Families' plea over WTC plans

By Steve Schifferes BBC News Online, New York

How will the victims will be honoured?

The deadline for applications to design a memorial to the people killed in the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Center closes on Monday with the victims' families still expressing deep concern over the plans.

Thousands of proposed designs from around the world have been received by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) in their high-rise offices just opposite the World Trade Center site, with a selection of five finalists due in September.

The design will form a key part of the larger memorial site at Ground Zero.

These include the "footprints" of the two towers which came crashing down on 11 September, 2001, and a new 1776-foot high tower, all designed by Daniel Libeskind, who was named last February as the overall site architect.

What a shame if commerce were to be more important than the memorial to the victims Lee Ielpi, Coalition of 9/11 Families

The President of the LMDC, Kevin Rampe, told BBC News Online that he had reserves of $1.1bn to pay for the memorial and for related public buildings surrounding the area.

He expects to raise even more from private contributions and foreign government donations.

He said that the site's redevelopment was now making rapid progress, with the completion of a temporary station for PATH subway trains from New Jersey due in a few weeks.

And the LMDC is expected to announce shortly that it wants proposals for a cultural centre surrounding the memorial site.

Controversial design

But even before memorial design closes, the organisation that represents the victims' families have expressed reservations about the memorial plan.

The dramatic Libeskind plan captured public imagination

Lee Ielpi is a retired firefighter who lost a son, Jonathan at the WTC.

Jonathan was among the hundreds of firefighters who rushed to the site after the towers were hit.

Mr Ielpi worked on the site, trying to locate victims' remains, for months. He then helped start the Coalition of 9/11 families.

The Coalition played an influential role in public hearings in persuading the LMDC to abandon its original site plans, and adopt Mr Libeskind's vision instead.

As Mr Ielpi walked around the site, he explained his fear that other pressures are encroaching on the original memorial design.

In particular, the families are upset that the new memorial park will not go down to bedrock, some 70 feet below ground level, where many of the remains were found.

And they say that the Port Authority, which owns the land, is now proposing a bus garage on part of the site, and that the PATH train station is encroaching on the footprint of the South Tower.

Mr Ielpi told BBC News Online: "What a shame if commerce became more important than the memorial."

The families have become so concerned that they journeyed to Washington last week to urge Congress to designate the WTC site as a national historic site to preserve it for posterity.

And they say they have gained the support of key New York Senators, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, for their campaign, as well as former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Balancing act

Mr Rampe says that the LMDC is trying to meet the concerns of the victims' families, but that he faces a difficult balancing attack to reconcile competing demands.

The constant tension has been how to design an appropriate memorial that recognises the enormity of the events that took place here, while recognising the needs of local residents and businesses to restore the area's economic vibrancy Kevin Rampe, President, Lower Manhattan Development Corp

He told the BBC that it was practical reasons - the difficulty of supporting the surrounding walls - that led them to decide to build the memorial higher up.

But he said that some parts of the retaining wall will still be fully exposed.

And he said that, at the request of New York Governor George Pataki, who ultimately controls the LMDC, they were reconsidering the bus garage site, but they were concerned about how to accommodate the 10 million potential annual visitors to the WTC site.

The site redevelopment plan also faces commercial pressures from the owner of the destroyed WTC buildings, Larry Silverstone, who was recently reported to have said he was not necessarily committed to Mr Libeskind's skyscraper design.

But Mr Rampe told the BBC he had been assured by Mr Silverstone that he would be using Mr Libeskind as a consultant on his rebuilding plans.

Mr Rampe - who was just confirmed as president on the LMDC in March - said he was involved in a difficult balancing act.

"The constant tension has been how to design an appropriate memorial that recognises the enormity of the events that took place here, while recognising the needs of local residents and businesses to restore the area's economic vibrancy."

The families and the people of New York won an important victory when the original design concept was changed.

But there is no doubt that there will be many more battles to come before the site redevelopment is complete.

Read a selection of your comments below.

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The ultimate question should be is it OK to mix a memorial with a commercial space? Because as long as you try, there will be people who are displeased with how it turns out. I think we should put more emphasis on one or the other. Certainly the families and all Americans deserve a space to reflect and remember. But at the same time, lower Manhattan needs an emphasis on rebuilding because it is struggling economically to stay afloat at the moment.
Robert Highsmith, New York, USA

Are we sure the terrorists didn't win? Stephen Byrne, USA

What happened to designing buildings with art and engineering in mind? Now we are too worried about what people are going to think and who is going to be upset. Are we sure the terrorists didn't win?
Stephen Byrne, USA

As someone who often enjoyed driving down to the beach at night to look at the city skyline, I really think the new design is beautiful. I hope they stay true to it. Maybe yes, it doesn't mesh perfectly with the existing structures around it, but perhaps that's part of what will make it so special. The tallest tower looks especially striking and inspiring. I think the fact that it is so different will make it easy to pick out the site once again along the horizon, as a permanent stark reminder that 'we will never forget'.
Karin P., New Jersey, USA

I think this design does not reflect the opinion of the majority of New York, this design is a true "cop out"!
We need to rebuild bigger and better to show the terrorists and the world that you cannot defeat freedom or the people of New York City the greatest city in the world.
George Howley, New York, NY

All the proposed plans look horrible. They do not go with the rest of downtown New York. The authorities should simply rebuild the World Trade Center EXACTLY as it was before. Enough of this nonsense.
Jonathan T. Sternberg, USA

No doubt about it. Commercial interests will win.
Why? Because nothing else matters in America. Profit before .... errrrr... what were those other things?
Brian, Spain

There must be a real memorial, not simply a symbolic one Richard Namon, USA

If the whole site were to be used as a memorial to the many who perished there, I would say the enemy had been victorious. To change our way of living around or utilizing this important commercial site would represent defeat.
Yet, it would be totally insensitive and inappropriate to ignore the loss of those who died there - both to those who were personally connected, and to our society as a whole... There must be a real memorial, not simply a symbolic one.
Richard Namon, USA

The site should be marked by a garden and that is all. In amongst all the office blocks it will be a reminder to who fragile we are and how unbelievable callous the human being can be, especially where religion is used as the excuse for murder.
Duncan, UK

Isn't commerce (a.k.a. the future of our country) more important than a memorial? Does a wall do the soldiers who passed away in Vietnam adequate justice?
I think we'd all be better off to dwell on the future while we learn from the past. A memorial is necessary, but let's remember what those people died for.
Justin Carlton, USA

The nitty-gritty of the plans for the WTC site really strike me inside as clashing with the solemnity of the tragedy itself. Shall it be a cemetery, a shopping mall, or both?
And when thinking on it, I always find myself asking: Are we to have the WTC site be in the Land of the Living, or in the Land of the Dead?
Kevin S., New Jersey, USA

I recently visited New York City and was driven past the WTC site in a cab. To me, it is the open space that makes the most powerful and memorable statement about what happened there. I hope that no skyscrapers are built; just a ground level memorial.
David Lark, USA

The events of September 11 were tragedies in the extreme, and I believe no memorial can adequately capture the memories of all those lost on that fateful day.
But the attempt itself is something of a testament to the victims, and so I believe that money and commerce concerns should be of absolutely no consequence in this the construction of this monument.
Gareth D. MacLeod, Canada

I understand how the families feel. But, there has to be a lot of underground structure to keep the new tower from shifting . The last thing America needs is more dead people on the same spot.
Pat Carson, USA