Marcie

Last night on Date Line there was a segment on this topic. One of the ideas is, for lack of a better decsription, a permanent still "light show" of the two towers. What are your thoughts? To me it is now sacred ground as it is the grave of so many and should be honored and respected in some way.

ei

As much as I would like the space to become a memorial for all the fallen heros and office workers, unfortunately with Manhattan real estate as scarse as it is, that is not feasible...unless we want all the companies to move to Jersey.

I would like them to rebuild all the building (but obviously not 100+ floors - after all, who would work up that high now) and have a memorial courtyard in the middle of all the buildings.

CC

I think we should rebuild the towers. of course with some modifications. and also build a memorial park there. i just think if we don't rebuild, it would be like we let them bring down our buildings. i think we need to rebuild but also pay our respects to the thousands who lost their lives there.

Jayelle

I agree that the site should be treated as "hallowed ground" by building some type of memorial on part of the site. At the same time, I think its important to rebuild buildings dedicated to commerce, since this is a huge site right in the middle of the financial district. I would not re-build towers with 100+ floors just because I'm not sure that anyone would feel comfortable working on the upper floors anymore. Maybe several smaller buildings would be better. The memorial should be integrated with the new buildings on the site, to show that we remember what was done there, but we will also get back back to business.

The image of the "phantom towers" that was shown on Dateline appeared a few weeks ago on the cover of the NY Times Magazine. I've saved that issue because I loved that image. I'm going to get a print of that image to frame at the gallery in Soho that is displaying the photos taken on Sept. 11. I really hope that the city will work with the artists who conceived this idea to make it a reality.

Leslie

Bryant Gumble was on the Letterman show the first week after the WTC implosion. He suggested that the buildings be rebuilt exactly as they once stood, but only as shells. He suggested that the material to be used to erect the buildings be from the recycling of all of the carnage that has been carted offsite. Gumble thought it would be an appropriate memorial and that the buildings could be erected within 2 years, with an appropriate commemoration on September 11th. I would only add that although the buildings not be used as offices, that the first floor/lobby of each building could be used as some sort of museum similar to the one Oklahoma City built.

hcw

Jayelle,
Could you let me know the location of the gallery in Soho to which you referred? I will be in NYC in two weeks and would like to stop there.
Thanks . ..

Jones

They can build between where the two towers stood. My suggestion would be to build shorter towers (for practical as well as sentimental reasons -- towers that tall are more expensive and more hazardous to the employees than they are worth) on the areas that were originally open plaza, and make the areas where the towers stood open plaza with some combination of "light" and "shell" memorials.

Jayelle

The gallery is located at 116 Prince Street. You can take a look at their web site at www.hereisnewyork.org for more details.

Ellen

I think shorter buildings and some sort of tasteful memorial wall with the names of those who perished would be sufficient (like those in DC for Korean and Vietnam war veterans). I am totally against a projected light show or rebuilding to the same height & turning the area into a circus. I used to have a view of the towers. Anything else that comes into my view that looks remotely like them is going to be the most constant, painful reminder that I could imagine. Too eerie. Too ghostlike. I still see people jumping from the buildings every time I shut my eyes. It is miserable and depressing. Thank the lord for the Yankees! A well needed distraction.

John

I sent a letter today to the New Yorker on this, I'll be glad to email it to anyone who wants. Basic idea: land swap with the UN, move the UN HQ downtown.

Bill I

I have been to Oklahoma City twice since the bombing there. Once when everything was still fenced off from the public & all the different momentoes placed in the fences. The second time was after the federal building area was turned into a memorial. both were equally sobering, & the memorial affected me more than it normally would have because of seeing the area the first time. & being able to know that the chairs actually represent the people killed. It is a fitting memorial, as long as everybody that goes there understands it or takes the time to read all the displays. & it is probably comforting to family members. But I also noticed some commercialization around the site, which seemed to be there only because of the memorial. & that somehow seemed to taint the somberism of the memorial. But at the same time, knowing this memorial is a good thing, seeing this place devoid of offices in the middle of a downtown. That feeling would be much more magnified in a city the size of Manhattan. Because of what I have seen in OKC, IMHO, rebuilding the WTC area with usable buildings & have some type of memorial built on the grounds may be the best, if it can keep the gross commercialism down of the memorial. The area could still be used for business as well as preserving an area for a memorial.

Builder

Rebuid them just as they were!

Elizabeth

NY needs a comparable concentration of financial businesses in that area. Build completely different buildings, unreminiscent of the Towers (I agree with all who say no one should be made to work in tall buildings on that site, and it would be agonizing to look at them), around a memorial park.

Also an idea I read somewhere on the Internet, on a basement level of a lobby of a new building, have a room with a screen where the pictures and stories the TIMES is running of all the lost people will be shown all the time.

And, very important to me, the buildings should house a beautiful international multi-denominational chapel for remembrance, meditation, and reflection.

People from elsewhere are coming here right now and asking, "where can we go to pray?" Union Square provided a sacred space for a little while,but right now there is not one dedicated to this where people can be together in that way.

A.M.

I think the Twin Towers should be rebuilt as they were, with the addition of an extra floor on top of each building as memorial places to those who were murdered.
A.M.

Celeste

I know many people who worked at the WTC and others who work at other very tall buildings in NYC and all of them agree they would refuse to go into a building more than 50 floors. I think you'll run into a lot of that if you try to rebuild 110 story buildings.

One eerie thing: When I was downtown at night recently, I glanced at the site and I swear I saw the towers for just an instant. I looked back at my niece and she had the same shocked look on her face, and said she had just seen the towers for an instant.

I guess buildings can have ghosts, too.