Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 20:43:18 -0400 (EDT) From: Louis Epstein Subject: WTC Rebuilding #202:Community Board Meeting,Museum Event,Etc Yesterday I attended the Community Board One meeting at which Libeskind made his presentation.The meeting was chaired by their WTC Site Committee chairman,a real estate operator with a clear interest in keeping his rents up by deferring the construction of new office space on the site...he allowed less public comment time than he promised,and Libeskind was able to duck pro-rebuilding questions.Generally speaking,with politician's instincts,no matter what he asked he gave the answers he wanted to give. He showed some previously unseen renderings,it's interesting that he shows museum buildings crossing both footprints...one wonders what the megamemorialists will say about that. Afterward I asked Libeskind what the occupied human space limit of his tall tower was,and interestingly he said 70 stories was as high as it was occupiable...he cited Silverstein's unwillingness to build higher.(I think pushing Bank of America may be our most productive avenue here...I should send the list a sample letter soon,for those who have yet to write them.The archived March 2nd 2003 email has the relevant addresses.) Technically,of course,the OHSL is the highest indoor level on which people can stand...and as he presently has it,that's his "115th floor" observation deck.I am interested in how it compares with the 1355 feet of the old WTC,the 1430 feet of the Sears Tower,the 1437 feet of the Taipei Financial Center(Taipei 101) to be finished next year,the 1465 feet of the CN Tower's Sky Pod,and the unannounced but probably higher ones of the Union Square MTR Tower and Shanghai WFC now building. I got no answer to this after spelling it out...Nina Libeskind just said "it's on the 115th floor,you do the math!" Now,you can't solve for X if it's 115 times Y and you get no value for Y! And of course,it's not on the 115th of a real series of uninterrupted actual floors that people can stand on each of,however far apart they are. Before the hearing I was interviewed by a Pace University student working on a downtown-revitalization project...and wound up getting two petition signatures.I hope we can complete some more sheets and send them to the relevant officials as a reminder that we're not going away. Afterward I spoke to a Nation reporter writing a book about the process, and gave him some background text and references to the WTCRM website. Jonathan Hakala was able to speak to some other journalists in attendance (they were few,and prominent antis/family-activists were absent...the bus garage the megamemorialists want to stop was supported at the meeting). I have deleted Jason Maeng from the email list after he did not listen to repeated requests on and off the list to stop reposting mailings to the NYCS board.Everyone who gets these emails has come out in favor of tall towers at the site in some way or other...we have no control over what antis may lurk at NYCS.What I send to this list is for known pro-rebuilders only until I archive it at http://www.put.com/wtc/archive.html and I want that respected! Tal Barzilai was at the meeting,and recently got into what has been called "Tal War III" on the NYCS board. I'm well aware that Tal's repetitions,non sequiturs,and oblivious blithering get on people's nerves...but please remember...any seat he fills at an event relevant to the rebuilding movement is a seat that Jack Lynch or Lee Ielpi CAN'T fill.And Tal-bashing and loudly proclaiming excommunications and anathemas against Tal don't help get the Towers back any more than his telling someone grieving that it's time to ignore his loss because Tal is from Israel. In my opinion moderators should kill repetitious and useless things he posts...but they should NOT a priori nuke everything he posts because he's the one posting it. Some of us have been in communication with the advocates for a memorial that distinguishes the rescue personnel...the official refusal to do this is a real opportunity in discrediting the official process.There is going to be a meeting on this issue in coming days. I got the following notice of an event this morning. NOTE THAT IT COSTS MONEY TO ATTEND AND ADVANCE RESERVATION IS NEEDED; but it appears to be a real opportunity to blast Garvin publicly for the inadequacy of the process he supervised...and publicly applaud building super-tall. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 03:48:16 -0400 From: Rayden Tron Subject: another event.. The Skyscraper Museum (www.skyscraper.org) is giving a symposium: Hong Kong/New York Skyscrapers in the Global City Cesar Pelli and William Pedersen will present the Hong Kong IFC2 and Kowloon Station Towers and other projects. "These super-tall towers - and others that are now, or will be, the world's tallest buildings - pose possible models for downtown New York." (This quote actually taken from the announcement! We might have a courageous change of heart occurring in the upper ranks of the Skyscraper Museum leadership! But wait...it gets better...) Following will be a discussion on the role of skyscrapers in global cities with LMDC planner Alexander Garvin as moderator. (Yes, these discussions do involve questions from the audience...and while Skyscraper Museum events draw a good crowd, the events are not typically packed to the rafters. I have good feelings about this one.) Monday, May 5th, 6:30 - 8:00 pm Lighthouse International Ames Auditorium, 111 East 59th St. between Lexington and Park Aves. RSVP to admin2@skyscraper.org or 212-968-1961 Students $5, Others $10, Skyscraper Museum Members free ---------- End forwarded message ---------- Anyone who wants to go to this,please let me know,as well as the Skyscraper Museum. See you on the 111th floor on 9-11-11! -=-=- The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again, at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.