Editor’s Take
People look, but often don’t see.
“Make visible what, without you,
might perhaps never have been seen.”
- Robert Bresson
By Chris Brunson
Away from the crowds at the World Trade Center site in New York, standing inside the pedestrian walkway, looking into the construction site that holds the outlines of the destroyed WTC twin towers, it’s quiet. In the corner stand a flock of welded steel crosses, like sentinels, mute testimony to the fact that many people died here.
It’s a graveyard. Standing and looking down, I can’t imagine shoppers toting bags of trendy clothes or looking for geegaws anywhere near this still open, stark and raw landscape.
Here’s where a building stood, people worked, and then an airplane, a commercial flight full of people, flew into it. Here’s is its twin, only a footprint remains, the same thing happened to it. Here is where debris rained down, smoke choked the air, the world watched, unbelieving.
And yet.
Walking forward through the covered pedestrian bridge over the busy busy streets below, a visitor will emerge at the “World Trade Center Path Station” — pause for a moment and look across the across the street, there is the diminutive St. Pauls Chapel at Broadway and Fulton.
Here is New York,full of moving colors, people, business, life at its most vibrant.
Crowds gather below the interpretive signs atop the fenced area and stand, looking up at the timeline of events about the history of the buildings and the hours that led to Sept. 11, 2001. Voices speak a multitude of languages.
Even though they are prohibited, street vendors are bold and hawk smarmy wares, booklets, photographs. Ignore them and look for yourself. Look for the steel beams that form a cross and still stand tall. The rebuild work continues inside the fenced area.
The day I visited in April 2006, a homeless man curled up , prone on the sidewalk in front of the fence. Schoolchildren, tour buses, tourists and working people abounded. Is it worth a visit? Yes. The site draws people curious to see something. Some stand and look, many take photographs, others weep. Many others stride by, doing business, living life.
Should you be in New York, take the time to walk the complete block around the area and pay special attention to the elevated walkway from which it’s possible to look down into the construction site. It is nearly impossible to not see the multiple images burned into your mind that day not so long ago and try to fit those memories to this land. Memorable, maybe disturbing. But what most captured the day was the silence of that back corner studded with crosses that someone crafted out of metal twisted from the wreckage of two once tall and proud towers.
The silence and mute testimony made the hubbub and color and crowds fade to nothing. Focus. Look. See what is going on all around you.
Sometimes it’s necessary to stop, even for an hour, before going forward. In every day life, there are business ideas, dreams, hopes, plans.
Think for yourself, don’t follow the crowd - good advice in life and in business. Also good to remember when looking at history.
For a well-presented view of what the area will become, visit www.pathrestoration.com/drp/ — the animated movie-like renderings literally take a viewer on a tour. This web site offers a simple, clean map and easy to understand progress of all portions of the area.
A viewing wall located along the west side of Church Street from Fulton to Cortlandt Streets allows visitors to pay their respects or just get oriented to the site. The first portion of the wall displays panels bearing the names of the more than 2,800 people who died at the site on September 11, 2001. Additional panels detail the history, design and creation of the WTC site; the story behind the temporary memorials, Fritz Koenig’s “The Sphere” and the Tribute in Light; and provide an good look at the rebuilding process.
The completed portion of the viewing wall is 500 feet long and will eventually surround 1,800 linear feet of the site’s perimeter, from the northeast corner at Church and Vesey Streets, extending south to Liberty Street and ending at Liberty and Washington streets. The wall features several stop-in spaces, where visitors can pause and reflect while others continue to pass by.
To get more information about visiting or doing business in New York, call on NYC & Company, the city’s official tourism organization. Web site is www.nycvisit.com, or call (800) NYC-VISIT, (212)-397-8222 (outside North America). They can provide referrals and just about every possible type of information you can desire.
For information about getting to and around in Lower Manhattan, visit www.LowerManhattan.info for details about the area's subways, trains, ferries, buses, parking, and bike and pedestrian information.
For a webcam of the construction site, visit www.renewnyc.com/webcam/memorialsite/current.aspx
