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American Morning

Debate Heating Up Over What to Do With Ground Zero

Aired January 08, 2002 - 07:50   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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the war on terrorism began with a terror attack on the United States, an attack which destroyed the World Trade Center and killed almost 3,000 people. As workers continue their around-the-clock work clearing the debris and digging for those who perished, the debate is heating up over what to do with what is now known as ground zero. CNN's Garrick Utley has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARRICK UTLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is already a shrine, with its pilgrims, with its memories that are more powerful than any memorial that will be erected here. Look at the 16 acres where the World Trade Center stood and ask which comes first, a memorial or rebuilding. The answer from city officials is both.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I visualize other office buildings being built in the broad - in the general region of 40 or 50 or 60 stories.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's going to be about money obviously. That's just the way it is. The world is about money and the towers were about money in this financial district.

UTLEY: Monica Eiken's (ph) husband Michael (ph) died in the south tower, the second building to be struck. His wife has become an outspoken voice among the families of the victims who want the entire site turned into a memorial.

MONICA EIKEN: Originally people were saying well, OK, we have it maybe just where the tower stood, which is about six acres and make that into something to remember the lives that were lost or we could then build around it. However now we're seeing that that's - that can't be what it is. It needs to be the 16 acres of land.

UTLEY: And what should stand on those six or 16 acres? Some argue that the ruin should be incorporated into a enduring eloquent monument, but the visible ruins are almost gone now. In fact the cleanup is moving ahead faster than expected. That put pressure on deciding what should be built here. One proposal for a memorial would be twin towers of light illuminating the nighttime sky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do we want images of anything? Is it abstract? Is it - does it - is it a place of reflection or is it a place of activities? Are we going to have a sort of interactive quality to it? You know, are we more interested in the museum? Are we more interested in a kind of you know quiet blank slate that we can then project our own feelings and concerns on?

UTLEY: But then there are also the feelings and concerns of Larry Silverstein (ph), the lease holder of the World Trade Center who has a legal right to rebuild and make money and city leaders including the mayor who want to rebuild the economic vitality of lower Manhattan.

Above all, there is the discomforting fact that what was the center of commerce and capitalism is now a burial ground for more than 2,000 people including Monica Eiken's husband.

EIKEN: There's going to be conflict. I will stand there - I mean I see a change developing of loved ones and people who feel the same way I do, as well as the other groups who all feel strongly about that, it has to be sacred land, and we'll stand there until they - until they do what we need to do.

UTLEY: The crowds that still come to daily to visit, to leave personal thoughts, a reminder of how a tragedy pulled people together. Will a memorial now pull them apart?

Garrick Utley, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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