And a lot of New Yorkers hated the twin towers. While distinctive they were not that attractive. I know of a couple of New Yorkers who were happy when the towers fell till they found out why they fell. When they thought it was just standard demolition they were glad that an eye sore was removed. Of course that changed once they found out how the towers were destroyed.

The reality is the twin towers were far more significant to foreigners than they were to americans. At least while they still stood.

Yep, some New Yorkers hated them. They were considered "ugly" when first built.

But, I think many did come to be "okay" with them as long as they didn't work there. The twin towers had two main problems. First, they were not the most commuter-friendly building to work in. Many tall buildings (anywhere, not just New York) take a long time to get to and from your floor. Both towers had this problem with the "sky lobbies." Add an extra 20 minutes to your morning commute! This is one of the reasons they had so many empty floors, space going to waste being unrented. The other problem with them was the plaza around them was useless. Very few people would enjoy hanging out there - it was far too windy. So, the plaza was really nothing but a windswept desert.

Oh, and yes, they were a navigation landmark. My goodness, I can remember several times, in the years that followed 9-11, looking for them to determine which way I had to walk and not finding them. I had to do things the old fashioned way, walk one block to see what the next numbered street was to get my bearings.

However, I disagree with that author - New York could NOT have rebuilt them. Everyone was too busy, too selfish, to consider rebuilding them to show the world (and ourselves) that we could.

No, everyone wanted to sue, sue, and sue either because they didn't like the new design or they felt that the insurance money wasn't right.

Everyone wanted to get their share of the money from the rebuilding project (unions want to make sure they milk that cash cow of rebuilding for decades).

No one (at least not as far as I can tell) wanted to rebuild just because.

Seriously, the new transit hub, which should make switching between subway lines and PATH much easier, still isn't ready. How many years have they had to do this "simple" thing?

The terrorist may have taken the World Trade Center down; but, selfishness has prevented a decent rebuilding.

I think of the Empire State Building as the NY skyline--the towers were just blocks at the end of the island.

Also, everyone over the age of 10 knows what is necessary to cause a catastrophic failure of tall buildings built in the style of the original twin towers.

Following 9/11, Donald Trump suggested we rebuild the towers exactly as they were - but one story taller. Kind of ah "up yours" to those who knocked them down.

If I was the head dude what's in charge, I would have replaced the twin towers with four buildings in aligned so that they are facing Mecca.

One short, one tall, two short.

What rock were your friends living under that they thought it was a demolition, it was all over the news as a terrorist attack before they even fell!!!

NicoleK,

They were out on the street and saw a classic NY building demolition. It didn't fall over and hit other structures. It was a vertical collapse that filled the basement. I.e. exactly how you want to demolish a building in NYC. Later that day they found out what happened. But at the time of the collapse their first thought was 'Good. The eye sore is gone. Maybe now they can build something better.'

I also think they should've been rebuilt. Sure, they might've been more of a security risk. Then again, they may not have been. I especially like Jeff's idea ;)

Ben - A "classic NY building demolition"? Really?

Sorry, I've never seen a demolition of any building that had heavy black smoke pouring out the sides of the building before being taken down. Smoke that could be seen for miles and miles away; I live 30 miles south of New York on the Jersey shore and I could see the column of smoke from my home that evening.

Nor have I seen any building demolition that smelled like really bad burnt barbeque. (those of us in Manhattan that day will never forget that smell of burning jet fuel)

Nor have I seen a demolition of a building that covered most of lower Manhattan with such dense "cloud" that you couldn't see down the block. That cloud covered most of lower Manhattan from Canal Street and south.

Nor have I seen any building demolition that left a layer of "ash" all over, in some places it was inches think.

Nor have I seen any building demolition that shut down ALL public transportation for ALL of Manhattan. No buses, no subways, no trains, no cars on bridges, some bridges closed completely to all traffic (including pedestrians) except emergency vehicles, no traffic at all below 14th street.

Nor have I seen any building demolition that made thousands and thousands of people "refugees" in any US city - folks just trudging along the streets trying to get home any way they can.

As for a "classic" building demolition that "filled" the basement. Well, the pile as it came to be known was the height of 5 stories. Not something that I would call a "classic building demolition" that "filled the basement."

Lastly, I have never met ANY one who was in New York that day that didn't know "until later" what the fuck was happening.

Sorry, Ben, but your friends are pulling your leg.

We seem to have lost the ability to build civic projects in this country.

The eastern span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge collapsed in the 1989 earthquake. In examining it for a retrofit, CalTrans determined that replacing it would cost a few hundred million more than retrofitting it, so they decided to replace it (what's a few hundred million dollars if taxpayers are footing the bill?).

Arguments over the design and placement of the bridge ensued (if placed north of the existing span, it would shade the valuable property of Mayor Willie Brown's friends. That caused a two-year and several hundred million dollar delay.

Further delays were caused when Arnold Schwarzenegger's office got involved. He later backed out of the controversy.

Eventually a design was settled on and construction began, 13 years after the collapse. The new bridge was scheduled to open in 2009. Due to delays and other issues, it actually opened in 2013.

And it promptly began to fall apart. In the interest of speed, the welds were rushed and the foundation inspections were falsified. The bolts in the bridge deck failed. Some of them cannot be replaced, so DOT will have to use more expensive load redistribution methods. The improper application of sealants has allowed water to leak into the deck boxes. Incorrect grouting has let water corrode foundation rods. Materials were found after construction to have been substandard and CalTrans is facing possible criminal charges.

The original estimate for the replacement span was $1.1 billion. The price so far, $6.4 billion.

And the bridge will likely not withstand the major earthquake that was the raison d'etre for not sticking with the original span.

The Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge will both withstand a major earthquake and should last for years to come - and they were built decades ago. Why can't we do that anymore?

Everything Charles said at 2 pm. I was in NYC on 9/11 and saw the towers come down. (I still live there). No one with half a brain could have thought that was a building demolition, not even from a distance.

You didn't have to switch on the news to know something was wrong. My colleagues and I saw it from our conference room window (we looked out on the World Trade Center) and it was abundantly obvious something was very wrong. And when you got out on the street? Fuhgeddaboudit. Yeah, it was clear.

Also, Ben, what did the friends make of that enormous sideways plume of black smoke coming out of the top of the towers for quite a while before they came down? You couldn't miss it.

Sorry, Ben -- your friends are (a) either pulling your leg, (b) mentally subnormal, or (c) you've invented them to demonstrate your point.that the twin towers were ugly (which, of course, they were).

Moreover, if there had been a plan to demolish the twin towers, it would have been all over the newspapers long before it happened. They weren't that old, and love them or hate them, they were major landmarks.

God, that smell. I will never, ever forget it. It hung around for days, even miles away uptown.

Sorry Charles but they weren't pulling my leg. Welcome to the woolly world of truth is stranger than fiction.

And Conan you know why we can't do that anymore. Politics. From union waste to environmental overreach we have choose not to do what we have done before.

And Conan you know why we can't do that anymore. Politics. From union waste to environmental overreach we have choose not to do what we have done before. ~ Posted by: Ben at October 18, 2015 5:14 PM

I know why. I guess what I'm really asking is why we aren't asking those questions in our elections. And why we don't seem to care that we can't do that anymore.

Yay for an ever crumbling education system? Seriously we send our kids to a government system for at least twelve years of their lives. Why is it any shock the government promotes more government and more bureaucracy.

Every time a radical comes to NYC, they can now point at where the towers once stood and say, "See what we did?"

Replacing the originals was the way to go there.