Here's USA Today flash piece on the proposed rebuilding of Ground Zero and some of the reasons for the delays in redevelopment. Living now a few blocks from the site (within view toward the right edge of the graphic on the USA Today piece in fact), I am very much looking forward to seeing construction move forward. I have seen the models of the final two designs for the main tower at the World Financial Center and while there is a certain delicate beauty to what ultimately came to be the second place design, I think there is a strength in the relative simplicity of the final design that will come to be appreciated much more widely once accompanied by its intended awe-inspiring scale.

I remember visiting New York as a child and how, coming in from the outside and standing atop the observation deck, the towers were the city to me. Simple and enormous — a tribute to modernity that even a child could appreciate quite tangibly.

As it stands today, the gaping hole of the site is a very visible remaining wound of the attacks of almost five years ago. I was living a thousand miles away on that morning, but even still, the memories the site stirs of seeing the events unfold, even though for me only on television, are powerful. I can only imagine what it is like for those who were more directly involved and how positive I hope it will be for at least the physicality of the site to be repaired.