Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 00:15:56 -0500 (EST) From: Louis Epstein Subject: WTC Rebuilding #281:The Hearing Approaches! ***************************************** *UNDER SIX DAYS TO THE CRITICAL HEARING!* ***************************************** FEBRUARY 18TH...at PACE UNIVERSITY...1 PM AND 6 PM! I will remind you all as it approaches that we MUST get every possible pro-rebuilder there to praise the "Restoration Alternative" and criticize the Draft GEIS attempts to make the Proposed Action sound better and the Restoration Alternative sound worse! Written comments also...as many as possible! Today incidentally was a hearing by the national investigation, held at the same site as the Team Twin Towers conference that will precede the hearing.(To attend one must reserve in advance by writing to info@teamtwintowers.org,as walk-ins will not be admitted).This is the Marriott Financial Center at 85 West Street. There will be a restorewtc.com java-chat at 9 PM Sunday,February 15th. Last weekend I attended a meeting of rejected memorial designers (according to http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/17824.htm the rejected designs for the official memorial plan will soon be on the web) looking to file a lawsuit against the officals in charge of the competition.While we share their opposition to the way the officials have handled the process and their desire to see its results vacated, we can't endorse stricter imposition of the unreasonable requirements that are themselves symptomatic of the official incompetence,for all that they were not administered honestly. I was pleased to finally correct the email address of someone there who I had met in an early petitioning session in 2002 and misspelled when I took it down ("jayj" became "jj" when I heard it). I also met Brooklyn pro-rebuilder Joy Goldberg,who noted that the Alternatives chapter of the Draft GEIS spells out that alternatives like the Restoration Alternative ARE open options,rather than the Libeskind eyesore.We need to pound on this on the 18th. (I have sent a letter to Larry Silverstein,as I recently urged you all to do...have you?) One of the meeting planners indicated that he had seen a reference that IF Silverstein DID agree to rebuild THE OLD WTC,his insurance coverage WOULD automatically give him all the money he needed,despite the current claims...I am not sure if this is true,but if it is it should turn on the screws if he doesn't get the double-attack money. The trial has started...http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/17608.htm tells of its beginning.Another story on the insurance trial is http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/wtc/nyc-bzwtc0210,0,2770031.story Maya Lin's potential conflicts of interest were raised at the meeting, and http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/17503.htm underlines her role in pushing through the approval of the Arad design(which bore a strong resemblance to an earlier proposal of her own).Her having been an unknown who beat the pros to design the Vietnam War Memorial (currently being closed for replacement of its lighting system) may make her an icon of "fair competition" to some,but here it's just not so. A new NY Times story indicates that the planners are finding it impossible to actually make the footprints the outlines of the pools in their selected plan.(Go to http://news.google.com/ and search on keywords including towers,pools,and footprints). Interestingly,according to the Newark Star Ledger,the activists pressing for moving of incinerated remains from Fresh Kills Landfill to the WTC site are now responding favorably to a proposal to move them to Ellis Island instead. The State Comptroller is looking into cost overruns on the WTC PATH station project,but this seems mainly outside our scope. 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.