NEW YORK: New York’s past is full of autocratic developers, but the issue of what will replace the World Trade Center complex destroyed in the September 11 attacks has become one of the most democratic urban projects in history.
Everyone agrees that a memorial at the site will honour the 2,823 civilians and rescuers who were killed when two hijacked passenger planes caused the catastrophic collapse of the 110-story twin towers. They have not agreed on what form it should take or how large it should be.
The site, now a gaping hole eight stories deep after ironworkers, firefighters and tradesmen of every craft removed nearly two million tons of wreckage in just nine months, is considered hallowed ground by families of 1,700 people whose bodies or remains were never found.
Family groups, elected officials, real estate developers, state and city agencies and others with conflicting interests are vying to have their ideas included in six plans to be made public later this month. By September, the number of plans will be reduced to three and a final plan was expected to be selected by the end of 2002.
“This will be a very distinctive part of the city when it is completed,” said former diplomat and Wall Street financier John Whitehead, who was appointed chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to lead the planning. He said the LMDC hoped it “will be beautiful for the next 100 years or more.”
On July 20 and 22, thousands are expected to attend public meetings entitled “Listening to the City, Remember and Rebuild” to discuss proposals for reconstructing the 16-acre site and surrounding buildings and streets on the southern tip of Manhattan — a total area equivalent to 35 square blocks.
NEW TOWERS RULED OUT: The site quickly became known as “ground zero” in the US ‘war on terrorism’ and there has been a temptation among some New Yorkers “to challenge the terrorists” by proposing new buildings as tall as the original skyscrapers.
But Whitehead and others involved in the planning believe that is not viable.
“The safety issues are a concern, even if you had the top 40 floors empty it could still be a target,” said Monica Iken, who lost her bond broker husband, Michael, and founded the September’s Mission families group. “The statement we need to make is to build a beautiful memorial in honour of the lives lost.”
Iken, who has an advisory position with the LMDC, said she would like to see a green memorial park incorporated into whatever is decided for the site, a place “no matter where you go on the 16 acres, you’ll always know the events of September 11th.”
The attacks by militants traumatized the city and emotions run deep in any discussion about developing the site
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the media mogul who was elected to City Hall two months after the attacks, angered many victims’ relatives in June by saying any memorial should not be too big because lower Manhattan residents “don’t want to live in a memorial”.
BLEND OF STRUCTURES: Some proposals incorporate a soaring memorial of light, a combination of art and history museums, an opera house and even an Eiffel Tower-like structure. A regional transportation hub like Grand Central Station in midtown Manhattan, a shopping centre, office and residential buildings have also been suggested.
New York’s most famous developer, Robert Moses, was autocratic and decisive, sometimes ordering the removal of people from their apartment blocks and tearing them down before building roadways through the communities.
But LMDC chairman Whitehead vows everyone will have a say.—Reuters