Alternatives for the redevelopment of Ground Zero and a memorial to the victims of September 11th received a scathing, very New York "no way!" from a gathering of some 5,000 concerned citizens on Saturday.
Brought together at the Javits Convention Centre for a "Listening to the City" exercise in local democracy, speaker after speaker echoed concerns that the proposals - revealed first last week - lacked inspiration, were too dense and too large.
And the ultimate New York insult, they all "look like Albany".
Following the meeting city officials were assuring the New York Times that they would look at alternatives and would extend the time-frame for a decision. Crucially, they pledged to work with the Port Authority, which owns the site, and the developer, Mr Larry Silverstein, who holds the commercial lease, to vary the requirement that the redevelopment replace all 11 million sq ft of lost office space and 600,000 sq ft of both retail and hotel space.
Critics say the possibilities for the site and thus the proposed plans, all of which involve clusters of 50 to 60-storey office towers, were stymied by that commercial premise. "I think we got a resounding sense that the Port Authority programme has to go," Mr Robert Yaro, chairman of the Regional Plan Association, said, summing up the meeting.
But the Port Authority engineer, Mr Frank Lombardi, urged an understanding of the authority's problem: "This site is not a blank slate. It would be easier if it were. The \ has a right to rebuild." Although voting on the options by those at the meeting gave only one plan as much as a combined 41 per cent of "excellent" and "good", the latter's vision of a wide promenade from the site to the southern tip of the island at Battery Park, with 3,000 trees, one for each of the dead, won considerable approval.
The city's new mayor, Mr Michael Bloomberg, joined critics in calling for more housing on the site, with accommodation for all income groups. He said there would be no better way to honour the working-class heroes of the fire service, police and construction gangs who worked and died at the site.
Above all, reports say, there was a sense of disappointment that the plans failed to capture the exuberant, cacophonous spirit of the city.
