by Lionel Bascom — March 22nd, 2007 — 1 comment
One of the most precious remnants of the World Trade Center is at the center of a swirling controversy that threatens to slow construction of the Freedom Tower.
Leon Harris of New York TV station ABC News Channel 7 says the prolonged debate over whether to preserve the 175 ton staircase that still stands at Ground Zero could halt or delay construction of the 1,776 foot Freedom Tower. The staircase has been named “one of the nation’s most endangered places by a preservation group. It is the only remnant of the Twin Towers still standing above street level.
Historians first lobbied to keep the staircase in place, and lately have lobbied to move it intact to a nearby park or plaza while officials prepare the land to build one of three office towers,” Harris wrote on the station’s blog.
The staircase sits on the footprint of a tower proposed by British architect Norman Foster. That building is one of three planned to complement the 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower skyscraper.
“We’re trying to save an important piece of history,” Peg Breen, president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, said Wednesday.The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. rebuilding agency earlier this year proposed tearing down all but a few steps of the staircase, and moving the remaining portions to the Sept. 11 museum, or including a few steps in the Foster tower design.
8:49 PM in Uncategorized, The Construction, World Trade Center, Ground Zero, Related Stories, Freedom Tower News, Politics
If the new World Trade Center is to be a statement to the world of the United States’ perseverance after 9/11, then the stairway should stay even if the construction workers may need to move it temporarily as they create a secure environment within the framework of the new site. While this stairway bears significance on an artistic level, it stands as the last truthful remnant of that horrific day.
Therefore, it should remain in this location. In 1792, Thomas Paine advised, “When it becomes necessary to do anything, the whole heart and soul should go into the measure, or not attempt it.” As an act of honor, those involved with the building of the new center must courageously maintain this fragmented stairway as an illustration of our country’s determination.
Jeanne · March 22nd, 2007 at 10:20 pm