Archived News -- January 2003

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January 22, 2004

On January 22, 1010 WINS reported that the Santiago Calatrava WTC transit terminal design was released today. The $2 billion station will feature two crisscrossing vaults that would reach into the sky and curve over a high-ceilinged mezzanine in a shape reminiscent of a bird. Calatrava said his latest work has a lot of light, a lot of open space and translucent pavement allowing sunlight to reach all the way down to the train platforms some 60 feet below ground.

1010 WINS: "WTC Transit Hub will Shine its Light on 9/11"

On January 22, the NY Post reported that WTC re-development officials hope to arrange a deal to buy the damaged Deutsche Bank building at 140 Liberty St., while at the same time resolving an insurance dispute that the building's owners are embroiled in. Governor Pataki appointed former Senator George Mitchell as a mediator in the dispute. The Port Authority wants to use the land to expand the WTC site, since the Libeskind plan cannot hold the 10 million square feet of office that the Twin Towers could.

NY Post: "Deutsche Deal Near at Ground Zero," by William Neuman



January 16, 2004

On January 16, NY1 reported that St. Nicholas Church received a $300,000 grant from the Mayor of Bari, Italy to assist in rebuilding. The church once located on the corner of Liberty and West Streets was destroyed when the Twin Towers collapsed.

NY1: "Church Destroyed In 9/11 Attacks To Be Rebuilt," by Natalia Perez



January 15, 2004

On January 15, The Ayn Rand Institute published its position on "Reflecting Absence." "A memorial is not primarily a medium for political propaganda, a way to decorate a landscape, or a means to fill a hole in the ground. It's a way for the living to remember those no longer with us...So much could be said: that we won't forget the victims as beloved family, treasured friends, valued colleagues. That we won't forget the brave members of the New York Fire Department and New York Police Department who perished while striving to save innocent lives. That we won't forget the spare, elegant buildings that used to be the twin focal points of lower Manhattan. And that we won't forget that they were destroyed because they were symbols of capitalism and freedom..."

Yet there is something those people and those buildings had in common, which we could ask an artist to represent. The people who worked at the World Trade Center were all productive people: they were there to do a job and earn money. They died on September 11 because they symbolized that productivity, not just to millions around the world who aspire to live like Americans, but also to the terrorists who despise all that America stands for," wrote Dianne Durante, Ph.D.

"A monument to productive ability would celebrate the lives these people lived, not mark the way they died. What would be the form of such a monument? Certainly not landscape gardening and a random list of names meant to convey, in the words of the designer, the "haphazard brutality of the deaths." A likely form would be a sculpture incorporating one or more human figures, and an appropriate setting for such a sculpture would be within a new business complex."

Ayn Rand Institute: "WTC Memorial Should Celebrate America's Producers," by Dianne Durante, Ph.D.



January 14, 2004

On January 14, the NY Post reported that the revised "Reflecting Absence" memorial design was released. Changes include: much more greenery at the plaza level; relocation of the interpretive museum which will display WTC artifacts below grade; access to bedrock at both footprints; and a crypt to bury unidentified remains in the north footrpint.

NY Post: "Final Look of Ground Zero," by William Neuman

On January 14, the NY Post reported that the revised "Reflecting Absence" memorial design calls for a random listing of names, though emergency workers would have rank and affiliation included. A firefighter's group however wants the names of emergency workers listed together since they died while saving lives.

NY Post: "Fury at Design Listing Heroes with Civilians," by David Seifman and William Neuman

On January 14, the NY Post published several letters to the editor criticising the memorial and calling for the Twin Towers to be rebuilt.

NY Post Opinion Letters: "Mulling the Memorial at Ground Zero"

On January 14, Fortune Magazine ran this article detailing the political machinations surrounding the WTC rebuilding and memorial processes.

Fortune Magazine 1/26/04 Issue: "Tower Strugge," by Devin Leonard



January 8, 2004

On January 8, the NY Post printed several letters to the editor criticising the "Reflecting Absence" memorial and calling for the Twin Towers to be rebuilt.

"This memorial - along with the seven other finalists, for that matter - is absent any sign of new life and rebirth because it leaves two pits that serve as little more than a tribute to the terrorists who created them."

"Leaving Ground Zero open and empty is exactly what Osama bin Laden would want."

"The Pentagon was also hit on 9/11, but it is fully rebuilt and functioning. A memorial is planned for the site, and it will be built about 50 feet away from the point of impact."

"Rebuilding the Twin Towers would be the only fitting memorial to the Americans who perished there. An open pit is a memorial to the terrorists," wrote David Lopez of Jersey City.

"Your front-page headline, 'For Them,' is quite appropriate."

"This political hot potato has nothing to do with the victims, it is all 'for them' - the families and the politicians - and not for all of us who wanted a simple and tasteful memorial and our beautiful towers rebuilt bigger and stronger than ever."

"The general public clearly doesn't matter in this process, except that eventually our tax dollars are going to support these giant tributes to political maneuvering."

"The city will never move on by building these monstrosities. Rather we are going to be mired in this tragedy forever by glorifying it in this ridiculous way," wrote Barbara Vass of Stamford, CT.

Other descriptions include: "gutless," "no connection to 9/11, only to Ground Zero," and "The only reflection I recognize in their pools is that of fear."

NY Post Opinion Letters: "Absence of Support Reflected for Memorial"



January 6, 2004

On January 6, 1010 WINS reported that the finalist memorial design, "Reflecting Absence" was chosen as the winning memorial. "Reflecting Absence" uses each Twin Tower footprint to house cascading pools 30 feet below grade connected by an underground passageway with an alcove where visitors can light candles. The plaza above would feature large groves of trees. A revised version of the memorial design is to be released next week.

1010 WINS: "Reflecting Absence"

On January 6, NY Post Columnist Steve Cuozzo lambasted "Reflecting Absence" and the process that spawned it. "The first thing to understand about Ground Zero memorial planning is that it's entirely about politics, and an insidious politics at that - the embrace of victimization as a defining theme of American life. Gov. Pataki bowed to demands to make the memorial the "priority," and the selection of "Reflecting Absence" - most funereal of the eight finalists - is the grim result....But 9/11 was not only about murder and carnage. Thanks to the heroic acts of cops, firefighters and ordinary people, many, many more - perhaps tens of thousands - were saved. Not that you'd know it from "Reflecting Absence." Rather than affirm heroism or resolve, it celebrates defeat. It makes no attempt to evoke what actually happened on 9/11, as it might have by incorporating surviving WTC artifacts."

NY Post: "Bland Plan is Just Plain Depressing," by Steve Cuozzo

On January 6, the NY Post Editorial Board also criticized "Reflecting Absence" for its celebration of defeat. "We've long felt that a modest tribute would be most appropriate - one that doesn't dominate a site long critical to the city's commercial vibrancy, one that is life-affirming and doesn't dwell on death, grief - and defeat. That certainly can't be said about yesterday's choice - an ungainly pair of reflecting pools meant to highlight the "absence" created by the loss of life and the destruction of the Twin Towers. We've also thought it critical that any memorial take unambiguous note of the sacrifices of the rescuers who rushed headlong to their deaths."

NY Post Opinion Editorials: "Gauche at Ground Zero"



January 2, 2004

On January 2, the NY Post reported that the proposed permanent PATH station moves northward, overlapping with Libeskind's "Wedge of Light." The "Wedge" was already discredited by an Ali Attia shadow study which proved that the Millenium Hilton would cast a shadow on the spot each September 11.

NY Post: "PATH Plan May Dim Libeskind's Tribute," by William Neuman



January 1, 2004

On January 1, the NY Daily News reported that a jury can hear about a previous court ruling unfavorable to Twin Towers leasehold owner Silverstein Properties, Inc. The main partner, Larry Silverstein had been arguing that the 9/11 attacks constituted two separate incidents entitling his firm to a double insurance settlement.

NY Daily News: "WTC's Insurers Win Again in Court," by Maggie Haberman