QuoteOutcry after new Ground Zero tower loses 'Freedom'
Fri Mar 27, 11:00 am ET
NEW YORK (AFP) – The owners of the skyscraper being built at Ground Zero ran into controversy on Friday with the decision to strip the building of its patriotic unofficial name "Freedom Tower."
"No more freedom," read the front page of the Daily News, declaring in an editorial that the site's owner, the New York and New Jersey Port Authority, was "erasing history."
"Freedom is out of fashion at Ground Zero," rival tabloid the New York Post said.
The Port Authority announced that the planned 1,776-foot building, now barely above its foundations, will instead be known by the same name as one of the twin towers destroyed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks: One World Trade Center.
Port Authority Chairman Anthony Coscia made the announcement Thursday, saying: "As we market the building we will ensure that the building is presented in the best possible way.... One World Trade Center is its address, it's the one that we are using."
The spat coincided with the signing on Thursday of the building's first commercial tenant -- a 21-year deal with China's Vantone Industrial Company.
The Chinese company will take up the entire 65th and 69th floors and part of the 64th with a business and cultural facility dubbed the China Center.
Following a series of delays, the building is not scheduled to be ready for occupancy until 2014.
Susan Regenhard, the mother of one of the firefighters killed on 9/11, along with nearly 3,000 other people, said the Port Authority cared about marketing more than memories.
"It's all about marketing, all about PR, all about them making money," Regenhard told AFP.
Regenhard said she was never a fan of the "Freedom Tower" name because the the mammoth project is allegedly riddled with unsafe work.
"What's in a name? It's about the nature of these buildings," she said. "This is the number one terrorist target in the world."
Former New York Governor George Pataki, first to coin the name "Freedom Tower," reacted defiantly.
"The Freedom Tower isn't going to be One World Trade Center, it's going to be the Freedom Tower," he said in comments broadcast on NY1 television.
"I think One and Two World Trade Center are sacred names which should never be used again," said Pataki.
This is a major milestone, and a very welcome one indeed. I always despised the gross overuse and misuse of the word "freedom" after 9/11, and how it became closely associated with mindless patriotism. I feel like it cheapens the concept behind the word.
:thumbsup:
Freedom Tower was retarded.
You can't have the Chinese renting space in the Freedom Tower, so a name change was necessary.
Does anybody know if the new WTC will be taller or shorter than the old and if it has more or less office space than the old?
I figured they'd eventually change the name to French Tower. :(
Quote from: Viking on March 27, 2009, 10:21:42 PM
Does anybody know if the new WTC will be taller or shorter than the old and if it has more or less office space than the old?
I only know that it'll be 1776 ft. tall.
Quote from: Viking on March 27, 2009, 10:21:42 PM
Does anybody know if the new WTC will be taller or shorter than the old and if it has more or less office space than the old?
Taller. 1,368 ft. was the height of the slightly taller tower. I don't know about office space; it sounds like the new WTC 1 is going to have more nonstandard-height mezzanine floors.
QuoteRegenhard said she was never a fan of the "Freedom Tower" name because the the mammoth project is allegedly riddled with unsafe work.
I don't guess "Might Fall Down Without Being Hit by an Airliner Tower" would be considered appropriate.
Quote from: dps on March 28, 2009, 12:57:49 AM
QuoteRegenhard said she was never a fan of the "Freedom Tower" name because the the mammoth project is allegedly riddled with unsafe work.
I don't guess "Might Fall Down Without Being Hit by an Airliner Tower" would be considered appropriate.
:lol: Forget "Tower," even; the tower's new name should just be "JENGA!"
Quote from: Caliga on March 27, 2009, 10:23:09 PM
I figured they'd eventually change the name to French Tower. :(
That would sound like some elaborate sex position.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on March 27, 2009, 04:32:18 PM
Freedom Tower was retarded.
:yes:
Its the kind of thing that makes the world laugh at America. Good you've removed it.
Laugh at America? Why laugh when it your countries are being assimilated into the collective? It is inevitable.
Quote"I think One and Two World Trade Center are sacred names which should never be used again," said Pataki.
You just said them! Sacrilege!
Actually I don't think it makes sense to call the building 1 WTC for the simple reason that there isn't a World Trade Center anymore. Why not just call it ___ West Street?
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on March 28, 2009, 09:51:54 AM
Quote"I think One and Two World Trade Center are sacred names which should never be used again," said Pataki.
You just said them! Sacrilege!
Actually I don't think it makes sense to call the building 1 WTC for the simple reason that there isn't a World Trade Center anymore. Why not just call it ___ West Street?
Because towers invariably have names. 350 Fifth Avenue doesn't mean anything to most people,
Quote from: dps on March 28, 2009, 12:57:49 AM
QuoteRegenhard said she was never a fan of the "Freedom Tower" name because the the mammoth project is allegedly riddled with unsafe work.
I don't guess "Might Fall Down Without Being Hit by an Airliner Tower" would be considered appropriate.
The "Nothing Left to Lose Tower" would be a good name. :)
This is an OUTRAGE. Have we learned NOTHING from 9/11? Congress should MANDATE the word FREEDOM in this new tower's name. By God!
Where's that lovely "I'm falling for you" pic?
WTF Tower?
Quote
The Port Authority announced that the planned 1,776-foot building, now barely above its foundations
That's all they've done? They've almost finished the Burj Dubai and that was started in 2004.
Never was a fan of the name, but if the Chinese are behind this then I'm against the change.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F_V_kZESVsbYQ%2FR4an8tdU80I%2FAAAAAAAAAvE%2FUc94dJ-dt4k%2Fs320%2Ftwintowers_ad.jpg&hash=6d8c3ff9b6ba53040e6ac66af86323f54fe2c2e7)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ironicsans.com%2Fimages%2Fibmwtc01.jpg&hash=a6dd1f7649e13318db96d05348aabdd0ae725dd8)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsnarfd.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2008%2F01%2Ftwin_towers_advert.jpg&hash=fab5096fef5a44cdc3d615331d0e7fb22716e989)
Quote from: DisturbedPervert on March 28, 2009, 10:53:23 AM
Quote
The Port Authority announced that the planned 1,776-foot building, now barely above its foundations
That's all they've done? They've almost finished the Burj Dubai and that was started in 2004.
Americans aren't very good at building.
Quote from: DisturbedPervert on March 28, 2009, 10:53:23 AM
Quote
The Port Authority announced that the planned 1,776-foot building, now barely above its foundations
That's all they've done? They've almost finished the Burj Dubai and that was started in 2004.
There were dozens of lawsuits to get through before they could start.
Quote from: Neil on March 28, 2009, 12:11:33 PM
Quote from: DisturbedPervert on March 28, 2009, 10:53:23 AM
Quote
The Port Authority announced that the planned 1,776-foot building, now barely above its foundations
That's all they've done? They've almost finished the Burj Dubai and that was started in 2004.
Americans aren't very good at building.
It isn't that we aren't good at building, it is that we have too many lawyers.
...and not enough Indonesian slave labor. :(
It's things like this that makes me remember why I hate Yankees.
Quote from: Syt on March 28, 2009, 12:11:10 PM
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F_V_kZESVsbYQ%2FR4an8tdU80I%2FAAAAAAAAAvE%2FUc94dJ-dt4k%2Fs320%2Ftwintowers_ad.jpg&hash=6d8c3ff9b6ba53040e6ac66af86323f54fe2c2e7)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ironicsans.com%2Fimages%2Fibmwtc01.jpg&hash=a6dd1f7649e13318db96d05348aabdd0ae725dd8)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsnarfd.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2008%2F01%2Ftwin_towers_advert.jpg&hash=fab5096fef5a44cdc3d615331d0e7fb22716e989)
Were those done before 9/11?
Quote from: DGullerWere those done before 9/11?
Yup, I'm surprised you haven't seen them before.
Quote from: Neil on March 28, 2009, 10:16:41 AM
Because towers invariably have names. 350 Fifth Avenue doesn't mean anything to most people,
Not invariably. Several iconic NYC properties are known by their street addresses: 1 Central Park West (aka Time Warner Center); 11 Wall Street (shorn of the street number this has become a moniker for the entire financial system of the US); 1 Sutton Place South; 9 West (57th) (aka Solow Building); 15 Central Park West; 960 Fifth Avenue; 1 Fifth Avenue; 720 Park
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 28, 2009, 01:50:51 PM
Quote from: DGullerWere those done before 9/11?
Yup, I'm surprised you haven't seen them before.
:face:
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on March 28, 2009, 02:26:27 PM
Quote from: Neil on March 28, 2009, 10:16:41 AM
Because towers invariably have names. 350 Fifth Avenue doesn't mean anything to most people,
Not invariably. Several iconic NYC properties are known by their street addresses: 1 Central Park West (aka Time Warner Center); 11 Wall Street (shorn of the street number this has become a moniker for the entire financial system of the US); 1 Sutton Place South; 9 West (57th) (aka Solow Building); 15 Central Park West; 960 Fifth Avenue; 1 Fifth Avenue; 720 Park
Actually, the Time Warner Center kinda goes where I want to go with this: It's all about the marketing. TWC is marketed as '1 Central Park', when its real address is 10 Columbus Circle, and 1 Central Park West is the address of a building across the street. When you build a prestige tower, you give it a name that'll stand out. Looking at the top skyscrapers, almost all of them are named.
Most of those buildings you mentioned aren't skyscrapers. Being an icon is one thing, but a skyscraper is in a whole different class.
Skyscraper is a retarded name to begin with.
Quote from: Siege on March 29, 2009, 06:32:19 PM
Skyscraper is a retarded name to begin with.
What makes you say that?
Quote from: Neil on March 29, 2009, 06:33:36 PM
What makes you say that?
Third World types are notoriously literal.
Quote from: grumbler on March 29, 2009, 07:19:09 PM
Quote from: Neil on March 29, 2009, 06:33:36 PM
What makes you say that?
Third World types are notoriously literal.
Skyscraper is a rather literal metaphor though, I don't understand his objection.
To really think about it skyscraper is a pretty damn cool term really. Literal terms usually aren't.
Also; is it just me finds it a little bit odd they're yammering about freedom and 1776 and all that when Britain is America's closest ally against the Islamicists right now? We don't care of course but still, it is kinda going after your own team.
Quote from: Tyr on March 30, 2009, 05:32:23 AM
To really think about it skyscraper is a pretty damn cool term really. Literal terms usually aren't.
Also; is it just me finds it a little bit odd they're yammering about freedom and 1776 and all that when Britain is America's closest ally against the Islamicists right now? We don't care of course but still, it is kinda going after your own team.
1776 is a wonderful year as it marks the birth of freedom and the attempt by Britain to kill this newborn child of the west. Thankfully they happily failed thus eventually ensuing freedom for us all.
Quote from: Tyr on March 30, 2009, 05:32:23 AM
Also; is it just me finds it a little bit odd they're yammering about freedom and 1776 and all that when Britain is America's closest ally against the Islamicists right now? We don't care of course but still, it is kinda going after your own team.
It was actually a German who came up with that idea.
Quote from: Tyr on March 30, 2009, 05:32:23 AM
Also; is it just me finds it a little bit odd they're yammering about freedom and 1776 and all that when Britain is America's closest ally against the Islamicists right now? We don't care of course but still, it is kinda going after your own team.
Yeah, that would be as bad as if Britain had made a film version of one of Shakespeare's anti-French plays, like Henry V, during the Second World War while their ally, France, was occupied by the Axis.
Ba-zing.
And that Henry V is superior to the newer one.
Quote from: Savonarola on March 30, 2009, 08:14:15 AM
Quote from: Tyr on March 30, 2009, 05:32:23 AM
Also; is it just me finds it a little bit odd they're yammering about freedom and 1776 and all that when Britain is America's closest ally against the Islamicists right now? We don't care of course but still, it is kinda going after your own team.
Yeah, that would be as bad as if Britain had made a film version of one of Shakespeare's anti-French plays, like Henry V, during the Second World War while their ally, France, was occupied by the Axis.
Sort of the same thing yeah.
But I suppose there you could read it as the Valois kings=Vichy whilst De Gaul was Burgundy or somesuch.
And of course I never said it was a big deal, just a minor thinking issue.
(and edditing messages on this board is a bitch)
Quote from: Tyr on March 30, 2009, 05:32:23 AM
To really think about it skyscraper is a pretty damn cool term really. Literal terms usually aren't.
Also; is it just me finds it a little bit odd they're yammering about freedom and 1776 and all that when Britain is America's closest ally against the Islamicists right now? We don't care of course but still, it is kinda going after your own team.
As far as i can tell, only you are yammering on about 1776 being somehow anti-British, as opposed to being the highest expression of British political ideals in opposition to a German monarch and his cronies. 1776 and all that is something any Brit with a solid understanding of history should think a terrific thing, just as any American with a solid understanding of history is thankful that the two invasions of Quebec failed and Canada went on to become an independent nation.
Quote from: grumbler on March 30, 2009, 08:21:47 AM
Quote from: Tyr on March 30, 2009, 05:32:23 AM
To really think about it skyscraper is a pretty damn cool term really. Literal terms usually aren't.
Also; is it just me finds it a little bit odd they're yammering about freedom and 1776 and all that when Britain is America's closest ally against the Islamicists right now? We don't care of course but still, it is kinda going after your own team.
As far as i can tell, only you are yammering on about 1776 being somehow anti-British, as opposed to being the highest expression of British political ideals in opposition to a German monarch and his cronies. 1776 and all that is something any Brit with a solid understanding of history should think a terrific thing, just as any American with a solid understanding of history is thankful that the two invasions of Quebec failed and Canada went on to become an independent nation.
Öh fuck off.
I said it once as a minor pondering issue, perhaps with a slight dose of irony, I certainly am not yammering on about it being anti-British.
yammer yammer yammer
Quote from: grumbler on March 30, 2009, 08:21:47 AM
As far as i can tell, only you are yammering on about 1776 being somehow anti-British, as opposed to being the highest expression of British political ideals in opposition to a German monarch and his cronies.
George III was born in Britain, spoke English and never set foot in Hanover. Then again, you're just the sort of guy who doesn't consider third-generation immigrants to be 'real Americans' either, are you? Hearing you call katmai and Tim 'filthy Mexicans' is disgusting. Maybe Louisiana should revolt, since their governor's dad was born in India.
You sir, disgust me. :ultra:
Quote1776 and all that is something any Brit with a solid understanding of history should think a terrific thing, just as any American with a solid understanding of history is thankful that the two invasions of Quebec failed and Canada went on to become an independent nation.
Most Americans are concerned primarily with territorial aggrandizement, and thus bemoan the loss of the opportunity to conquer all of North America.
Besides, it would have been hillarious listening to the Quebecois whine as the Americans exterminated their culture.
Quote from: Neil on March 30, 2009, 09:47:01 AM
Quote from: grumbler on March 30, 2009, 08:21:47 AM
As far as i can tell, only you are yammering on about 1776 being somehow anti-British, as opposed to being the highest expression of British political ideals in opposition to a German monarch and his cronies.
George III was born in Britain, spoke English and never set foot in Hanover. Then again, you're just the sort of guy who doesn't consider third-generation immigrants to be 'real Americans' either, are you? Hearing you call katmai and Tim 'filthy Mexicans' is disgusting. Maybe Louisiana should revolt, since their governor's dad was born in India.
You sir, disgust me. :ultra:
Quote1776 and all that is something any Brit with a solid understanding of history should think a terrific thing, just as any American with a solid understanding of history is thankful that the two invasions of Quebec failed and Canada went on to become an independent nation.
Most Americans are concerned primarily with territorial aggrandizement, and thus bemoan the loss of the opportunity to conquer all of North America.
Besides, it would have been hillarious listening to the Quebecois whine as the Americans exterminated their culture.
They wouldn't whine. Quebec would be like Louisiana if the US conquered it. None of them would speak French.
Quote from: Razgovory on March 30, 2009, 11:05:57 AM
They wouldn't whine. Quebec would be like Louisiana if the US conquered it. None of them would speak French.
They would have whined initially. Then the Americans would have deported them or slaughtered them.
Quote from: Neil on March 30, 2009, 09:47:01 AM
Quote from: grumbler on March 30, 2009, 08:21:47 AM
As far as i can tell, only you are yammering on about 1776 being somehow anti-British, as opposed to being the highest expression of British political ideals in opposition to a German monarch and his cronies.
George III was born in Britain, spoke English and never set foot in Hanover. Then again, you're just the sort of guy who doesn't consider third-generation immigrants to be 'real Americans' either, are you? Hearing you call katmai and Tim 'filthy Mexicans' is disgusting. Maybe Louisiana should revolt, since their governor's dad was born in India.
You sir, disgust me. :ultra:
:lmfao: Coming from you that's rich.
Quote from: Neil on March 30, 2009, 09:47:01 AM
Quote from: grumbler on March 30, 2009, 08:21:47 AM
As far as i can tell, only you are yammering on about 1776 being somehow anti-British, as opposed to being the highest expression of British political ideals in opposition to a German monarch and his cronies.
George III was born in Britain, spoke English and never set foot in Hanover. Then again, you're just the sort of guy who doesn't consider third-generation immigrants to be 'real Americans' either, are you?
That's a very German attitude. ^_^