11/17/2006 – News that concrete will be poured today at the core of the “Freedom Tower” doesn’t diminish our resolve to shine a light on a very dark situation or shake our faith in an eventual victory. The accretion of myth surrounding the current development has to be seen for what it is. So many of the people involved in the shameful events at the WTC site seem to believe that what is being inflicted on New York City is the honest result of an honorable process, but they really know better. And everyone would know better, if only the media had chosen to report the news, rather than fashion it.

Richard Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress, was quoted in the NY Times the other day as saying, “We needed the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. We needed the extensive public outreach. Now that we’ve got so much consensus, it’s time for one of the best public building organizations to do its job.” Contrast that with the remarks of our Governor-elect. When Eliot Spitzer characterized what has gone on downtown as “an Enron-style debacle,” who can doubt that he knew what he was saying? He also accused the LMDC of being “an abject failure” that had “violated” its “duty to the public.” So where is their mandate to proceed? And more to the point, where are the public’s watchdogs in the press? Why has this massive fraud been so successfully staged?

Mr. Spitzer knows that no consensus was ever reached that mattered. He knows that the only consensus was among those whose motives are riddled with self-interest, whose loyalties are not to the people of this state, and who have demonstrated how far above the rest of us they place themselves. And that is no foundation for the redevelopment of Ground Hero. They can pour concrete and move the steel columns into place, but we predict that the deception and conceit at the base of their activites – the brazen abuse of power and lack of principle underlying the current site plan – will prove to be an unworthy foundation for what is likely to be the most important construction project of this century.

What they are doing cannot withstand scrutiny. They cannot justify their actions. They can keep on doing it and make progress as fast as they can, but it will not be one whit more legitimate, no matter how far they get. And now that we have a Governor who is known as “The People’s Lawyer” we are hopeful that he will surprise everyone and put principle before any other consideration on behalf of the silent majority. Just this week he was quoted as promising: “A governor, uniquely in a state, speaks for the public. I will use that capacity to stand up and speak for the public on those issues where I believe the public good is not being reflected or represented.” We take him at his word.

But if we are wrong about our Governor, then we will not be any less determined to pursue what is right without him. Anything that can bring together people from the right and on the left of this sharply divided country, the way we know this issue does, is potent. It is not yesterday’s news. That’s the problem – it was never yesterday’s news. What should have been discussed and debated was suppressed and, while some may have moved on or given up, a wide body of people resent the way the World Trade Center is being disfigured. All it will take is a powerful blogger or a wealthy backer to change the course of history. Or maybe a courageous politician. If we only had a Churchill among us, or even a Moynihan, we wouldn’t have to be fighting this battle.

We include here an illustration that is circulating on the web. We aren’t advocating it as a solution, but it gives a glimpse into the spirit of the times.

We remain convinced that the only way we can fail is if we give up and we promise that is not going to happen. Don’t lose heart. Get mad.