9-11 World Trade Center

Thomas E. Franklin / The Record - (Bergen County NJ)
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Security at Ground Zero
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Published: May 19, 2005
To the Editor:
Re "Aide to Pataki Is Put in Charge at Ground Zero" (front page, May 12):
As a 9/11 widow who has tried to ensure that deadly mistakes are not repeated, I am thoroughly disgusted by the politics and greed surrounding the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site.
Since 9/11, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and others have been allowed to run roughshod ignoring the obvious - that whatever is built on this site will be a terrorist target. Any rush to "rebuild" and "revitalize" this plot of "prime" real estate without addressing the Port Authority's operating above the law with its immunity from local building and fire codes is a call for disaster.
The 9/11 families have pleaded for the time to do things "right." Yet the politicians, in their egotistical desire to leave their legacy, have pushed forward, ignoring those pleas and common sense.
Can we finally take pause? The sanctity and safety of human life must take precedence over economic greed. Gov. George E. Pataki's first order of business for his legacy should be making sure that all possible measures for safety and security are implemented - not pretty, tall spires! Monica Gabrielle
Wading River, N.Y., May 13, 2005
The writer is co-chairwoman, Skyscraper Safety Campaign.

Trump Trumpets His Vision for New World Trade Center on 'Apprentice'
Daily News, May 19, 2005

May 19--Donald Trump wants the world to see his vision for a new World Trade Center. He also wants everyone to watch the season finale of "The Apprentice."
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Lo and behold, The Donald has made both things possible by showing a model on tonight's "Apprentice" finale. "In a nutshell, Freedom Tower should not be allowed to be built," Trump said yesterday of the skyscraper planned for the World Trade Center site, calling it "essentially a skeleton." "If we rebuild the World Trade Center in the form of a skeleton, Freedom Tower, the terrorists win," he added. "It's that bad." At a crowded news conference yesterday in Trump Tower, he urged supporters of the idea to write Gov. Pataki. Though Larry Silverstein is the developer of the World Trade Center site, Trump is touting a twin-towers model conceived by an obscure engineer, Ken Gardner. Gardner, 47, a New Jerseyan with an engineering degree from Rutgers, built a model of Trump Tower in Chicago that was featured prominently on "The Apprentice" last season. Gardner told the Daily News yesterday his twin towers model only hooked Trump recently, when the developer saw it during a visit to the studios of MSNBC, which also did a segment with Gardner. Tom Roger, a builder and vice president of the Families of September 11, said Trump's push "seems like a bit of a publicity stunt." For most 9/11 families, Roger added, "the form of that building [Freedom Tower] is less of a problem than seeing something proceed. But to throw out the baby with the bathwater now -- I don't agree with that." Mayor Bloomberg said Trump is "a great guy who dreams big and talks big . . . but we are not going to rebuild the two World Trade Center towers."

May 3, 2005
Departure of Man in Charge of Ground Zero's Revival Won't Stall Progress, Officials SayBy ROBIN POGREBIN

t would seem to be a bad time for Kevin M. Rampe to resign as the man in charge of rebuilding at ground zero.

Plans for the Freedom Tower, considered the most significant new building in the works at the World Trade Center site, have been turned upside down by the recent security concerns raised by the Police Department and other security officials. Questions about how those worries will affect the tower's location, design and cost now need to be resolved.
At the same time, uncertainty reigns about the 9/11 memorial and two cultural buildings planned for the site.

But architects involved in the rebuilding effort and executives at those cultural organizations yesterday played down the significance of Mr. Rampe's departure as president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. "This is such a major commitment, people will step forward who I think will continue the process," said Daniel Libeskind, who designed the master plan for ground zero.
Michael Arad, the architect who designed the memorial, said, "This is a long process, and I'm sure we'll move past it."

Yet both Mr. Libeskind and Mr. Arad are known to be have been frustrated and even angered by the changes that have been imposed on their designs by the development corporation in tandem with Larry Silverstein, the developer who has the rights to the site.
Mr. Rampe, who was appointed in 2003, has been the person making most of the day-to-day decisions on the project.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Rampe said he had been planning to move on for some time. In an arrangement that has evidently long been in the works, he is to become global ethics and compliance officer at an insurance firm at the end of the month.

Mr. Rampe disputed the notion that his departure would throw a wrench in the works. "The process was never about one person. There are many hands, and I'm proud of the role I've been able to play," he said.

He also emphasized that he would continue to be involved in the rebuilding effort as a director and executive committee member of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, which will eventually assume control from the development corporation of the memorial and the cultural buildings on the site.

Despite their difficulties, architects who have worked with Mr. Rampe offered praise yesterday for his efforts.

"He deserves our gratitude for everything he has done until now, and I wish him well," Mr. Libeskind said.

Mr. Arad, who is known to be vexed by changes imposed on his ground zero memorial, said, "I think it will be difficult to replace him, but I'm glad he'll be involved in the process."
Frank Gehry, who is to design a performing arts center at the site, called Mr. Rampe "personable and very supportive."

Fund-raising for the building Mr. Gehry is to design has been deferred indefinitely, raising doubts about whether it will be ever be built.

Mr. Rampe, a lawyer, was first deputy superintendent and chief operating officer of the New York State Insurance Department under Gov. George E. Pataki before joining the development corporation in February 2002 as an executive vice president and general counsel.
Mr. Rampe and other downtown officials said his departure should have no effect on the timing of ground zero's building projects. Still, the design for Mr. Arad's memorial remains unresolved. And, the development corporation has made clear that the performing arts will not be part of the initial $500 million fund-raising effort by the Memorial Foundation.

The two organizations that are to share Mr. Gehry's performing arts center - the Joyce Theater, which presents dance, and the Signature Theater Company, an Off Broadway company - recently sent a letter to the development corporation seeking assurances that the foundation's fund-raising effort would make the performing arts center viable.

A design of the other cultural building, a museum complex, has also been complicated by the plan for it to be shared by the International Freedom Center, an institution that will focus on human rights, and by the Drawing Center in SoHo. Some people who lost family members on Sept. 11 want the complex to be devoted to memorial activities.

But Mr. Rampe emphasized yesterday that complications at ground zero were nothing new.
"Things have been in flux since day one," he said. "We don't ignore these issues. We address them."

Ground Zero rebuilds with John Cahill

BY PRADNYA JOSHISTAFF WRITERMay 16, 2005, 8:07 PM EDT

Gov. George Pataki signaled that he wanted to have Ground Zero rebuilding back on track when he appointed his chief of staff, John Cahill, the point man on rebuilding last week.Cahill will keep his formal title as secretary to the governor but has moved his office to downtown Manhattan and will have a staff to help him carry out his new mission. In an interview, Cahill, 46, addressed some of the key tasks of his new position:What are the first three things on your to-do list in this new role?It's going to be the same priorities as the governor has always had with respect to lower Manhattan. No. 1, to make sure that we have a fitting memorial to the heroes we lost on Sept. 11. The governor has never lost sight of that as the No. 1 priority, and I will make sure that remains the priority.No. 2 is making sure that we move forward as expeditiously as possible with the redesign of the Freedom Tower. No. 3 is the overall business and residential climate of lower Manhattan -- to make sure that the transportation infrastructure and the quality of life in lower Manhattan is the best that it can possibly be.What will it take to lure back Goldman Sachs [to build a $2-billion headquarters downtown]?I'll be working with the city as well to make sure the city can provide any answers to the questions that Goldman has. Their home has historically been lower Manhattan. We do think that the major issues that Goldman Sachs once had have been addressed. That's not to say they won't have other issues -- that's what I'm here for, to make sure they have a direct resource to the governor's office.Why has Ground Zero gotten mired in politics and fiefdoms among agencies?I kind of disagree with the premise of your question. A lot of the important components of lower Manhattan are moving forward rather expeditiously, from the memorial to the Calatrava train station. That being said, I think all of us need to remember what happened on Sept. 11. What's happening in lower Manhattan is not just a redevelopment, but it's really a statement about our country and about the city.What do you think it will take to attract businesses to 7 World Trade Center and the surrounding areas, given that many still see it as a terrorist threat?When you have a world-class building in lower Manhattan that meets the highest safety standards, the highest environmental standards, I think you're going to find a lot of attraction to that building. It's a magnificent building. I'm sure at the right time, there will be considerable interest.Beyond the 16-acre site, what are the priorities you see for lower Manhattan?Certainly, improving the quality of life here. Last week, the governor announced $70 million for Hudson River Park, enhancing the quality of life for the people who live and work here.The transportation infrastructure -- the governor announced last week another $1 billion for the rail link from Long Island to lower Manhattan; right now we're two-thirds of the way there with respect to the funding. ... It also includes ... the new PATH station, the new MTA station at Fulton Street, improvements at South Ferry.What do you see as the toughest challenge to your new job?It's making sure that we hear the concerns of the various stakeholders. Making sure we take those concerns into account.

May 17, 2005

Much Ado About Ground Zero

Now that it's official that the Freedom Tower design will be redone due to security concerns, it turns out that maybe the Port Authority knew about the NYPD's concerns last year. The Daily News reports that Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism, Michael Sheehan, expressed the department's concerns in letters sent in August and October of 2004. While there's no official statement from the Port Authority, some PA sources say that one letter may have never reached then-director Joseph Seymour; also, the letters may have come in between Seymour's resignation announcement and actual resignation. Hmm. Gothamist thinks that a letter from the NYPD about Freedom Tower safety conerns goes into the "Transition folder" for your replacement, versus tossing it with your junk. But perhaps Sheehan should have over-CC'd the letter, to ensure someone would have seen it; we know there is bureaucracy, but we are also sometimes terrible optimists.

And, worried what he'll do for free press now that he's married and since the Apprentice finale is Thursday, Donald Trump has announced he has created a 111-story World Trade Center design alternative to Freedom Tower. While the only substantiation for the design are his words, "We have a beautiful model that has been built, a very big model" - and apparently not Melania - the Post says Trump thinks his design is better-looking, stronger, and "more vivid and beautiful." Plus, Trump is on the record as hating Daniel Libeskind's "eggheaded" design. No word on when he'll unveil the building, but Gothamist has a request of the Port Authority and Governor Pataki: Puh-lease, get the collective act together to shut Donald Trump up.

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Ever since I began architecture, I had an abhorrence to conventional architecture offices. There was something about the atmosphere of redundancy ,routine and production that made me allergic to all forms of specialization and so-called professionalism. Ten years ago we founded our office in Berlin as a result of a decision, an accident, a rumor on the street and began an unimaginable journey down a path on which we are still travelling.

The PROJECTS have developed in unexpected directions through a practice which does not mimic existing procedures, but attempts to break through into the excitement, adventure and mystery of architecture. By dropping the designations form, function, program and engaging in the public and political realm, which is synonymous with architecture, the dynamics of building take on a new dimension. The celebrations of drawing into building, the pathos of production and the dreamlike routines configure into a substance that is not identifiable on any drawing board. This 'substance' which sometimes appears totally opaque and inscrutable often glimmers with belief and offers CONTACT to a reality of the deepest hope.

The magic of architecture cannot be appropriated by any singular operation because it is always already floating progressing, rising, flying, breathing. Whatever the problems - political, tectonic, linguistic which architecture exposes, one thing I know is that only the intensity and passion of its call make it fun to engage in its practice. My work address a mutlidimensional problematic which - at least in retrospect - seems to have the logic of a certain path. It is this path which is the most engaging construction rather than any particular project found along its way. The exhilarating aspect of such a trajectory, at least for those engaged in it, is that its goals are unknown and its ends indeterminable and uncertain. The path itself substantiates that which is only imagined and forms the evidence of that which is not yet built.

In one book, included in the BIBLIOGRAPHY of my favorite books, by Henri Louis Bergson, Two Sources of Morality and Religion the author comes to the conclusion that the universe, to paraphrase loosely, is a machine for producing gods. It seems to me that architecture is, in fact, the machine that produces the universe which produces the gods. It does so not fully through theories or reflections, but in the ever non-repeatable and optimistic act of construction. The qualities of its resistance, which are as pragmatic as the materials from which it is built, form an irascible and volatile field whose smile is not that of Buddha.

WORDS AND IDEAS seen here demonstrate the fact that every impossible problem is worthy of pursuit. The means of building which are always traditional, reveal the resistance of architecture to manipulation, whether technical or economic, which is the very index of its possibility. This does not mean that architecture is more expensive or more difficult to make, on the contrary, it becomes more fascinating, enigmatic, and certainly more rewarding.

I have found on this very particular path that people, whether here or there or now and then, always expect more of the spaces that they have been given. Tomorrow's citizens will no longer be amenable to receiving in reality what they can simulate in their dreams. We live in an age when economic globalization, the market economy, NEWS media and technological advances make it possible for architecture to consume the immemorial. This site is a document of the unpredictable and an acknowledgement of the uncertain. In this, it reflects the nature of architecture itself. The spirit of architecture wanders where it will.
DANIEL LIBESKIND