The Battle For Ground Zero, Part I

Is the IFC misrepresenting its case to the public, through its website? I'd have to say that it is highly probable. Confederate Yankee, through links from the Take Back The Memorial website, questions the IFC website, which states that the 9/11 families want the center. I'll let Confederate Yankee make the case:

From the IFC:

Myth:
The IFC is inconsistent with what 9/11 families want to see at the World Trade Center Memorial.

Fact:
The Mission Statement for the Memorial, which was crafted in 2003 and was the product of very substantial input from many family members, calls on us, through the Memorial, to “strengthen our resolve to preserve freedom, and inspire an end to hatred, ignorance, and intolerance.” That is what the IFC is about. A clear majority of family members on the WTC Memorial Foundation Board support the IFC and this Mission Statement.
The TBTM Fisking:
Truth:
The WTC Memorial mission statement appears in full on the TakeBacktheMemorial home page. IFC cherry-picked from this quote, “May the lives remembered, the deeds recognized, and the spirit reawakened be eternal beacons, which reaffirm respect for life, strengthen our resolve to preserve freedom, and inspire an end to hatred, ignorance and intolerance.” See anything in there about “Freedom’s Failures?”.

I had previously questioned the IFC's assertion about space allotments (just keep scrolling into the updates), and continue to question how they arrive at their figures based on publically available materials.

Now, I had earlier reported that Governor Pataki had said that a temporary memorial would be built. I'd like to expand on those comments some more. What took the Governor so long to consider temporary facilities until a permanent facility was built at Ground Zero. After all, the need for a memorial site at Ground Zero was apparent within weeks of the destruction of the Towers. Thousands of people would never be recovered and positively identified. Thousands of families have no where to go to grieve. Grave markers in cemeteries for those who were killed are empty. There is no trace of the loved ones killed. The only place that holds any kind of solace for these families is Ground Zero, and the Governor now arrives at a decision to build a temporary facility?

That sounds to me like the Master Plan and design and construction at Ground Zero is going far worse than everyone is letting on. If things were going smoothly, there would be no need - construction at Ground Zero would let people know that a permanent memorial is not long in coming. Instead, this announcement is a tacit admission of failure to build anything on the site of permanence.

And that is an intolerable situation and people need to let their politicans know this is the case. Write Governor Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg, their representatives - and the newspapers to express their anger over the inability to build anything at Ground Zero.

This is no way to honor those killed.

They deserve better.

UPDATE:
The NIST study on skyscraper will be released tomorrow, and it will contain recommendations for future skyscraper construction. Those recommendations are based on findings from a 3-year study on how and why the Twin Towers collapsed, how people evacuated from the site, and what can be done to improve survivability in stricken buildings. Improved access/egress is going to be one of the issues stressed - stronger curtain walls to increase survivability of exit stairwells, elevator access and survivability for firefighters to combat fires on high floors. Better fire control methods and insulation materials/application.

It is unfortunately a common thread that engineering advances have come only after great loss of life or destruction of property. Bridge disasters (collapses like the Tacoma Narrows in 1940) led to new knowledge about wind vorticies causing harmonics and vibrations leading to failure. Major fires have led to new rules about egress and fire supression. Now, the WTC collapse will lead to future improvements.

The main concern I have with the NIST report is that municipalities and states will find the will to implement the changes retroactively to structures already built. Many are deficient in one or more areas and could stand to be improved. The main stumbling block will be cost (as usual).

Elsewhere, giving lie to the fact that this is a right-wing agenda to stop the IFC, NYC Councilman Alan J. Gerson has come out in support of the families (led by Debra Bulingame who exposed the IFC) who want to see the IFC halted. Gerson is a Democrat who represents the area that includes Ground Zero. Seems to me that this is a bi-partisan complaint against the IFC's politicization of the cultural center at Ground Zero, though the media (NYT anyone?) would like to cast this as a right wing agenda to shutter dissent and speech.

More than 5,000 outraged citizens across the country have signed on online petition supporting the 9/11 family coalition at takebackthememorial.org.

That's a small number that will only increase as people become aware of the issue.

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, Governor Pataki, Port Authority.