Ground Zero: If They Build, They Won't Come (Wonder Land)

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Friday, December 26, 2003 | DANIEL HENNINGER

[presidio9]

Looking out my office window in lower Manhattan, across the 16 acres that have become an excavation site, I can see a steel mesh fence on the far side, and from one end to the other people are standing at the fence, looking into the September 11 space. This is Christmas week, and you could say these are just holiday tourists who've come to gawk at "Ground Zero." But these people are always at the fence, and have been at all hours for more than two years, looking in.

[presidio9]

Totally in keeping with the shallow society involved in commemorating the event. Gettysburg is space set-aside for remembrance, as is the site of the Arizona. You canNOT have a memorial 'integrated' with a workspace. The day-to-day workspace will easily overwhelm the memorial.

Manhattan is a tiny island. There are plenty of commercial spots on Manhattan where traic/historical events occured.

[CasearianDaoist]

They should rebuild the towers exactly like they were, maybe even hire. That would show them. They will not and that a pity.

[John Beresford Tipton]

"everybody I know loved the towers."

You really should get out more.

[presidio9]

You really should get out more.

I get out plenty. The towers were very cool looking. The block the block that I used to live on pointed downtown, and they framed it perfectly. The lighting during sunset at Moran's gave them a surreal look. Going to work I had to fight my way through crowds of tourists taking pictures in front of them. The idea that people did not like the towers is a media construct.

BTW, where do you live?

[John Beresford Tipton]

NYC

[Incorrigible]

There's a difference though.  That memorial is in the graveyard and behind bars.  I prefer memorials that are directly in the paths of commuters exiting the WTC site.

Lots of people ply Boulevard East in Weehawken for the views of Manhattan and come across the "death rock" that Alexander Hamilton leaned on after being shot by Burr.  It's probably more visited that the gravesite.

 

From: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/NJWEEhamilton.html

[HitmanLV]

This is no myth - most nyers considered the WTC a dull eyesore. I certainly did.

[HitmanLV]

I've stopped many times at Hamilton's grave, but of course he is my fave founding father!

[HitmanLV]

I completely agree and have felt that way since shortly after 9-11. Anything built there is the single biggest target in nyc, so why make a new skyscraper that is as vulnerable as the first?

All the issues you raise are correct. Insurance will be insane - passed on the the consumer or taxpayer, of course.

Also, how do you secure the contrsuction site? The bad guys will simply not let anything like that be built on the site - time is on their side, not ours.

[spookycc]

I had never before been to the WTC, or even to NYC, but have traveled to Ground Zero twice since 9/11/01. All I felt was a great sense of emptiness, since I wasn't there until recovery operations were completed. I'm sure it is even a more profound feeling if you've spent time in the area before...

[F16Fighter]

The Civil War has hallowed ground, as at Gettysburg. World War II has Pearl Harbor and the Arizona memorial.

Quite frankly, the Twin Towers site can not remotely be compared to either Pearl Harbor OR the Arizona. Those were battleground sites.

And according to some, should the Pentagon also be turned into nothing but a Memorial Park as well??

[presidio9]

NYC

I find that very hard to believe. NYers LOVED the Towers. Loved them. Especially after 1993. Maybe it is you who needs to get out more.

[Dont Mention the War]

Let me say it again, very slowly: Next time they'll use a nuclear satchel charge in the back of a taxicab.

No they won't.

[Fishrrman]

KellyAdmirer writes: New York City should remain a commercial center. Keeping the site barren would just hasten the gradual movement to turn it into a massive theme park. Better to return the entire site to productivity, leaving the site barren won't bring those poor souls back.

Let's paraphrase that a little:

Gettysburg should remain a farming center. Keeping the site barren would just hasten the gradual movement to turn it into a massive theme park. Better to return the entire site to productivity, leaving the site barren won't bring those poor souls back.

Cheers!
- John

[sarcasm]

I'm a native New Yorker and I detested the WTC towers.

[Incorrigible]

I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with the others Presidio9.

New Jersey people (like me) loved the World Trade Center, not New Yorkers.

The fact that the Port Authority, the bi-state agency, owned them and that the easiest way to commute to the WTC was from New Jersey and that you didn't have to go outside once you got there all made the complex very appealing to NJ people.  Also the best views of the WTC were from NJ.

The twin towers were our piece of New Jersey in New York. 

[Damagro]

"Next time they'll use a nuclear satchel charge in the back of a taxicab."

A nuclear satchel charge?

[presidio9]

I'm a native New Yorker and I detested the WTC towers.

What did you detest about them?

[sarcasm]

They destroyed that area of downtown with a sterile plaza which was disconnected from the rest of the area. Do you remember the area before the WTC was built?

[presidio9]

Do you remember the area before the WTC was built?

Not really, I was born in 1970. Maybe your generation hated them. Mine did not.