If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost.

That is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

— Henry David Thoreau

Many articles and books have been written on the history of rebuilding the World Trade Center. Very few of us will ever read them. But everyone should know what happened at Ground Zero, because it powerfully broadcasts who we are as a country, whether we know it or not. We are therefore leading into the blueprint with a concise, little-known account of the current site.

There is ample proof that business-as-usual crowded out democratic principles when the plans were made to rebuild the World Trade Center. The World Trade Center that we see today demonstrates how Corporate priorities and political Special Interests can dominate the legacy media, and through it, manipulate public opinion — even when it matters most.

What could be more un-American? The fact that most people have no idea what really drove the rebuilding process is proof that the devious filter of “public relations” is short-circuiting the social compact. Exposing that influence and showing how it is still possible to honor the American Spirit at the World Trade Center is the driving force behind this proposal.

Until we correct the flaws in what is standing on the World Trade Center’s hallowed ground, it will always be “Ground Zero” for Democracy in America. Fortunately, by building on what is there now, it can still live up to its true purpose.

A widower of one of the WTC victims wrote in 2002: “Just as I want my wife back, people want their towers back. Don’t let today’s fears control tomorrow’s dreams.” But that is just what the ruling class did.

“People Want Their Towers Back” was demonstrably true. Of course, that did not mean all people. There was a lot of fear of another attack in 2002. But the beauty of democracy is that it allows a collective voice to be heard and respected above all — to fairly decide every matter, no matter how large or small.

At the World Trade Center, that voice was deliberately muffled and ignored. This New York Post cover deserved national attention. The whole country and the Free World were attacked on 9/11. But ten months later, when a report based on a significant sampling found that half of New York wanted the Towers rebuilt, the other media buried it — even in New York.

That was news everyone deserved to know and discuss. Especially since the other half was splintered into preferences with low double-digit support.

American taxpayers funded the rebuilding. And the victims paid for it.

And yet, when some 9/11 Families vehemently disagreed with the official agenda their voices were marginalized and misrepresented. Trying to discredit those who objected to the corporate priorities of the project while cherry-picking family members who agreed was an insult to every American. As if some victims could possibly matter more than others.

The site where thousands of Americans were slaughtered simply for being Americans has to honestly represent the American Family. Once people understand that the current WTC “campus” is selling America short, they are likely to cross every partisan line (as everyone did after 9/11) to insist on making the WTC site a tribute to Democracy. Nothing matters more.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and New York Governor George Pataki, had tremendous legitimate concerns and responsibilities to consider. But nothing mattered more than honoring the will of the people. Knowing that, they nevertheless conspired to “influence” the process. And a full reckoning is overdue.

Architecture critic Paul Goldberger, who later received a Pulitzer Prize for his report on the early rebuilding protocols wrote in his 7/29/2002 New Yorker column “Up From Zero”:

Governor Pataki, who, along with Governor James Mcreevey, of New Jersey, controls the Port Authority, is fond of using words like “hallowed ground” when he talks about the site. But the people who report to him talk about “obligations to leaseholders” and “obligations to bondholders”.

In fact, if there was ever a piece of land that should be treated as part of the public domain, it is this one… the Governor should be pressing the Port Authority to operate with a greater sense of civic responsibility.

The compromise at Ground Zero left us with a skyline that echoes the 9/11 outline from 9:59 to 10:28 AM. It is focused on a sanitized plaza with every vestige and relic of the attacks forced below ground level — or, in the case of the inspiring Sphere that survived hell-on-earth, in exile across the street. And, in what deeply offends so many victims’ families, with the unidentified remains locked in a museum instead of the center of an above ground tribute.

We think that anyone who reviews the following plan will see how much more awe-inspiring, respectful, and noble every aspect of the World Trade Center will be when the Twin Towers are finally back where they belong.

Shortly after we launched the Twin Towers Alliance in March of 2006, we spent a day visiting fire stations and police precincts with a packet of information.

At the last stop of the day, a firehouse on the East Side of Manhattan, we told the fireman who answered the door that we were trying to raise awareness of the public’s broad support for rebuilding the Twin Towers.

His reply that evening underpins this twenty-year dream: “There is nothing the guys upstairs would love more…”