Freedom – For a Fee [POLL]

It’s official: 1 World Trade Center has now become New York's tallest skyscraper, and is on its way to becoming the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere.

Many today were applauding the erection of the beam marked 1271 ft, marking the building as the city’s tallest skyscraper!

This comes with a sense of ambivalence on my part.

Yes, I’m glad the project is nearing completion.

Yes, it’s a glorious addition to the NYC skyline

Yes, it’s a symbol that life “goes on”, in the face of the terrible destruction that had taken place on that very spot 10 plus years ago.

However, it all comes with a price.

The price tag, for one!
According to this report,
The project is currently estimated to cost $3.9 billion.

Also, consider this little factoid:

At this point, the Port Authority says 55% of the office space is expected to be filled.

Which raises the possibility that the building will never reach full occupancy, given the events of 911.

In other words, there’s always going to be a psychological scar for anyone who considers working for a firm located in the building.

I asked the question of a couple of folks over the weekend.

Would you be willing to work there?

And the answer was an immediate “no!”

Not even regarding the price of the project, I’ve always been of the belief that the site should always have been cultivated as a memorial to those 28 hundred souls who’s only “crime” was going to work that fateful day back in 2001.

The report goes on to say that the so-called Freedom Tower will eventually be 1,776 feet.

Mayor Bloomberg said Sunday…“It’s taken a long time. This is probably the most complex construction site in any place ever. I think what we’ve shown is that democracy works.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said the new tower “serves as a beacon signaling our courage, our determination and our incredible resilience.”

The Empire State Building was completed in 1931 after a little over a year of construction.

If One World Trade Center is completed as hoped in late 2013 or early 2014, it will have taken about eight years to build….with cost overruns.

Do you view the new World Trade Center as a symbol of our resilience, or a tremendous waste of money?

Posse Poll: Comment as you see fit!