The 'new' WTC

On the eve anniversary of 9/11 the new plans have gone in for the replacement WTC, both an office block and an act of defiance in the face of terrorism. I have seen various other designs for it's replacement but according to CNN the choice for the design has basically been met. The article:

NEW YORK (CNN) -- New York officials released the latest design for the signature building at the World Trade Center site Wednesday after revising it to make the tower more secure.

Gov. George Pataki ordered the design changes because police were concerned that the tower's placement adjacent to West Street, a major thoroughfare along the west side of Manhattan, would make it vulnerable to a truck bomb.

Instead of being 25 feet from West Street, the tower will be set back 90 feet, and its 200-foot base will be a reinforced concrete wall covered in steel and titanium.

"I think it's simpler and at the same time a lot more elegant," Pataki said in an interview with CNN. "The footprint is smaller, which leads to more open space and it doesn't quite dominate over the memorial ... It's not about doing it today, it's about doing it right for tomorrow."

"The Freedom Tower," will retain the height of the earlier design -- at 1,776 feet, symbolizing the year the United States declared its independence.

But it will also include reminders of the twin towers it will replace.

"The new Freedom Tower design incorporates standards the police department had sought to protect the building against bomb blasts, which our counterterrorism experts agree present one of the greatest threats to such iconic structures," said NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, in a written statement.

Real estate developer Larry Silverstein said the tower will have a solid concrete core and state-of-the-art fireproofing on its steel beams.

No tenants, other than the governor and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the transportation agency that owns the site land, have expressed interest in moving offices into the tower.

Groundbreaking will take place early next year, with construction scheduled to be finished in September 2009.

edition.cnn.com...

I would like to ask fellow American citizens if they would happily go and work in the new WTC? The building design has all but been set and yet no companies have expressed interest in moving into the new building when it is established, although it is still early days.

What I don't understand is why, why build next to the site where one of the biggest and most horrific terrorist catastrophe had undergone 8 years previously? I can understand the act of defiance, but even with all the new 'state of the art' security measure being brought in, does anyone else see it being as high a target (possibly even higher) than the previous WTC's?

actually, the federal gov't has agreed to take 1/4 of the available space.

www.cbsnews.com...


I think they already have some committments from a few major corps but I might be wrong. your cnn article is from June 2005. My link is from June 06. That might be the issue.

Woah.. Big mistake on my part in respect to the date of the article! Apologies, I read the article on AOL's central pages which are only accessibly to AOL users, tried to find a link online and obviously wasn't looking hard enough!

Looking over the newer article made more sense, a fitting memorial being put in place naming all those who lost their lives is a good idea and will hopefully remind all young and old of the horrific attack of 9/11.

As for the building in question if everything goes ahead, will US citizens happily work in the new reinforced building as an act of defiance? Do people think it is likely to be attacked again?