Reply #28: Do you live and work in Manhattan? [View All]

[maha]

I'm not a native New Yorker, but New York is home now.

First off, there IS a park in lower Manhattan already; Battery Square Park. And you got South Street Seaport close by, which is a fun place to visit.

And nobody is saying that some PART of Ground Zero shouldn't be dedicated to a memorial or a park, or both. But I think just about any Manhattanite will tell you that it's absolutely nuts to make the entire 16-acre area a park or a memorial.

It's not an either-or proposition. The argument, seems to me, is what percentage of the area should be park/memorial and what percentage should be commercial. I don't have a strong opinion on this question. But to say that NO PART of Ground Zero should be restored as commerical space is irrational; it would be terribly damaging to lower Manhattan. Manhattan is a living city, and the space is needed for jobs and businesses.