Once all the dust has settled, once all the dead have been burried, once those responsible have been punished.
Should we begin anew? Would that be up to the owners of the former WTC towers? Who are the owners of that land?
We made a memorial on the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in OK City, but I don’t think we can do this in Manhattan. It will come down to a matter of money, and land is just too valuable in that area. The country needs to get back to business, and a hell of a lot of business went through those towers.
I think we should build them back again, as soon as resources permit.
Yes, a lot of business went on there, but even if they are rebuilt, it will be years before it happens. By then, that business will have had to find a different place.
Land may be expensive, but some things are more important than money. Remembering those who were murdered here may very well be one of those things.
I agree that something functional (read: not just a monument) will be built on the site, given the nature of NYC. My concern is that whatever is built there will continue to be a target of terrorist attacks. How many times can NYC go through this?
And waterj2, have you ever stood in the courtyard at the bottom, or on the observation deck at the top? The Twin Towers were by no means architectural eye candy, but they had a beauty that I will forever miss.
The WTC is (was) a magnet for terrorists, huh? Jeez. I think in the future such tall skyscrapers will not be built on the premise that they are very difficult to evacuate and very easy to topple. Similarly, they embody capitalism itself… this makes them easy targets.
I have seen them from below, and they did look kind of cool. But they always looked rather ugly when seen as part of the whole skyline. In any event, any replacement buildings will not look as if they were designed in the seventies.
I’d imagine that New Yorkers will want something just as prominent to replace them. Big business has that sort of arrogance. Heck, I’d wager that Donald Trump is already thinking of ways to use this to pull off his goal of building the world’s tallest building in NYC.
This is a golden opportunity to “modernize” the World Trade Center building(s).
Instead of rebuilding both towers, I say they should build one great big tower that stretches all the way from the outermost boundaries of where both old buildings used to stand, across the entire space between them. And it should be a mile-and-a-half high and made entirely of solid adamantium, bristling with anti-aircraft guns and missile launchers. Oh, and it should be able to transform into a giant robot which can stomp around New York and wield a giant energy sword and even fly if the need arises.
I think that the WTC should be rebuilt as soon as possible. I don’t understand why some people seem to imply that to do so would be crass or unsentimental. Personally, I think it would be quite a tribute to the spirit of Americans to be able to pick up the pieces and rebuild, even in the face of tragedy and sorrow. Of course there should be some kind of a memorial, but it seems so useless to simply bulldoze the area and turn it into unused space.
I was born in Manhattan 21 years ago, and I’ve lived there my whole life. I love the city. I’m at school in Albany right now, and I can not imagine what the sky will look like when I go home.
Oh, and I heard a report that some corporate dude had just paid a great large pile of cash for a veeery long term contract to manage WTC properties for the Port authority.
There would be something New Yorkish to rebuilding something big and important at the WTC site, wouldn’t it… (?the “'EY, Blow This” Tower?) So far we completely lost 1, 2 and 7 WTC, and it’s beginning to look like 5 WTC may be declared totalled. That’s a serious expanse of valuable downtown real estate to turn into a memorial park – my quess is this use would probably be assigned to the plots that were the actual footprint of the 2 big towers, while the rest is turned into a new business centre.
I don’t have a strong opinion as to what should be built or not built on the site of the WTC. I guess I would say rebuild. I just wanted to post, and this seems to be as good place as any to do it, that one weird reaction I’ve been having all day is disbelief that those big buildings are actually gone. Outside of Oklahoma City, practically no one had ever heard of the Murrah building; even in Oklahoma City, I don’t think it was that prominent of a landmark. But the WTC towers have been part of the Manhattan skyline for basically all my life. I’ve only been to NYC once, but we’ve all seen the skyline in pictures and movies and TV shows countless times, and those big honking towers have been a part of that picture for a long time now. It’s like the Manhattan skyline has been maimed somehow.
So, yeah, build another great big skyscraper there. Even bigger than the WTC towers were. With lots of Turbo-Laser Ion Cannon AA guns, like tracer said.
I believe that the towers were a primary target because of the former failed attempt. If another tower is built, it would be an obvious choice for another terrorist attack. It’s easy to say “we’ll show them what we’re made of, rebuild!” My question is this, would YOU work there?
Sure, build something impressive, but don’t put any people in it, please. Or, maybe you could build an office building with a windowless prison on the top floor housing Bin Laden.-- No, that wouldn’t work either, his buddies would do him the favor of making him a martyr. Reason doesn’t apply when religion is involved.
I second what MEBuckner said. I drove over the Verrazano bridge twice today. The first time, there was a huge plume of smoke coming from the top of the towers.
The second time, they were gone.
It just looks wrong somehow. I hope they put something there.
This tragedy might have turned out better if the buildings had been short enough for the fire dept. water cannons to reach the fire. Rebuild if necessary, but not so tall.
From a friend’s friend’s friend (who told them to pass the message along)…
“Personally, I’d like to see three towers built in their place, with the middle one much taller than the other two. That way, it would look like a giant middle finger, directed straight at the fuckers who did this.”
Frankly, I agree with him. We’re America, goddammit. Nobody has screwed with us and won. Ever. We’re not about to let that happen.