Um...Mr. Greenie...You are talking about SACRED ground. Lord have mercy! We can't go digging around or changing things - especially once the families start taping up the faded pictures and silk flowers.Quote:
Originally Posted by greenie
Um...Mr. Greenie...You are talking about SACRED ground. Lord have mercy! We can't go digging around or changing things - especially once the families start taping up the faded pictures and silk flowers.Quote:
Originally Posted by greenie
A Solemn Memorial or a Place to Shop?
For 9/11 Site, Both
By DAVID W. DUNLAP
October 21, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/21/ny...21rebuild.html
In an unplanned but telling coincidence, state officials laid out two visions yesterday for the future of ground zero: A solemn memorial that deserves worldwide gifts in the hundreds of millions of dollars. And an attractive place to shop.
There has probably never been a plainer expression of the dual identity of the World Trade Center site, which is to function simultaneously as an indelible marker of the horror of Sept. 11, 2001, and as an economic engine to revive the commercial and retail bustle once generated for Lower Manhattan by the twin towers.
In a midafternoon meeting just north of Union Square, the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey authorized planning and preliminary design work for about 200,000 square feet of retail space - roughly half the area of the old trade center shopping concourse - to be built within the new PATH terminal and transportation hub.
At almost the same moment, on Wall Street, the nine-month-old World Trade Center Memorial Foundation announced that it had raised $101,031,734 from private sources, 20 percent of its ultimate goal of $500 million, which the foundation chairman, John C. Whitehead, said was a "formidable" challenge.
That is particularly true as construction costs rise, since there is already plenty of work for contractors and a great demand for steel, concrete and other materials. That will only increase with the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Nonetheless, seeking to dispel the impression that the controversy over Gov. George E. Pataki's decision to evict the International Freedom Center and the Drawing Center from the site had dampened donors' enthusiasm, the memorial foundation organized a ceremony for the governor to sign a bill allowing New Yorkers to contribute to the foundation through an income tax check-off.
"We will generate tens of millions of dollars from people across the state who understand the importance of never forgetting," the governor said.
Among the largest contributors identified publicly by the foundation yesterday were:
¶The Starr Foundation, which gave $25 million before the recent controversy. Its chairman, Maurice R. Greenberg, is a foundation board member.
¶Deutsche Bank, whose $15 million contribution was also made before the controversy erupted this summer. Josef Ackerman, the chairman of the bank's group executive committee, is on the foundation board.
¶The Bank of New York, which gave $10 million last week. Its chairman and chief executive, Thomas A. Renyi, also sits on the foundation board and was the host of yesterday's board meeting and news conference at the bank headquarters.
Smaller gifts included pledges from all 20 members of the foundation staff, totaling $55,000, said its president and chief executive, Gretchen Dykstra.
Having passed the $100 million mark, Mr. Whitehead said, the memorial foundation is now eligible to receive the first $100 million of a pledge from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, of which he is also chairman.
The foundation is to construct and own the memorial proper, centered on two pool-filled voids where the twin towers stood; an underground memorial museum threaded through the original trade center foundations and structural remnants; and an above-ground 9/11 museum that was until recently to have housed the Freedom Center and the Drawing Center. It will also build a performing arts center.
Just how much the memorial and memorial museums will cost has yet to be set, but it will certainly be far higher than the $350 million estimate from last year. (The underground vehicle screening center planned for the site will cost $537 million alone.)
For one thing, the above-ground museum has now been folded into the memorial project. For another, generally rising construction costs include a 10 percent "bump up" as a result of Katrina, said Thomas H. Rogér, a construction executive and board member. A number of organizations allied as the take-back-the-memorial coalition had urged Americans not to contribute to the project as long as the Freedom Center and the Drawing Center were to be housed on the same block as the memorial.
Yesterday, a coalition member, Tim Sumner, said in an e-mail message, "While no one wants to support the W.T.C. Memorial Foundation's fund-raising more than we do, we are waiting for a clearer idea of content and programming for above and below ground sections of the museum."
At the Port Authority meeting, $1.95 million was approved by the board for planning the retail space in the PATH terminal being designed by Santiago Calatrava. The agency also released renderings of how the stores there might look when they open in 2010.
"It demonstrates how sensitive we're going to be with the memorial," said Kenneth J. Ringler Jr., the executive director of the authority. "Santiago has designed it very carefully so you don't lose any of the beauty or the significance of the architecture."
Mr. Ringler added that there would be no retail space within the memorial quadrant.
Until they release a list of exactly how much these vocal "take back the memorial" family members have donated from their small fortunes, I'd just assume sit it out and let it be a corporate memorial.
Who knew we had such people of principle in this city? I find this kind of inspiring.
The folks at Take Back The Memorial are having it handed to them. They are losing all the political clout. I assume they have such a bloated sense of their power and such a level of arrogance that they really think that they can step into the void. :rolleyes:
October 21, 2005
A Top Man Quits Downtown Board
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Roland W. Betts, one of the longest-serving and most influential members of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation board, has resigned in the wake of the International Freedom Center controversy.
He submitted his resignation quietly on Monday to John C. Whitehead, the corporation chairman. No announcement was made until yesterday, when Mr. Whitehead, also chairman of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, discussed it with that board.
Mr. Betts confirmed his resignation last night by telephone, saying, "It just seemed time for me to move on." Mr. Betts was appointed to the board in November 2001 by Gov. George E. Pataki and played a large role in planning the World Trade Center redevelopment, most recently as co-chairman of a design review committee with Peter M. Lehrer.
Mr. Betts said he had offered to continue that work as a volunteer. "For the last eight weeks, we've moved the memorial design forward by light years," Mr. Betts said, "so I felt I really didn't want to abandon Peter in that effort."
At the Oct. 6 board meeting, Mr. Betts criticized as "fundamentally wrong" the governor's decision to remove the Freedom Center from the memorial quadrant before the corporation's own review process.
The corporation president, Stefan Pryor, said: "We appreciate the exemplary leadership that Roland Betts has provided during his four years of service to the L.M.D.C. and regret that he has chosen to step down from the board. We are grateful that Roland will continue to serve as co-chair of the memorial design review process."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
'Anyone know what the Memorial design review process is?
Roland has fancied himself as "keeper of the design flame" at the LMDC. Could be that's why it's been so poorly done so far. There's just no accounting for anyone's taste.
^^
Sounds like a bunch of guys sitting around in a room with all the doors shut ...Quote:
We are grateful that Roland will continue to serve as co-chair of the memorial design review process."
Betts is probably the first friend of George W. Bush to have integrity (they are college buddies.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrooklynRider
For 9 months, no one was allowed to take pictures on the site, unless you were an "insider". Anyone who got insider status, any one with a connection to a fireman or construction official, could take pictures freely. But a resident being escorted to their homes could not dare raise a camera. There was a clear separation of those who belong and those who don't. If you were in the later category, taking pictures was offensive.
What's being created is a living picture of 9/11. So many of the people who were so offended by others taking pictures are demanding this memorial with details of the things people were taking pictures of. So now it's OK for people to rubber neck at the things that couldn't be photographed before.
The point is that there is a group of people who don't want anything about 9/11 to be shared unless it's through their own control, in their own honor.
Lee Ielpi wants all the facts of 9/11 and the recovery presented. But I'm sure that the many reports of looting aren't what he's thinking about. I've heard eye witness accounts of looters in action. And the looters were people who had the authorization to be on the site. If we want an honest portrayal of 9/11, then we should look completely openly at everything that happened. The recovery was not as simple as it has been presented. My perception is that the area was an emotional black hole with all kinds of unhealthy emotional behavior (take Bernard Kerik) kept afloat by an inflow of love and support from the outside. But the people supported in that toxic environment were never forced to deal with the sickness. In fact, the sickness became their meal ticket. That sickness still runs through all discussions on the memorial. There is a sense of entitlement instead of personal responsibility and the obsession with control rather than tribute.
What so many people don't understand is that it is how we live that honors the dead, not what we get.
http://www.lowermanhattan.info/
Compromise Suggested for Commemoration of 9/11 Remains at Fresh Kills
Tuesday, October 18: A Manhattan federal judge recommended a compromise in the ongoing battle between the City of New York and a group of family members of 9/11 victims, suggesting the sides agree to use only some of the Ground Zero debris deposited at Fresh Kills landfill for the memorial park at the new World Trade Center site, the Post reported.
The suggestion came during a hearing in the federal lawsuit filed by the World Trade Center Families for Proper Burial. The city has proposed leaving the debris -- which is estimated to contain 48,000 tons of material from Ground Zero, including small fragments of human remains -- at the Staten Island landfill and building a memorial there. The families argue that all of the remains deserve a more proper resting place, the paper explained.
While acknowledging the grief of the victims' families, Judge Alvin Hellerstein suggested that family members think "symbolically" and consider moving "part of what was landfill and now is more hallowed ground" to another site, the Post said.
Both sides have agreed to work together on the idea and report on their progress by December 8, the paper added.
I envision this cooperation degenerating into:
90% - 10%
80 - 20
etc.
IT IS LANDFILL NOW!!!!!
These people need to get a GRIP!
So, now to "honor" the dead, we are going to exhume all the wreckage and put it on display for all to see? I wonder if we will charge admission!!!!
One thing though, could you think of a more ironically appropriate place for the scatterings of remains left from these people than "Fresh Kills"?
It was refreshing to hear the Mayor say over the weekend that he believes a handful of outspoken victim's familiies had gained too much influence over the process.
Somebody has to say it. You can be compassionate and caring for the families in general and still be opposed to the Coalition of 9/11 Families.
NY1
October 24, 2005
WTC Memorial Foundation To Begin Raising Funds Nationwide
The foundation in charge of raising funds for a World Trade Center memorial said Monday it will soon begin soliciting donations nationwide.
According to the president for the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, the agency will send direct mailings to 125,000 likely donors with the message "we can't afford to forget."
The organization is in charge of raising $500 million for the memorial. So far it's raised just over one-fifth of the money, mostly from large corporations and charities, and is now hoping individual donations will help close the gap.
Construction on the memorial is set to begin this spring.
Copyright © 2005 NY1 News
World Trade Center memorial plaza will be 24-7, pet-free
November 9, 2005
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wi...gion-apnewyork
NEW YORK (AP) The memorial plaza at the World Trade Center site will be open at all hours, and, along with pools marking the footprints of the two fallen towers, will feature white oaks and sweetgum as well as views of the slurry wall, the main landscaper said in an online chat Tuesday.
Visitors, however, will likely have to leave their dogs behind, landscape architect Peter Walker added.
The main features of the Memorial Plaza, designed by Michael Arad, are two large recessed pools. Walker, whose comments were reported by The New York Daily News on Wednesday, said the plan is to allow the fountain water to flow at all times except during freezing temperatures.
White oaks will be the most prominent trees on the adjacent landscape. A glade reserved for commemorations will feature sweetgum, which Walker said would turn scarlet around the Sept. 11 anniversary date.
The online chat was conducted on the Web site of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.
Visitors will be able view the slurry wall "down through a line of skylights" and "when one goes down the memorial arrival ramp," he told the chatroom. It will also form one wall of a separate Memorial Museum, he said.
Walker said pets would likely be barred, describing the policy as a matter of "respect."
The memorial site is due to be finished in 2009.
Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.
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Will special dispensation be made for victims' family members who have pets??