Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 21:07:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Louis Epstein Subject: WTC Rebuilding #234:Hearings,Rally,Financial Clarifications QUICK ACTION ALERT: http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pub THIS POLL NEEDS YES VOTES! We need to show the world we're not afraid of building TALL! Hearings were held yesterday on the "Draft Scope of Generic Environmental Impact Statement" for the official WTC redevelopment plans. Over nine out of ten seats in the auditorium were empty...I estimate about 75 people attended the afternoon session and 60 the evening session. Both of them began after and ended before the scheduled time. 26 people(including me) spoke at the afternoon session,19 at the evening before four people who had spoken in the afternoon spoke again. The shootings at City Hall definitely held down press coverage, Newsday is the only paper that I know ran a story.Pro-rebuilders were a definite presence at both sessions,had we had more people we could have dominated the discussion. Our opponents were there in force too,of course...veteran Tower-knocker Rick Bell of the American Institute of Architects introduced a tag team from New York New Visions who got around the 3-minute limit by addressing different pieces of NYNV's organized plea for something less impressive (but including the pit) to be built.(People spoke in the order they registered,generally).Libeskind was not there,but seemed to have sent his cheerleaders.A few other anti-Towers types also spoke out against the "restoration alternative" most pro-rebuilders championed. Diane Horning and Monica Iken spoke at the afternoon session...Horning of course wanting ashes brought back to the pit,and Iken insisting that ten or twelve million,not the projected five million,people a year would visit the memorial.(That the number would inevitably and steadily decline,she never mentioned,of course!) Iken and others mentioned the officials' compression of the environmental review process(it normally takes three years,one said,while they are trying to get it done in one).This is all to suit Pataki's political timetable,of course...we can derail it if we stand firm. A timeline was handed out that said the "Final Scope" is due out next month,and apparently there will be no hearing on it...the "Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement" is due out in November...and the final GEIS is scheduled for March.There appears to be no plan for an "Environmental Impact Statement" that is not "Generic",and some of those who spoke questioned this omission. The lack of people who showed up in person at the hearing is probably mirrored in the number of people who have sent in written comments at this stage.This makes it all the more important that EVERYONE TAKE TIME TO WRITE AND SEND IN COMMENTS!! Read the document,and send your reactions to LMDC Public Comment on the Draft Scope WTC GEIS One Liberty Plaza,20th Floor New York,New York 10006 They MUST RECEIVE it by the close of business August 4th,so send it days before that. I will be writing my own commentaries in the days after the rally (see below for more on the rally) and as before will circulate them to the list and post them on the WTCRM website,so you'll be able to take talking points from them. As I have said,the most important things to put in comments are: 1)play up the environmental drawbacks of the pit and the street grid restoration,which are both things that are central to the Libeskind plan. (There were a number of people protesting running traffic through the site who weren't even pro-rebuilders).Pollution,pedestrian hazards,weather in the depressed pit...attack any effort to soft-pedal these. 2)Praise the "restoration alternative" and demand that it be taken seriously rather than treated as a "straw man"...insist that it assume modern technologies are used in building new twin towers,the past 35 years of technology being applied to ameliorating any environmental problems that were there before. I have said before that the appeal by Agustin Ramos for a lawsuit about broken promises and incompetence seems doomed to fail...public officials do this all the time and there are no laws against it as such."We'll listen to what you want" doesn't preclude a "We're the experts and have decided that what you want is impossible" followup. HOWEVER...this "restoration alternative" is I believe a legal requirement where environmental impact studies are done for something after an act of destruction,natural or manmade.Putting things back the way they were has to be weighed against any proposed replacement.And IF they try to rig the competition by alleging the environmental effects are more favoranble to the proposed alternative compared to restoration than is really the case...they MAY have broken the law and provide grounds for a suit. The more voices they get demanding a credible evaluation of the "restoration alternative" the better...and perhaps the sooner we can get them back onto the path of HOW to reincarnate the WTC as something strongly in the spirit of what was there before,not WHETHER to,let alone the present intent of how NOT to. We will need to repeat these commentaries at future stages, never ceasing to nudge them further in the direction of our goals. Jonathan Hakala got to close the evening session,having spoken at the afternoon session.On this occasion he did not press for reconstructed giant towers,though he highlighted problems of not reconstructing giant towers.But he delivered a very telling characterization of the reasons for the very low turnout...that many people have given up on trying to get through to the officials after the way previous stages of the process have been handled. THAT IS WHAT THE ANTI-REBUILDERS WANT...FOR US TO GIVE UP...BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY WAY THEY CAN POSSIBLY DEFEAT US!! I have made this point many times since the start of our efforts. John Whitehead wanted to bury our cause with his pronouncement of a consensus against us in January 2002...all that proved was that he was listening to the wrong people. We must NEVER believe that our opponents have won...but keep contradicting them until they have to stop pretending.We must KEEP raising OUR voices until our opponents fall silent. After speaking,Hakala made a very important prediction...that the attendance at our RALLY SATURDAY would be larger than that at the official environmental hearings. We have to make this come true! Rally preparations are proceeding...a lectern has been delivered, flyers are being handed out,speech drafts being prepared.Just BE THERE AND GET OTHERS TO ATTEND AS WELL! My last message on financial appeals may have given a wrong impression on Team Twin Towers that I'm happy to correct at their request.They are a tax-exempt 501c4 organization,they are NOT required to send lists of contributors to the IRS the way a 501c3 or 509a1 organization would be.I was simply referring to their having obtained a tax status that is subject to regulation. With regard to means of funding WTCRM efforts,email list member Christopher Beau of artsymphony.com has offered half the proceeds of list price sales of his "Downtown #1" print...give it a look and see what you think. Two WTCRM members have Paypal accounts that could be used to accept donations...but how many email list emmbers have this service,which requires you to register a credit card with the website?...how many of you there are may determine whether this option is worth pursuing. Lift every voice and press the cause ahead,people... 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.