Trump Criticizes
Freedom Tower Plan
No one expected that rebuilding the World Trade Center would be a skate in the park, but Donald Trump still thinks he has a better way.
Standing in the lobby of his Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the real-estate-mogul-turned-TV-personality lambasted the current design for the Freedom Tower to be built at Ground Zero.
Their plan "looks like a junkyard, a series of broken-down angles that don't match each other. And we have to live with this for hundreds of years?" Mr. Trump said at a news conference, offering up an alternative plan.
His solution? Rebuild the Twin Towers, more or less. Mr. Trump's design centers around two 111-story towers -- one floor taller than the buildings destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, when two hijacked jetliners were flown into them.
However, Mr. Trump said he was leaving it up to developer and leaseholder Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority, which owns the land, to execute the design first introduced last year by engineer Ken Gardner.
Mr. Trump said his promotion of an alternative was a result of the latest rebuilding delay, which has sparked strong criticism. Mr. Trump said his proposals were not a gimmick, despite skepticism to the contrary. "This has nothing to do with putting Trump at the top," he said, standing next to copies of his book, perfume and a game, all bearing his name.
As for his own ability to put his vision into action, Mr. Trump said: "I only have the power of persuasion. It's a very simple power, but sometimes it can be very strong."
Speaking for Mr. Silverstein, Howard J. Rubenstein said: "Donald Trump is both a friend and a respected colleague of Larry Silverstein, and Larry is always interested in what Trump is thinking. However, Larry Silverstein's only concern right now is designing a safe and spectacular Freedom Tower in keeping with the well-established master plan for the site."
The existing project has been bogged down in acrimony and other problems. Last month, officials in charge of the rebuilding effort said that plans for a new skyscraper at the World Trade Center site would have to be revised because of safety concerns raised by New York Police Department security experts. As a result, they said, the expected 2009 opening of the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, designed by architects David Childs and Daniel Libeskind, will be delayed by several months, rebuilding officials said.
Mr. Trump, who in the 1980s famously stepped in to repair a New York City skating rink, yesterday described the existing Freedom Tower design as "essentially a skeleton" at the top. "If we rebuild the World Trade Center in the form of a skeleton, the terrorists win."
"In a nutshell," he said, "Freedom Tower should not be allowed to be built. It's not appropriate for downtown Manhattan. It's not appropriate for Manhattan. It's not appropriate for the United States, and it's not appropriate for freedom."
Mr. Trump also left room for an alternative to his plan: "If for some reason, it can't be built, because there is a possibility that people do not want to be in any of the buildings on the site, then what we should do is ... build a great memorial park."
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