Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 11:25:11 -0500 (EST) From: Louis Epstein To: lmdc@empire.state.ny.us Subject: Twin Towers MUST be REBUILT!! From the day the Twin Towers fell I have told everyone who will listen,and many who won't,that the importance of rebuilding them,at least as tall and at least as strong as before,can not be overstated. I understand you are in a "listening period",and hope you will listen,though from Mr. Whitehead's public comments he appears to listen only to those who do not understand the disgrace it would be to the entire nation if we allowed the terrorist decision that twin towers no longer stand there to be set in stone by our own surrender. Perceived public reluctance to work at high altitudes is no excuse; to have "terrorized" us out of daring to aspire to the skies is exactly what the terrorists wanted,and they must not have it.I would consider it an honor to work up there, to live up there...and I'm afraid of heights! The economics of the real estate business are no excuse; this is a war of symbols...if the destruction of our symbols is allowed to stand unreversed,it is an unmistakable victory for the destroyers,a loss greater than any developer's red ink.No one is saying don't rebuild the Pentagon! Even if the Towers stand empty,they MUST stand. We can not be seen to be saying,"Thanks for the redevelopment opportunity,Osama!" as if there were no symbolism involved in this. The site being "hallowed ground" is no excuse; to turn a massacre site into a memorial is something I have long opposed in principle,given other examples around the world. To grant the perpetrators of a massacre a permanent place on the map is to glorify their deed,to give future generations of terrorists the opportunity to point to where the Towers USED to be,as evidence of their success...while if towers stood there again,it would be evidence of their failure. To build only shorter structures would stand as proof that they succeeded in "cutting us down to size". If soldiers were to abandon a battlefield because some of their comrades had died there,it would do anything but honor to the fallen. That the towers that stood there collapsed is no excuse; much has been learned in engineering in recent decades, and new towers can be built far stronger than the old. We need to demonstrate this with our "can do" attitude, not the "don't dare" attitude that is exhibited by shrinking from the challange.The new towers should be engineering marvels, inspiring for generations to come and standing proud and tall. We need to show the lessons we have learned in making our structures impervious,not that the terrorists have taught us not to dare defy them. Rather we must show that our determination to aspire has not been dented.The new towers must be no shorter than the old,the opportunity to climb to the skies be preserved for posterity.I always thought that one day I might dine at Windows on the World...I want that opportunity back. (I once met a man who later became the manager there...he was standing outside when the planes hit,just arriving at work,and lost countless colleagues.He can't see going back, but where a man has been scarred for life,humanity must not be). Let us dare,in despite of those who would humble us, who if reconstruction does not include immense twin towers will indeed have humbled us,to demonstrate that we have not lost our will to leadership.It was a bad enough blow to New York's pride that Chicago built a taller building... now the Asian cities,seeking to fulfill the prophecy that this 21st is "the Pacific century",are erecting taller ones yet,the symbolism of taking world leadership this embodies not lost on them. How tall should new towers be? 1419 feet,approximately,would be a height above which a television antenna as tall as the old would rise to 1776 feet. 1455 feet would be one foot taller than the Sears Tower. 1484 feet would be just taller than the Petronas Towers, though with real floors beating the Malaysian building's spires. Or perhaps we could dream of more...surpassing the buildings now rising in the Far East,even outdoing the CN Tower as world's tallest self-supporting structure. But we must not dream of less. I am not saying,at any remove,that there be no memorials for the fallen.This should I think be reflected in the plazas surrounding the towers,throughout the towers,and atop the towers.I see a glass-roofed 111th floor garden at a setback at that height,and plaques on every floor within remembering those from that floor who died. Let us show that with their deaths we were not beaten, that the ground on which they stood,even in the skies, will be held and defended. If it is not defended by the city or state,I hope the United States government will step in and condition rebuilding aid on the Towers themselves being rebuilt. I won't offer the web addresses of the various groups that have sprung up to fight for the rebuilding of the Towers,unless you ask...but I assure you that there are many who feel as I do,if not in every last detail,and who will feel the city,the nation,and the human spirit will have been betrayed if the Towers are not reborn,if this horrific destruction is not explicitly undone. Louis Epstein I close with words that I routinely end my emails and other online writings with...that I expect to continue to use until structural steel reaches 1368 feet on the site,or until I die. If the site is redeveloped this time with shorter buildings I will add a line decrying these buildings as the symbols of national humiliation they will be. -=-=- The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again, at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.