Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2002 20:07:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: Louis Epstein
Subject: Letter-writing opportunities re WTC


Pataki's pledges that what Osama says to knock down,
stays knocked down have drawn a not-so-fast response
from New York's State Assembly Speaker,Sheldon Silver:
http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/51484.htm

Interestingly,the article says that the WTC site is
in the Brooklyn-based Silver's Assembly district.
The Democratic leader in the Republican-controlled
State Senate,Martin Connor,also represents a district
including the lower end of Manhattan.

As has been pointed out,the anti-rebuilding contingent
among victims' survivors will likely attack Silver for
not promising to keep the site the way the killers of
their loved ones wanted it...so he needs messages of
support.As the Speaker of the Assembly of the State of
New York,his email address,logically enough,is
speaker@assembly.state.ny.us (and unlike the one
published for Pataki,that one works...you get an
autoresponse asking to make sure you included your name,
postal address,and phone number,which may not be
relevant).

New Yorkers especially ought to write to him,
commending his skepticism of Pataki's position
and urging him not to come out in favor of it.
People from elsewhere can at least think about
letting him know how the eyes of the world are
on the future of that site and how America responds.

As I've noted,the new Towers may well be built off
the original footprints,but it's best that we air
the issues,and without making people who are not
already anti-Towers into opponents of Towers in
general,make any relocation away from the footprints
a concession in return for which we are owed a pledge
of tall new Towers,not something that the opponents
were owed to begin with.

Something that bears mention...this is not in any way
expressing insensitivity to those killed on September
11th,but recording the insensitivity of the killers...
to the terrorists,destroying the Towers was the main
thing and the human beings were collateral damage.

If EVERYONE had gotten out alive and the Towers had
still collapsed,Al-Qaida would have rated the attack
a success.The destruction of our symbols was what they
really wanted...the fear caused would have been enough
for their purposes even without deaths...and it is
entirely our decision whether or not they get what they
really wanted.

THEY MUST NOT GET IT...THE TOWERS MUST RISE AGAIN!

The New York Post can be written to
at letters@nypost.com...commend Silver
amd say you're relieved not everyone is
falling in line behind Pataki and bin
Laden on the future of the site!
(In your own words,of course).

The New York Times has reported Pataki's pledge
in a generally approving tone,and they can be
written at letters@nytimes.com (postal address
and telephone numbers REQUIRED to be considered
for publication).Let them have a taste of pro-rebuilding
sentiment every time they cover the issue!

I've written to my local paper denouncing Pataki's
stand(I live in the district he once represented
in the State Senate,I have never voted for him!).
By all means write your local papers concerning
rebuilding,we need to keep pro-rebuilding ideas
in front of the public.

I called the Lower Manhattan (Re)Development
Corporation today to see if the six Phase I
options had been announced today as scheduled,
got a switchboard operator who didn't know what
I was talking about and took a long time to
answer,and hung up after a few minutes on hold.

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