Freedom Tower: Unknown At This Address

 

Various news outlets are reporting today that the Freedom Tower, the 1,776-foot building replacing the World Trade Center towers which came down in the attacks of September 11, 2001, will actually be named “1 World Trade Center.”

The NY Daily News reports that the New York Port Authority announced the official name change yesterday after a meeting of the Port Authority Board, at which it was voted to sign a long-term lease with Vantone Industrial, a Chinese real estate company cozy with the Chinese Communist government, as the building’s first commercial tenant.

But the Port Authority insists that the name change has nothing to do with gaining its first commercial client after a five-year search. They claim that they are merely reflecting the building’s actual address —the name change has received “a very interested and warm reception to it,” insists Anthony Coscia, the PA chairman.

Others, however, aren’t so thrilled with the change. Former NY Governor George Pataki stated:

“The Freedom Tower is not simply another piece of real estate and not just a name for marketing purposes. In design and name, it is symbolic of our commitment to rise above the attacks of Sept. 11. Where 1 and 2 World Trade Center once stood, there will be a memorial with two voids to honor the heroes we lost – and, in my view, those addresses should never be used again.”

Of course, Gov. Pataki does have some skin in the game, as the name “Freedom Tower” was originally his idea. However, it seems the locals and visitors aren’t that pleased, either.

“My gut reaction is calling a building the World Trade Center when it really isn’t the World Trade Center is pretty creepy,” said Rosaleen Tallon, who lost her brother Sean, a 26-year-old probationary firefighter with Ladder 10, on 9/11.

On Liberty St., across from the 16-acre site, Michael Gardner, 52, a tourist from London visiting the WTC Tribute Center, argued that the name Freedom Tower must endure.

“It is a symbol. The name is about freedom and peace. America – land of the free – that is the message that should be put out there.”

And the New York Post reported that Deborah Burlingame, sister of Charles Burlingame, pilot of AA Flight 77, remarked: “If we can’t say the word freedom out loud, God help us.”

Amen to that.

Once again, we are being done to death by political correctness. And I am getting mighty sick of it.

 Stoutcat