Pataki says no buildings will be constructed on footprints of twin towers

News Radio 88 ^ | 6/30/03

[areafiftyone]

(New York-AP) -- Governor George Pataki says the site where the World Trade Center towers once stood would be preserved as a memorial to those who died there.

He called ground zero ``hallowed ground'' yesterday, telling a gathering of relatives of victims of the terrorist attacks that, ``We will never build where the towers stood.''

Several hundred family members who attended a memorial ceremony at the Javits Center in Manhattan gave the governor a standing ovation after his remarks.

Pataki did not make a statement about how large a memorial should be. Some family members have said they do not want any commercial development on the 16-acre site.

The Coalition of 9/11 Families distributed questionnaires at yesterday's event, asking relatives their views on how much of the site should be preserved.

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani also spoke at the ceremony. He said his vision is of ``a soaring, dramatic, beautiful memorial that draws people there 100 years, 150 years, from now.''

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Who owns the property?

[RGSpincich]

Governor George Pataki says the site where the World Trade Center towers once stood would be preserved as a memorial to those who died there.

Who owns the property? I thought the Port Authority had sold it to a private party just months prior to the attack.

[robertpaulsen]

And there will never be night games at Wrigley Field.

[RGSpincich]

http://www.omhros.gr/Kat/Histo ry/WTC/WTC-Owners.htm

Looks like a 99 year lease on the property.

[speedy]

Rebuild the towers. Nothing would lift this city's morale more than seeing them back where they belong. Plus we need the financial activity there again. Pataki is a fool.

[fieldmarshaldj]

They not only should rebuild, they should be even taller than before (but, please, let's do something about that boxy design, a nice elaborate classical/postmodern look would be better). I say make 'em 2,000 feet high !

[speedy]

As long as it is something spectacular and huge, if only so I know which way is south when I clamber up out of a subway. There were wonderful restaurants and a lounge, "Greatest Bar On Earth", at the top of one of the towers, where I always took visitors. Still sometimes seems hard to believe it isn't there.

[PaulJ]

please, let's do something about that boxy design, a nice elaborate classical/postmodern look would be better

I agree! I never much cared for the design of the Towers. They looked like two match boxes standing on end. A building in the style of the Empire State Building would be nice.

[fieldmarshaldj]

The Singer Building once stood a block away from the WTC, and I thought it was a gorgeous building (and probably one of the greatest architectural atrocities in NY was when they allowed it to be demolished in the mid '60s), and I'm hoping they would use a design of a similar style...

[fieldmarshaldj]

Another image before its demolition, directly overlooking the future WTC site.

[Arkinsaw]

They wanted to knock a permanent dead spot into the middle of New York and it looks like they have succeeded.

The best memorial would be to rebuild and have an area where New York LIFE continues in spite of the madness of a few.

[OldFriend]

How disgusting........this pandering for votes. Sounding like Rudy...........

Will the 'victim's families' give their millions to the owners of the buildings for taking their land?

[laconic]

I never saw the Singer building; its beautiful, too bad they tore it down (just like Penn Station). A saving grace is that there is a Singer building still on Nevsky Prospect (the main drag) in St. Petersburg, Russia. Its equally interesting.

[Don Joe]

Bring back Radio Row!

[VA Advogado]

Who owns the property?

That's the only question that should matter. And if its the taxpayers of New York, they shouldn't have to forgo the incredible income in order to produce some man-made memorial. There is a dignified way of doing this without wasting billions of dollars in lost income that would come from using this site commercially.

[VA Advogado]

I say make 'em 2,000 feet high !

Make a single building, tilt it to the left and use it to house Clinton's office.

[Hildy]

Pataki is a fool to say this.

[LibKill]

Put them back up! This would show the world that we cannot be beaten, that we will always come back.

And it would give the terrorists the finger too.

[clikker]

I believe that the property is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

However, I believe that they contracted a private agency to administer the World Trade Center complex... but I'm not entirely sure about that.