To Remember and Rebuild

The process of recovering, healing, and rebuilding began almost as soon as the first plane commandeered by terrorists slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan on the morning of September 11th. The men in the cockpits of that plane and those which followed it on that day saw their barbaric and depraved act as an attack on not just a building, a city and its people but on a way of life, on all aspects of modern civilization. It was not by accident that they choose to begin their attack with New York, a city known around the world for its openness to people, to ideas, to creativity, to opportunity, to hope, to the future and a city that has served as the gateway to America for diverse peoples from every corner of the earth representing myriad religious, ethnic, political and cultural backgrounds. These remorseless nihilists intended that unprovoked mass murder and destruction would weaken our nation and all peoples sympathetic to our way of life and begin the destruction of the civilization they hate. The result of their actions have been the opposite of what they intended.

The heroes of September 11th were not those who wrought death and destruction out of hate, who killed innocents because of what they thought were their politics or religion or just because they were not like them. The heroes of September 11th were those who risked or lost their lives attempting to save the lives of others about whose religion, politics, race, or national origin they neither knew nor cared.

In the wake of unexpected and unimagined death and destruction a City and a Nation were not torn apart but brought together. Assistance, sympathy, support and volunteers poured into New York from around the nation and the world. New Yorkers and Americans pulled themselves through the events of September 11th with the courage, resolve, resiliency, ingenuity and generosity of spirit that had built a city and a nation. As the events of September 11th recede the focus shifts to studies of what went wrong with our systems and how they can be improved in the future. That is as it should be, but it must not be forgotten that the courage and ingenuity demonstrated by the fire fighters, rescue worker, police and ordinary people from office workers to deckhands saved thousands. We can study the weaknesses of our plans and systems and revise them accordingly; we can learn from the courage and ingenuity of all who pulled together for common cause and we can be inspired.

The events of September 11th taught us much about ourselves, much that we did not know. New York and what it symbolized, we learned, meant more to America and the world than we might have thought. The world was shocked and angered by the murder of some 3,000 innocent citizens and the attendant destruction of a portion of a great city, but more, by an attack on a world renowned symbol of openness, freedom, opportunity and economic strength.

New Yorkers were not used to the kind of sympathy and support they received in the aftermath of these tragic events and they responded with feelings of gratitude and connection rarely felt or expressed. The representatives of a generation sometimes characterized as soft and overly materialistic, perhaps to their own surprise, were not found wanting when tested and so many lives tragically cut short turned to have been well lived.

The whole world was impressed by the courage of firefighters, rescue workers and police who went into the burning buildings to aid and attempt to rescue the injured and trapped and by the courage and tenacity of rescue and construction workers who entered the still smoldering inferno to attempt rescue and to begin the horrendous task of clearing the debris so the rebuilding process could begin. The New York Times' marvelous remembrances of those who perished in the tragedy which left us with a portrait of a generation where all walks of life were linked together by their humanity and by the energy with which they pursued a decent and fulfilling life for themselves and their families. During the tragedy and as recovery began the public and private sectors, state, local and federal officials of all political stripes, citizens from all walks of life united and by word and deed assured the world that we would be neither cowed nor slowed by these attacks, that we would rebuild lower Manhattan and that our society, tempered by this holocaust, would emerge stronger than ever -- that we would not just survive, but that we would prevail. What was meant to disrupt and strain society instead produced a spirit of understanding, cooperation and civility.

New York was attacked as a center of modern culture, arts and, particularly, commerce. The Manhattan financial district, Wall Street, is synonymous with modern capitalism, economic growth and well-being. Commerce can play a connecting and a civilizing role in the development of nations and of peoples. Indeed the World Trade Center was so conceived and so dedicated, and so became a prime target for those who do not wish a world of tolerance, who fear creativity and view economic growth and well being for all as threat rather than opportunity. Citizens of more than 80 countries died in the tragic events of September 11th, artists as well as businessmen were killed, art as well as instruments of commerce were destroyed, but the spirit of creativity was not destroyed. Despite massive physical destruction, communications were not seriously disrupted, our economic markets continued to function, our trading floors were back in operation within less than a week, New York's arts and cultural scene, more vibrant than ever, mobilized to absorb, understand and draw inspiration from tragedy. What was meant to be weakened, instead was strengthened.

Our attackers have given us warning that there are those in the world who hate us for what we are, who view our very existence as an affront and a threat and who would use our open society, our freedoms and our technological advances to attack and, if possible, destroy us. We have no choice but to fight back against those who seek our destruction and we will do so in a way that does not subvert, ignore or weaken the very system our enemies would disrupt and destroy. This is no easy task but we have built on our fundamental principles, we can fight and rebuild by employing, not restricting, the same principles. This is something our enemies do not understand and will learn to their regret and our advantage.

Recovery and rebuilding will be a long and arduous process, but not an unprecedented process and not an impossible process. Much of New York was destroyed in fire and explosion in 1776 during the American Revolution and again during the mid 19th century. (Coincidentally, much of this destruction encompassed the same area affected by the events of September 11th.) These earlier conflagrations affected a larger geographic area and a much greater percentage of the then existing city than the events of September 11th (although the death toll was not nearly as high) but each time the city rebuilt itself and went on to grow, prosper and become a greater city than before.

As this recovery and rebuilding process has moved forward over the past months the signs have been encouraging. The removal of debris from the World Trade Center site was an admirable effort carried out by public and private entities working together: this extraordinarily complex and difficult task was completed well ahead of schedule and under budget. At the same time the search for the remains of victims was carried out efficiently with respect and dignity. So far the planning and first steps in the rebuilding process and in the process of designing and constructing a memorial have gone forward with little of the ego battles and turf disputes that so often characterize such efforts. Not that there haven't been and won't continue to be a plethora of agendas and competing plans and interests, but so far both public and private interests genuinely seem to want to work together towards what will be best for city, region, country and the community of nations. The coalitions of civic country and the community of nations.

The coalitions of civic groups such as the Civic Alliance, New York/ New Visions, Imagine New York, Labor Community Activist Network, Rebuilding Downtown Our Town (RDot) and Wall Street Rising as well as the individual groups themselves, have acted with initiative, restraint, intelligence and compassion. Most of our civic institutions -- media outlets, newspapers, The Alliance for Downtown (lower Manhattan's Business Improvement District) the New York City Partnership,the Real Estate Board, Community Boards, the Regional Plan Association, the Municipal Arts Society, Citizens Union, the Association for a Better New York and so many more -- have admirably fulfilled their roles and added an extra measure of effort and accomplishment in these extraordinary times. The Listening to New York exercises have given the citizenry a remarkable chance to participate in the planning and rebuilding process. The Governmental authorities who ultimately will oversee the rebuilding process -- particularly the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, a subdisvion of the State's Economic Development Corporation with members appointed by the governor and the mayor and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey -- have been responsive to such public comment and suggestion.

An attempt is being made to integrate the development of a memorial process with the rebuilding process and to give those directly affected a pivotal position in the memorial process while attempting to also take into account the needs and expectations of the city, the nation and the world. Efforts have moved forward in fits and starts, but, so far, all involved have been flexible, willing to admit when plans or procedures don't work and to continue to move the process forward. All this while attempting to keep the economic viability of the area, allow a decent standard of living for the residents of this densely populated center of local, national and international commerce and encourage the cultural vitality for which this city and this area are so well known. This may be one of the most interesting and innovative examples of civic planning and rebuilding since the citizens of Athens gathered in the public square to comment on the plans to rebuild the Acropolis in the fourth century BC.

We face extraordinary challenges and opportunities. We wish to recover and rebuild. We wish to remember and memorialize those who perished and what was destroyed. We also wish to rebuild a vital commercial and residential community as a symbol for both our friends and foes. We wish to build a better world and a brighter future. We hope and expect that The New York Phoenix will be a part of that process.