Old, but sad stuff.

The Lower Manhattan generator plant (7 WTC) will be rebuilt -- but:
Meanwhile discussions are continuing between the various groups and committees as to the eventual form the reconstruction of the WTC site will take. While the building at No. 7 will be slightly smaller than the original, it will have the same basic format, while no one has seriously proposed rebuilding the two 110 story WTC towers as they were before Sept. 11.
(Source)

Larry wants to rebuild, but:
Larry A. Silverstein, the developer who holds the lease on the World Trade Center, met with Mayor-elect Michael R. Bloomberg yesterday and said afterward that he would go ahead with plans to rebuild at the site, probably with new towers reaching about half as high as the ones destroyed on Sept. 11. He also said groundbreaking at 7 World Trade Center would begin in 2002.
(Source)

Also from Pravda:
Larry Silverstein is at the head of the consortium that leased the WTC buildings several weeks before the New York tragedy. Formally, the buildings belong to New York and of New Jersey Harbour Consulting. The leasing costs 3.2 billion dollars. According to Silverstein, the consortium intends to rebuild the WTC buildings. However, for the time being, it is not known how this new WTC will look. It is only clear that it will not be as high as the 110-storey twins. Silverstein believes that 50 storeys will be enough. He cannot yet say how many buildings will be built, two or more. The complex of new buildings will also include a memorial to the victems of the tragedy. However, Silverstein has no doubt that new buildings will appear on the spot of the terrorist act. Most Americans believe that any other decision would signify surrender to the terrorists.
(Source)

Many Visions for WTC Site
Tuesday, December 18, 2001
(3:05 AM ET)
By Greg Gitttich & Eric Herman
The Hudson Tubes

Silverstein, in the meantime, is fighting another battle, trying to win $7 billion in insurance payments that will enable him to rebuild. "It's not his thing to build anyway he wants, and we all know that," Gargano said. "There's going to have to be consensus, cooperation between many, many people."

In the first days after Sept. 11, it all seemed so simple. In defiant tones, politicians and planners declared that the twin towers must be rebuilt. Anything else was unthinkable. "Our skyline will rise again," Mayor Giuliani vowed. Developer Larry Silverstein, who controlled the World Trade Center, vowed to build four shorter, 50-story towers. "We have an obligation to replace this," Silverstein said three months ago.

But as the impact of the catastrophe sank in, other voices clamored to be heard. Hesitations arose about rebuilding on a space many considered to be hallowed ground. One such voice belonged to Monica Iken. Iken's husband, Michael, died in Tower 2, and his remains have not been recovered. The 31-year-old widow from Riverdale, the Bronx, has started her own group, September's Mission, whose goal is "to make sure that we take that land and turn it into a peaceful sanctuary for our loved ones," she said. "We need a place to go, because I don't have any closure. I have nothing," Iken said.

The site of the first battle of what President Bush called the first war of the 21st century is becoming a battlefield of a different sort. Already, people are lining up with claims of controlling what happens there.

* The Contenders
* Push to Rebuild
* Consensus Is His Mission
(More: A Geocities Site News Source)
2002 © The Hudson Tubes.

I can accept Ms. Iken‘s grief, but I refuse to agree that this ship simply must go down with the captain.

Rebuild, Mr. Silverstein -- and rebuild soon,
Dan