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In the interests of maintaining the historical record, many items that are removed from the active site will be inserted below.
Request Sent to Key U.S. Senators and the
White House Domestic Policy Advisor
SAY NO! The current plan is NOT inevitable and it is NOT acceptable!
Joint Statement of “Twin Towers II” and the Twin Towers Alliance 8/12/09
Joint Statement of “Twin Towers II” and the Twin Towers Alliance 6/22/09
The aim of the Twin Towers Alliance is to give supporters of rebuilding the national forum they have been denied. It does not otherwise represent or speak for them. No particular plan or design is advanced, or disparaged, except as set forth above. [Note: This was our original policy, but events have caused a change in strategy, as is apparent elsewhere on this site.]
JUST SAY “NO” — IT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH — SIGN THE PETITION
Reclaiming America…
This MSNBC 9/11 clip discusses the political popularity of rebuilding the Twin Towers.
Bravo, Gov. Paterson!
We finally have a governor who isn’t afraid to speak the truth! And, since
he had no part in creating the mess, he is free to do what is required to fix it.
Soon after 9/11/2001, a gentleman in Colorado started a website to pay tribute to the American Spirit and the Towers that had caught his imagination as a boy.
He wrote: “Looking forward, let us plan for the reconstruction of a World Trade Center, even bigger than the one we just lost. For if we let these forces of evil take away that which we hold dear, we have lost the war for our freedom. Let us build a monument to the victims by constructing a World Trade Center even more impressive than the one that first captured my heart, inspired me to achieve, and taught me that anything is possible.”
He intended to document the rebuilding effort, but when he saw how it was distorted, he didn’t have the heart to continue. But at the same time, he didn’t have the heart to close the site. That’s what it’s all about.
A significant shift has started at Ground Zero; potent changes are looming. And the only reason the possibilities are so encouraging is because one man made it his aim, against all odds, to show the feasibility of reborn Twins. He has accomplished that brilliantly, as the WTC2011 website makes clear.
We believe that a reasonable claim can be made that the Twins could be topped out by 9/11/11 and the memorial could be in place a year earlier, if we can harness the enthusiasm this possibility holds. But whether the Towers are all the way up or halfway up on the tenth anniversary, is there really any rational person, regardless of their preferences and prejudices, that does not recognize that a wave of joy and relief and confidence would sweep over America and the world at the sight?
The destruction of the Twin Towers was seared into the world’s psyche and the world needs the reassurance of seeing this landmark back where it belongs. ONLY stunning new Twin Towers would say “NO, YOU DON’T!” to the ghouls behind 9/11 and those who want to hijack the western world. So why the disconnect? Why are politicians trying to drive a square peg into a round hole when the most popular and most impressive solution would be the easiest to achieve? And why have some in the media disgraced themselves by doing such a hatchet job on the truth?
WORLD TRADE AND WORLD PEACE
The architect of the real World Trade Center, Minoru Yamasaki, said that “World trade means world peace and consequently the World Trade Center… is a living symbol of man’s dedication to world peace… a representation of man’s belief in humanity, his need for individual dignity, his beliefs in the cooperation of men, and through cooperation, his ability to find greatness.” Have we really given up on all of that?
Twin towers are visual shorthand for the principles of parity, equality, respect – the very core of what was under attack on 9/11. There is every reason to resist the wanton exchange of twin towers for a monolithic obelisk and a trendy collection of mediocre buildings.
Replacing the vision of peaceful coexistence and mutual prosperity that the Twin Towers originally stood for with a single tower/fortress is a trade-off we DO NOT have to accept. It’s actually a good thing that the years since September 11, 2001 were spent spinning our wheels – or we would have gone so much farther in the wrong direction.
Not long ago An American teenager living outside Dubai sent us an eloquent message: “New York wants [its] castle back, not a bunker… New York needs a crown, not a helmet!”
Even more recently this comment was left on the site: “Greetings from IRAN…I’m so sorry and I hope us to see the towers once again together…Those two towers are not just buildings…They are also the symbol of people who hate terrorism and everyone who brake the PEACE…so let us rebuild our world together!!”
Downtown Unraveling | What Next?
Grief Without Glory | Barren Memorials
When In Rome | Noblesse Oblige
Grand Larceny | A Case for Spiderman
For The Record | THE Bottom Line
The Moynihan Rule Facts and Opinions
Everyone Who’s Anyone | Above the crowd…
The Sidewalks of New York | Could it be more obvious?
1010 WINS Radio Ads | Making Waves
Larry’s Lemons | Mediocrity3
We Couldn’t Agree More | Two Thumbs Up
Like Magic | Focus and Faith
All Dollars and NO SENSE | PRopaganda 101
We CAN Get There From Here | Reality 101
Everyone who supports the idea of rebuilding the Twin Towers can take action to make it more than idea by helping us to advertise. That is the only way we can break through the sound barrier that has been built around this subject. If we organize our efforts and translate our support into dollars, we can win this fight to give the world the majestic Twin Towers back. Will you help us make our united voice heard? We don’t have forever.
This is an issue that has been badly misrepresented in the press, but the decency of the effort to rebuild is one that resonates in most people’s hearts and minds. For those who want to dig deeper into the background of a very complex issue, the pages are designed in a linear fashion. So, rather than requiring the navigation of layers of hyperlinks, whenever possible, the site unfolds by simply scrolling down.
The following excerpt is from “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” by Mohsin Hamid, a Princeton/Harvard-educated Pakistani writer who left New York for London after 9/11. The novel “appeared to lavish reviews” and was a finalist for the Booker Prize for Fiction 2007. It is meant to foster understanding and it certainly does that:
I stared as one — and then the other — of the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center collapsed. And then I smiled. Yes, despicable as it may sound, my initial reaction was to be remarkably pleased… my thoughts were not with the victims of the attack…no, I was caught up in the symbolism of it all, the fact that someone had so visibly brought America to its knees.
What will it take to wake up those who are behind the shameful effort at the WTC to change the subject? The whole world knows that if we do not put the Towers back where they belong, we will be making an enormous propaganda victory permanent. Putting anything else in their place would in no meaningful way address the reality of what was inflicted on us on 9/11 and being in denial won’t do us a bit of good. Instead, it is likely to do us a great deal of harm.
The New York Post published a puff piece on September 5th entitled “Ground ‘Zero to 60′” – designed to convince the public that there is no turning back – but it could just as easily have appeared in any one of the New York City papers. It was a sharp reminder that we have a ruling class in this country that thinks our cities and government are their private domain – or more to the point – their private playground. It is time for the American people to be let in on the secret that they are being defrauded at Ground Zero. The facts speak for themselves. This would never have gotten as far as it has if the press hadn’t rolled over to the special interests who buy their access to news outlets.
It’s time for our media to stop listening only to public relations operatives and start listening to the public.
Zero to 60 is nothing to cheer about if you’re on a runaway train going in the wrong direction. With just a little leadership we could still pull the emergency brake and go on to build a World Trade Center we can all be proud of. We don’t need a merely utilitarian renewal in form that puts an end to any hope for a renewal in spirit. The American people should be allowed to judge for themselves what is best. That cannot be decided by people with vested interests to the exclusion of those whose only interest is in doing right by the American family – the one that came together so memorably on 9/11.
With six difficult years of coming to terms with September 11, 2001 behind us, don’t we owe it to ourselves, our children, and the thousands of innocent people who were slaughtered on that day to really make certain that we know what we’re doing before we do it? Rebuilding the World Trade Center is not just about steel and concrete and glass. It is so much more about showing respect, taking pride, being free. We can erect a noble memorial and restore America’s Skyline.
It can’t hurt to take an honest look, before it’s too late, at the case for building stronger, safer, better Twin Towers. We’d like to hear someone make a convincing case that the current plan is truly the best we can do, but we doubt anyone would even try. Millions of people don’t think it comes close. It is up to all of us to prevent a terrible tragedy from being compounded by a series of terrible, still preventable mistakes. All we have to do is SAY NO. We’re not spoilers. We’re not crazy. We’re engaged citizens doing what we see as our duty. Addressing our concerns, testing their validity, could only help build the best World Trade Center we can build. Isn’t that what we all really want?
Some would suggest that we are not representative of most Americans. The evidence suggests that we are. And everyone from a curator at the Smithsonian to World War II veterans have thanked us for our efforts – so to say that what we are doing is out of the mainstream is suspect and ill-advised. So why don’t we find out? Everyone should want to know the truth about how we got to where we are today. If our charge that a dishonest process led to an illegitimate result is wrong, then that should not be hard to prove.
Otherwise, straightening this out is in everyone’s best interests. We don’t see the people who oppose us as enemies – but we think that they are sadly misinformed and unwilling to examine their assumptions. Why should political complacency prevent us from rethinking the plan, if it can be established that we were misled and manipulated against our will? What is really standing in the way? Nothing insurmountable. Nothing that will matter in the end. It will take some undoing, but it’s our land, our money, and by rights, our choice.
It all boils down to this: What do we want the future to look like? What do we want to see when we drive, fly, sail into New York: inspiring new Twin Towers or something that is merely the byproduct of commercial interests and elitist tastes? What a colossal waste! It falls so far short of all it could be…
In that spirit, The Twin Towers Alliance is airing a radio ad starting this week in New York. It challenges the idea that we are locked into something just because our officials say we are, regardless of whether or not it is honorable, whether or not it makes sense. Why should officials who behaved like willful children be allowed to flout our authority? That is not what America is about. Our country is in our hands. They aren’t our rulers, they’re our public servants – or, as Thomas Jefferson referred to them, our “functionaries”.
A recent signer on the petition commented that “it feels like we are giving up on America.” We think that the Voice of the People is the best medicine for what ails this country and that the World Trade Center is the perfect location to come together and be heard. We hope that visitors will click on the slogan at the top of this page to read some thoughtful, common sense comments – and then, we hope you will click on the banner at the top of this page and make a tax-duductible contribution to our radio campaign. That’s all it will take to put something unstoppable in motion – because, regardless of the powerful Madison Avenue spin, the truth remains that we really can get there from here.
