Whenever I read the results of any poll, I automatically
wonder who commissioned it and whether the questions were skewed
to get a certain response. In other words, I don't trust polling
data. One thing is certain, however: The government never ran a
legitimate poll asking New Yorkers if they wanted the Twin Towers
rebuilt. That's because the powers that be can't deal with an
affirmative response. Instead what we had for nearly the past six
years was the very slow construction of a building nobody wanted.
Now, according to an article by Scott Raab in the July issue of
Esquire, this proposed edifice at ground zero is no longer to be
called the Freedom Tower. The Port Authority has quietly renamed
it One World Trade Center. If they start building Two World Trade
Center and the Twin Towers rise again, that will really be cause
for celebration. I wait with bated breath for proof that such
gumption exists in this city.
Recently I viewed pictures of the Pentagon immediately after the
attack in 2001 and the restored building just one year later.
Captain Troy Lipp of Maryland's Montgomery County Task Force One,
which conducted the search and rescue operations the day of the
attack, said the rapid progress of the Phoenix Project was
"incredible." He said that having the Pentagon repaired
so rapidly after undergoing such destruction, "is really a
testament to the resiliency of our country," and added,
"It's a great symbol for us, having this building rebuilt.
It means a lot to the whole country." Then Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld lauded the efforts of the construction
workers at a memorial service at the rebuilt Pentagon and said
that the repaired Pentagon sends a message to the world.
What message is being sent by the wounded skyline here in New
York? I seem to recall an offer by construction workers right
after September 11, 2001 to work for free to rebuild the Twin
Towers. They were ignored. Yet thousands of construction workers
at the Pentagon worked 24/7 in three different shifts to keep the
work going at full speed. At a press briefing March 7, 2002, the
renovation project manager, Lee Evey, told reporters that to many
of the workers, restoring the Pentagon as quickly as possible had
come to symbolize the nation's resolve to win the war against
global terrorism.
That resolve was nowhere in sight here in New York, where
Governor Pataki, the Port Authority and World Trade Center lease
holder Larry Silverstein battled over the reconstruction of the
site. Factor in the partisan politics along with protests by the
families of the victims and the will of the people was ignored as
well.
Richard Hughes, founding member and spokesman for the Twin Towers
Alliance, drafted an essay recently about how this inaction on
rebuilding shows how far we have fallen as a nation and the
failure of our leaders. He writes: "The failure to rebuild
the Twin Towers is the most glaring symptom of what may prove to
be a fatal disease - the increasing unwillingness of our
leadership class to think like Americans first and partisans
second. What has always saved us as a nation is that in times of
great trial, heroes have emerged from both the left and the right
to lead us out of danger. And in such times, we Americans, no
matter how divided we were on the surface, put aside our
differences to fight for what really mattered. And our leaders in
both parties did the same. Because they too recognized that we
cannot fight to make America better if there is no America to
make better in the first place."
The Twin Towers Alliance collected on their Web site
twintowersalliance.com the signatures of New Yorkers who want the
Towers rebuilt, bigger and better. I salute the determined
individuals who recognize the truth of what happened on September
11, 2001 and that the best course of action to defeat terrorism
would have been to rebuild the towers. This would have denied the
enemy what they regard as their biggest victory - destroying a
major symbol of our democracy.
According to that Esquire article, Governor Pataki was called the
Father of the Freedom Tower, but he's gone from office and I'm
hoping that our new governor, Eliot Spitzer, will take a fresh
look at a Twin Towers redux. Now that JPMorgan Chase has agreed
to relocate to the World Trade Center, others will follow. Ignore
the faux polls, rebuild the Towers and make them bigger and
better.