Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2005 21:23:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: Louis Epstein 
Subject: WTC Rebuilding #354:Tunnel Abandoned,Another Letter-Score


The main "event" since the last time I wrote you is the
abandonment of the West Street tunnel project,an expensive
effort to make the Libescheme look better that Pataki had
been determined to ram through despite alienating the local
residents and businesses.

Peter Walukiewicz sent me a link to the Daily News article,
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/299823p-256708c.html
and Joe Wright sent me text from the NY Times article.

The Coalition to Save West Street sent a "Victory Day" message,
though they had preferred the "No Build Alternative" and I think
the best solution is somewhere between the "No Build" and "At
Grade",in the direction of the pre-2001 layout.

The tunnel and the proposed "At-Grade Alternative" both served
to move the road westward,off the slurry wall (REMEMBER...for all
that Libeskind thought the exposed crumbling slurry wall a cool
artistic statement of how effective Osama's boys were,it was NEVER
part of the WTC site,it was part of the state highway right-of-way
and under traffic on 9/11/2001).

Now of course we have to dispose of the rest of Pataki's bad ideas.

We scored another hard shot on the NY Post letters page:
http://nypost.com/postopinion/letters/23184.htm
leads off with more of Jim O'Neill's letter (he cc'ed me the whole)
than I thought they would print,and EVERYONE who wrote in was willing
to work on the top floors...they didn't even print the letters from
me or Jonathan Hakala).

Their opinion pages haven't QUITE gotten the message,though:
http://nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/42639.htm
is an editorial that expresses relief Pataki has done something to
move forward,and says how America is looking to New York to show
resilience...and then urges continuing with the anti-resilience
Libescheme.

http://nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/42623.htm
is a piece by Steve Cuozzo talking about the need to move
forward and the problems the Fraud'em Tower faces...and again
he says to go ahead with it.

Please...we NEED to keep beating this horse until the people who
said it was dead flee in fear from its signs of life...we have to
tell them (letters@nypost.com) that moving forward means SCRAPPING
the Libeskind plan IMMEDIATELY!

The problems it has will be best dealt with by switching to a plan
CENTERED ON NEW TWIN TOWERS.And there's no escaping the advantages
of that!

I continue to hear that some of you have received a new environmental
document with a May 6 comment deadline...I have not.I will investigate,
perhaps the lapse on their part means we can delay things further.

KEEP ON FIGHTING,KEEP ON WRITING!!

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.