Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2003 21:31:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Louis Epstein Subject: WTC Rebuilding #237:Rally Report Yesterday was our rally. We started a little late,postponed in part by a cab hitting a rollerblader at the nearest corner about when we were supposed to start. Attendance was larger than the October rally but smaller than the November rally.I was glad to meet some people in person...Erik Weingold,Justin Berzon,Deroy Murdock,and others. We had a good list of speakers,including Rachel Snyder and Cherie Fernandez* who had not been planned but came up with good stuff on short notice.Jonathan Hakala keynoted again,Deroy Murdock showed up toward the end,and Joe Wright handled the introductions. *Rayden Tron Lawrence Shen showed up as the rally ended,and managed to hand out some copies of the flyer for his design.I am grateful to him for giving me a ride back to Grand Central afterward.Jason Maeng posted on the NYCS board that he was there,but I missed meeting him. Two women from Tulsa who stopped looking for a coffee shop when we were close to starting stayed for the rally and signed our petition. They told how the oversized Oklahoma City memorial has been a dead spot in the heart of that city. Gary Taustine did a video and has posted some pictures on his gramercynews.com site. News coverage was sparse,though not as sparse as we feared... the cameraman there with a NY1 credential gave WNBC (Channel 4) access to his footage,and though they lowballed our attendance as "about a dozen" and closed their broadcast with a recounting of the official line on how Libeskind had been selected, it's already brought at least one person who saw the story onto this email list. A Newsday reporter was there before the rally,I have not seen a story yet. NY 1 put the following story on their website...it makes us sound strictly Yamasaki-holic though I gave a speech about our architectural competition...I've sent them a correction inviting them to check it out. Will see if it brings us more attention. (this story quotes me at more length than WNBC showed of me on the air,I have not seen a NY1 broadcast...but omits my telling the interviewer of the exchange with Garvin I had as told in the February 28th list email...see http://www.put.com/wtc/archive.html) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Subject: On the NY1 website Group Rallies For Twin Towers To Be Rebuilt JULY 27TH, 2003 A group rallied outside City Hall Saturday to call for the twin towers to be replaced. A group calling itself the World Trade Center Restoration Movement is protesting the redevelopment plan by architect Daniel Libeskind, saying the design is not the public choice. The varied group of activists and business executives want the twin towers to be rebuilt as they were. "I think it's important that we restore them as they were -- only stronger -- as a way of saying no to Al Qaeda and that we remain a free and prosperous nation," said syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock. "Unfortunately, Daniel Libeskind's switch-blade park, as I call it, is a nightmare vision. It doesn't stand for what this country does in term of our economic strength and prowess. I think the best way to just say no to Al Qaeda is to put the towers back where they belong." Libeskind's design, including the world's tallest tower and a sunken space for a memorial that preserves the empty look of the site, was chosen after a period of public comment by a committee organized by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. "All the way along," said Louis Epstein, the founder of the World Trade Center Restoration Movement, "the officials have not been listening to people except for show. They have their preconceived notions, and they're not prepared to do what we really have to do. And we are not going to let them get away with it." The group also wants restoration of all commercial office and retail space that was destroyed in the World Trade Center attack. http://www.ny1.com/ny/TopStories/SubTopic/ index.html?topicintid=1&subtopicintid=1&contentintid=32002 ---------- End forwarded message ---------- Note that we are not encouraging massive protests to Silverstein at this time.Rumor has reached me that Silverstein has all WTC-related correspondence trashed now...they don't want to hear from pro-rebuilders. 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.