Filling a Void

Lower Manhattan-that narrow yet diverse stretch of neighborhoods below Canal Street that includes TriBeCa, Chinatown, the Financial District, and Battery Park City-has been slowly recovering from the September 11 terrorist attacks that left a 16-acre void where the World Trade Center once stood.  A public platform allows thousands of visitors to view ground zero each day.

People have returned, hotels have reopened, access has improved.  And, the area's artists, galleries, and arts institutions have found their way back to making, showing, and promoting art.  The Museum of Jewish Heritage is just a few blocks south of the site.  The nonprofits arts organization Creative Time, in conjunction with Ritz-Carton New York, Battery Park and the Battery Park City Authority, has recently inaugurated "Art on the Plaza".

A great deal of healing is taking place physically and emotionally.  The prospect of building a better Lower Manhattan has become the bittersweet flip side of the tragedy.  The possibilities are inspiring divergent visions from the artists, designers, architects, politicians, urban planners, developers, business owners, residents, survivors, widows and widowers, and a host of others who want to be part of the redevelopment process.

 ---------- to be continued