Security Concerns Scuttle Freedom Tower

Posted on May 5, 2005

The New York Post reports that New York Governor Pataki has scuttled the plans for the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero due to security concerns over the design. You remember the Freedom Tower? The endless competition and arguing over what should be built on the site of the World Trade Towers that were destroyed on 9/11? The one with the hideous memorial to 9/11 victims, that looked like the victims were being flushed down a giant toilet in the ground? Well, after all the hoopla it appears that someone forgot to make sure that the architects met with security consultants and engineers before they submitted their work.

The Freedom Tower will remain in the same northwest corner of the World Trade Center site overlooking West Street, but it will be moved slightly away from the street to better protect it from potential car bombs. Another expected design change involves the lower 150 to 200 feet of the tower, now largely glass, that will have to be better protected.
Libeskind yesterday seemed resigned to the changes. "Security is clearly the paramount concern," he said. "While the shape and details of buildings may change, the intent, spirit and direction of the master plan remains intact." Any tension between City Hall and Albany about improved security was downplayed. At a town a town-hall meeting in Brooklyn last night, Bloomberg said, "We made some major progress today in terms of satisfying the demands of the Police Department that this building be really safe."
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose district includes Ground Zero, blasted both Pataki and Bloomberg. "The lack of coordination and cooperation by the governor and the mayor has cost us months of delay and resulted in the decision by Goldman Sachs to consider other locations for their headquarters," he fumed. Goldman Sachs had proposed a massive headquarters across West Street from the Freedom Tower site, but pulled out recently over concerns about security.

This entire project has been a disaster from the get-go. And now they figure out that it's not safe? Let's hope that one of the changes is to get rid of the appalling "flush the victims down the drain" part of the design.