After nearly ten years of arguing and kvetching about what should and should not be built at Ground Zero, World Trade Center Four has finally reached the 35th floor after years of nothing. Soon I will lose my view of the Hudson River which I gained only through a major tragedy, but I realized something very valuable this week...
As I have watched for years as the World Trade Center has risen slowly and painfully from the ashes, I learned that construction workers have a wonderful sense of humor and a flair for whimsy...
Thanks to the steel workers, for the first time in almost 10 years I looked out of my office window overlooking "Ground Zero" and felt joy...
Oh, and its head moves too!
22 comments:
Bev, What is that? A stuffed horse?
Yes, It's a stuffed horse. I makes me laugh...
That's funny! People have a great sense of humor!
On this issue, by the way, they once put up an apartment building on a vacant lot next to the highrise I was living in when I lived in Virginia. It was stunning to see how fast they could put that building up. Once they got the foundation in, they were putting in one floor every other day. It was amazing what people can achieve these days.
Andrew, it's amazing how fast the towers are going up since the site got a new project manager. The entire site was at ground level in early 2009 and now the "Freedom Tower" is at about 60 stories and WTC 4 is at 35 floors plus the WTC Memorial.
After years of a big hole...I have been positively giddy this week with that horse - everyone was. (Well except for one very cranky person in our office.) They moved the entire little white house with horse and all from one corner of the floor to where it is now with one of those big crane. That's when we found out the horse's head moves back and forth! It was a hoot!
Bev, Cool picture. Sorry about your view, but under the circumstances it's for a good cause!
Hey Bev, I saw that NY just joined the ranks of gay marriage states. I take it that's playing well in NYC?
Ed, I gladly give up the view that I wasn't supposed to have to begin with for a completed WTC complex. I'll miss the Fleet Week procession of Navy ships going up the Hudson each Memorial Day week though. That was really cool. And the horse will be moved up to the next floor beyond our site lines probably next week. :-(
Yes, we now have same sex marriage. And I guess it is playing well. I just want to know what the Dems gave up to get the Rep. Majority Senate to finally relent?
Frankly I hope they know what they are in for - they'll now have full parity in marriage AND divorce - NY is still an alimony state, though as of last year it is also a "no fault" state as well.
Ah yes, the old "be careful what you wish for."
I'm opposed to gay marriage on philosophical grounds, but in truth I don't think it will change much. I don't see how it will "destroy society," and it doesn't seem to have had any negative effects where it's been tried. I also suspect few gays will avail themselves of it once the novelty wears off -- in fact, I'd be more concerned about heterosexuals doing it just to get "family benefits" out of their friends' companies.
In the end, the biggest issue is going to be how the religious exemptions hold up. That will get messy for some time.
A stuffed horse? Huh. I don't get it, but I'm glad they have a sense of humor. Honestly, I wasn't even aware the construction was that far along, I thought it was still in the planning stage. Too bad we couldn't bury bin Laden in the foundations.
Also, I've been in yet another Facebook war since last night, after learning about the NY gay marriage law. Good times, good times...
T_Rav, A "Facebook war"?
*** shakes head slowly ***
It's always the poor Facebookies who suffer. ;-)
Out of curiosity, how does one fight a Facebook war?
Basically, either you or one of your "friends" posts a comment about a news story--in this case, gay marriage--and then lots of people come and post comments below that either agreeing or disagreeing with the original poster's remarks; and then both sides square off and tell each other how retarded they are. Picture present-day BH, only less intelligent or thought-out. I think we're up to 150 comments now.
Ohhhhh the humanity! Will mankind never learn?!
Seriously, you should at least make people state their claims in Victorian English or something even more ridiculous. "I say, dear fellow, your position makes all the sense of that which ejects from the rear of a bin polisher's mount."
Or tell people they can't use the letter "o" in their claims of retardation!
Then it would at least be more fun! :-)
Are you winning?
That photo reminds me of the joke about the Shetland pony who couldn't sing because he was a little horse (puns don't translate to the written word!). I was just down there today, connecting from the E train to the PATH - it'll be nice when the Fulton St. Transit Center is up and I don't need to walk upstairs just to walk downstairs again one block away.
One a slightly more serious note, one of my shorter temp jobs was at the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site at 20 Vessey St. I just sat in the basement folding NYPD and FDNY shirts all day - quite boring. I was there the day some anonymous donor dropped $10000 in the donation box.
Bev,
And here I thought that New York is a liberal state and had no sense of humor. ;-)
Joel, we are the land where Yale School of Drama graduates end up in giant hotdog costumes handing out coupons and proclaim they are "acting on Broadway". Of course we have a sense of humor!
Well, if by "winning" you mean the liberals basically throwing their hands up and saying, "Screw you hicks, I'm done talking to you," then yes, I guess our side's winning. Although I'm not too sure what we've won, unless it's a slightly larger ego...
Hmm. Yeah, seems kind of pyrrhic. But probably satisfying! :-)
At least it didn't devolve into a "yo' momma so liberal" contest.
It’s a wonderful example of the human spirit, to always move forward, even if it’s several years too late.
Bev: I occasionally remember a line from Third Watch in which the cops and firemen are taking some rest time looking at the spot where the WTC used to be. Bosco says: "I hated those things, I thought they were butt-ugly. But now I miss them." I think a lot of people felt that way. The new building actually has a patriotic theme (1776) and will be far more esthetically good to look at. Thanks for the update, with a little humor thrown in for good measure.
LawHawk, you are right. Many people thought the WTC was just butt ugly. They were typical '60's glass and steel post-modern boxes. Frankly, I don't think that the Freedom Tower and the new complex are going to be much of an improvement.
Oh, and "they" just announced that admission to the 9/11 Museum is going to be as much as $25 pp. That's just outrageous, but they may let the 9/11 families in for free. How generous.
I was wondering if anything was happening there... thanks for sharing...
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