Shuster and Ward on the WTC Rebuilding

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Chris Ward, executive director of the Port Authority, trying to bullshit David Shuster. Ward says he doesn't know where Shuster got that poll from, but that's only the tip of the iceberg of what Ward doesn't know. He toes the official line that there was "a broad public consensus" to build the Libescheme.

Yet the consensus consisted mainly of politicians, urban planers, and developers who had agreed on a quick fix rebuilding consisting of some random office buildings that were supposedly cheap to build and easy to rent out. Now, as it has turned out that the unprincipled is never practical, that those supposedly cheap and popular new buildings are more expensive to build and less popular than rebuilding the Twin Towers, the bureaucracy tries to cover its ass and claims it had a public mandate to build that crap.

Ward, who's rather new to the job, either believes the spin of his corrupt predecessors, or is just generally ignorant of the rebuilding process he's supposed to manage. In fact, in the Lower Manhattan Development Agency's own poll, the Libescheme and the other official finalist scheme both lost handily to "none of the above," Libeskind finishing last of the three.

Results on Imagine New York (the LMDC's official poll)

Gardens of the World 205 votes 26%

World Cultural Center 260 votes 33%

None of the Above 323 votes 41%

Total votes: 788

On NY1

Results since February 4, 2003

Gardens of the World / Daniel Libeskind 6,853 votes 21%

World Culture / THINK Consortium 4,615 votes 14%

I don't like either of these plans 20,892 votes 64%

Total votes: 32,360

On CNN

Which of the two finalists' designs do you prefer for the World Trade Center site?

Studio Daniel Libeskind 33,050 votes 32%

THINK Towers 34,867 votes 34%

Neither is Good 35,747 votes 34%

Total votes: 103,664

Renderings of the new Twin Towers.

Learn more about rebuilding the Twin Towers.