JIM COHEN
Staff Writer
Last week marked another chapter of the trials and tribulations of the World Trade Center rebuilding effort that has failed produce one post of a new building four-and-a half years after the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001. As clean-up crews inspect buildings of the surrounding area, human remains continue to be found in and around the former Duetsche Bank building that workers began dismantling in June. Two bone fragments were found on the rooftop of the building and will be analyzed by sophisticated DNA technology with the hope of identifying the remains.
More than 40 percent of the 2,749 victims of the trade towers terrorist attacks remain unidentified. As clean- up efforts continue, more bone fragments are expected to be found and analyzed in hope of bringing some form of closure to the family and friends of the victims.
Meanwhile, a grandiose feud between the developer of the land, politicians and governmental agencies has grown to a fever pitch. In what was supposed to be a unified effort to rebuild the symbol of American enterprise and capitalist freedom, layers of bureaucracy and political in-fighting have turned a wave of unity and opportunity into one of turmoil.
Larry Silverstein, the land developer, owns a 99-year lease on the land that he purchased from the Port Authority of New York City less than two months before the terrorist attacks. With such ownership, he is responsible for replacing the property that once stood on the 16-acre lot.
It took years of architectural design and public meetings to decide the fate of the land where the trade towers once stood. While many were fighting for a specific design of a new building, many family members of the victims were fighting for a memorial to remember the brave souls who lost their lives to a brutal attack of senseless terror. It took more time for the police of New York City to accept a security plan of the building’s structure until it met higher standards of resistance to a possible attack.
Gov. George Pataki used his veto power to directly insert his political and future presidential aspirations into the project by rejecting the new design of the building in favor of another architect. Instead of listening to the voices and people of New York City, the governor chose the fate of the new trade tower on his own. He also decided a planned museum memorializing freedom was not appropriate and was subsequently pulled from the project.
The result of his choices has helped bring gridlock to a project that was supposed to be an uplifting, symbolic and financial success. Instead, costs have risen to $7 billion and the developer has asked the Port Authority for $1 billion of rent and insurance concessions to help reduce the burden of his cost of reconstruction.
On July 4, 2004, Pataki dedicated the cornerstone of the new “Freedom Tower” while saying that America “stands taller than ever before.” The only thing that stands tall is the incompetent leaders of a project that had the possibility to be the greatest rebuilding effort in U.S. history. Instead, the “Freedom Tower” design represents a “shell” of the original trade center.
New York senators have remained quiet while this charade of gamesmanship continues. Sen. Charles Schumer (D—N.Y.) was re-elected with an historic 71 percent margin of victory in 2004. Sen. Hilary Clinton is considered to be one of the most powerful Senators. Yet, somehow, these two leaders have been unable to find a voice of unity to help make this project great in their home state.
It seems to me the best way to make this project move forward is to rebuild one of the greatest buildings the world has ever seen.
We should rebuild the World Trade Center bigger and better than ever before. And we should build it one story taller to show terrorists who wish to harm us that we will not relent, we will not give up, we will not change our way of life or cower to their brutal attacks. Because on that dark day, during our darkest hour, America stood strong.
04-06-2006