http://www.twintowersalliance.com/12-17-06.pdf

If you haven't sent this one-click letter to Attorney General Spitzer, there will never be a better time.
http://www.twintowersalliance.com/spitzer.html

The Governor-elect's pledge is "Day One – Everything Changes" and we take him at his word. He and the officials we have copied in can still stop this runaway train from taking us where we do not want to go. They have the power to do that – because we gave it to them. The prepared letter will be faxed out after you click "send" – or you can revise it to better express your position.

12/18/06– Pataki PR stunt – still putting politics where they don't belong. Yesterday was a turning point for this movement. Given the convenient (for Pataki) short notice of the beam-signing ceremony in Battery Park City, we had no time to organize and there were just a handful of us present – but that didn't prevent us from doing what we came for, which was to give people hope. Regardless of how it appeared, we have stopped pushing the boulder uphill and it is on its way down, gathering speed.

By rights, we were prepared for a hostile reception from people who could mistake what we are doing as trying to take things backwards. They came there, couples, families, one-by-one, to honor the past and salute the future and could easily have resented our presence - but, most welcomed it. We got a very warm reception, people lingered, asked questions, and voiced their agreement with us. For the most part, they weren't the type we would expect to run home and sign the petition. But their encouragement was more than a shot in the arm – it was a transfusion. We saw clearly how important it is to people that we continue to shine light on this issue that touches all our hearts. Just because it is a hard fight doesn't make our eventual triumph any less likely.

If we had a minority position, it would not be reason to give up - we would just have to make our case and persuade others that we were right. But, indications continue to suggest that it is the silent majority position and the fact that those in the minority feel entitled to impose their views on the rest of us is foul. And just as foul is the lack of media interest.

We displayed two of the posters roughly pictured above, along with the big Team Twin Towers "Rebuild" banner. Knowing the way the drumbeat has been sounding we would have expected most people to be skeptical and not receptive, regardless of how they might have once felt – but it was amazing! We were warmly encouraged by the great majority of the people who passed by and most nodded in agreement that the beam belongs in new Twin Towers.

One highlight was a group of construction workers who arrived on Harleys and stayed for quite a while. One of them had a tattoo of the Twin Towers on his back! They still believe that if only they had the chance to build new Twin Towers they would go up in record time, because their hearts would be in it – instead of this building almost no one really even likes.

Best of all though, were the firefighters. One spent hours with us because he was so happy to learn of our existence and said that he had given up hope. It was his belief, and we agree, that after five years of grieving, people are starting to rethink the whole thing.

When he saw that the news people who were present didn't bother with us at all, it became clear why almost no one has heard of us. For our part, we didn't want to give those antagonistic to our cause a reason to paint a misleading picture of what we were doing and therefore didn't pursue them. But what are they afraid of? If we are wrong about what the public would choose if they had chance, publicizing the movement would settle it. And if we are right, then what they are doing is contemptible.

Predictably, Pataki's people said that some people felt harrassed by us, but that is rubbish. There was one person who started screaming at us about all the people who died, as if he cared more about them they we do – as if truly honoring their memory is better done with a bunch of meaningless skyscrapers than by reclaiming the buildings they loved. As one firefighter said, this isn't Dallas or Seattle – and that really defines the issue. Both are fine cities but they know they are not New York. As one of our supporter's suggested for our slogan – "Restore America's Skyline." And of course, talk always comes back to Trump, becuase even though he caved in to Pataki, it is still recognized that he knows how to dream big and can make great things happen on time and under budget. He's The One with a New York state-of-mind.

Pataki's people made us take down the Team Twin Towers "Rebuild" banner shortly after we arrived and a little while later ordered us to move across the street – where we promptly dispayed the banner again. Many people not only took the TTA cards, but asked for extras to take to others!

One interesting development is that, with the recent agreement of Mayor Bloomberg to allow the names of the first responders to be recognized in their units, instead of randomly scattered the degree of dysfunction is clear for all to see. So when people would ask why Pataki & Co. are doing what they are doing, as if there is any sense to it, we only had to point out that the firefighters struggled for two years to get anyone to think clearly about it...

So for now, we can state that the prospects for rebuilding never looked better. We appreciated all the email messages of support – one remarkable one is attached. It was really a delightful day.