Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 22:06:16 -0400 (EDT) From: Louis Epstein Subject: WTC Rebuilding...more thoughts,news The more the merrier...I have added a couple of more addresses found on the Online-LTTC,we don't have 850 people whose emails never bounce yet,but we're closer to that than 800 now,I think. Two news stories in the NY Post today: http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/53965.htm covers nearby residents furious that the six plans on offer often casually condemn the places they live for other purposes. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/53979.htm is VERY disturbing...it indicates Port Authority receptiveness to Bloomberg's ridiculous power-grabbing land swap offer. Be clear...Bloomberg does NOT want the Towers back, when he was running for office before November 2001 his campaign website was talking about the redevelopment in terms of substantially smaller scale.His point man for redevelopment,Deputy Mayor Doctoroff,is the one who said there was "zero chance" of the Towers being rebuilt. Bloomberg was one of the people John Whitehead talked to before announcing in January that there was consensus among everyone he talked to that rebuilding on the former scale was not appropriate.Bloomberg wants to scale down what will be on the site and put up residential properties. People who applaud him,are cheering the chance of downscaling. BLOOMBERG WANTS SYMBOLS OF SURRENDER. As pointed out by Eli Attia at the phoenixusa.org website and elsewhere...the site belongs to EVERYONE in New York and New Jersey...so if you are one of the 19 million people who lives in New Jersey or in the state but not city of New York,this is YOUR ownership interest that is at risk here. Real estate that brings in $120 million a year to be exchanged for other real estate on which $3 million a year is paid until 2015...at which point it may rise to $60 million.BAD DEAL no matter what Robert Yaro thinks.Not even counting the disgrace to America and humanity that could result. Andy Martin has indicated he'll do a radio show soon opposing this power grab...if he sends me a press release I will pass it on to the list. My thanks to those,especially Tim Notestein,who provided sources on the tallest buildings now under construction. The towers of Whitehead's and Bloomberg's old businesses are now the two tallest buildings under construction in the USA; as I said a while back,they may not want competition on that score. Don't forget the Gotham Gazette Java-chat with Doctoroff coming up August 15th...see the rebuilders' resource link list at http://www.put.com/wtc/ for link and more. I note that though the 1998 and 1999 World Almanacs said the CN Tower was 1821 feet tall,2000 and since have gone back to 1815. In any case,towers taller than either figure would be nice,and one (a self-supporting broadcast tower,not a building) in Indonesia, 1831 feet tall,is just about complete.Other self-supporting broadcast towers taller than the old WTC are complete or nearly so in Moscow (1772 feet),Shanghai(1535),Teheran(1411),and Kuala Lumpur(1379). More milestones to build taller than with an occupied Manhattan skyscraper! I have of course been keeping a close eye on the Online-LTTC. The "first week summary" has apparently been emailed to those who qualified,and been used as basis for a poll on Hopes & Concerns now being voted upon.(I believe they plugged the loophole that allowed those of us initially registered and then rejected to vote...David Peterson,what is your report?) Rather perversely,in tune with the bias of the organizers, they have lumped the hope for towers TALLER than the old WTC, and ones SHORTER "but grand and inspiring",as one item to vote for as particularly important or not.There has to be a choice BETWEEN these,or they are being ridiculous...trying to pretend preference for 120-story towers is a mandate for 80-story ones. (Hyman Brown,who was the project engineer in charge of building the WTC for Tishman Construction,and the students he now teaches at the University of Colorado came up with a rebuilding concept in late 2001 that has seen very little press...I mentioned it on the email list right after I added him.[He has never written me directly,but his mail has not bounced and he has not requested removal from the list]. This plan involves 140-story strengthened Twin Towers on the old footprints,the lower 30 stories being memorial museums and the upper 110 being offices.So Monica Iken et al would get SIXTY acres of memorial space(less elevator core),right on the "sacred" footprints.But no, they don't want it THAT way,with people still able to do what their loved ones lived to do right where they did it!) In publicizing my email list,please use le@put.com if referring to me by name,or wtc@put.com if just saying write here to get onto a pro-rebuilding email list.The "main" is a superfluous internal host name that's just there because of incorrect mail program configuration. To be clear,anyone who sympathizes with the ideas I offered yesterday is free to offer them for consideration in groups of online-LTTC... just say you've seen and like these ideas. Jesse said on the NYCS board(rapidly being reconstructed on the original diskprints:)) that he had converted his entire group to pro-rebuilders,I think that overstates things,I doubt he was the only one in it to start with,and think not all there are pro-tall- Towers yet...indeed,he announced his own conversion to leaving the old footprints completely empty as ordered by Osama(a position that does not disqualify someone as a pro-rebuilder,but that,for the reasons I gave yesterday,I do regret). Different groups have different pro/anti balances,but the Towers support IS making itself heard above the din,though the organizers do their best to blunt its effectiveness.The "Elements of Rebuilding" phase should produce some explicitly pro-extreme-height concepts for voting on or the organizers will twist themselves into pretzels! Does anyone know if the Hudson Terminal Buildings (built 1908,torn down to make room for WTC) were the first large TWIN office buildings?(Someone on Online-LTTC was thinking the WTC Twins held that honor). Richard Krasney's "Soaring Coalition for 50,000 Signatures" continues to evolve,I believe I have all its members on this email list now.And the Federal Hall petition/literature table our own email list's volunteers are planning will start soon(Jen Thorpe would be ready to go Tuesday,but the table may not be procured before then).If you want to join either effort,tell me! Firemen reached the 78th floor of the South Tower according to news reports released in the last day...THIS IS GOOD NEWS.They probably reached at least as high in the North Tower since it was hit first(and higher).This EMPHASIZES that improved safety features on new Towers would let them stand long enough that fire personnel(even if not stationed fulltime on a high floor as I have advocated--didn't mention it yesterday but longtime list members will have seen my writings on this) could get to the fires and get them under control so that the buildings would never collapse at all. Previously,it was thought that the firemen had not made it higher than about the 50th floor. NO MATTER WHAT STATE OR COUNTRY YOU LIVE IN, if you want towers no shorter than before to rise again on the old superblock...BE SURE to send your comments in at every phase of the planning process! Timeline and addresses are at the resource link list. 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.