New York City Spring Break

This fire station was literally right across the street from the World Trade Center, so naturally the firefighters working here on September 11th were the first ones on the scene. I read something somewhere about number of men lost, but I do know that this station lost several in the line of duty. Still, it never stops these brave people from doing their jobs.

I was very surprised that little to no progress has been made on the building of Freedom Tower, scheduled for completion in 2011. As of now, the World Trade Center site was still just a big hole in the ground. I understand that millions of tons of debris had to be removed from the area following the collapse of the buildings, but I guess I was just expecting a little more than vacant space.

The majority of the buildings in this area are connected via skywalks. This makes sense because all of them are financial buildings and most likely do business with each other. These skywalks also allowed us to walk around the entire WTC site and view it from an elevated position.

The thing that struck me the most about the former WTC site is the absence of buildings. If you've ever been to NYC or paid attention to these pictures, you would notice how odd it is that there is a space in NYC that is unoccupied. With so many things in the city, it is very rare (with the exception being Central Park) to see open space.

Santiago Calatrava, the same architect who designed the Art Museum addition in Milwaukee was chosen to design the new transit station at the WTC site. A temporary building is in its place that has a little foreshadowing into how the future building will look. Obviously since it is a Calatrava building, it will have his signature look.

Inside one of the surrounding buildings, they had a display which featured a model of what Freedom tower would look like upon its completion. Most of the reason that no progress has been mad is because of disputes between anyone and everyone involved in this process. Several designs have been thrown out and everyone is trying to get something for nothing. It's quite complicated, so I won't bore you with details, but one thing is certain - I will return to New York City to check out Freedom Tower and the September 11th Memorial(s) following their completion.

Every American has to go to New York City in some time in their lives and either see the WTC site or the memorial that they are building. The attack on these buildings weren't just an attack on New York City, it was an attack on our entire country and our way of life. Even seeing the hole in the ground and the nothingness that surrounds it will make you feel empty. You will be touched in a way that you never felt possible, and hopefully you'll take something away from your visit here. If a hole in the ground can do this to you, I wonder what the actual memorial will do to a person. Time will only tell on that one, as it won't be completed until sometime in 2010.