by Lionel Bascom — May 27th, 2007 — 1 comment
Expect to see the already vigorous reconstruction at Ground Zero speed up now that most of the insurers of the World Trade Center have agreed to pay up.
The largest insurance payout in known memory — $4.55 billion – further clears the way for developer Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to finance construction of the $9 billion complex.
The path isn’t completely clear.
Plans for construction and leasing of the Freedom Tower is still uncertain.
Still, the agreement to pay the claim assures Silverstein the ability proceed at a more rapid pace.
The construction site attracts a thousand tourist a day to Ground Zero. They come to watch workers and cranes preparing to pitch new steel beams that will be the framework for the Freedom Tower.
One observer who has watched this process with great interest from afar believes the tenants of the new buildings will not be just anyone with the ability to pay the high rent to occupy the Freedom Tower. She says anyone who ventures to reoccupy Ground Zero is someone who will participate in the rebirth of this sacred ground.
I don’t have much faith in this prediction, but I’ve been wrong before and I would gladly admit I was wrong again if she is right.
4:11 PM in Uncategorized, The Construction, World Trade Center, Ground Zero, Related Stories, Freedom Tower News
First, there must be a vision.
“if you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them taskes and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea”
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery).
The tower will reveal this longing by many to express the immensity of human perseverance.
There are those who believe that “all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets” (Arthur Miller). However, hope grows from the persistence that occurs when one has the wisdom to follow a perceived goal.
Ground Zero attracts so many visitors because it illustrates this persistence, fortitude within the creators to produce the manifestation of this goal: that no one will ever forget what occurred on 9/11, and benevolent intellect generates wisdom.
Moreover, the victims’ families can understand that their loved ones did not perish in vain, that a new, more relevant creation will attract visitors who will feel the significance of this Freedom Tower.
This new enterprise has the potential to connect wisdom with piety, knowledge with understanding, fortitude with kindness. Indeed, a spiritual gift is about to materialize.
Jeanne · June 2nd, 2007 at 12:23 am