World Trade Center site
Coordinates: 40°42′42″N 74°00′44″W / 40.711641°N 74.012253°W
The World Trade Center site refers to the 16 acres (65,000 m2) area of land in Lower Manhattan in New York City, that hosted both the original and new World Trade Centers.[1] The land was originally underwater. The first World Trade Center complex of buildings stood on the site until it was destroyed in the September 11 attacks. The new World Trade Center complex is mostly complete and is built on the site. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns most of the land. The site is overseen by Studio Daniel Libeskind, Silverstein Properties, and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.
September 11 attacks
On the morning of September 11, 2001, two airplanes were captured by terrorists close to al-Qaeda and crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. The towers fell within two hours after the crashes.[2] Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks. After the attacks, hospital workers and police offers began calling the site "Ground Zero".[3]
Debris and clean-up
When the towers fell, they caused dust to spread in New York City, and left hundreds of thousands of tons of debris at the site.[4] The New York City Fire Department separated the site into four areas to make cleanup of the site and the search for people who survived the attack easier.[5] Early on, it was said that the debris at the site would take a year to get rid of, but cleanup ended in May 2002.[6][7] Building materials and debris from Ground Zero were sent to the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island.
In December 2001, a viewing area at Fulton Street, between Church Street and Broadway, was opened to the public.[8]
On March 11, 2002, six months after the attacks, the Tribute in Light, a memorial with two beams of light shooting straight up into the sky, began. It was lit up every day at dusk until April 14, 2002. After that, it was lit up for the second anniversary of the attacks, on September 11, 2003. It has been lit up every September 11 since then.[9]
New buildings
The new World Trade Center complex will have the following buildings:
- One World Trade Center - Construction began in April 2006. It opened on November 3, 2014.
- 2 World Trade Center - Construction began in July 2008.
- 3 World Trade Center - Construction began in March 2008. It was opened on June 11, 2018.
- 4 World Trade Center - Construction began in 2008. It opened on November 13, 2013.[10]
- 5 World Trade Center - Construction to begin in 2023. Planned to open in 2028.
- 7 World Trade Center - Opened on May 23, 2006.[11]
Soon after the September 11 attacks, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Governor George Pataki, and President George W. Bush said that they would rebuild the World Trade Center. On the day of the attacks, Giuliani said, "We will rebuild. We're going to come out of this stronger than before, politically stronger, economically stronger. The skyline will be made whole again."[12] During a visit to the site on September 14, 2001, Bush spoke to a crowd of workers through a megaphone. A person in the crowd shouted, "I can't hear you," to which Bush replied, "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."[13]
In an address to Congress, the president said, "As a symbol of America's resolve, my administration will work with Congress, and these two leaders, to show the world that we will rebuild New York City."[14] However, 20 years after the attacks, only four buildings, One World Trade Center, 3 World Trade Center, 4 World Trade Center and 7 World Trade Center, have been rebuilt. One building, One World Trade Center, is currently under construction.
In November 2001, Governor Pataki started the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) to oversee the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.[15] The LMDC leads federal help in the rebuilding, and works with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Larry Silverstein, and Studio Daniel Libeskind. It also communicates with the local community, businesses, the city of New York, and the families of the people who were killed in the September 11 attacks.[16]
National September 11 Memorial & Museum
A memorial, "Reflecting Absence", honors the people killed in the September 11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.[17] It was designed by Peter Walker and Israeli-American architect Michael Arad. It has a field of trees with the footprints of the original towers. The footprints are filled with pools of water. It opened on the tenth anniversary of the attacks, on September 11, 2011.
On October 12, 2004, the LMDC announced that Gehry Partners LLP and Snøhetta, an architectural company from Norway, would design a performing arts center and museum at the site.[18][19] It is a museum and a visitors' center for the site. The museum opened in 2014.
Criticism
An episode of CBS's 60 Minutes in 2010 was about the lack of work done at Ground Zero. It focused on how most of the buildings did not have a date for completion, the main building, One World Trade Center (originally called the Freedom Tower), having gone through three different designs, and the delays and high amount of money that went into the rebuilding. Larry Silverstein said that the entire site would be completed in 2037, and that billions of dollars have been spent on rebuilding the site, even though Ground Zero "is still a hole in the ground." During an interview for the episode, Silverstein said, "I am the most frustrated person in the world...I'm seventy-eight years of age; I want to see this thing done in my lifetime."[20] However, it was said in early 2011 that a lot of work has been done on the site, with all five buildings under construction. All of the buildings will be completed between 2012 and 2016. Criticism of the work being done at Ground Zero was made in 2008 and 2009, when there was no work being done at the site.
Gallery
Construction as of March 2, 2010. Four World Trade Center can be seen rising on the left.
One World Trade Center on January 28, 2012. Glass has been placed higher than 7 World Trade Center.
World Trade Center Site Media
Berenice Abbott's photograph showing Radio Row in 1936, with Cortlandt Street station seen in the background
World Trade Center towers following American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 both crashing into North and South Towers respectively
U.S. President George W. Bush making remarks from "Ground Zero" on September 14, 2001
References
- ↑ Barry, Dan (September 24, 2001). A Nation Challenged - The Site: 'At the Scene of Random Devastation, a Most Orderly Mission'. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DEFDD143AF937A1575AC0A9679C8B63.
- ↑ US Shocked by Terror Attacks. September 11, 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1538929.stm#map.
- ↑ Barry, Dan (September 12, 2001). A DAY OF TERROR: HOSPITALS; Pictures of Medical Readiness, Waiting and Hoping for Survivors to Fill Their Wards. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DE1D91238F931A2575AC0A9679C8B63.
- ↑ Barry, Dan (September 17, 2001). AFTER THE ATTACKS: THE TALLY; With No Miracle in the Rubble, Hope Grimly Shifts to Acceptance. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E1D8173BF934A2575AC0A9679C8B63.
- ↑ Barry, Dan (September 24, 2001). A NATION CHALLENGED: THE SITE; At the Scene of Random Devastation, a Most Orderly Mission. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DEFDD143AF937A1575AC0A9679C8B63.
- ↑ Iovine, Julie V. (September 27, 2001). Designers Look Beyond Debris. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E7DB103AF934A1575AC0A9679C8B63.
- ↑ The Last Steel Column. May 30, 2002. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E4D71E3BF933A05756C0A9649C8B63.
- ↑ Hirschkorn, Phil (December 30, 2001). A NATION CHALLENGED: GROUND ZERO; First Viewing Platform Opens to the Public. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0CE0D71630F933A05751C1A9679C8B63.
- ↑ Dunlap, David W. (September 9, 2006). Twin Beams to Light Sky Again. But After 2008?. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/nyregion/09light.html.
- ↑ "A dozen years after the Sept. 11 terror attack, the first new tower officially opens on the World Trade Center site".
- ↑ "Tower 7". Silverstein Properties. 2008.
- ↑ Taylor, Tess (September 26, 2001). Rebuilding in New York. Architecture Week. http://www.architectureweek.com/2001/0926/today.html. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
- ↑ Walsh, Edward (September 15, 2001) (PDF). Bush Encourages N.Y. Rescuers. pp. A10. http://old.911digitalarchive.org/crr/documents/1126.pdf.[dead link]
- ↑ "Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People". The White House. September 20, 2001.
- ↑ Pérez-Peña, Richard (November 3, 2001). A NATION CHALLENGED: DOWNTOWN; State Plans Rebuilding Agency, Perhaps Led by Giuliani. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEFD81639F930A35752C1A9679C8B63.
- ↑ A Corporation to Rebuild Ground Zero. November 4, 2001. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/04/opinion/a-corporation-to-rebuild-ground-zero.html.
- ↑ Cuza, Bobby (July 8, 2011). "9/11 A Decade Later: The 9/11 Memorial From All Sides". NY1. http://www.ny1.com/content/special_reports/911_a_decade_later/142578/9-11-a-decade-later--the-9-11-memorial-from-all-sides. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
- ↑ www.RenewNYC.org (October 12, 2004). "The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Announces Selection of Architectural Firms to Design the Performing Arts Complex and the Museum Complex on the World Trade Center Site". Press release. http://www.renewnyc.com/displaynews.aspx?newsid=b60c011b-187b-44b8-b764-1b4381427018.
- ↑ Spitz, Rebecca (March 9, 2011). "9/11 A Decade Later: Glass Atrium Rises At WTC Memorial Site". NY1. Archived from the original on March 22, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
- ↑ "Developer: Ground Zero a National Disgrace - 60 Minutes: Eight Years and Billions of Dollars Later, Part of 9/11 Site is Still Just a Big Hole". CBS News. 2010-02-18. p. 1.[dead link]
Other websites
- Official site - Silverstein Properties
- 9/11 Tribute Center
- Reviving Ground Zero - slideshow with audio by The New York Times
- National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center
- Project Rebirth
- World Trade Center Rising Archived 2021-03-07 at the Wayback Machine
- RebuildGroundZero.org, a community project based on Ground Zero's rebuilding Archived 2009-03-17 at the Wayback Machine