In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Proposals Revealed for Rebuilding WTC Site
Bullzeye
Member Posts: 3,560
WTC Authority Reveals 6 Proposals
Tue Jul 16,11:38 AM ET
By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer
The agency responsible for rebuilding the World Trade Center site announced six proposals on Tuesday, all featuring substantial memorials and office buildings - but nothing 110 stories tall.
"Each plan begins with a memorial acknowledging that as we rebuild, we must remember," John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., said at a morning news conference.
The proposals call for replacing the 11 million square feet of office and retail space lost on Sept. 11 with a cluster of buildings, none of which would rise as high as the vanished twin towers. Each plan calls for the construction of a public transportation hub at the site. They also feature retail and hotel space.
"The six plans are not final blueprints. Each of the plans represents a package of proposed ideas. These ideas can be mixed and matched and reconstituted based on public input," said Whitehead.
Talking specifically about a memorial for the site, Whitehead said, "There is no need to rush." He said there would an international design competition that would drawn on professionals and amateurs alike.
"This is the starting point for dialogue," Matthew Higgins, spokesman for the LMDC, a city-state agency, said earlier. "The next step is to actively engage the public through as many different forums as possible."
To emphasize the importance of honoring the 2,800 who died, each plan uses the word "memorial" in its title. Four of the plans preserve the "footprints" of the towers for a memorial; two would allow commercial buildings on the footprints, which would enable more intensive development of the site.
Among the ideas are a proposal dubbed "Memorial Plaza" that would feature an 8-acre open space and a free-standing tower at the northwest corner of the site. "Memorial Triangle" would create several triangular parks and triangular building sites. "Memorial Park" would have a 6-acre park but would allow commercial development on the footprints.
Groups representing victims' families have demanded that the ground where the towers stood not be used for anything but a memorial.
"Where Tower 1 and Tower 2 stood is sacred ground," said Joseph Maurer, a retired firefighter whose daughter, Jill Campbell, died in the trade center. "It's the same as Gettysburg or Pearl Harbor."
The proposals, released by the development corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the land, will be on display for several weeks in Lower Manhattan and on the development corporation's Web site, Whitehead said.
An expected 5,000 people will discuss the plans at a town hall meeting Saturday at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.
The development corporation and the Port Authority will narrow the six land-use proposals down to three by September and then down to one by December.
"The three plans issued in the fall might be a combination of features of the six," said Whitehead.
The plans were prepared by the architectural firm of Beyer Blinder Belle. Among the firm's better-known projects was the renovation of Grand Central Terminal.
The six plans are rough drafts - not detailed architectural renderings - and represent the first in a series of steps to redevelop the 16-acre site. Only a few developers, planners and government officials have seen the plans.
The preliminary plans do not name particular tenants, but there has been speculation that the Museum of the City of New York and the New York City Opera could be located at the site.
While none of the plans call for housing on the tract itself, they do suggest that damaged office buildings along the periphery could be razed for housing or converted to apartments.
Tue Jul 16,11:38 AM ET
By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer
The agency responsible for rebuilding the World Trade Center site announced six proposals on Tuesday, all featuring substantial memorials and office buildings - but nothing 110 stories tall.
"Each plan begins with a memorial acknowledging that as we rebuild, we must remember," John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., said at a morning news conference.
The proposals call for replacing the 11 million square feet of office and retail space lost on Sept. 11 with a cluster of buildings, none of which would rise as high as the vanished twin towers. Each plan calls for the construction of a public transportation hub at the site. They also feature retail and hotel space.
"The six plans are not final blueprints. Each of the plans represents a package of proposed ideas. These ideas can be mixed and matched and reconstituted based on public input," said Whitehead.
Talking specifically about a memorial for the site, Whitehead said, "There is no need to rush." He said there would an international design competition that would drawn on professionals and amateurs alike.
"This is the starting point for dialogue," Matthew Higgins, spokesman for the LMDC, a city-state agency, said earlier. "The next step is to actively engage the public through as many different forums as possible."
To emphasize the importance of honoring the 2,800 who died, each plan uses the word "memorial" in its title. Four of the plans preserve the "footprints" of the towers for a memorial; two would allow commercial buildings on the footprints, which would enable more intensive development of the site.
Among the ideas are a proposal dubbed "Memorial Plaza" that would feature an 8-acre open space and a free-standing tower at the northwest corner of the site. "Memorial Triangle" would create several triangular parks and triangular building sites. "Memorial Park" would have a 6-acre park but would allow commercial development on the footprints.
Groups representing victims' families have demanded that the ground where the towers stood not be used for anything but a memorial.
"Where Tower 1 and Tower 2 stood is sacred ground," said Joseph Maurer, a retired firefighter whose daughter, Jill Campbell, died in the trade center. "It's the same as Gettysburg or Pearl Harbor."
The proposals, released by the development corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the land, will be on display for several weeks in Lower Manhattan and on the development corporation's Web site, Whitehead said.
An expected 5,000 people will discuss the plans at a town hall meeting Saturday at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.
The development corporation and the Port Authority will narrow the six land-use proposals down to three by September and then down to one by December.
"The three plans issued in the fall might be a combination of features of the six," said Whitehead.
The plans were prepared by the architectural firm of Beyer Blinder Belle. Among the firm's better-known projects was the renovation of Grand Central Terminal.
The six plans are rough drafts - not detailed architectural renderings - and represent the first in a series of steps to redevelop the 16-acre site. Only a few developers, planners and government officials have seen the plans.
The preliminary plans do not name particular tenants, but there has been speculation that the Museum of the City of New York and the New York City Opera could be located at the site.
While none of the plans call for housing on the tract itself, they do suggest that damaged office buildings along the periphery could be razed for housing or converted to apartments.
Comments
But wouldnt it really be the best thing for recovery, both emotional and economical, if they put another series of towers in?
I think they should build 'em back exactly the same as before. Except several feet taller. They'd be expensive to build, but they are high-price rental space and they'd pay for themselves within a year and we'd be proving to the world that we are not afraid.
It's a little bit like the Liberal vs. the Conservative way of doing buisness. The Liberals would rather build a giant memorial, make no effort to revitalize the surrounding area, and just wring their hands all day long. The Conservatives want to build it back just the same, thumb their noses at Osama, and put some money and pride back into the area.
Lets say you saved your pennies and bought yourself a really nice house. If some dirtball broke into your house and stole all your stuff, would you get scared because of the attention it draws and sell it and buy a trailer? Or would you put in a big razor-ribbon security fence and damn the torpedoes?
One woman's opinion
So many guns, so little money . . .
I've heard a lot of people saying things like "Well, they really were sort of arrogant and phallic...", or "We'd just be asking for another attack if we rebuilt them. Lets play it safe".
Those kind of comments are disgustingly Liberal to me.
Lets build 'em back, put a Stinger missile battery on each roof, and dare the terrorists to try again.
SUBMARINE SAILOR,TRUCK DRIVER,RUSTY WALLACE FAN AND AS EVERYONE SO OFTEN POINTS OUT PISS POOR TYPIST e-mail:WNUNLEY@USIT.NET