September 26, 2001

12:48 AM

A few WTC things to start the day: 1) If you have a desire to move "off the grid" or just simply disappear, has the City of New York got a new program for you! Now you can get yourself declared dead with nothing more than a copy of Acrobat Reader and an ability to lie through your teeth. 2) The arguments over what to replace the WTC with are starting to gather steam. 3) That last piece standing of the WTC has been removed for probable use in a memorial. God please save us from another huge OKC-style Memorial From Hell.
posted by aaron (16 comments total)

Amen.

A quote from the WTC replacement article: "This tragedy has given us an opportunity to rethink and rebuild all of Lower Manhattan," said John E. Zuccotti, a former city planning chairman and deputy mayor. "Thank you, Osama!"

He didn't actually say the last part. But doesn't it sound like he could have?
posted by rcade at 5:05 AM on September 26, 2001

I heard a proposal that three buildings be constructed on the site with the middle one taller than the others. The idea is that a view from the east would look like a giant bird flip to the home of many of the terrorists. Naaaa...too crude.
posted by nofundy at 5:11 AM on September 26, 2001

Question: who will ever want to lease office space there?
posted by ParisParamus at 5:14 AM on September 26, 2001

So, how many deaths are going to be faked in an effort to sting the ever-swelling victim's fund(s)?.
posted by Opus Dark at 5:20 AM on September 26, 2001

The best monument that could ever be built on the WTC site would be a new World Trade Center complex, but not a replica of the old. (Certainly, nobody would want to work on the 100th floor). The current leaseholder of the property has proposed (4) 50-story buildings - which if built with a 21st century design and 21st century technology, would be plenty to show the resolve of the American people.

I believe the idea for a new home for the Stock Exchanges on the WTC property is also a good one.
posted by kpett at 5:57 AM on September 26, 2001

How is the OKC memorial huge? It's ugly, sure. But huge?

Anyway, my favorite plan is a museum/memorial similar to the 6th floor museum for JFK. It'd take up a few floors in whatever new buildings they end up putting there. Lord knows we've got enough footage of the disaster. I think a listing of the names of the victims would be impressive as well - to help future generations get an idea of the scale of the disaster.
posted by Jart at 6:24 AM on September 26, 2001

The only thing that will give future generations a sense of what was lost is a new pair of towers.
posted by sudama at 7:11 AM on September 26, 2001

So, how many deaths are going to be faked in an effort to sting the ever-swelling victim's fund(s)?.

Screw that - how many deaths are going to be faked for a bazillion other reasons? Had a crappy life? Start over! Got a felony record, bad credit, tons of alimony and child support, bench warrant... dump it!

Even worse: how many people are going to use this to murder someone?? Where's Bill? I dunno... hey! Maybe he was at the WTC? Yeah, that's the ticket!
posted by UncleFes at 7:20 AM on September 26, 2001

Would you be surprised if, say, 8,000 applications for death benefits were filed?

I don't envy the officials whose responsibility it will be to weed out the fakers. Some of the frauds will be more or less obvious. Others won't be, and probably the families of some real victims will be grilled as well.

Assuming they don't just pay all the claims automatically.
posted by sacre_bleu at 7:39 AM on September 26, 2001

I was wondering about people using the situation as a convenient time to disappear, as well. Of course, if they institute that national i.d. card thing... well, then, I suppose they'd have to live in Idaho.

As for any new buildings, I hope they design something beautiful, something to rival my favorite -- =The Chrysler Building=. If nothing else, they need the plaza to be more conducive to people gathering, kind of like the plaza at Lincoln Center is.
posted by meep at 8:19 AM on September 26, 2001

Seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to in faking your own death.

If the falling buildings on 9/11 didn't actually kill you, the anthrax will.
posted by crunchland at 8:43 AM on September 26, 2001

Prophetic?

Too bad the online version of that article doesn't have the illustration made for the print version - All of NYC reducted to rubble, save for -oh so sickening irony- the WTC towers.

(that article appeared on the January 2000 Wired magazine)
posted by betobeto at 9:03 AM on September 26, 2001

"another huge OKC-style Memorial From Hell." I see half-assed opinionated rhetoric has returned to normal for the aaron household. ahh, mefi normalcy. (rcade, im going nuts......)"PISMO BEACH AND ALL THE FRESH CLAMS I CAN EAT"
posted by newnameintown at 9:49 AM on September 26, 2001

Ah, good old clamdip. Back to his old dick-swinging ways. Pity it's always so limp.
posted by aaron at 11:10 AM on September 26, 2001

ooh -- how about some non-squarish things. I mean; it might not be new yorky -- but you should see the stuff they're building in potsdamer platz. (it looks even better live.)
posted by fishfucker at 11:46 AM on September 26, 2001

New link: Conservative pundit Andrew Sullivan says that the White House lied about the threat to Air Force One on Sept. 11.

It hardly matters in the bigger picture, but serves as a great illustration to the unctiousness of Karl Rove, the apparent mastermind behind this ludicrous spin attempt.

There was no need for the White House to concoct a story to justify the president's cross-country trip on Air Force One. A simple statement that the president followed the advice of the Secret Service would have been sufficient.

Instead, Rove insulted the intelligence of the public and put the credibility of the White House at risk during a crisis for little gain. Those of you who despised the "permanent campaign" in the Clinton White House should recognize that Rove's cut from the same cloth.
posted by rcade at 12:57 PM on September 26, 2001