Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 17:10:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: Louis Epstein
Subject: WTC PUBLIC HEARING THURS MAY 23!!!


This is going to my whole list...it does not concern the
July rally,which I will only write about to those of you
who tell me you want to be involved.(So far,fourteen of
you have done so).

After sending the rally email yesterday I learned that the
Whitehead group (I resist spelling out "Lower Manhattan
Development Corporation" because I resent their change from
"REdevelopment" and its anti-rebuilding motivation) is going
to have a PUBLIC HEARING on Thursday,May 23rd,at 6 PM.
I don't know the location any more specifically than that
it is at Pace University's Park Row campus ("Pace Plaza")
near the City Hall and Park Place subway stations.
I note that this university used to have a "World Trade Institute"
in 1 World Trade Center.

I will be there...the TTT people will be there...
if you can be there and bring pro-rebuilding friends,
do whatever you can to attend!

This is apparently the first non-invitational event they
have held,and it's time to give them a reality check!

I think we should try to be there early for better choice
of seating(not all sitting together,but better that we get
seats than anti-rebuilders get seats if there are more people
interested than the room can hold!).

It may be appropriate for some of us to bring handheld signs
(not block views with them)...not all of us,because in an event
the others are stage-managing it can work in our advantage for
rebuilding support to turn out to be bigger than it looks.
Not the same as the July gathering on the Javits sidewalk.
They can't cut our access to microphones as easily if some
of us are not showing signs.

We'll have to wait some time for brief moments to speak,
and in those moments we have to choose carefully what we say.
While waiting,we should listen to what others say,
so we can respond to or endorse other comments effectively.

We can practice using a minute,timing ourselves,so the
moment granted us is used most effectively.And we can
reinforce our cause delivering the right sound bites.

One thing I ESPECIALLY want said is an appeal for a show of
hands for those who'd be honored to work on the 110th floor
of new Towers...and let's show them a FOREST of hands!!!

Points to make,if you care to...some of them overlap,
but they're not the same,and we shouldn't all sound the
same.Use your own words and express your particular beliefs:

*The terrorists' wish was that there no longer be gigantic
towers on that site.Granting that wish means they did not
die in vain,and their victims are thus dishonored.They
"cut us down to size"...rather than stand tall we are
ducking for cover.

*50-story buildings are no taller than what's across the
street from the site....One Liberty on one side,the Amex
building in the World Financial Center on the other,and the
new 7 WTC will be at one end...therefore,such buildings
will have ZERO skyline visibility.Something for future
terrorists to point to with pride...and motivate more attacks.

*Taxpayer money should not be wasted on symbols of surrender.
Congress has voted billions to help rebuilding...rebuilding
does not mean treating the attacks as a blank-slate development
opportunity,it means restoring what was taken from us.

*If the destruction of our landmarks goes unreversed,
this makes other landmarks targets.We've shown the world
we accept their destruction is permanent,which makes it
more worth terrorists' while to try again.

*New York State's motto is "Excelsior",which means "Ever Upward".
The 600-foot-plus Singer Building was replaced by One Liberty Plaza,
over a hundred feet taller.The old 7 World Trade is being replaced
by a building over a hundred feet taller.Why shouldn't One and Two
World Trade?

*New York drew many tourists to the old Towers.The proposed
half-size buildings would be nothing special in New York,
which has fifty other buildings of fifty stories or more.
People wouldn't seek them out.

*St. Peter was crucified in the Circus of Caligula and buried
in the adjoining cemetery.When the Catholic Church took power
in Rome they didn't turn the area into a memorial park...they
built St. Peter's,the largest church in Christendom,on top of
both the arena and cemetery sites.

=>Note:Monica Iken is a Catholic,baptized in St. Patrick's by
some reports.She's said she might enlist the Pope in her
leave-it-all-a-memorial-park crusade,but I don't think he's
likely to flatten St. Peter's to get in tune with her ideas.
I don't recommend attacking or mentioning her...we are there
to support new Towers...just make the point that landmark
buildings can be the most effective way of honoring those who
die on their sites.The above point might be most effectively
made by someone who is also a Catholic and mentions it.

*Granting the terrorists a permanent place on the map glorifies
them.We will remember their acts whether seeing new Towers in
place or not...both the Towers and a hole in the skyline would
remind anyone who saw them...but letting the hole stay there
honors the killers while rebuilding honors the human spirit.

*This is a war of symbols...allowing the destruction of our
symbols to stand is surrender,and they understand that at the
Pentagon.The terrorists understand it too.And the symbolism
of building the world's tallest buildings is not lost on the
Asian cities now competing for that honor.Are we to have lost
touch with reality everyone else sees?

*New Towers should be awe-inspiring engineering marvels,
and of course average-sized (by NY skyscraper standards) buildings
can't stand out in such a fashion...we must exhibit a "can do"
attitude,not a "don't dare" attitude.Greater safety,greater
strength...the whole world will be watching what we do here,
and think little of us for shrinking from the challenge.

*The economics of the real estate business are NOT an excuse
for showing ourselves to have been "cut down to size".And any
fear of working in tall buildings resulting from the attacks
is exactly what the terrorists wanted us to have...concessions
to the fear they want to inspire are concessions to the killers.

*The Twin Towers rising again will show the world the killers failed.
Their continued absence will show the world the killers won.

*We remember the dead,we honor the dead,by not letting their
killers have what they wanted.The killers wanted the Towers gone.
New Towers can have memorials in their lobbies,on the floors on
which people who died worked,and on top,in the skies to which we
have every right to aspire no matter what the killers think.

*The New York World Trade Center was one of many around
the world.The twin towers of the Colombo,Sri Lanka WTC
have been damaged,and destroyed...and completely rebuilt.
Are we poorer or less determined than Sri Lankans?

*The Towers had great significance to the entire nation and
the free world.Local considerations should not excuse their
destruction being permanent.Rebuilding towers at least as
tall as the old is something that could inspire people all
over to contribute to the reconstruction...buildings no
taller than what's across the street would never do that.


The above are NOT complete speeches,but things to draw on,
and not say if someone has already said them.

There are more ideas to express,of course,but food for
thought.With luck we'll send them into a rethink mode,
though they may work harder at keeping pro-rebuilders
out of the July event as a result.

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.