Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 09:19:30 -0400 (EDT) From: Louis Epstein Subject: WTC Rebuilding #362:Trump and Pataki in Action TODAY! I didn't expect action on the rebuilding scene to suddenly be this frantic...apologies to those of you who wish these emails were rarer. But last night two more things happened...I learned that Donald Trump would be on the Hardball show TONIGHT,not sure if he will hit the Twin Towers issue;and Pataki came up with the latest plan to ram his bad ideas into reality. I get the image of a jockey on a two-legged horse savagely applying a whip while a fit and popular champion remains locked in the starting gate and a big Belmont Park crowd looks on in disgust...but with Pataki making the rules that's what you get. There is a story in the NY Times by Jennifer Steinhauer, I have not seen the text,while the post has http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/23989.htm on the topic. I have not spotted a Daily News story. Basically,while promoting a "Leave Manhattan Destroyed Committee" vice president (Stefan Pryor) to replace Rampe,Pataki is putting longtime crony John Cahill,his personal chief of staff,over the heads of the Port Authority (hey,isn't New Jersey supposed to have an equal say there?),the development corporation,AND the MTA in order to stick to the mission of giving NO ONE time to undo Pataki's mistakes. This was leaked to the papers by Pataki aides in advance of a speech Pataki is supposed to give today...I don't know where or I'd advise picketing! On the Trump front,Cecil Shepherd actually sent me the text of Nicole Gelinas's Post Op-Ed: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 06:04:26 -0400 From: Cecil Shepherd Subject: Story from NYPOST.COM from Cecil Shepherd TRUMP & THE TOWERS By NICOLE GELINAS DONALD Trump has built much of modern New York. But on the most im portant building project ever -- the quest to repair New York's smashed heart and broken skyline -- Trump's hands are tied. Nevertheless, Trump is New York's only hope. Gov. Pataki and his minions have refused to listen to New Yorkers and Americans, and do the right thing at Ground Zero. Gotham's last best chance to repair Downtown's legacy is if Pataki will listen to Trump. Trump said it straight in last week's Post: "I think the World Trade Center should be rebuilt on the site, only stronger and a little bit taller." Since then, he's been deluged -- not with criticism for daring to touch the new third rail of New York politics, but with near-unanimous support . And desperate pleas for help. "I've received literally hundreds of letters, saying rebuilding the towers is so right and what they're building is so wrong," Trump told me yesterday. "I don't think I've ever had more people comment on something . . . people are clamoring for this. Not one person has said the idea's wrong . . . if you did a referendum, it would be 98 percent." But Pataki still seems hell-bent on getting his skeletal Freedom Tower up into the sky -- so that those who look at Manhattan's skyline would see only an empty symbol of defeat. New Yorkers have gotten a few weeks' reprieve from the Freedom Tower. It's now back to the drawing board again -- partly because, as originally designed, it was structurally unsound. ("Buildings need floors," Trump said, "It's an important structural element.") But -- barring a miracle over the next few weeks -- the latest version of the Freedom Tower will still be a 70-story office building topped by at least 600 feet of false angles and empty space. So the building still won't offer any spectacular views of Manhattan -- unless you're an adventurous pigeon. And that "skyline element" that's meant to symbolize New York's defeat over terrorists? It can't even hold its own physical weight. "If we build this pile of rubbish, the terrorists will have won," Trump told me. Not very diplomatic -- but diplomacy isn't what's called for in an emergency. "The last thing the World Trade Center needs to look like after what happened is a skeleton," he said. "It's a bad signal to build a building that's not really a building." But Trump, uncharacteristically, is chained. "I would love to do something," he told me. "But it's not my site." (And, every time he talks about this, Trump is sure to note that he's good friends with WTC leaseholder Larry Silverstein -- and that the Freedom Tower wasn't Silverstein's idea.) It's a shame -- and Pataki's refusal to accept Trump's advice on behalf of the New Yorkers who would gratefully accept it is shameful. Trump has real ideas for the new World Trade Center -- and the experience to execute them. First off, Trump isn't embarrassed to say he misses the Twin Towers -- unlike the other elites who make decisions in this town. "There is no more practical design than the World Trade Center," Trump said. "I was never a great fan of the World Trade Center until it came down," he admits, "but I and everyone else miss it. It was truly beautiful." One of the obstacles to building new Twin Towers has always been the perception of safety. But, as Trump notes, we're not rebuilding the same towers: We're building them stronger. For example: A new WTC can use "space-age" concrete rather than steel for added structural support. Structural support also means 21st- century fire-prevention and -suppression techniques. Trump certainly hasn't abandoned building real skyscrapers at his sites because he's afraid people won't work in them -- he's now building a 92-story tower in Chicago. The Donald (or any developer willing and able to do the right thing) could build new Twin Towers right -- and Trump would feel comfortable sending a family member to work there. Is it only Pataki who refuses to build big now? Trump has a plea for Gov. Pataki -- really a plea from all the New Yorkers who can't speak directly to the governor: "I would say to Gov. Pataki, you're a friend of mine . . . and I think the greatest thing you can do now is to reincarnate the World Trade Center in a stronger and slightly taller form. I think it would be the most popular thing you've done, and your greatest achievement." Some people -- actually, just Daniel Libeskind -- have accused Trump of speaking out because he wants his name on the towers. Nonsense -- Trump has actually risked much by speaking out. He has to deal with the governor, the mayor and fellow developers to get anything done in this town -- but he obviously believes that New Yorkers' skyline is important enough to eclipse those concerns. "I have my name on enough buildings," he said, "but I don't want to see the skyline destroyed." MSNBC has reported that Pataki has told Ground Zero planners that they must start building something -- anything -- soon, just to get the critics off his back. But what Pataki doesn't understand is this: New Yorkers aren't furious just because the Freedom Tower is late. They are furious because the Freedom Tower is horrible. And they're furious that nobody but Trump -- not Mayor Bloomberg, not Hillary Clinton, not Chuck Schumer and on and on -- is brave enough to say the obvious: The emperor has no clothes. And they won't forgive Pataki if he forsakes the Twin Towers to force his tower on their skyline. "People will be happy to wait," Trump said. But time is running out. "When these buildings get built, we've won. When those buildings get built, the terrorists have won." ---------- Forwarded message ---------- We have another letter there as well: http://nypost.com/postopinion/letters/23953.htm I am unable to get the Hardball broadcast here (tried to tune it in but satellite was no go) so I will look for the transcript tomorrow. If Trump voices our views again,SEND HIM MORE SUPPORT...address in email #360...and any news coverage of pro-Towers stuff from Trump OR of Pataki's plan to ram through his garbage in the name of "build SOMETHING no matter how bad" needs LETTERS FROM AS MANY OF YOU AS POSSIBLE TO THE MEDIA OUTLETS! Make clear we want GIANT NEW TOWERS,not the Libescheme! Joe Wright and Larry Russo have gotten recognized at http://cbsnewyork.com/kirtzmanquestions/ (thanks to Larry for alerting me). And a third thing that came up last night after I sent #361: Joy Goldberg is seeking to get a gathering of New York area pro-rebuilders together at a Chinese restaurant on 97th Street at 4:30 PM on May 22nd. Those interested can reach her at jgcitygin@aol.com. KEEP ON FIGHTING! -=-=- The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again, at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.