WTC Update

The NY Times reviews the new Freedom Center, and finds it wanting. Indeed, the paper claims that the design unveiled yesterday is a fiction because changes necessary to accomodate mechanical spaces for the transportation systems were not incorporated into the design, and would increase the size of the building by nearly 40,000 square feet.

Oh, and there's the continuing issue of the paper wanting to minimize the amount of rebuilding at the site:

But this doesn't solve the broader problem at ground zero: clutter. In addition to the Freedom Center, the development corporation has added an underground "memorial center" that will link to the memorial pools as well as to rooms for grieving relatives of the dead. More recently, city and state officials have suggested adding an information center at the base of the museum building to help tourists navigate the area, an idea that would be more appropriate in a theme park.

The clutter results from a tendency to parcel off sections of the site to different political constituencies, be it the developer, Larry Silverstein, the victims' families, or the cultural institutions. Notably, this has not been a bipartisan effort. Both Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Gov. George E. Pataki have invoked ground zero to advance their own agendas; neither of the state's Democratic senators has been invited to appear at recent news conferences on the site's development. And the Freedom Center is bound to be viewed by much of the world as a jingoistic propaganda tool.

What is missing at ground zero is a sense of humility. This is something that cannot be remedied by reducing the scale of a building. We should refocus attention on what matters most: remembering the human beings who were lost at ground zero, while allowing life to return to the void there. The rest is a pointless distraction.

Multiple needs and uses for the limited space allotted are causing problems under the current design precisely because we are not getting at least two skyscrapers to replace the twin towers. The need to keep certain space for offices limits what can be done on the rest of the site.

Meanwhile, there isn't much of an explanation for where exactly this particular piece of the Ground Zero puzzle will go now that the Freedom Tower is on the move (and under redesign). How this building will fit in with the rest of the site remains to be seen. Heck, the Santiago Calavatra transit hub, which is really the only part of the plan that has consensus approval for aesthetics, utility, and form and function, can't proceed until the other pieces of the puzzle are nailed down to portions of the site.

Since the Freedom Tower is being moved and redesigned, everything else is in flux. All the pretty models and mockups are just that - models and mockups until someone finalizes the plans.

Some folks, like James P. Pinkerton, think that any new tower built on the complex will be a bigger target. Excuse me, but the US is one big place with big targets. The genius who thinks that rebuilding at the WTC is only going to put a bullseye on the site is sadly mistaken if he thinks that no building is going to prevent a terrorist attack.

Killing terrorists and stopping them before they can commit heinous acts will prevent terrorist attacks. Terrorists can simply choose from thousands of other targets.

If the terrorists strike at Mall of America, killing thousands, does that mean that no new malls will be built in the US? Megaplex movie theaters? The corner restaurant that gets firebombed? Buses that suicide bombers blow up? Will people stop going to the mall, going on the bus, or going out to eat? Nope. Yet, that's exactly what Pinkerton suggests.

Of course, he quotes folks over at the NY Times to support his no build idea - and it's the folks at the NY Times who have a vested interest in seeing no competition to their own real estate designs in Times Square.

Are there justifiable concerns that the site cannot obtain insurance? Possibly, but then again, insurers have no problem continuing to issue policies for areas affected regularly by hurricanes despite the fact that billions of dollars are spent each year on rebuilding from hurricane damage. Coastal flooding regularly destroys hundreds of houses along the coastline, yet insurers continue to issue policies. It comes down to risk analysis and for the right price, insurance will be issued.

Will people want to work at the WTC? The answer is probably going to surprise a lot of people, but it depends. Some people and companies will want to work there - as a badge of honor and others will choose not to because of all the emotional issues of working there. Ask yourself whether people stopped living and working in London, Dresden, Tokyo, or Hiroshima because of the mass carnage caused by WWII? The answer is no. People got on with their lives despite the fact that large areas of those cities were turned into kill zones where thousands lost their lives. Those cities were rebuilt, and memorials were fashioned, but life went on.

UPDATE 5/20/2005 11:34AM EDT:
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver wants to have the WTC rebuilding situation on track before considering the West Side Stadium. No real surprise there. He's reading the same political tea leaves that any reasonable observer would note. Now, if he and the rest of the politicians who could affect the outcome at the WTC could get their collective head in the game and demand action and a better plan than what has been released and acknowledged thus far, I'd be impressed. However, I'm keeping my hopes and expectations low, since we're talking about a bunch of legislative and political leaders who have managed to pass an on-time budget only once in nearly 20 years.