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Freedom Tower Unveiled; Time Running Out For 9/11 Families
Aired December 19, 2003 - 14:59 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: We begin with a new hour and a towering achievement. It's the structure that will occupy the former site of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. And today, it took one giant leap off the drawing board.
CNN's Jason Carroll is our man with the plan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Governor Pataki, the mayor of New York City, the architect, everyone involved in this creative process, unveiled what will be the final design for the Freedom Tower. This is the building that's going to be built at the site of the World Trade Center.
What you see here is what you are going to get. It's going to be 1,776 feet tall, the tallest building in the world. It will have 70 floors of occupied space. What's interesting about this design is that it will have wind turbines encased at the top of the structure that will help provide power to the building. At the very top of the structure, an asymmetrical spire.
That's meant to replicate the torch from the Statue of Liberty. There had been some concern as to whether or not the final design would end up looking like architect Daniel Libeskind's original vision. He's the architect that won that huge international design competition. Another architect, David Childs, was brought in to help with the design process. And what you see here is what the final design is going to look like.
It looks very much like Libeskind's original vision. One notable change, it will not have the sky gardens that Daniel Libeskind originally envisioned for the site.
Just a short while ago, Governor Pataki talked about what this day means to him.
GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: Since September 11 of 2001, I think, for all New Yorkers and, indeed, for most Americans, there's been a void in our hearts. We know that we lot 3,000 heroes on that day. And despite the enormous courage shown by New Yorkers and Americans in the hours afterwards, we have an obligation to both remember those we lost on September 11 and, at the same time, to move forward and fill that void and show the world how strong and confident New York is.
CARROLL: The architects expect to break ground next September. They also say the top of the spire should be complete by September 11, 2006. And they also say the building will be ready for occupancy by late 2008 -- back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, just because the 9/11 catastrophe might have been prevented doesn't mean the Bush administration or the Clinton administration did anything wrong. So says the head of the blue-ribbon panel that has dug through tons of information on every facet of national security.
Thomas Kean says the hijackings happened because of lapses on the front lines at border posts, airport checkpoints and in FBI cubicles. Kean also says the panel still hasn't gotten all the information it's asking for from the Bush administration.
After the 9/11 attacks, now more than two years ago, Congress established a fund offering unprecedented financial help to the families of the thousands who were killed. Until recently, less than half had signed up to take advantage of the find. The number is now growing now that a deadline is fast approaching.
Here's Adaora Udoji.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Kathy Trant, whose three teenagers lost their father, Danny, that day, it was an agonizing, but ultimately simple position. She turned to the September 11 Fund for help.
KATHY TRANT, WIFE OF 9/11 VICTIM: I would rather live in a cardboard box with my kids and have my husband back. This money is blood money. And we don't want the money, but we need it to survive for our kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And my father, Daniel Patrick Trant.
UDOJI: But for some relatives of the nearly 3,000 who were killed, it has not been so clear.
(on camera): Hundreds have not applied, despite the unprecedented awards averaging 1.7 million tax-free dollars.
(voice-over): In return, families give up the right to sue the airlines of the four hijacked planes; 73 families say that price is too high and have sued. Plaintiff Monica Gabrielle wants answers. Could the death of Richard, her husband of 28 years, have been prevented?
MONICA GABRIELLE, WIFE OF 9/11 VICTIM: No one has lost their job. No one has been held accountable. And the fund, you just sign on the line and walk away from all of that.
UDOJI: Fund administrator Ken Feinberg says litigation is a gamble that's not likely to pay off. His staff is working furiously to bring families in before it's too late.
KENNETH FEINBERG, VICTIMS COMPENSATION FUND: We have written and called, through a phone book bank, via lawyers. If they don't have lawyers, we've reached out and knocked on doors and sent our staff and victim support groups into the community.
UDOJI: A once skeptical Charles Wolf, whose wife and business partner, Katherine, was killed in the World Trade Center signed up.
CHARLES WOLF, HUSBAND OF 9/11 VICTIM: It's one of the things that's going to help give closure.
UDOJI: Wolf agrees with Feinberg that the fund presents a tremendous opportunity.
FEINBERG: I say to them that you're compounding the tragedy if you do nothing.
UDOJI: Still, the fund can't erase profound grief for those hundreds of families who simply cannot bear facing the process. It took Kathy Trant two years.
TRANT: Our marriage certificate, the children's birth certificates. Now I feel I can move on. This is done.
UDOJI: For the undecided, the fund's door will be open until the last second, the stroke of midnight come Tuesday.
Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Families>
Aired December 19, 2003 - 14:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with a new hour and a towering achievement. It's the structure that will occupy the former site of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. And today, it took one giant leap off the drawing board.
CNN's Jason Carroll is our man with the plan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Governor Pataki, the mayor of New York City, the architect, everyone involved in this creative process, unveiled what will be the final design for the Freedom Tower. This is the building that's going to be built at the site of the World Trade Center.
What you see here is what you are going to get. It's going to be 1,776 feet tall, the tallest building in the world. It will have 70 floors of occupied space. What's interesting about this design is that it will have wind turbines encased at the top of the structure that will help provide power to the building. At the very top of the structure, an asymmetrical spire.
That's meant to replicate the torch from the Statue of Liberty. There had been some concern as to whether or not the final design would end up looking like architect Daniel Libeskind's original vision. He's the architect that won that huge international design competition. Another architect, David Childs, was brought in to help with the design process. And what you see here is what the final design is going to look like.
It looks very much like Libeskind's original vision. One notable change, it will not have the sky gardens that Daniel Libeskind originally envisioned for the site.
Just a short while ago, Governor Pataki talked about what this day means to him.
GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: Since September 11 of 2001, I think, for all New Yorkers and, indeed, for most Americans, there's been a void in our hearts. We know that we lot 3,000 heroes on that day. And despite the enormous courage shown by New Yorkers and Americans in the hours afterwards, we have an obligation to both remember those we lost on September 11 and, at the same time, to move forward and fill that void and show the world how strong and confident New York is.
CARROLL: The architects expect to break ground next September. They also say the top of the spire should be complete by September 11, 2006. And they also say the building will be ready for occupancy by late 2008 -- back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, just because the 9/11 catastrophe might have been prevented doesn't mean the Bush administration or the Clinton administration did anything wrong. So says the head of the blue-ribbon panel that has dug through tons of information on every facet of national security.
Thomas Kean says the hijackings happened because of lapses on the front lines at border posts, airport checkpoints and in FBI cubicles. Kean also says the panel still hasn't gotten all the information it's asking for from the Bush administration.
After the 9/11 attacks, now more than two years ago, Congress established a fund offering unprecedented financial help to the families of the thousands who were killed. Until recently, less than half had signed up to take advantage of the find. The number is now growing now that a deadline is fast approaching.
Here's Adaora Udoji.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Kathy Trant, whose three teenagers lost their father, Danny, that day, it was an agonizing, but ultimately simple position. She turned to the September 11 Fund for help.
KATHY TRANT, WIFE OF 9/11 VICTIM: I would rather live in a cardboard box with my kids and have my husband back. This money is blood money. And we don't want the money, but we need it to survive for our kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And my father, Daniel Patrick Trant.
UDOJI: But for some relatives of the nearly 3,000 who were killed, it has not been so clear.
(on camera): Hundreds have not applied, despite the unprecedented awards averaging 1.7 million tax-free dollars.
(voice-over): In return, families give up the right to sue the airlines of the four hijacked planes; 73 families say that price is too high and have sued. Plaintiff Monica Gabrielle wants answers. Could the death of Richard, her husband of 28 years, have been prevented?
MONICA GABRIELLE, WIFE OF 9/11 VICTIM: No one has lost their job. No one has been held accountable. And the fund, you just sign on the line and walk away from all of that.
UDOJI: Fund administrator Ken Feinberg says litigation is a gamble that's not likely to pay off. His staff is working furiously to bring families in before it's too late.
KENNETH FEINBERG, VICTIMS COMPENSATION FUND: We have written and called, through a phone book bank, via lawyers. If they don't have lawyers, we've reached out and knocked on doors and sent our staff and victim support groups into the community.
UDOJI: A once skeptical Charles Wolf, whose wife and business partner, Katherine, was killed in the World Trade Center signed up.
CHARLES WOLF, HUSBAND OF 9/11 VICTIM: It's one of the things that's going to help give closure.
UDOJI: Wolf agrees with Feinberg that the fund presents a tremendous opportunity.
FEINBERG: I say to them that you're compounding the tragedy if you do nothing.
UDOJI: Still, the fund can't erase profound grief for those hundreds of families who simply cannot bear facing the process. It took Kathy Trant two years.
TRANT: Our marriage certificate, the children's birth certificates. Now I feel I can move on. This is done.
UDOJI: For the undecided, the fund's door will be open until the last second, the stroke of midnight come Tuesday.
Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Families>
