A Proposal for Ground Zero
Today it was announced (free registration required) that, almost four years after terrorists destroyed the most visible symbols of American commerce, the signature building planned for that sacred ground is again on hold. Having just read the harrowing 102 Minutes, believe me when I say that I have no quarrels with the stated cause of the delay, security concerns. What I do have a problem with is that we are having this conversation now, still, four years later. In the timespan of America’s entire ‘official’ participation in World War II, we have not even broke ground; hell, we haven’t even signed off on the plan!
Where do I get the nerve to say we? After all, Larry Silverstein has the lease, the Port Authority owns the land, I’m not on the board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, and I don’t even live in New York State, much less NYC itself.
I say we because it is we that own that land. Ground Zero is now as much a part of every American as the blood-soaked fields of Gettysburg, the majestic Grand Canyon, or the breathtakingly solemn Lincoln Memorial. For better or worse, our national identity is contained in every square inch of that ground. We own it, all of us, New Yorker or not, and we own it in a more fundamental way than mere dollars can convey.
So let’s make it official. Let’s buy it, all of us, and take Silverstein and the insurance companies off the hook. Real estate experts are questioning the need for office space in that part of Manhattan, and security concerns are causing potential tenants to shy away from even being near the new site. The current redevelopment plan envisions a cost of $12 billion. Silverstein is owed $4.6 billion by the insurance companies. They’ve payed him $1.9 billion.
So we give the insurers an even $2 billion for their troubles, $3 billion to Silverstein (he’ll be quite happy, I suspect), and spend another $7 billion converting the area into the 9/11 Memorial National Park. The War in Iraq will probably cost $200 billion, at least, before all is said and done. I’m not saying it isn’t worth it; I believe it is. $12 billion is not a lot of money in an economy the size of the United States. In fact, if we divide that by a low estimate of 200 million taxpayers, it’s $60 a pop. $60, to make this holy ground a sanctuary for generations to come.
Duly noted. It is, as are most others, a touchy issue.
Fargus, I think my point is being missed; of course, you’re right, the land belongs to who it belongs to; that’s why I’m proposing the U.S. buy it, to make the legal ownership match the symbolic one. The commercial space lost has evidently not impacted the NY real estate market in the slightest, as evidenced by Silverstein’s inability to find a single tenant thus far.
Good points all. My take is I don’t think many would feel comfortable living or doing business upon the grave of so many, more so given the significance. By comparison, Dresden and Hamburg was rebuilt, but the “gravesite” is ambigious.
Aside from the specter of a towering ghost town, the symbolism of that patch of ground makes it a prime target.
Let’s just call it a national hallowed ground and move on. For Silberstein and investors, there’s plenty of money to be made with the payoff, move on.
On another track, the thot of rebuilding on the site is akin to raising the titanic in order to rebuild it as the next flagship of commerce.
I dunno, I still feel a little murky about that. If a terrorist killed my family at home and the house went to me, would it then be the government’s job to buy my familial home and make it into a memorial? I guess I feel like we ought to be able to remember history without the need to turn everything into a memorial.
And there’s also been quite a bit of controversy just about the whole design of the place sucking pretty badly. I mean, that could have something to do with the reluctance of potential tenants.
I respectfully disagree. Symbolically, that day will always be with us. Actually, the land belongs to who it belongs to, and there was a tremendous amount of commercial space lost in the events of that day. The event was not just directed toward the owners of the property, but that doesn’t mean that they’ve forfeited their ownership of the property, symbolically or otherwise.
And I really don’t think that remembering 9/11 would be a problem, evene if the site wasn’t solely dedicated to a memorial.
Let me just say why I make the proposal in the first place – if the commercial office space is unfilled, and Silverstein goes belly up (and these are very real possibilities, it’s not just bad design – people have been widely quoted as cancelling projects in the vicinity, not even part of the design, because of security), we’re going to have a huge, empty quite literal tomb of an office complex at the sight of the most significant event of my lifetime. I don’t think that’s a very inspiring outcome.
Not touchy at all. Sticky, okay! Like any web we walk on … and spiders use their webs to let them know when a meal is available.
What is going on here is government and capitalist sycophants at their worst.
We should all recall the children’s swing built by committee.
Well put and I agree.
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