Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 23:54:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: Louis Epstein
Subject: WTC-Related News and Reports


Several items...
still no updates at renewnyc.org of the
"Draft Principles and Preliminary Blueprint",
though the Timeline said this was due June 5th;
still no publication at www.imaginenewyork.org
of the report released June 10th with the various
"Vision Statements".

Alex Butziger has reported that he has successfully
registered for the "Listening to the City II" event,
and he will be coming FROM GERMANY to attend.

This moves the goalposts,I think...I had no idea they
would take people from other countries,but I underline
once again that ANY of you able to spend July 20th in
New York should register for this event(call 800-862-3154
or visit www.listeningtothecity.org to register) and get
every pro-full-scale-rebuilding person you can to do the
same.

Bringing people in long distances to add to the pro-Towers
voices may be held against us,but I hope showing the world
how much many people from all over cared about the Towers
will help.Remember...the "human scale" crowd will be trying
to fill as many seats as they can too,and we can not afford
to let our voices be silent or drowned out.

With five thousand seats available and the organizers
getting to divide us as they choose into little groups
as part of the process,getting our word heard will be
a challenge...I will of course help networking on talking
points as the event approaches,and the development plans
that we will be asked to react to are released.(I don't
expect that the event will be postponed even if the
previous events on the timeline get delayed,like the
release of the new P&PB).

Joe Wright sent me a news story about a speech John Whitehead
gave a couple of days ago...he is still stuck on the 50-story
rut,saying anything taller than 50 stories on the site will
not be occupied.Clearly he needs another dose of public demand
for occupied structures much taller than 50 stories!!

Mayor Bloomberg gave a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
on the 12th...he managed to annoy both Towers advocates and
those who just want a memorial.He both said a memorial should
not be "too big" and the area shouldn't be thought of as a
cemetery,and that new office buildings should not duplicate
the Towers.

Bloomberg contended that the new office buildings should be
built to suit the real estate market,rather than on speculation
(a view apparently shared by Larry Silverstein,who would prefer
to build pre-leased structures).Of course this shows blindness
to the overwhelmingly important symbolic issues...while the PA
might have been foolhardy to build speculatively before,the
time to give priority to the economics of the real estate
business was THEN....not now when they are a shameful excuse
for letting the wishes of killers have a lasting impact on our
skyline.This is a time to show we have NOT been terrorized out
of taking risks...not that the killers have scared us.

The New York Observer has published an article:
http://www.observer.com/pages/frontpage1.asp
[TEMPORARY URL...the article will move when not current]
which makes further mention of the David Childs idea that
Silverstein is weighing...70-story building with an empty,
more-and-more-fragmented-as-it-goes-up skeleton on top.
This soaring testimonial to terrorist success is the
last thing we need,of course...if just what we might
expect from an architect who denounced the construction
of the Towers as an act of vandalism.

There is however an interesting ingredient in the article:
Sally Regenhard of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign,who
is quoted in coverage of the Bloomberg speech as saying
"It is a cemetery.That's the reality",is quoted here
as saying she has no objections to the height of
buildings on the site as long as they are "quality"
and "safe".

New Twin Towers need to be designed to have breathtaking
safety features just as they need to inspire awe in all
their other aspects.We have to make our case against every
objection.There's no telling who we may bring on board if
we address their concerns!

Despite the other WTC-rebuilding-related websites out
there...we may have one connected to this mailing list
soon.Any thoughts for what should be on such a site?
I've been offered message boards and other such things,
and of course there'd be space for an archive of my
past missives.However,some stuff might be better
circulated among known supporters rather than on
public view?

Anyone out there particularly interested in helping
pro-Towers public relations efforts?

Write me if interested...and of course,anyone who
wants off the email list,just tell me and you're gone!

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.