Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 23:53:18 -0400 (EDT)
From: Louis Epstein
Subject: WTC-related updates


I went out "prospecting" today for more email addresses of
people who have advocated the rebuilding of the World Trade
Center at least as tall as before,and added them to the list.
Anyone who doesn't want to be on the list,tell me and you'll
be immediately removed,and I'll confirm that to you;I don't
make any non-WTC-related use of the list.

Additions this time include the original Project Engineer
of the WTC,who has with his students at the University of
Colorado come up with a plan for slightly-modified-from-Yamasaki
140-story towers...each 110 stories of offices on top of 30-story
memorial museums.See http://cem.colorado.edu/archives/fl2001/wtc.html
for some discussion.

Interestingly,the use of drywall in the elevator core,which caused
problems for the stairwells on September 11th,was initiated by cracks
in masonry caused by the vacuums generated by high-speed elevators.

A number of the pro-rebuilding posts whose authors I have added
to the list(now nearer 500 than 400 valid addresses,I believe)
were from September or shortly after...I realize the authors may
have given up hope,lost interest,or God forbid changed sides.
(I was recently contacted via Gothamgazette.com by the man from
nycsky.com who says he USED to support bringing the Towers back,
but there has also been some changing of minds going on in the
pro-Towers direction).I repeat...if you want off the list,it's as
easy as asking to be off.

I'll reiterate as I usually do that we need every pro-rebuilding
warm body we can at the Javits Center on July 20th...four weeks away.
Call 800-862-3154 or visit www.listeningtothecity.org or email
listening@civic-alliance.org.

Despite the "city" in the title they've taken registrations from
Virginia and from Germany.Our voices must be heard!

If you can't make it there you can send "Phase I Request for Proposals"
comments to the Lower Manhattan corporation via
renewnyc@empire.state.ny.us until Wednesday June 26th.
These are supposed to be engineering-oriented...urge them
to specify construction of buildings required to be no shorter
than the old Towers,in whatever flavor most appeals to you...
be literate,don't take potshots at anybody,just advise them on
the form rebuilding ought to take.

Normally we'd have waited for the revision of the "Principles and
Preliminary Blueprint for the Future of Lower Manhattan" to hit
the http://www.renewnyc.com/index.html website but it has yet to
do so...they did change the date for it in the PDF timeline document
from the June 5th it said when I printed it out to June 14th but
still no announcement!

A new PDF document that HAS finally made it is the
http://www.imaginenewyork.org/ "Summary Report" that
has the "Visions" as boiled down into 49 statements.

Interestingly enough,the treatment of rebuilding at
the World Trade Center site is more favorable in the
introduction than in the body of the report.The intro
speaks of it being impossible to reconcile leaving the
site empty,building the Towers as they were,or building
something taller...we would generally accept either of
the latter two out of three.

However,when the statements regarding construction at the
site are given,the only one that specifies Towers as they
were or taller is the last one,relegated to a different
page than the others.

A significant portion of the report talks about things like
improving education or employment in the city...things that
are not exactly part of recovery from the acts of September
11th!

The board at http://pps.org/downtownnyc/ that concerns
input on the WTC site has had a sudden spate of activity,
with anti-rebuilder DM Jackson arguing with pro-rebuilder
Cherie Fernandez.It would be good for someone literate who
has not previously posted there to weigh in on the pro side;
this board is one of the things monitored by the Civic Alliance
who are organizing the giant July 20th forum and we need to show
that pro-rebuilding voices are many and strong.

Recently an anti-rebuilder impersonated Monica Iken at the
NYCS board...his own previously posted address at AOL was
also bogus,as I found when I tried to email him.

Sorry if I'm emailing too often these days.
But the anti's are active,we must not rest.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.