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CNN Live Today

Proposals Revealed for Rebuilding Ground Zero Site

Aired July 16, 2002 - 12:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: New York turns a significant page as it focuses on rebuilding ground zero. The public gets its first glimpse of possibilities for redevelopment today. The decision-making process is expected to be quite an emotional one also.

CNN's Jason Carroll joins us live from New York with those plans -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Kyra, for months people here in New York City have been wondering what the city plans to do with the 16-acre site where the World Trade Center used to sit. Now we finally have an answer. For the first time we got our first look at the conceptual proposals that are on the table that the city plans to use in terms of trying to determine what they will do with that site.

There are six proposals on the table. First one, let's get to that, it's called Memorial Plaza. The tallest building in that particular proposal 79 stories; 18 acres of park-like space included there. Also, a memorial, two square footprints in that particular site would mark where the Twin Towers once stood.

Moving on to version number two now, it's called Memorial Square. The tallest building in that plan 80 stories, 24 acres of open space, a few smaller buildings surrounding the larger one. Again, there'll be some sort of memorial in that site as well.

There's going to be a memorial in every site. You're going to hear the memorial a lot as well as I go through these.

Next one, version number three, Memorial Triangle. The tallest building in that one, the tallest of all six that are being proposed, 85 stories, 13 acres as well there. And just to give you some perspective, the Twin Towers were 110 stories. This one, again, about 85 stories. A memorial on site there as well -- as well as open space.

Version number four will be called Memorial Garden. Now in that one the tallest building will be about 80 stories. And then what they're proposing is to have about 6.8 acres of open space in that one, four smaller buildings will surround the tall -- the tallest building there, in that one, about 80 stories.

Next one, version number five is called Memorial Park. Now in that one we've got two buildings, each one being about 72 stories tall, then three smaller buildings, 45 stories each, and a 14-acre site. And in that particular proposal a column would mark the spot of where the Twin Towers once stood. That's what they're proposing there.

Finally we have version number six, that's called Memorial Promenade. Two buildings there, each 63 stories tall, and then four buildings -- four smaller buildings 32 stories, 27 acres in that proposal of open space. And once again, some sort of a column marking the spot where the Twin Towers once stood.

Common denominator between all six that are being proposed, well obviously there'll be some sort of a permanent memorial there. In all six proposals, open space as well, 11 million square feet of office space as well as 600,000 square feet of retail space as well.

By September -- going to give you a little bit of a time line here, by September they hope to have the six narrowed down to three. And then by December, they hope to have it narrowed down to one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN WHITEHEAD, CHAIRMAN, LMDC: What do you like? What do you not like? The best ideas will survive. The least favorable or feasible ideas will not. In the end, the three plans issued in the fall might be a combination of the features of the six, some of -- some of them may even be completely new. Nothing is etched in stone. No final decisions have been made. There will be unique opportunities for the public to offer its input and help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: The final decision will be made by a group called the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. And that is a group of people who were basically appointed by New York State Governor George Pataki as well as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and another familiar name, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

They say in the very end of all this, despite what people on both sides or whatever side of the issue that you sit on, they want people to know that their first consideration was not to -- how high or how tall a building was, but their first consideration was to what type of memorial would stand at the final site -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, Jason, real quickly, can New Yorkers, like yourself, get in there and vote on which plan you like?

CARROLL: I wouldn't call it a vote, but what New Yorkers can do is they can come in and participate in some sort of a town meeting that they -- that the city plans on holding. They're also going to have public displays, like the one that you see behind me here, they're going to have pictures up, they're going to have models up. People can come in and they can write in whatever their opinions are, whatever they may be. But the corporation here that's responsible for making the ultimate decision has really made it clear, Kyra, that they want the public's -- they want the nation's input in terms of what ends up finally standing at the site of the ground zero -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: That makes sense because it means something to all of us.

Jason Carroll, thank you.

And we'd like to know what you think of the World Trade Center proposals, which plan do you like best? Send us your e-mail at livetoday@cnn.com and I'll read them to you next hour.

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