‘The Designs Have Failed’ - WTC Families Reject Memorial Designs

[dArKeR]

BUT NONE OF the eight finalists’ designs for the 9/11 memorial at the World Trade Center site have what may be the most important aspect of all: the support of the victims’ families. “We want to stress that we appreciate the thought and integrity of each of the design finalists,” said Anthony Gardner, a board member of the Coalition of 9-11 Families who lost his brother Harvey Joseph Gardner III in the attacks, after viewing the images. “But we have deemed that all the designs have failed.”
The families’ low marks have little to do with the architects’ efforts but with the criteria imposed by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which is sponsoring the competition. The LMDC’s guidelines asked that each individual victim of the multiple hijacking attacks be recognized, that an area be set aside for quiet contemplation, another for families and loved ones, that an internment area be created for unidentified remains and that the “footprints” of the Twin Towers be made visible.

http://msnbc.com/news/995769.asp?0cl=c1

[mot78]

1. In my own heartfelt sympathy, I understand how they feel, however

the family activists are asking for too many concessions. From preserving bedrock, to a private area, their demands are getting absurd. They are not the only group involved in rebuilding Ground Zero, and they need to be more accomanating to others, like the residents and business owners nearby.
A major flaw in all of these plans is that we as a public are asking for too much to represent one event (like listing of names on a wall, exposed bedrock...the families even tried to make the Port Authority realign the PATH train tracks, which existed there BEFORE 9/11, because they touched the footprints!), which undermines any single message these proposals are trying to send. Personally, I like Memorial Cloud and Votives of Light, because they don't trying to reinvent the wheel by copying the Vietnam Memorial as an add on, and they don't worry about every little demand that he been given for the site.

[kskiska]

3. I'm glad you said it first

At some point these families have to let go. They're asking too much. I've read where they want Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, where all the debris was taken, to be designated a cemetery, too.

[goforit]

2. I'm sure the only memorial would be a 911 investigation!!!!

so sad.

[ugarte]

4. With all due respect, these people keep behaving like spoiled brats

At some point the self-pity has to end. Like it or not, life goes on, and, unlike victims of natural disasters and unlike the Oklahoma City victims, the WTC families have been the recipients of an outpouring of financial aid and emotional sympathy unprecedented in American history.

They should not have veto power over this monument. It's for all the people of NYC, not just a select few.

[mot78]

5. They're trying to get the National Park Service to step in

and take over the land allotted for the memorial, which would effectivly stop the rebuilding process in it's entirety. The family groups have got to realize they can't have every demand. Harry Truman once said "The buck stops here" and I hope the LMDC and the Port Authority heed those words, and tell the family activists enough is enough.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. Well, they have a legitimate arguement- it IS National Property

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was created in 1921 by an act of congress- it is a unique entity with bi-state responsiblities, and given its role in the nation's commerce, it is not hard to consider it a national site.

I say give these people a break. Most of them never got a body or even single bit of DNA of their loved ones. Personally (and professionally since I am architect) I think the extent of the site set aside for the memorial was miserly given what in fact happened there, and the kindest description I can come up with for what motivates most of the players is "real estate opportunity".

[mot78]

10. Again, I feel their sympathy, but just because someone's remains

touch a specific peace of that site doesn't mean that site should automatically become hallowed ground. Case in point, at Oklahoma City, people's remains were scattered onto a street adjacent to the Murrah Building. The family groups started demanding that that street be closed because their loved ones died there. Unfortunately, the family groups got their way, despite questions raised about the impact on traffic. I mean, if a person dies in my house, should I move out and give the deed to the family, or else I'm insensitive.
About the economics...Lower Manhattan's office space needs to be rebuilt. It's economy relies on it, and a memorial cannot replace the lost revenue (studies have shown that Ground Zero tourists don't spend enough in Lower Manhattan). Now you might say that Lower Manhattan has a glut of office space, but that glut will go down over the decade, and the buildings will be built according to market demand. People Downtown, from shop owners to hot dogs vendors rely on people working, or else they're out of work.

[mobuto]

6. Spoiled Brats?

I'm sorry, but there you've gone too far. These families collectively lost nearly 3000 loved ones, and you're calling them spoiled brats because we as a nation chipped in to support them in their hour of grief and because the memorials selected to honor their loved ones fail to meet their own criteria?

Look, I wouldn't wish for my worst enemy to be as "spoiled" as these people have been. You should go through as much grief and say you're "spoiled."

[mot78]

8. Spoiled brats is too harsh, but if you do more research on the

rebuilding process, you'll notice that almost every demand from the family activists (notice that I don't say families) have gotten rediculous. They have received more ourpouring than any other victims in history, and no matter how nonsensical their views are, the powers that be bend to their every whim for fear of upsetting them. Well guess what, these activists have tried to brow-beat their agenda on every other group with a vested interest in the site. Ask lower Manhattan residents, who get shouted down and heckled at by angry family activists at public hearings. The WTC site does not belong to one constituency, it belongs to many, and there has to be compromise. Not every group can get what they want.

[Code_Name_D]

9. From what I understand

The famlyes are mostly locked out of the prosses. The latest bits were all pre approved by the GOP, then submited to the famlyes for a rubber stamp.

The momorals I have seen are morbid. Sharing the same theam as the Oklahoma City mamoral. Which IS unacetable. To be honist, I have no idea what the famlyes conditions are. But the GOP wants something dark there so they can contiue to hammer us over the head with 9-11.

[ugarte]

12. I didn't say they are spoiled

I criticized their behavior, which I think is legitimate.

I know they have suffered. They have lost loved ones. I know people who have lost loved ones and had to borrow money to bury them. My own brother died in a car wreck, so let's not compare degrees of grief.

No, it's not easy to lose a loved one suddenly, but I fail to see what makes it more difficult for these people than anyone else.

[OneBlueSky]

11. well, that might be a bit harsh, but . . .

I still maintain that the whole thing is way too gradiose and overblown . . . how about a nice placque or something? . . . the way this is playing out, it's gonna be the most spectacular monument to anything anywhere . . . it was a tragedy, not an achievement . . .

[Endangered Specie]

13. Frankly, I am getting a little bit tired of the survivors attitudes

I know this will get me called names probably, but I think they have definetly thrown their weight around too much.

You are not going to find a monument that pleases everyone. Who owns this property?, they technically have the say what goes on dont they? Someone is going to have to set their foot down and say this is how its gonna be (preferably the people who own the land).

Yes, they lost love ones, but they keep calling every design a "failure" which is a bit pompous, if I may say.If they are so ticked off about it, why dont they design it themselves?

While we are on the subject, why do they get $$$ for having lost loved ones, yet so many other people are murdered for no reason in this country, they don't see a million $ from the gov't????

[markses]

18. They got $$$ so they wouldn't sue the airline industry

into oblivion, which would have been precisely within their rights for the utter (and almost criminal) negligence exercised by that industry. That was part of the airline bailout. Any charity funds that flow3ed directly to victims' families were for emergency payments (i.e., rent and mortgage), and that was up to the discretion of the individual charitable organization to disburse.

Here is the website referred to in the article. I personally think that they should compromise on the bedrock footprints thing, but we should at least be clear on their arguments before spewing the vitriol:

http://www.memorialfor911.com/

I also personally liked many of the memorial designs, but I also understand their point about the generic nature of the designs ("it could be any park, any memorial'). At the same time, this is a problem for memorialization generally.

BTW, I am also a "survivor" of 9/11, insofar as I was 1 block away when the second plane hit, and caught in the smoke cloud when the towers collapsed. Of course, I consider this to be "far away" relatively speaking, but I'm probably gonna die of cancer as a direct result of my time in Lower Manhattan both that morning and in the following months.

[Guaranteed]

14. "Failed"?

Geez, that's harsh.

Are they simple failures, or did they fail at something?

[TheDonkey]

15. I thought many of the designs were amazing.

Some a little tired, but I think that families should not be so harsh in their judgment of the 8 final designs

[SummerGrace]

16. Keeping the families and us

discussing the memorial designs diverts attention from what is being hidden from the 9-11 committee investigation.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

17. "These plans are impersonal and generic," said one of the disappointed

said one of the disappointed, Debra Brown Steinberg, a lawyer with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft who has donated her time to represent many victims' families. "There is nothing about them that is unique to the tragedy that happened down there. These plans could be in any park, or any memorial, for any purpose."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/20/nyregion/20REAC.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=

[jmcgowanjm]

19. excuse me, my aren't we harsh towards the weak

Does anyone here realize that the Port Authority was
designed specifically to exclude
public participation.

That the PA did its very best to keep those
Fire Dept tapes out of the public domain.

You know, the ones showing firefighters calling
for engine companies to knock down fires
on 78th floor of WTC.

At the same time that Giuliani (maybe a hero to some
of the posters here) was being told to
evacuate WTC7, he can't remember who told him.
How convenient.
How did this fellow know to evacuate?

Where is your outrage over lack of Investigation?
These widowers are holding the line against
the Fascists desperately trying to take away
your Rights.
I will never surrender to these jackbooted thugs.
I will never forget.
Never before 911, have skyscrapers "Progressively Collapsed"
into their own footprint due to fire.