Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 15:21:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Louis Epstein Subject: WTC Site Plans...Links...Feedback First,here's an Associated Press article, my comments and details and calls to action are below. =-------------------- Developers Reveal WTC Site Plans =-------------------- By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press Writer July 16, 2002, 1:26 PM EDT NEW YORK -- Six proposals to rebuild the World Trade Center site were unveiled Tuesday, all featuring substantial memorials to the dead and buildings that would evoke -- but not match -- the lost skyline of Lower Manhattan. "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 110-story 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 tallest building in any of the six plans rises 85 stories. In an attempt to echo the lost towers, each plan contains at least one needle-like structure atop an office tower for a total height of 1,500 feet. The trade center towers were 1,350 feet tall. All the plans restore some of the street grid that was eliminated when the World Trade Center was built, but any streets may wind up being only for pedestrians. 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 to three by September and 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. 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. Copyright (c) 2002, The Associated Press =-------------------- This article originally appeared at: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-attacks-redevelopment0716jul16.story =-------------------- The announcement page is http://www.renewnyc.com/concepts.htm and the plans themselves can be found from http://www.renewnyc.com/plan/concepts.htm (all of them are named Memorial something... Plaza,Square,Garden,Triangle,Park,and Promenade). The first four offer tallest buildings of 79,80,85,80 stories respectively and the last two are shorter.Their website was too busy and slow for me to get to see the graphical renderings, but if you have the time,look for them. The radio news story on this had a sound clip of John Whitehead asking the public,"What do you like?...What do you not like?" and we have to tell him that replacing 110-story buildings,on one of which there was a 1725-foot broadcast antenna,with buildings of only 85 or fewer stories with a 1500 story antenna is something we do NOT like! There is a "Site History" link that shows three 18th and one 19th century view of the site,but none of the Hudson Terminal Buildings that in 1908 began the site's tradition of having twin, largest-in-the-world-when-built office high-rises as its largest structures. The website with the plans links to feedback opportunities... this is not the Phase I Comments address (postal or email) but the direct Lower Manhattan office at One Liberty Square,and the infolmdc@empire.state.ny.us that is their general info email. Time to start feeding back,before drafting our more formal comments for the August hearing and commentary periods...tell them the short plans don't cut it.Give them details in your own voice. September's Mission is having a fundraiser on July 21st,the day after the LTTC II event...there's a toll-free number mentioned on their site.Not that I would favor gatecrashing,but be aware that the memorial-above-all-else crowd is organizing just as we are. This battle will go to those who best promote their position. I note that an international design competition is now promised, so Eli Attia has in a sense won his battle...September's Mission has also advocated this,so we haven't yet won the battle for WHAT the international competitors will be told to build...we need to shape the debate so that solutions with very tall towers will be successful! 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.