Disaster Site's Future
Is Still Open to Debate

Years from now, when a memorial to the World Trade Center disaster rises from the rubble in New York, one thing is almost certain: Someone will be unhappy.

While most politicians and business leaders agree that the site where the Twin Towers stood will be revived with a mix of offices, shops, a transportation hub and a memorial, emotions surrounding how to best honor the dead and inspire the living are running high.

Groups representing the victims' families, who consider the site a graveyard, are demanding that all 16 acres of the Trade Center site be devoted to a memorial, a notion seconded by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Nearby residents want to make sure that a memorial isn't too intrusive or depressing that they can't run an errand without being confronted by it. Real-estate interests, meanwhile, want to make sure enough land remains for buildings.

"I think everyone has strong desires and it is going to be difficult to compromise," said Tammy Meltzer, a neighborhood resident and the community and political liaison for the Lower Manhattan Tenant's Coalition. "We're talking about New Yorkers."

The size of the memorial will likely be the first, and most emotional, issue. "The whole area is sacred ground -- there's no other way to look at it," said Monica Iken, founder of September's Mission, a group representing victims' families thoughts on the memorial. "You can't rebuild on top of people, you just can't." Ms. Iken is the 31-year-old widow of Michael Iken, a bond broker who worked on the 84th floor of the South Tower. Ms. Iken's group envisions a grand park, a museum describing the lives of those killed, some type of monument and a children's area.

September's Mission is in the process of securing its own architects and artists to draw up designs that reflect its vision. It plans a meeting with designers and family members of victims next week. Ms. Iken says she wants to have something to show New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other government officials "so they know we're serious."

Anthony Gardner, chairman of the World Trade Center United Family Group, whose brother Harvey died in the attacks, says he'd like to see "some sort of pedestal with light beams on it in the position of the Twin Towers." He echoes Ms. Iken's view that the entire 16 acres should be set aside since it is likely that many bodies may never be recovered. "How would you feel if you went to the cemetery to pay respects to your loved one and there's an office building on it?"

But Ms. Meltzer, the residents' representative, feels that a memorial can't overshadow the other elements she feels are needed to make a vibrant neighborhood. "We need transportation for residents, shopping for residents, a green market," she said. "There are so many facets that have nothing to do with business or a memorial."

Small businesses want to make sure that the memorial -- and the throngs of tourists who come to see it -- don't scare away the neighborhood workers and residents who are their customers. "I think what they did in Oklahoma City was impressive. A small park would be good," said Joe McGinty, the manager of Foxhounds, a bar near ground zero. "We're more concerned with having the workers come back and the residents come back."

The divergent factions are about to get their say: Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp., the group formed by the state and city to formulate and implement plans for the Trade Center site and the surrounding areas, is in the process of creating a half dozen "advisory boards" to allow the various constituencies to voice their views. Victims' families, residents, the arts organizations the city hopes to lure downtown, developers, Wall Street executives and employees of firms that work in the area will each be represented by a group of 10 to 15 people.

The corporation -- which has already received dozens of unsolicited designs for the memorial -- said it will spend the next month or two in a "listening mode," meeting with the advisory boards and taking suggestions on the memorial and the overall development of the site.

Since the permanent memorial won't likely be ready for years, an interim memorial will be built. John Whitehead, the corporation's head, envisions a park filled with flowers and benches to allow people to sit and reflect. There will likely be an international competition to determine the design of the permanent memorial, which Mr. Whitehead said will probably be placed on the very spot where the Twin Towers stood.

"I keep saying that the size of the memorial is far less important than the quality. My two favorite models are the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. I think they are built on one or two acres," said Mr. Whitehead. "People don't realize that one acre is the size of a football field. How many football fields do you need to have a beautiful memorial?"

Any memorial design will have to be approved by a myriad of parties: the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the government agency that owns the Trade Center site; Larry Silverstein, the developer who heads a group that has a 99-year lease on the land; and New York's governor and the city's mayor, who control major sources of funding and permits. The federal government -- with its promise of funds for the cleanup and development of the site -- will have a say, too.

While the vigor and democracy of New York City politics has put the kibosh on development plans in the past -- in the late 1950s citizens killed a plan to build an expressway through Greenwich Village, for example -- political scientists think a Trade Center memorial will likely get the fast track.

"This is so visible and so important, there is going to be a quick decision," said Steven Cohen, director of the executive master of public administration program at Columbia University. "There's pressure to do something as quickly as possible, in part for the city's psychology."

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