Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Plans for Rebuilding World Trade Center Site Made Public

Aired July 16, 2002 - 14:37   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 City is walking the fine line right now between reverence and redevelopment. Several plans were made public today for rebuilding the World Trade Center.

Jason Carroll joins us now, live from New York, with details about those proposals.

Hi -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Kyra.

For some time, New Yorkers have been wondering about exactly what the city had planned to do with site down where the World Trade Center used to exist. Now we have an idea of what the city is considering. There are six proposals on the table. We've had an opportunity to look at all six of them. Now you're going to get a opportunity take a look.

The first one is called Memorial Plaza. That one has a 79-story tower. It also has two square footprints that would mark the site of where the Twin Towers once stood.

The next one called Memorial Square. That one has an 80-story circular tower. A few smaller buildings would then surround that particular one, and again, you would you have the symbolic footprints. In that particular case, they would square pools.

The next one is called Memorial Triangle. The tallest building is that one is -- the tallest of the group: 85 stories on that one. Just to give you an idea, the Twin Towers were 110 stories.

The next one is called Memorial Garden. The tallest one in that one, 80 stories tall. Four smaller buildings will surround that one. And again, you have those symbolic squares that we were talking about.

The next one is called Memorial Park. That one has two building, 72 stories each, and then three smaller building. And then what you're going to have is possibly some sort of a sculptured-type of column that will stands in the place of where the Twin Towers once stood.

And finally, we have something called Memorial Promenade. That has two buildings 63 stories tall. And again, four smaller ones. They're going to have a large area there, some 27 acres on that one, and again, a singular column marking the spot where the Twin Towers one stood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK BEYER, ARCHITECT: We believe that these plans illustrate a variety of ways that we can put back the 11 million square feet of office space. We don't consider that to be a constraint. We consider that to be a program requirement. Building heights are high. Buildings are big. But so were the World Trade Center.

These buildings aren't as big as the World Trade Center because it's not likely that they could be marketable in today's economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: By September, they want to narrow the six proposals down to three. And then by December, three down to one -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jason, I know we talked about this earlier, but I have been receiving a number of e-mails. Can New Yorkers get involved in the voting process? I think you said that wasn't possible. But they can come and take a look at all these proposals?

CARROLL: Absolutely. They can definitely come and take a look. I mean, the city definitely wants to have public input in this. This is something that a lot of people want to have part in. So what they are doing is they're putting these proposals out on display. There is a display right here. They are going to have some models. They're going to have town hall meetings. So what they are basically going to do is try to hear from as many people as possible, and then when it comes down to the point of finalizing what the actual plan will end up looking like, they are going to try and take some of those words into consideration.

PHILLIPS: All right, our Jason Carroll. Thanks, Jason.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com