-to-river sight lines but they are ignoring topography; Broadway is uphill from the WTC site and nobody standing on the street level on the line of Fulton Street (or Cortlandt or Dey Streets) on the WTC site will see past Broadway,and no one east of Broadway will see the WTC site though they may stare into World Financial Center windows if they're not on the other side of the hill! More Cuozzo writing,generally of the let's-build variety: http://nypost.com/seven/10242006/news/columnists/a_new_downtown_opedcolumnists_steve_cuozzo.htm The official Museum schedule slips: http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/469102p-394658c.html More identifications of victims' remains have occurred,including the first I have ever heard of where the name was not disclosed.(I wonder if it's someone whose family has made press over never having found anything and don't want to admit that's no longer the case?) More searches continue,while Bloomberg draws the line at trying to ID remains at the Fresh Kills dump: http://nypost.com/seven/11022006/news/regionalnews/new_sleuths_to_join_grim_hunt_at_wtc_regionalnews_.htm http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/467556p-393404c.html http://nypost.com/seven/11062006/news/regionalnews/search_to_ground_zero_in_on_300_new_spots_regionalnews_larry_celona_and_dan_mangan.htm http://nypost.com/seven/11072006/news/regionalnews/ground_zero_workers_find_more_bones_regionalnews_.htm Joy Goldberg noted a reference to a Newsday poll on continuing to build vs. searching for more remains, but substituting something better for the current plans wasn't offered as an option. Meanwhile,this weekend's fifth anniversary of the Flight 587 crash saw the dedication of a memorial in a park near the crash site;news coverage noted that community opposition ensured that AT the crash site,the destroyed homes were rebuilt rather than the bigger memorial demanded by victims' families. Keep up the fight...we are in the right! -=-=- The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again, at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.