Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Worries About New World Trade Center Towers
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 25, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 25, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
You may recall that the original Freedom Tower design had to be scrapped (because the NYPD thought it was too susceptible to attack) and redesigned with a concrete base. Now the Daily News' I-Team takes up concerns law enforcement officials have with "security weaknesses" in the new towers at World Trade Center.
The three new towers have too much glass and are "positioned too closely to city streets, increasing their vulnerability to attack." Also, it's expected that daily inspection of "some 2,000 delivery trucks and sightseeing buses" will be difficult and the "vehicle security center...hasn't been fully designed and relies on vehicle inspection technology that hasn't even been developed yet."
Various state officials involved with the plan say safety concerns are top of mind and the technology will be in place when the buildings are completed. When the NYPD was interviewed, the comment was, "The NYPD has been in talks with the Port Authority, but we don't disclose any information about possible security vulnerabilities for obvious reasons."
The News also remarks that the buildings don't "meet Department of Defense or Department of Homeland Security blast standards," which skyscrapers rarely follow but are what embassies are built to. It would be unrealistic to think of the redeveloped World Trade Center as entirely impenetrable, but given its symbolic importance and history of two attacks, the article inevitably raises a form versus function debate and questions about whether anything should have been built there after the first WTC fell.
You can see developer Larry Silverstein's WTC vision here and FEMA has a library of documents, "Building Design for Homeland Security," which shows different methodologies for determining risk.
Tagged
daily news
design
freedom tower
ground zero
homeland security
larry silverstein
law enforcement
news
nypd
port authority
safety
security
The News
The NYPD
Tower 2
Tower 3
tower 4
Trade Center
world trade center
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. ET
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
News
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
NYC nor’easter dries up after weather service reports minor flooding
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .