Where should the ground zero 9/11 Memorial be built?

From Take Back the Memorial:

Dear Supporter,

The LMDC has obtained a waiver that makes the construction of the 9/11 Memorial and Memorial Museum exempt from NY City and State fire and building codes in favor of the codes established by the Port Authority.

We believe that this exemption has the potential to create a dangerous situation for the millions of visitors to ground zero in the future. We therefore support the following petition to rescind this exemption and force the LMDC to follow state and city building and fire codes at ground zero and we ask that you support this effort as well by signing the petition.

To U.S. Congress:

Plans are currently underway to begin construction at Ground Zero. These plans include an underground Memorial to be placed in the area that was bombed in 1993. The plans also make the new buildings exempt from NYC Building and Fire codes. The reason for this exemption is that the site is governed by the Port Authority.

The design of the original towers has already proven that Port Authority regulations fall well short of the NYC guidelines. Repeated requests to review the Port Authority codes have gone unanswered. The fact that they have gone from stating that their codes are stricter than the NYC codes to their new position that they will follow the stricter NYC codes goes to prove that we cannot rely on their commitment. Even if they say they will follow the NYC codes because of their exemptions they will not be open to NYC Building or Fire inspections nor will they be liable for any violations.

Being that this is the only United States location to be subject to multiple terrorist attacks (2 in reality or 3 for insurance purposes) we feel that any new construction should be governed by the most stringent building and fire codes. Since the FDNY will be responsible to answer any future call to the site they should be assured that the new construction follows codes with which they are familiar.

Since an Act of Congress created the Port Authority an Act of Congress is needed to rectify this situation. We ask that you act immediately to follow the wishes of the 9/11 families, most of the uniformed unions and a majority of Americans to eliminate the Port Authority exemptions at Ground Zero.

We also ask that the current underground location of the memorial be removed from the plan. Besides the safety issues inherent in the underground plan we do not feel that we should have to travel into a cavernous tomb to honor our lost loved ones.

The memorial needs to see the light of day and be built with codes that will assure the safety of its occupants.

We call on you to immediately enact legislation to make this a reality.
To sign the petition to rescind this exemption from NY State and City fire and building codes, please click here (http://www.petitiononline.com/WTT2006/petition.html).

In addition, we are running a new poll at the Take Back the memorial web site that asks the question: Where should the ground zero 9/11 Memorial be built? Build it ABOVE ground or Build it BELOW ground. To vote, please visit www.takebackthememorial.org.

Sincerely,
Take Back the Memorial

NOTE: This petition is not put forth or organized by Take Back the Memorial nor any of the members of the 9/11 Family Member Coalition groups.