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Working toward a twenty-first-century metropolis.
By Susan S. Szenasy
Editor In Chief
February 2002
It's early morning as we gather in a large utilitarian room in the basement
of Pace University. We're a coalition of New York citizens formed by three
women shortly after the 9/11 attacks: Beverly Willis, director of the Architecture
Research Institute, a think tank for livable spaces; Liz Abzug, a Tribeca
business owner, urban studies teacher at Columbia University, and political
activist; and me. Out of this troika--architect/researcher, political activist/business
owner, and editor/teacher--we have built a group that now numbers 150 citizens.
We meet every two weeks, each person volunteering her or his time. Many
of us work long into the weekends, because we understand what's at stake.
We're concerned about how our beloved hometown will rebuild itself after
all the fires have been put out, the toxic chemicals cleaned up, and
the rubble carted away from the former World Trade Center site.
At one meeting, as we searched for an appropriate name, Robert Yaro (executive
director of the Regional Plan Association, unofficial liaison for the
many coalitions forming around town) came up with it:
Rebuild Downtown Our Town (RDOT). We immediately knew that name described who and what we are
about: the people living, working, and surviving daily in what has been
a permanent emergency zone. And
RDOT also represents businesses and organizations
that have the political influence needed to get anything done in our
highly politicized and contentious city.
At many of our meetings we have representatives from the offices of
Governor Pataki, the State Assembly Speaker, the Manhattan Borough President,
as well as Community Board 1, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Little Italy
Chamber of Commerce, Pratt Institute Center for Community Planning, Better
Chinatown Association, Chinese American Planning Council, Asian American
Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Municipal Art Society, Alliance
for Downtown New York, New York City Planning Partnership, New York Real
Estate Board, American Institute of Architects, Earth Pledge Foundation,
Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Pace University, Borough of Manhattan
Community College, Adelphi University, the Guggenheim Foundation, and others.
In addition, there are individuals from design offices around town,
such as Rafael Pelli, James Biber, Ted Liebman, Brent Oppenheimer, and Jean
Gardner, along with restaurateur Albert Capsouto and Community Board 1 chair
Madelyne Wils, who was just named to the governor's Lower Manhattan Redevelopment
Corporation.
Needless to say, what we all have in mind is an architecture and cityscape
of beauty, environmental sensitivity, and spiritual satisfaction. And we
will be working to give shape to those ideals with sustained energy. But
before we can begin to think of what the new downtown--a reflection
of our great twenty-first-century city--will look like, we need to
know about the people who live and work there, what the rest of the city
and the region's relationship should be to it, what the families of the
dead need, and what the world is looking for on this globally significant
spot. And so Pratt's Ron Schiffman is working on a site map of the many
diverse neighborhoods downtown, and Pace University's Barry Miller is conducting
a survey to learn about their needs. Our goal: to inform citizens about
the most emotionally charged rebuilding effort our town has ever undertaken.
As we leave the Pace campus to go back to our workplaces, the distinct odor
from the devastated site wafts in the air--energizing us to go on.
»
More World Trade Center coverage
Send your ideas about the future of the World Trade Center site to
talk2us@metropolismag.com.
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