I have been seeing this around and people are going crazy over it. <BR>Just wanted to know what everyone here thinks. <BR>I like it (if we have to rebuild) as afterall, the bird is an american symbol (in more ways than one).

Sorry, forgot to post the site before I hit go. <BR> <BR> http://members-http-5.rwc1.sfba.home...iffsparky/WTC/

Not bad, Micia. A little humor in the midst of adversity.

I am against rebuilding more high buildings again, but since we need the space, this might be a good idea. <BR>I like it.

I am not american, but I like it. <BR>I don't think you all would have the courage to do it though. <BR>Why wouldn't you just leave the space as a memorial? <BR>I know I have heard about the space problem, but since those businesses are in other places now, why don't they stay there? <BR>If they are getting by without the space now (as they have no choice), then why not later?

Being a NYer and having a background - though not a full degree in architecture - I would like to see new towers built. Higher - more majestic - a better complex of buildings which maybe surround a memorial. Like the Church in Hiroshima - I think some of the remaining jagged pieces of the curtain wall from the Towers should be incorporated into a memorial.

I mentioned this on one of the deleted threads I think: I think the city should consider development of a linear "Peace Park" reaching from the WTC site to Battery Park. There's already the corridor running south from Broadway to the Battery named "Canyon of Heroes" (the parade route for NYC baseball greats) and I believe an extension of West St. between the Battery and the WTC is named for Joe DiMaggio. I would sure recommend swapping the names of these corridors, since a canyon of real heroes is in the making right now. <BR> <BR>At the north end of the Peace Park/new Canyon of Heroes, we should exercise some muscle (and dues-paying clout) with the UN to have them relocate downtown to the former WTC site. The current UN complex on the East River could then be redeveloped for office/housing use (the present buildings are pretty obsolete anyway). <BR> <BR>That way, you'd restore some office economy to the WTC site, you could conduct the mother of all international architectural competetions for the park and the new UN buildings, and leave a working memorial to the aims of peace, international cooperation, and rebirth of lower Manhattan. I also think it wouldn't hurt for UN delegates to walk through a beautiful, living tribute to hate and destruction - and to hope and peace - to their meetings, and to see the Holocaust/Diaspora museum, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty out the office tower windows. <BR>

how many for rebuilding and how many for a memorial? Can't you do both?

My first gut reaction is to rebuild and show the world we are resilient. But as I think about it more and think about memorials I've visited that stirred me I believe it would be more important for us to erect a memorial. I was a very small child during the Vietnam War and have lived basically untouched by it's aftermath --- but the Vietnam Memorial moved me incredibly. I wanted to stand and read each and every one of those names and it was so overwhelming how many names there were. This event in our history needs to be remembered and we need a place where future generations can go and be impacted emotionally and physically by what happened to us. The idea of preserving the "canyon" that now exists, that menacing, deep hole in the ground, sounds like a place to start.

Susan -- thank you for a very thoughtful and moving post. Perhaps there is a way to do both? I, too, have been deeply moved by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC. But, for me at least, part of its effectiveness is that it is a black gash where we don't expect it -- in the middle of manicured grass and traditional marble monuments.

S. Fowler, thank you. Your comments about the contrast of the black granite versus the white marble reminded me of the words of a song written by Natalie Merchant about a son who lost his father in the Vietnam War. <BR> <BR>"It's 40 paces to the year that he was slain. His hand's slipping down The <BR>Wall for it's slick with rain. How would life have ever been the same if this wall had carved in it one less name? But for Christ's sake, he's been dead over 20 years. He leaves the letters asking, "Who caused my mother's tears, was it Washington or the Viet Cong?" Slow deliberate steps are involved. He takes them away from the black granite wall toward the other monuments so white and clean. <BR>O, Potomac, what you've seen. Abraham had his war too, but an honest war. <BR>Or so it's taught in school." <BR>

Topping for perspective.