# Why Have the Twin Towers Not Been Rebuilt? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 11, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448 "2010-09-11T22:36:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/41 "2010-09-12T14:29:53Z")
It would have fallen straight _up_, but fortunately, Silverstein had remembered to pay his gravity bill. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/42 "2010-09-12T14:30:53Z")
> [@Mozart1220](#): > > > [@DanBlather](#): > > > > It fell down; how much more damaged can it get? > > It was brought down on purpose, Silverstien ordered it so. And it fell STRAIGHT DOWN, which would have been impossible without help. Do you believe this based on evidence or emotion? Please be honest. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/43 "2010-09-12T14:36:15Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > > [@Mozart1220](#): > > > > It was brought down on purpose, Silverstien ordered it so. And it fell STRAIGHT DOWN, which would have been impossible without help. > > Do you believe this based on evidence or emotion? Please be honest. inb4 evidence ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/44 "2010-09-12T14:38:26Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It would have fallen straight _up_, but fortunately, Silverstein had remembered to pay his gravity bill. QFT. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/45 "2010-09-12T15:11:25Z")
> [@Mozart1220](#): > > > [@DanBlather](#): > > > > It fell down; how much more damaged can it get? > > It was brought down on purpose, Silverstien ordered it so. And it fell STRAIGHT DOWN, which would have been impossible without help. And on what engineering report do you base that assessment on? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/46 "2010-09-12T15:13:49Z")
> [@Mozart1220](#): > > And it fell STRAIGHT DOWN … . No it didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/47 "2010-09-12T16:33:32Z")
Not this again. The OP asked a reasonable question about an actual true state of affairs. Some dopers my be able to shed light on it. Does it really have to turn into another 19 page thread arguing with the true believers? ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/48 "2010-09-12T16:41:20Z")
> [@Mozart1220](#): > > > [@DanBlather](#): > > > > It fell down; how much more damaged can it get? > > It was brought down on purpose, Silverstien ordered it so. And it fell STRAIGHT DOWN, which would have been impossible without help. Oh my, how terrible. Have you alerted the media? Sounds like a big story. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/49 "2010-09-12T16:49:42Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > > [@Susanann](#): > > > > Did it take London over 10 years to start rebuilding? > > You’re confusing starting with finishing. They started rebuilding years ago, but they’re not done. And yes, I think there was still rubble in London years and years after the blitz. Actually, by 1956, nearly all of London, literally thousands of buildings, were completely rebuilt. Most of Western Germany and Japan were also rebuilt and humming by 1956. (…and they didn’t incessantly whine about it either) Taking over 10 years to rebuild 1 city block? You gotta be kidding! Blaming a recession, the fall of the US dollar, starting 2 wars, eliminating American individual personal freedoms and privacy via bush’s Homeland Security laws, and of all the worlds problems for the last 10 years on an excuse of just a few buildings being blown up is also WAY over the edge. What if England gave the same amount of crying and whining for each bomb that fell on London? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/50 "2010-09-12T16:53:58Z")
> [@Mozart1220](#): > > It was brought down on purpose, Silverstien ordered it so. And it fell STRAIGHT DOWN, which would have been impossible without help. I can see where this is going. **Mozart1220** , if you want to start the 4000th SDMB discussion about the attacks, please open a new thread. This thread is about why the WTC site has not been rebuilt, and your comments are not relevant to that issue. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/51 "2010-09-12T16:59:39Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > Actually, by 1956, nearly all of London, literally thousands of buildings, were completely rebuilt. I know what “nearly” means, so I can say admit London was not completely rebuilt at that time. They started rebuilding on the WTC site a few years after the attacks. I’m sure they also started rebuilding in London not long after the war ended. But it isn’t done. > [@](#): > > Taking over 10 years to rebuild 1 city block? You gotta be kidding! Blaming a recession, the fall of the US dollar, starting 2 wars, eliminating American individual personal freedoms and privacy via bush’s Homeland Security laws, and of all the worlds problems for the last 10 years on an excuse of just a few buildings being blown up is also WAY over the edge. The delays have been ridiculous. Nobody in New York or anyplace else will argue with you about that. But the OP asked about the causes of the delays, so people have been explaining the reasons. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/52 "2010-09-12T17:40:08Z")
To be brutally honest, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is half to blame. Shel Silverstein is about a quarter to blame, and police / military / recovery efforts / god knows what else, is the rest. The PANYNJ is exactly as horrible as a bloated bureaucracy covering not one, but _two_ of the most nasty-ass hardsell busy as hell states in the union can be. Actually, it’s worse. All the inefficiency of your average bloated, mob-encrusted mess (the mob’s mostly out of it, but the baroque structures remain), that’s been around for 90 years and spread cancerously since… and adding to that, you get the fact that it has to deal with two sets of bosses and interfaces. Shel wanted the most for his money. Sure. And the depression (dotcom) did not help him throw up a huge effing building, sure. And the depression (local-New York) post 9/11 didn’t help either. And the insurance agencies trying to blame the whole thing as an act of god, yeah, that can be dealt with. But trying to get everyone to agree on a design for something this big? That’s five years, easy. More. Eh. Everybody wants a piece of the action. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/53 "2010-09-12T17:56:00Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Shel Silverstein is about a quarter to blame, and police / military / recovery efforts / god knows what else, is the rest. The idea to name it “A Boy Named Sue Place” was ill-conceived and never should have been stuck to for so long. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/54 "2010-09-12T17:58:17Z")
> [@Mozart1220](#): > > > [@DanBlather](#): > > > > It fell down; how much more damaged can it get? > > It was brought down on purpose, Silverstien ordered it so. And it fell STRAIGHT DOWN, which would have been impossible without help. Rumor is he needed its steel girders to build a boat. ([Obligatory gay themed link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYQavD9mSIc).) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/55 "2010-09-12T18:17:47Z")
> [@Mozart1220](#): > > In other words, “HERE IS THE OFFICIAL STORY. DON’T ASK QUESTIONS” > > You people act like “conspiracies” never happen. I guess if you want to keep you heads in the sand where it’s comfortable, fine. Just remember, the more we let them get away with, the more often we’ll have to suffer these things. > > Sorry, President Kennedy, no one cares anymore. We have our cell phones and 60" flatscreens, we don’t care about anything else. JFK was killed by a Castro sympathizer, after repeatedly trying to have Castro assassinated. That’s pretty open and shut. You want to go after real conspiracies, look for the subtle ones. Why did the Pro-Life movement get going in 1979, instead of 1973? Why is the Tea Party so angry about the deficit now, when they accepted pro-cyclical deficit spending in boom years? Why do politicians & interest groups in the central US manage to find a hot button right-wing issue for the ballot every 2-4 years (gay marriage, immigration, stem cell research…)? The real conspiracies have names like Chamber of Commerce, Democratic Party, Republican Party, Tea Party, Democratic Leadership Council, Project for a New American Century, Christian Coalition, American Federation of Teachers, & yes, al-Qaeda. You can join one if you like. But if you’re worried about mythical unseen conspiracies, you’re distracted from the real ones in plain sight. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/56 "2010-09-12T19:59:55Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > > [@E-Sabbath](#): > > > > Shel Silverstein is about a quarter to blame, and police / military / recovery efforts / god knows what else, is the rest. > > The idea to name it “A Boy Named Sue Place” was ill-conceived and never should have been stuck to for so long. Nah. It was because Silverstein wanted to show everyone where the sidewalk ends. (Of course, since he died in 1999, it did make it hard for him to get the building rebuilt after 2001.) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/57 "2010-09-12T20:31:28Z")
I can’t find it now although I’ve been looking, but I once read a very funny list of things that have been built in less time than whatever’s going on with the World Trade Center. Does anybody else have that? It included whole cities. ETA - and remember some of the unintentionally hilarious submitted ideas? There was one that was a giant cross (let’s not even think of the engineering challenge with that one) and somebody on the SDMB suggested they should add an animatronic Jesus who’d swat planes out of the air, King Kong style. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/58 "2010-09-12T20:35:09Z")
Who was that guy whose plan was some kinda Statue of Liberty knockoff? That struck me as pretty dumb. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/59 "2010-09-12T21:18:33Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Who was that guy whose plan was some kinda Statue of Liberty knockoff? That struck me as pretty dumb. Daniel Liebeskind (sp). That actually was the design that was chosen, but it’s just been watered down into what you see today, which is a pretty standard looking office building. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448/60 "2010-09-12T21:27:43Z")
Well, it just bugged me - why copy the Statue of Liberty when the original is still standing there out in the harbor? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-the-twin-towers-not-been-rebuilt/553448.md?page=4)