Twin Towers Advocacy continued

[TalB]

Click the link for the pic.
http://www.twintowersalliance.com/petition/like-magic


When Philippe Petit, the man who defied death to spend almost an hour walking on a wire between the Twin Towers in 1974, was recently asked to describe his story he called it: “A fairy tale… A young man falls in love with two towers and conquered them, shall I say, married them with a rope on which he walked [a] long, long, long time ago.”

Mr. Petit describes himself as “a magician” and his calling in life is clearly to challenge the limits we place on ourselves through our perception of what is and isn’t possible. His preparation and skill were an intrinsic part of his success, but his physical prowess was secondary to his spiritual mastery – his focus on the moment and his faith in his dream were unshakable.

In that spirit, we are magicians, too. We have a mighty purpose, which, when realized, will bring a sense of wonder to millions of people — and the only thing standing in the way is small-mindedness. No wonder we’re so confident. In September, 2006, Mr. Petit gave us a statement to read at our rally in Central Park that ended with the words: “I continue to think your efforts are commendable and worthwhile. . . I remain a champion for the rebuilding of the Twin Towers EVERYDAY!!!”

Philippe Petit dares us to dream epic dreams. He obviously believes in happy endings.

[redbaron_012]

I have accepted for quite a while that the Twin Towers would never be rebuilt.....lamented the fact and even travelled half way around the world to make sure it still wasn't a bad dream....Always look at the WTC threads....then thought just now??? If the Statue of Liberty, Chrysler Building or Brooklyn Bridge had been destroyed would they be replacing them with a piece of Modern Sculpture...a modern office block and a concrete freeway across the East River??? I don't think so....any of these structures would be rebuilt and given back to the City of New York as part of it's soul.....Those who don't think the original WTC as worthy of this recognition should realise once and for all the Twin Towers of the WTC are part..not were...of New York...They are visually still in the minds as part of the New York jigsaw....not complete with this big piece missing...

[TalB]

I hope that a number of pro-Towers advocates are comming to Preserving NY Then and Now tommorrow at the MCNY, b/c it just called about it today, and I was told that it will still go on as scheduled, so show up if you made your RSVP for this b/c it's sold out.

[redbaron_012]

TalB, can you tell them for me and so many other people all over the world who want them back.....New York is known by people everywhere and we don't see your city in the image of New York we know and love....still love the place but it doesn't look like New York anymore.....amazing how one missing place can transform a panorama so iconic. Any city....particularly now in the 21st. Century can and does have soaring skyscrapers. Don't you see that the twin towers were unique as New York....you saw them and new it was New York....the new towers are probably great modern office towers but could just as well be in Dubai or Shanghai.....I could go on...I do go on....

[TalB]

You don't have to tell me this redbaron_012, b/c I have seen them a lot in person.

[redbaron_012]

I only said this to you TalB as you are there and know why we all feel like this....so you have the ability to say what we can't...in person! :-)

[TalB]

A couple of more pro-Towers videos found on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P6TR...watch_response
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nxY_hN8ZzU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwbkR...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A88tgRfXpWM

Note: The last one isn't new, but it's getting a lot of new comments.

[TalB]

Either it's just me, or the TTA video over on Youtube just went up nearly seven times with comments not too long ago.

[TalB]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/ny...l?ref=nyregion
A Sign That Has Served Its Time

By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: February 29, 2008


David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

The seven-foot-high Heritage Trails New York sign at Church and Cortlandt Streets, opposite ground zero, will soon be removed and donated to a museum to prevent additional damage.

On one street corner in Lower Manhattan, the World Trade Center is still spoken of in the present tense, confusing some passers-by, enlightening many others.

“Now, every weekday, 50,000 people come to work in 12 million square feet of office, hotel and commercial space in the seven buildings in this city within a city,” says the seven-foot-high Heritage Trails New York sign at Church and Cortlandt Streets, opposite ground zero.

“As many as 10,000 visitors in a single day ride the non-stop express elevators — from the lobby to the 107th floor in 82 seconds — to take in the spectacular views of the city and its surroundings,” the sign continues. Of course, there is no such skyscraping vantage today. No trade center buildings can be seen (although their replacements are taking concrete form below ground). While the site swarms with workers, they do not number 50,000. And they do not wear business suits.

The Alliance for Downtown New York, which maintains the 11-year-old Heritage Trails markers, has deliberately left this one untouched since 9/11 as an authentic — and poignant — remembrance of the trade center’s astonishing vitality.

But in recent days, the sign has been imperiled by construction crews working on the Fulton Street Transit Center. Wood framing from sturdy sidewalk fences now butts into the sign and has even caused some minor damage.

Valerie Lewis, a senior vice president of the Downtown Alliance, said the sign would be removed as quickly as possible, before more harm was done. It will be donated to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center, which is now under construction.

As an interim measure, the sign may be displayed at the Tribute W.T.C. 9/11 Visitor Center, nearby on Liberty Street.

“We’re just honored and delighted to be the permanent custodians,” said Jan Seidler Ramirez, the chief curator of the museum.

“The sign has been doing wonderful service — as it was intended — up until the last precarious few weeks of construction,” she said, “because many visitors never knew the towers, never saw Lower Manhattan with the towers intact. I saw lots of people beginning to come up and read it and, for themselves, begin to process the present-tense description of the animation of the World Trade Center campus.”

Ms. Ramirez said many passers-by “totally grasped the fact that this was a survivor artifact” and that foreign visitors whose command of English was not all that strong would probably not have been bothered by the anomalous verb tenses.

But she also said, “Others might have thought they were in on one of the biggest editorial gaffes of all time.”

[TalB]

http://www.twintowersalliance.com/petition/bulletins
3/2/08 — A World Trade Center Worthy of the Name… is what the American people want and should be able to expect from those we elect to protect our interests. A comment this week on our YouTube tribute illustrated the confusion that still exists over the WTC property rights and it can’t be repeated too often: Silverstein Properties bought the right to lease the Twin Towers for 99 years. Once the buildings were down, they had the contractual responsibility to restore the buildings, but Gov. Pataki, for his own selfish reasons, abrogated that requirement. That left Silverstein with a right to comparable space in comparable buildings — nothing more and nothing less. He never bought the right to reinvent our beloved skyline, because it was never for sale.

We have to challenge the vested interests that have demoted the rest of us to second-class citizens. The forces that have taken over at Ground Zero are typical of what’s wrong with our country. Straightening out this mess is going to prepare us to tackle other problems that are resisting correction across the nation. The launch of the USS New York, the battleship that includes over 7 tons of steel from the fallen Twin Towers, is a fitting reminder of what we stand for and what our Armed Forces fight for – to uphold our government of, by and for the people of the United States of America. If the sailors who salute Ground Zero every Fleet Week had their say, is there any doubt what they would prefer to salute when the World Trade Center is rebuilt? So whose country is it?

[TalB]

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/...le.html?page=1
A proper burial

Manhattan: I sympathize with Voicer Donna Marie Velazquez's loss. But suggesting that everything from Fresh Kills be returned to the WTC site, within breathing distance of hundreds of thousands of people, is callous. Move it to an unpopulated area, where a cemetery can be built without risking more lives.

Rachel Snyder

[TalB]

Noticed some more recent videos from Youtube calling for the Twins to be rebuilt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT4fFpslgLQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2El4l...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jUGq...eature=related

[cincobarrio]

all videos coming from user "freedomtower2012" who spells trade center, "trade centre". lol awesome.

[redbaron_012]

We spell Centre....Centre ???? it's just spelling in different countries I guess. Like Colour and Color for you....you call Petrol-Gas???? which is weird when you think about it, It's a liquid....so what do you call Gas ??? Doesn't matter really....

[TalB]

I tend to find ironic that people are calling the Twins inefficient when in fact that the FT along with the rest of the official plan creates a cluster with streets running through it.

[redbaron_012]

The Twins inefficient ??? Man, those towers were 110 stories high with the same floorplate around and acre each on the top floor as the ground floor. The lifts were banked into 3 zones so except for express lifts to each sky lobby local elevators could run directly above those of the zones below or above. Certainly modern High Technology was not to the level of new buildings today but items such as fibre optics etc could have been installed to ducts throughout the towers over time. We now know certain construction techniques used, although safe and efficient were not strong enough to withstand circumstances of sept.11'01 yet still gave some time for evacuation before the towers failed. In turn this design enabled free use of floors between the core and facade to adjust offices to occupiers requirements. The notion that it was a negative that city blocks were closed allowing the Buildings and Plaza to offer New York a unique and outstanding complex in lower Manhattan. Many smaller cities in the world have city blocks this size so don't see problem there but accept change of typical NY grid. Even it's construction helped form the landfill for all the existing newer buildings along the Hudson River from The World Financial Centre ( Center ) to the Battery.....They were great!

[TalB]

Not too long ago, I was able to talk to Kent Barwick, who is head of the Municipal Arts Society, after he was done with a pannel over at the MCNY. He claimed that they were inefficient b/c of their height over everything that stood near. Then again, wouldn't the same logic go for the ESB? An even bigger irony was that although he agreed with me that the process that got the FT picked was all wrong in that the public was sidestepped in the making, he still favored b/c he claimed that it had everything that the Twins lacked, which I find is wrong. Just hearing him say that is like saying that the War on Iraq is still justified despite the fact that it was brough on by lies by George W Bush and his associates in having no relations with 9/11. If making the place safe is such a priority, then why have roads through it that can lead to a possible vehicle bomb? Also, let's not forget that the study by FEMA mentioned that a building that was half the height would have fallen faster then they would if in that same attack. Overall, the official plans have been reported to even be overbudgeted, and I would like to know where the money will come from if there is not enough for it. On a sidenote, if the FT doesn't end up getting built, something similar to the original plan could be built in Philly, so it won't be a total loss there for the FT Fanatics.

[BradRousse]

Originally Posted by TalB

Just hearing him say that is like saying that the War on Iraq is still justified despite the fact that it was brough on by lies by George W Bush and his associates in having no relations with 9/11.

...what?!

On a sidenote, if the FT doesn't end up getting built, something similar to the original plan could be built in Philly, so it won't be a total loss there for the FT Fanatics.

Please stop. People who are not supporters of restoration are not "fanatics." You don't like it when you're called names, so...

[Daquan13]

Originally Posted by TalB

I tend to find ironic that people are calling the Twins inefficient when in fact that the FT along with the rest of the official plan creates a cluster with streets running through it.

This one doesn't make any sense either.

[BradRousse]

Daquan, I know we agree on the feasibility of the restoration, but I just want to urge you to stay calm... we don't want to get a flame war going like we did last time.