When the WTC was built i thought like many sophisticated New Yawkers that the design was awful. In and of itself it was.
Then in 2000, i entertained a group from Bank of Montreal. One of the group was a canadian immigrant of german extraction whose father flew for the Luftwaffe. He was a great guy (son--didnt meet dad) who was a photography buff. I walked the streets of lower manhattan as he took pictures of the WTC from different angles. The towers had a surreal glow. From one side street, it looked like it was cardboard and almost flat. I have been looking for this guy for years to get some of those pictures but havent been able to find him.
Later that evening we took a ride on my bosses 65 foot yacht and as we headed out to the Statue of Liberty, the setting sun shone brilliantly on the WTC. The glass pains shimmered and glimmered as the sun moved along the buildings face.
As i stood there on 9/11 and watched the plane hit, my heart sank. I am glad now that the final decision on the WTC is up in the air once more. I am NOT a fan of Trump but he is right. One floor more. and no so-called freedom tower.
nypost.com
TRUMP: BUILD 'TWINS'
By FREDRIC U. DICKER in Albany and TOM TOPOUSIS in N.Y.
May 6, 2005 -- Donald Trump called on Gov. Pataki yesterday to ditch his just-announced "redesign" of the Freedom Tower and instead rebuild the Twin Towers as they were — but at least one story higher.
"I think the World Trade Center should be rebuilt on the site, only stronger and a little bit taller, even if it's only one story taller," the billionaire builder told The Post.
"They should duplicate the World Trade Center and not build something that looks like an empty skeleton."
The Twin Towers had stood at 110 stories.
Asked if he planned to directly communicate his view to Pataki, Trump responded, "He'll know it when he reads this, right?"
Trump also unleashed a harsh assessment of Ground Zero master planner Daniel Libeskind, suggesting the man Pataki has called an international-class genius isn't fit to be, well, an apprentice.
"The design for the Freedom Tower is an egghead design, designed by an egghead, which has no practical application and which, frankly, didn't look very good.
"I've gotten great reviews on my buildings. I'm somebody who believes strongly in great architecture and this [the Freedom Tower] was a design that is just not a good design," Trump added.
A spokesman for Libeskind shot back: "I suppose Trump wants to add an extra floor to make room for his name. That's probably not the kind of iconic symbol anyone had in mind for this site."
Trump, meanwhile, praised World Trade Center leaseholder and builder Larry Silverstein, calling him a "wonderful professional who sort of got roped" by Pataki into having to back the Freedom Tower design.
"I don't think this is something he really wanted," Trump said of Silverstein, who — at least for now — has the responsibility for rebuilding whatever is erected at Ground Zero.
Aides to Pataki have recently suggested privately that Silverstein has been dragging his feet on the building process and has made unreasonable demands for funding.
Earlier this week, reports from unnamed sources claimed that if Silverstein didn't get the project going, the state and city would consider taking control of the site through eminent domain.
A source familiar with the developer's legal strategy predicted that a forced eviction of Silverstein from the project would never happen because the state would not be able to claim his $4.6 billion insurance payout to use for the project.
Silverstein, who recently applied for $3.5 billion in tax-free Liberty Bonds for WTC reconstruction, said he wants additional public funding to help pay for security. |
