MESSAGE
| DATE | 2002-08-13 |
| FROM | Ruben I Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout]
|
To the Editor of the New York Times
I would like to respond to the editorial in your paper on July 31st,
2002 on the current process for creating a new developement at the World
Trade Center site.
While I agree that the previous attempts at drawing a new project at the
site is so flawed, and unimagination that it is amazing how it's been
allowed to continue as long as it has, I believe the basic outline the
Times is recomending is just a continuation of the same flawed approach.
On the beuatiful and warm fall morniong of September 11th last year, a
huge scare was drivin into the collective psycy of our city. Every
morning, when I would cross the Manhattan Brige from Brooklyn, the view
of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Woolworth Building, and the Towers presented
a form of uplifting urban sculpture with a message of hope. It
represented a great city striving ever forward in both space and time.
When comparing any of the plans for a replacement of the old towers, all
one needs to do is to compare their models to a picture of the original
towers, and it becomes instantly clear what we as New Yorkers, and
especially those of us most affected, those of us who live in Brooklyn,
and lived with the towers everyday, need in order to bring a closure to
the viciuos attack on our city. Nothing short of a replacement of the
grandure and spender of the origianl Towers is required for the health
and long term economic wellbeing of our city.
We just need them a little taller.
All the proposals for the memorial will end up with an under utilized
space which doesn't well serve the memory of our lost nieghbors, nor
will it help fix the most important economic issue that we face when
examining honestly, and without bais, the true cost to our city. If we
refuse to rebuild the towers our city will continue for decades to live
in fear and never be healed of the psycological scares which translate
into real financial losses as all our landmarks continue to loose rent
from the fear that they will be targeted next.
What I would propose is not only Towers of similar design to the
original one, but we should add some important improvements. For one,
the towers should have expanded Sky Lobbies with Aviaries, Restaurants,
and Art Galleries embed in them. They should be redesgned as models of
ecological experieemntation, and the most modern of high tech
communications. And on the top floor, they need to and a new 5 story,
open window and open air exhibit as a memorial to the victems with an
eternal flame and a biography of each victem. And the last floor should
be a celebration of the spirit of NYC, with a full size theater for
programs, and the arts.
This will drive realestate prices downtown and attract world-wide
tourism, not to mention fix our ruined skyline. Our Skyline is New York
City's greatest economic asset, and we can not afford to allow it to
remain scared.
In order to protect the Towers, we simply need to do what should have
been done years ago. New York City as a whole is a world wide target of
terrorists. Congress was repeatedly warned prior to attack last fall of
the unique nature and problems of Manhattan Island as a whole. These
problems do not disapear simply because we refuse to build our Towers.
Instead, the Empire State Building, the Crysler Builder, the Statute of
Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, 26 Federal Plazza, the United Nations and
Verrazano Bridge are targets.
New York Harbor is the most important strategic asset in North America.
It must be militarized, and it must become a no fly zone. To this day it
is without reason that commercial aircraft fly right over Manhattan
Island. This has to end, and the airspace over Manhattan must become a
no fly zone. Anything that flies over it must be shot down from our
traditional military posts in Fort Hamilton, Governors Island, Fort
Totten and Whitestone.
In addition, our military response needs to me more forceful. It must be
made clear that the consequences of an attempted attack on American Soil
comes at a heavey price. We have not yet even begun to unfold the might
of the American Military on our known enemies who supported this attack.
This includes not just the terrorists in Afghanastan, but also the
military rulers of Iraq, Iran, North Korean and Syria. And we must stop
playing diplomatic games with nations like Saudi Arabia and Egypt which
continues to pump government spounsored anti-American, and anti-semitic
rhetoric into the daily press.
Lastly, the New York TImes endorsement for the underground
infrastructure is bewildering. The initial description of the Downtown
Subway system as "disorganized web of subway lines" is just wrong. Those
lines between Brooklyn and Manhattan are smartly laid out for the
purpose they were to serve, which was connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan.
Downtown Manhattan has wonderful access with Brooklyn, the largest
Borough in the City. From the financial district all the way to City
Hall, one doesn't have to walk more than a block to gain access to
midtown or the outer boroughs. Instead, the Times is suggesting to
somehow rip up the currently easy to access system and move the entire
node to no mans land in the West. In the process, what would happen is
that Brooklyn would be effectively cut off of our own city, and the
convient servces from the Borough Hall, and Altlantic Ave/Dekalb Ave
hubs would become useless. This is not acceptable. Stop wasting our
money on such poor ideas. Instead, build the 2nd Avenue Subway as it was
originally designed, running all the way to the Hoyt/Schermehorn super
station and through Brooklyn, and get serious about fixing the Manhattan
Bridge. The only thing that needs to be fixed under the World Trade
Center site is a better designed node that connects the A,E,N.R, and
West Side IRT lines, and a rebuilding of the Path Train Connection.
Ruben Safir Co-founder and lead writer of Brooklyn on Line 1600 East
17th Street Brooklyn USA 11230 1-718-382-5752
http://www.brooklynonline.com -- __________________________
Brooklyn Linux Solutions __________________________
http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Consulting http://www.nylxs.com/radio - Free
Software Radio Show and Archives http://www.brooklynonline.com - For the
love of Brooklyn http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free
Software http://www.nyfairuse.org - The foundation of Democracy
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources - Unpublished Archive or stories and
articles from around the net http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/mp3/dr.mp3 -
Imagine my surprise when I saw you...
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/downtown.html - See the New Downtown
Brooklyn....
1-718-382-5752
____________________________
New Yorker Free Software Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
|
|
