The Rise of The Freedom Tower July 2011
On my way into work this morning I noticed that the Freedom Tower downtown is rising up in the city skyline. It took me by surprise because it's been so long. I had to take some pictures.Please click to enlarge. I used a much higher resolution in these shots so they get really big. When you click, then click again! You can actually see the American flag flying under the cranes especially in the bottom few shots.
It is a beautiful day today, sparkling and clear. Just as it was on September 11, 2001.
Almost ten years ago I stood in this very spot and watched the towers of our World Trade Center burn and fall.
I just heard that it is about 60% completed but it doesn't look very much taller than the Woolworth Building so far.
Here you can see the cranes lifting the steel into place.
I watched the World Trade Center being built when I was a kid. I had been to the observation deck at the top many times. And for a short time I worked on the 97th floor of the South Tower.I watched as they were destroyed and fell in 2001. I was running late for work that day. I came out of my building and saw what was happening. It was two minutes after the second plane hit.
A friend of mine was killed in the attacks. He was 26 years old and didn't even work in the World Trade Center. He was only there for a breakfast meeting that morning.
Now I'm watching the rebuilding of the site ten years later. Though it is exciting to see them putting up the new tower, it is also very sad. My heart has never left the people who were in the airplanes, those who were inside the WTC and the Pentagon, and all of the first responders who gave their lives.
UPDATE - Sunday, July 31, 2011: Here's a couple more pictures from the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. This was from inside the car on the way into the Lincoln Tunnel. It looks a lot bigger from this point of view. It's going to bring back the balance in the skyline in lower Manhattan.
UPDATE - August 22, 2011: A nice hi-res shot on a rainy, gray day below.
Click to enlarge.
Now I'm watching the rebuilding of the site ten years later. Though it is exciting to see them putting up the new tower, it is also very sad. My heart has never left the people who were in the airplanes, those who were inside the WTC and the Pentagon, and all of the first responders who gave their lives.
UPDATE - Sunday, July 31, 2011: Here's a couple more pictures from the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. This was from inside the car on the way into the Lincoln Tunnel. It looks a lot bigger from this point of view. It's going to bring back the balance in the skyline in lower Manhattan.
UPDATE - August 22, 2011: A nice hi-res shot on a rainy, gray day below.
Click to enlarge.
posted by Urban Infidel at 9:40 AM
12 Comments:
A giant middle finger to the Mohammedan world.
It’s a shame it took so long.
I agree….this should have been done a long time ago. I remember watching it on tv…I went bonkers when I saw the second plane hit. I will never forget that day. I say rebuild bigger and better as a sign to those who would attack America…you may set us back, but you can’t keep us down bitches. This invokes a strong anger in me, and I won’t apologize for it.
A building at that site should have been a graeter
priority after 9/11 and one floor taller than the WTC.
Thank you so much for the pictures and the stories.
10 years.
Nope.
Still angry.
Until I’m dead.
or they are.
What a beautiful building! It will be 1776 feet tall when completed and it will have an observation deck. When I lived in NY, I used to go out on the roof of the South tower.
Appreciate your blog and point of view. I am a fellow NYCer and perhaps you can post more about the usurpers forged birth certificate, fraudulent social security number and ineligiblity. Thanks
Actually, it's a giant middle finger to America, not the haters.
Twin Towers destroyed, the majority of people want them back, we get one tall tower with a cowardly, windowless bunker bottom and a grotesque mismatched bunch of lower towers and a hideosu, abysmal so-called "memorial" with a Satanic title.
Wake up! The same people who refuse to bury the dead remains in Fresh Kills garbage dump are the same people thrusting this morbid plan upon NYC and America and the whole earth.
The problem with Islam: I believe that there may be moderate Muslims, but there is no moderate Islam. The Koran’s chapters are not printed in chronological order – it is a confusing mixture of often contradictory messages. A big problem appears to be the principle of abrogation, that is, that later verses can be said to cancel earlier verses which contradict them. This principle is recognized by Muslims themselves and has been named – “mansukh” (the abrogated) and “nasikh” (the abrogating) verses (Koran 2:106 and 16:101 or thereabouts) recognize this principle. It appears that Mohammed revealed verses which were pertinent to the situation of the Muslims at a particular time. When in a weakened situation the verses were tolerant towards “unbelievers.” I realize that all Muslims do not agree on exactly which verses have been abrogated. To me it appears obvious that “jihadists” regard surah 9 (which we are told is one of the last revealed chronologically) and one which contains exhortations to fight, as a surah which cancels earlier tolerant verses including the “let there be no compulsion in religion” verse. It is verse 9:29 which talks of the “jizya” tax and the humbling of the People of the Book (Christians and Jews) by fighting them until they submit.
Another problem is that the “jihadists” believe themselves to be “divinely” enjoined to create around themselves a society which lives under one form or another of sharia law. I know there are different schools of sharia law, but I also believe that all of them are incompatible with democracy. So these two problems – abrogation in the Koran and the desire of fundamentalist Muslims to live under sharia law create problems when such people emigrate to Western countries for their own economic benefit. If Muslims truly want peaceful and equal coexistence these two problems must be addressed and overcome.
It is so big! I have been away from New York since April and I can't believe how big it is! I will be back in five months to look for a permanent place in NYC, and I am anchtious to see it then!
It's a middle finger to the American spirit. too SHORT, cowardly, skeletal. Compromise written all over it. As well as surrender. Submission.
TWO. TALL. TOWERS.
What's planned offends the spirit.
I always felt like the delay has somehow been because it's SO WRONG. The cowardly compromise will never uplift, and guide the USA to push our envelope for greatness.
TWO TALL TOWERS.
I hate this building. Once again, America disappoints. This building honors absolutely no one, and more specifically demonstrates how spineless of a society we've become by building such a generic and safe / modest replacement for the great towers that once graced that air / skyline. It looks like it was designed by the same folks that design Walmarts and Kmarts. America has lost its creative and engineering edge. I hate it.
Sorry for being blunt, but that crap is not the needed prosthetic for NY or America. Too bad we're so scared to build great things.
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