"...I hate the design ... It's a 50-story building (the Freedom Tower) that looks like it's 120 stories. It's a skeleton. And that's the last thing we need in New York is a skeleton of -- representing the World Trade Center. I think that it is not an appropriate design. I don't like it..." Donald Trump, Larry King Live (02/27/04)


Before a commercial tower is erected, a memorial should be chosen. I believe that the memorial should include some of the surviving exterior panels of the collapsed towers. They are a never-to-be-forgotten sight seen worldwide and in everyone's memory. - Edward I. Koch, Former Mayor, City of NY


"And I believe one of the first things we should commit to - with federal help that underscores our nation's purpose – is to rebuild the towers of the World Trade Center and show the world we are not afraid - we are defiant." – Senator John Kerry


The Statue of Liberty is "a symbol of America. C'mon, let's stand up and have some guts...You can't let terrorists win." - NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg So, why do these principles not apply to the WTC site and the Twin Towers?


"Larry Silverstein would like to rebuild the towers for both economic and emotional reasons, according to CBC.com. He would like to rebuild as a symbol of our country's resolve against terrorism." - Tony Mann, CBC.com


"The people who have inflicted this upon us are clearly out to destroy our way of life," Silverstein said. "It would be a tragedy to allow them their victory." Larry Silverstein, (9/11/01)


"To those who might say why create another target, the answer is simple: There is no shortage of targets in the United States: There is a White House - There is a Capital and countless other tall buildings. This is not a question of targets. It is a question of strength and our national resolve to stand up and show our strength. That is the best monument we could build to those who died yesterday." – Senator John Kerry


"Ugly doesn't cut it, that thing (The Freedom Tower) is ghastly."
Tony Snow, Fox News Radio


“If the towers are not replaced, the area would be a monument to terrorism. These are not just office buildings. These are icons of America. If it were to be built as a brand-new building of the same appearance it would be a monument to the spirit of New York, the power and strength of New York and America." – Henry Guthard, MinoruYamasaki & Assoc., AP


“They (Twin Towers) must be rebuilt and include a monument to the victims of the terrorist attack. We must build something grand there. I look out at the skyline from the window of my house in Brooklyn and I feel violated." New York Sen. Charles Schumer, CBS "Face the Nation."


"A mongrel tower with a twist, a false top, and a piercing spire--a speculative commercial office building transformed through the alchemy of the process into an emblem of the process itself."

- Architecture Critic Philip Nobel


"The Libeskind plan is "a monstrosity of garbled nonsense."

--Donald Trump, on September 12, 2003, as reported by Bloomberg News