Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review Feb. 19, 2003 / 17 Adar I 5763

Deroy Murdock

Deroy Murdock
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


"Standing Tall" plan lets Twin Towers soar again



http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | NEW YORK The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation on February 4 chose Studio Daniel Libeskind and THINK Designs as semi-finalists in its quest for a new World Trade Center. With its pointed, sharp angles, Libeskind's project is a high-rise knife attack. I hereby christen it Switchblade Park. Though less threatening, THINK's lattice-work structures filled with cultural institutions eerily resemble skeletal remains of the deceased skyscrapers.

Alas, both ideas shrink beside that of Northwestern University's Justin Berzon. He has created the seemingly impossible: a concrete plan to revive the Twin Towers in a way that should please the various constituencies jockeying over the future of Ground Zero.

Berzon practically suspended his studies at the Medill School of Journalism and buried himself in architectural maps and satellite photos of the WTC's 16 acres. He then crafted an incredibly elegant and simple solution to the rebuilding challenge.

Berzon's "Standing Tall" proposal (online at justinberzon.com) moves the Towers from the WTC site's west and southwest portions to its northeast corner. That simple shift makes way for nearly everything that various groups ask of the site: untouched footprints of both Towers, a reopened Greenwich Street, memorial and museum space, a transportation hub and room, Berzon says, for some 90 percent of the real estate that al-Qaeda demolished.

Interestingly enough, "Standing Tall" both asks something of and offers something to almost everyone involved in the WTC's renaissance. They should be able to embrace this compromise enthusiastically.

  • Restoration purists will have to relinquish our position that the World Trade Center return exactly as it was, as if the FBI had prevented the 9-11 attack. In exchange for vacant footprints, we will revel as the Twin Towers soar to their former glory.

  • Families of 9-11 victims will have to accept new Towers. For some, this will recall the worst day of their lives. Conversely, they will be relieved to see the footprints preserved as a memorial to their loved ones.

  • Grid enthusiasts will see Greenwich Street dog-leg slightly to the west past the new Tower One. In turn, they will applaud the reconnection of this north-south artery.

  • The Port Authority receives a transit facility, although most likely a subterranean one rather than an above-ground landmark.

  • Developer Larry Silverstein leased the World Trade Center when Rudy Giuliani privatized it in July 2001. He will see his Towers resurrected, although above the 65- to 70-story limit beyond which he has safety concerns. Meanwhile, he would recover nearly all of his commercial floor space.

Berzon, a native Manhattanite who last year lived near Ground Zero, speaks passionately about the WTC.

"Even though we have photos and footage of the Twin Towers, how will future generations understand the true scale of what was lost on September 11?" he asks. "The only true salve that might heal this hurting city requires 200,000 tons of steel and concrete. We must rebuild the Twins."

Berzon challenges the Towers' critics. "Ask yourself this: 'Would you, right now, give anything to have them back if someone said they could be back tomorrow?' There's your answer."

Americans who want the Twins to rise again should speak up for "Standing Tall," Justin Berzon's serious, practical vision to reinstate the Twin Towers and satisfy the myriad voices concerned with what emerges from Ground Zero.

Enjoy this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


JWR contributor Deroy Murdock is a columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and a Media Fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. Send your comments by clicking here.

Up

11/04/03: Key victories on Tuesday would fortify the American right
10/17/02: BARCELONA DIARIST: Bombs in Bali blow away all excuses for terrorists' evil
10/06/02: High Court should overturn NJ's stunning disdain for Constitution
10/03/02: New Jersey Dems treat election law like Kleenex
09/03/02: WANTED: ONE EYEWITNESS TO HISTORY
08/21/02: Add Saudis to new INS fingerprint/photo program
07/23/02: Federal official finally pays for 9-11-related ineptness
07/08/02: Olympic truce could give peace a chance
03/07/02: Bush should scrap the 30% raw materials tax
03/05/02: "RINO" Riordan fades as Simon surges
01/16/02: FDNY chisels away the truth
05/04/01: Saving the bald eagle v. saving millions of lives
04/26/01: Poking holes in 'education reform' rhetoric
04/20/01: The barons of pork and the harm they do
04/13/01: The impunity of federal agents
04/06/01: Why I boycott the cult of the New York Times
03/30/01: A sure way to prevent prison escapes
03/23/01: This American life: Taxing everything from womb to the tomb
03/16/01: Free-speech solution to campaign reform
03/09/01: The needed separation of race and state
02/23/01: GOP turncoats
02/16/01: Marc Rich scandal eclipses other shady pardons
02/09/01: Say goodnight, Jesse
02/02/01: Waiting in vain for the Clintons' final insult
01/31/01: Jesse Jackson's Church of Instant Forgiveness
01/30/01: Domestic relations
01/18/01: Team Bush blocks golden opportunity for Ashcroft to address conservative black group
01/16/01: Alan Greenspan flies by the seat of his pants
12/15/00: The Right is too nice for its own good
12/06/00: The right not to vote at issue in Florida
11/16/00: Equality and fairness at issue in Florida fiasco
11/14/00: Florida officials use telepathy in prez ballot hand-count
11/13/00: Palm Beach's dazed and confused voters have no right to get it right

© 2003, Deroy Murdock. An extended version of this column appears on National Review Online.