NEW YORK (June 4, 2002) With recovery and clean-up efforts concluded at the former World Trade Center site last week, much attention has shifted towards the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan. Rebuild Downtown Our Town (R.DOT), a coalition of Lower Manhattan residents, businesses, associations, architects and designers, said today that they officially advocate an international design competition to begin the process of redeveloping Lower Manhattan. This announcement supports recent calls for a competitive and creative process by the editors of McGraw-Hill Construction Architectural Record magazine ("The Case for Competition" May 2002) and The New York Times ("Turning to Renewal" May 31, 2002), respectively.

"It is clear that a strong framework is required to guide a competition of ideas and R.DOT will continue efforts to make sure the voices of Lower Manhattan are heard in the redevelopment process. However, it is R.DOT's belief that the architecture and design of any new structure (or structures), the memorial and all other design and art must be remarkable, inspiring and worthy of the site it will occupy. To achieve this, an international call for plans is required, one in which the decided winner will not be forced to compromise his or her vision," said Beverly Willis, FAIA, co-founder of R.DOT and president of the Architecture Research Institute.

"An international competition of architects and designers, conducted at the highest level of oversight and participation, committed to the unvarnished, uncompromised execution of the designs for the entire site, would remove the ensuing commission from the political arena and give the city a shot at evolving greatness. The memorial, for example, calls for an emotional resonance that great artists and architects can provide if given a framework removed from cronyism or political pressure," said Robert Ivy, editor-in-chief, Architectural Record, in his May 2002 editorial.

"No one wants the status quo. Embedded in the requirements for all structures on the site should be ideas that propel the project into this new century. Symbolically, new structures will project our image globally: The world is watching what we build," concluded Ivy.

Thomas Wright, executive vice president of Regional Plan Association, points out that "the planning team hired by the LMDC will not be designing the buildings, parks or memorial for the World Trade Center site. The planning team's task is to create a development framework for later design decisions. After the planning team presents different scenarios for public debate and discussion over the summer and fall, specific designs for buildings and public spaces can then be created through competitions and other processes which will ensure world class, innovative design."

R.DOT meets tomorrow June 4th at 8:30 a.m. at Pace University located at 1 Pace Plaza (at the corner of Nassau St. and Spruce St.) in lower Manhattan. For automated telephone directions, please call (212) 346-1133.

About Rebuild Downtown Our Town
The R.DOT coalition is comprised of Lower Manhattan residents, businesses, community and business associations, artists, colleges, professionals, architects, designers together with public officials and appointees. They meet regularly to discuss, research, and develop a collective vision that can shape our new downtown. Member groups of R.DOT represent the voices of thousands of people who have been directly affected by the destruction of the World Trade Towers.

R.DOT's vision is to create a 21st century living, working, sustainable environment that symbolizes the American spirit and its humanistic values; honors our dead; reflects our modern cultural, technological, economic and social thought, our global financial and economic leadership, and a multicultural society.

NEW YORK (February 26, 2002) -- Rebuild Downtown Our Town (R.Dot), a coalition of Lower Manhattan citizens, business and professional organizations and property owners, today released its first white paper that outlined its view of development objectives for Lower Manhattan and the World trade Center site.

At a press conference at Pace University, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and representatives of partner groups--the Civic Alliance representing 120 citizens groups; New York New Visions, and Municipal Art Society and Community Board #1 joined R.Dot as it announced its recommendations. R.Dot itself includes participants from 30 Lower Manhattan organizations.

"It is absolutely essential that downtown residents and small businesses play an active part in shaping the plans to rebuild downtown Manhattan. RDOT's principles are an important first step in this process. The Civic Alliance has been working closely with RDOT to ensure the needs and interests of the downtown community are a prominent feature in any recommendations that we present to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation." said Bob Yaro, President of Regional Plan Association.

"The World Trade Center site and the surrounding area must be rebuilt as mixed-use, mixed-income district, with connecting local and regional transportation and state-of- the art communications systems to enable Lower Manhattan and New York to maintain its financial, cultural, social and global leadership," said Beverly Willis, director and administrator of R.Dot.

"R.Dot advocates that all planning must be based on the two concepts of livability and sustainability, as it is the quality of life and the availability of services that will attract both businesses and residents back to Lower Manhattan and that sustainable building design and planning will conserve the energy necessary to accommodate new buildings," pointed out co-director Susan Szenasy.

They believe the decision about the appropriate approach to the graveyard and memorial must agreed to by all involved before any final planning on the site is completed. Plans must recognize that the World Trade Center site is a hallowed, sacred burial ground, which must be a peaceful, serene place to mourn. It is not simply a development site. Construction should be minimized.

The historic district must be enhanced by maintaining its historic blocks and streetscapes. Car-free pedestrian passageways must be created. The World Trade Center development should be designed as a hub to connect all Lower Manhattan neighborhoods, such as Battery Park, Tribeca, South Street Seaport, and Chinatown.

The group proposes to "Green Lower Manhattan by capitalizing on existing greenway plans, connecting Battery Park and the waterfront to the district by undergrounding West Street, protecting water views, developing parks and open air performing spaces, providing recreation places for children, designing sustainable buildings with roof top gardens," said designer Roland Gebhardt, R.Dot's infrastructure committee.

But the immediate neighborhood issues need swift action. According to the report, reconstruction will have an equal if not greater impact on Lower Manhattan than the attack itself, as 32 miles of street will be torn up several times. Not only is the empowering of a coordination czar necessary ,but a infrastructure reconstruction plan with fixed work schedules must be published to enable businesses and residents to plan around the construction.

As this construction, including the rebuilding of 3 subway stations and the PATH station, may take two to three years, the group proposes using temporary, moveable structures to provide neighborhood services where access is blocked or they were destroyed by the attack. Developing interim solutions to impediments caused by reconstruction is badly needed so people and businesses can once again thrive. Accommodating daily needs will help stem the exodus of people and businesses from the downtown area.

R.Dot will issue position papers regularly to address each need in a timely fashion. Its first position paper will be on pedestrian access and circulation needs.

R.Dot is led by architect Beverly Willis, FAIA, and Director of the Architecture Research Institute, Metropolis magazine Editor-in-Chief Susan Szenasy and Tribeca community activist Liz Abzug, Liz Abzug Consulting Services. The group meets every other week at Pace University.

NEW YORK (January 29, 2002) -- Calling the New York State WICKS LAW a massive roadblock in what should be a smooth restoration of utility services to Lower Manhattan, Rebuild Downtown Our Town (R.Dot) coalition advocates an exemption of the law.

To restore utilities in the destroyed area, thirty-two miles of streets will have to be torn up. Under the current WICKS LAW, this could result in the streets being torn up six times, once for each utility. The WICKS LAW, an amalgam of Section 135 of the New York State Finance Law and Section 101 of the General Municipal Law, calls for separate bidding for the construction of infrastructure in excess of $50,000 value.

Six separate utility services will need to be restored in Lower Manhattan: electricity, gas, steam, telephone, water and sewer, broadband and cable. The WICKS LAW requires each utility provider to solicit separate bids in areas under its jurisdiction, creating the potential for multiple contractors performing the work of digging up thirty-two miles of streets on different time schedules. This will substantially delay the completion of the rebuilding effort.

"Adhering to the WICKS LAW will cause the streets of Lower Manhattan to be dug up six separate times and turn Lower Manhattan into one big construction site," says Beverly Willis, one of the founders of R.Dot. "The WICKS LAW will add years to the process, driving out businesses and residents alike. Lower Manhattan must be given the chance to recover from September 11 as soon as possible. If construction is allowed to drag on because of this law, it will destroy the area' s ability to sustain its residential and business communities."

R.Dot has asked Governor George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, and Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum to create legislation to allow the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan infrastructure to receive an exemption from the WICKS LAW.

R.Dot (Rebuild Downtown Our Town) is the voice of Lower Manhattan. Led by Beverly Willis, Director, Architecture Research Institute; Susan Szenasy, Editor-in-Chief Metropolis magazine; and Liz Abzug, Executive Director, Housing and Services, R.Dot’s vision is to create a 21st century living, working, sustainable environment that symbolizes the humanistic American spirit and values, honors our dead, reflects our modern cultural, technological, economic and social thought; our global financial and economic leadership and a multicultural society.

The R.Dot coalition is comprised of Lower Manhattan residents, businesses, community and business associations, artists, colleges, professionals, designers, public officials and
appointees. They meet regularly to discuss, research, and develop a collective vision that can shape our new downtown. Member groups of R.Dot represent the voices of thousands of people who have been directly affected by the destruction of the World Trade Towers.

NEW YORK (December 4, 2001) -- The 21st Century began on September 11, 2001: How will the World Trade Center site and downtown Manhattan be rebuilt to reflect New York City as an international icon of the "21st Century City?"

Rebuild Downtown Our Town (RDOT), a citizens and business coalition with some of the city' s leading urban designers and architects, downtown residents and business leaders, is taking an active role in the shaping of ideas to rebuild New York' s downtown. The group is led by its three co-founders: Beverly Willis, director of The Architecture Research Institute, a think tank on livable cities; Susan Szenasy, editor in chief, Metropolis Magazine; and Liz Abzug, Tribeca business owner and Urban Studies Adjunct Professor at Barnard College and Columbia University. Formed in early October by concerned citizens, the coalition has grown to represent a number of community and citywide professional organizations, as well as a large number of individuals, and meets regularly at Pace University to develop a collective vision to restore aesthetically and economically revitalize New York' s downtown.

We have an opportunity, in rebuilding lower Manhattan, to put into practice the many new ideas about neighborhoods, transportation, communication, recreation, art and culture, city living and working that we' ve learned since the World Trade Center was built 30 years ago. Today, grass roots environmentalism is reshaping how we use land, materials and energy. We demand prudent management of our resources and an efficient, 24/7 neighborhood hub with its own services connecting TriBeCa, Battery Park City, South Street Seaport, Chinatown, Little Italy, the Financial District and The Lower East Side.

Madelyn G. Wils, chairperson of Community Board No. 1, an active participant of Rebuild Downtown Our Town, was appointed on Nov. 29 by Gov. George E. Pataki as one of 11 board members to serve on the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation, which will oversee the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site.

The group is also working with leading organizations involved in the revival of Lower Manhattan and New York City. These include Governor Pataki1s Office, State Assembly Speaker' s Office, the Manhattan Borough President' s Office, Community Board #1, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Little Italy Chamber of Commerce, Pratt Institute Center for Community Planning, Better Chinatown Association, Chinese American Planning Council, Asian American Federation, Natural Resource Defense Council, Alliance for Downtown New York, New York City Partnership, New York Real Estate Board, American Institute of Architects, The Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Pace University, Borough of Manhattan Community College, Adelphi University and the Guggenheim Foundation.

The coalition aims to represent the collective interests of those who live and work in Lower Manhattan to New York State and City. The goal is to create a 21st Century livable and balanced environment, with a diverse and inclusive 24-hour residential and business community that reinforces New York as the world' s financial capital and attracts and serves New York' s intellectual, entrepreneurial, creative, technological strengths and rich multi-cultural life. The new downtown must also support an efficient transportation system and the design of a fitting memorial for the September 11 tragedy.

Co-founders, architect Willis, Metropolis editor Szenasy and community leader Abzug, are concerned that the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan promotes the area' s "spiritual revitalization as well as its economic recovery. "We feel that any project on this world-renowned site should speak to people' s souls and acknowledge the diverse interests of the surrounding neighborhoods and businesses. The memorial built there must be artfully incorporated into the site to reflect our many local heroes as well as create a national and global monument for the many wonderful lives lost in the tragedy of September 11.

The group is working on a Downtown Area survey with Pace University to learn more about how people who live and work in Lower Manhattan perceive their environment and provide input to Rebuild Downtown Our Town in how best to rebuild the community.

About Rebuild Downtown Our Town
Rebuild Downtown Our Town is working with leading government, civic, Professional organizations and individuals committed to aesthetically and economically revitalizing New York' s downtown as a model 21st Century urban environment. Prominent professionals and community leaders have joined the coalition, including architects, such as Rafael Pelli, whose firm, Cesar Pelli & Associates, designed the World Financial Center as well as Ted Liebman, James Biber, Nancy Owens, Jennifer Kossler, Roland Gelbhart, and Ron Schiffman. Business representatives include Erica Forman, partner at the law firm of Robinson, Silverman, Pearce, Aronsohn and Berman; Bruce Ehrmann, Stribling Realtors; Gerard Major, Confidential Practices Inc.; Marc Ameruso, Elana Posner, and restaurateur Albert Capsouto; and Madelyne G. Wils, chairperson of Community Board No. 1; as well as many others.

Let us begin building a 21st Century City now and let us build it in lower Manhattan. Let us build it as a memorial to the families and friends we have lost, and create through innovative construction, a symbol of what America is. Let’s remind the world that New York still stands as the first among equals in the pantheon of the greatest cities of the world.

The World Trade Center towers were designed almost 30 years ago, a monument to another era. The twin towers were unique. They were a symbol of the US as the world’s financial center. But now they are gone. The World Trade Center was extremely efficient in its design and use of office space. But those were the days when downtown was used primarily for business and only business. During the five-day workweek then, lower Manhattan was alive with people. At noon, Wall Street was blanketed with pedestrians. But at night and on weekends, falcons glided down the canyons of a ghost town.

In the early 90s, both buildings stood nearly half-empty. Many businesses, large and small, found they didn' t need a Wall Street address. Stamford, Connecticut. or Jersey City, New Jersey fit their needs quite nicely and the business commute was easier. It was the new economy boom that erased the vacancy rate of the World Trade Center. Still, even now, 16 per cent of New Yorkers reverse commute to surrounding communities. In the aftermath of this tragedy, more firms are relocating, temporarily they say. If the twin towers are rebuilt, there may be reluctance to work again in a 110-story terrorist target building, that some people on the street are calling a crypt. Even the developer has expressed doubts about replicating the original design.

We are in fierce competition with other American cities for skilled workers: the people capable of the tasks that drive our high-tech, paperless, instantaneous 21st Century society. We should continue our efforts to make lower Manhattan a 24-hour, 7-day a week community, capable of attracting and sustaining the people who will propel us through this next century.

These people can work almost anywhere. We need to attract and keep them in our city. To do so, we must make the city greener, pedestrian friendly, less automobile dependent, and more family oriented. Downtown needs to be a community where people desire to not only work but live as well.

The health of a city is measured by its quality of life.

Lower Manhattan, if properly designed and constructed, could become a community of integrated living and working spaces, sustainably designed tall buildings, connected on the surface ground by wide, walkable, landscaped passages.

We should look up but also further down. Most American cities are built to accommodate the automobile. In Houston and Los Angeles, 70 per cent of surface space used for roads, gas stations and parking lots. Here in Manhattan that figure is approaching 50 per cent but we are slowly reaching perpetual gridlock. Lower Manhattan, with its narrow 17th Century streets and shoehorned buildings is even worse. Underground, alternative forms of transport can supply this area. Underground mass transit and service roadways can eliminate the clogged streets, massive traffic jams and air pollution of the past.

We should strive to Incorporate all the best elements of the four-century historical heart of both the city and the nation, preserving the best of each era from its narrow streets to the ambiance of Trinity Church, dwarfed in size but not in majesty by the towers that surround it. There should be magnificent views which, with the sweep of an eye, can look north to midtown and beyond east to Brooklyn and lower New York harbor, west across the great Hudson River and south, to the anchor of it all, the Statue of Liberty; the icon of all that this country was, is and will be.

In the last week, the United States of America has come together again. This should continue to be reflected in this city, starting with lower Manhattan.

Let us begin.

Authors:
Beverly Willis is president of the Architecture Research Institute; a New York think tank dedicated to the development of livable cities.
James Cusick is an Emmy-award winning journalist and writer and a Board member of the Architecture Research Institute.