March 13, 2006
Constructions Begins on WTC Memorial Today
The World Trade Center memorial, Reflecting Absence, will finally gets the chance to change from design to reality as crews prepare the area at Ground Zero for the memorial. However, some families of September 11 victims are still upset with the design and plan to protest today at noon. Their main complaints are that the memorial does not preserve the footprints of the old WTC building, the memorial is submerged in the ground and that the names of victims are listed randomly. The state Historic Preservation Office is looking into whether or not the footprints should be kept, and critics are going to try to have a judge block construction. Mayor Bloomberg said, "That decision was made - now we have to go and build it. The time for expressing yourself has come and gone, and now we should rally behind this design and go ahead ... [and] build this memorial." While redevelopment has not been very smooth, Gothamist has to agree that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation seems to have tried to use public comment to inform the design - and that some of these issues have been in the news for over two years (the NY Times had an article about the difference between the WTC footprints and the memorial's "voids" two years ago).
The other big deal with Ground Zero development is that tomorrow is the deadline for developer Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority to work things out about control downtown.
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god, i'm so sick of these families. ok, i get it. your father/wife/son/daughter/etc. was killed on 9/11. my father died of cancer. immette st. whatever was killed by a bouncer. some old lady in brooklyn who was a holocaust survivor got run over by a bus. a lot of people face tragedy in their lives – but why is it that you folks have such an attitude of entitlement? why do you think your grief matters so much more than anyone else's?
perhaps it's because – immediately post 9/11 (and thanks in large part to our idiot-in-chief) – no one dared say anything remotely disparaging about the incident for fear of being labelled unpatriotic and a terrorist. these families had the local politicians by the balls and they took full advantage of it.
well, the honeymoon's over. the lower-case p president's approval rating is in the toilet and the city is finally coming to its senses.
IMHO, the most moving memorial in this country, maybe the world, is the Vietnam Memorial in DC. I don't know anyone killed in the war, don't know anyone who knows anyone killed in the war, and yet if you just stand there you can feel the pain of those lost and those left behind. It does what it's supposed to do, remember the dead and remind of the cost.
And yet, I can remember the different groups (vet's families, VFW, American Legion) who thought that the Wall was a throughly disrepectful abomination... on paper. No one would dare argue that now.
It will be painful for the families to see the WTC footprints paved over. But it has to be done. And it falls to the leadership of our city, state, country to support the families and hold their hands if necessary and convince them that this is for the best, tough as it may be, but all the while never entertaining doubt that it will be done. Because as vast as their pain may be, the importance of the WTC and what happened on the eleventh and the need for everyone in this city to mark it is even more important.
But as usual, our governor and our President have been turned to to help people through a crisis and help attain a higher purpose and been found to be sadly lacking.
me-I agree and what no one really wants to talk about is what about when there is another event in the US that supercedes this one.
Tim N-the documentary Maya Lin a strong clear vision looks at some of the issues in the Vietnam memorial-it was very controversial at the time (the fact that the stone was black-even the chronological list of the names, the fact that Lin is Asian really rubbed some people the wrong way)As you said though now I think many people think it is one of the best memorials in the world. I'm nto so nuts about the Oklahoma City one where the federal building used to be but at least it got done.
I'm glad I'm not the only one sick of some of these families complaining. Not to sound cold, but the complaints are getting old. We need to start the building process and move on. There will never be 100% agreement on the plans. Ever.
I used to have very strong opinions about the various designs that were proposed. But at this point, I think ANYTHING would be an improvement over the gaping wound that has been sitting there for the past 4 years.
Sometimes, I wonder which will happen first.
Me, getting a job or the former WTC site getting built.
Is anyone making money off it when it's just sitting there?
I'm just glad the damn memorial is underground. I have "zero" interest in this "issue" anymore, it has been beaten to death. I don't care what they build there--ritzy condos, Starbucks, whatever. The rest of the city has moved on, thank you.
it seems odd, but almost all the commenters are in agreement... and I also couldnt agree more. We need to move on... tragedy is all around us, life must go on and so must the city, lets get the process going.