Half of New Yorkers want to rebuild the Twin Towers.
A Post survey of 609 people in the five boroughs revealed that 48 percent favor the idea, while 50 percent oppose it. Two percent were undecided.
Sizable majorities in Queens, Staten Island and The Bronx were against rebuilding, as were residents of the West Side.
But there was strong support on the East Side, in Midtown and in Brooklyn. Downtown and Chinatown were almost evenly split.
Yankee manager Joe Torre is one who believes the towers should be restored to their full, 110- story glory.
“I’d like to see the buildings go back up, but have them incorporate a memorial park in and around it,” he said. “To me, you put them back up in the same spot to show the world that we’re fighting back and won’t have others change what we do.”
“Independence Day” star Bill Pullman, who is appearing in Edward Albee’s hit Broadway play, “The Goat,” said the new buildings should have an even “bigger presence.”
“Something should be built that has a larger emphasis than the Twin Towers,” he said.
Juan Bruno of Brooklyn, who lost his wife, Rachel, in the south tower on Sept. 11, agreed.
“If they build something, it should be so high that it symbolizes New York’s strength,” he said. “We need something there that outshines everything else,” he said.
But Kate Fenneman, 23, a TV producer who lives in Chelsea, said rebuilding is a bad idea.
“I just don’t think anyone is going to want to be in the towers again,” she said. “There should be a memorial. It should be a place for peace and remembrance.”
The Post surveyed New Yorkers on the streets yesterday, just days before public debate begins on the future of Ground Zero.
On Tuesday, six plans for the redevelopment of the 16-acre World Trade Center site will be released publicly.
While planners say it’s unlikely any new Ground Zero buildings will rise above 60 stories, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. has declared that the buildings should be high enough to make a significant mark on the skyline and become a “powerful symbol of our nation’s strength and determination.”
With that in mind, Team Twin Towers, a nonprofit group, is enlisting celebrities to support the full rebuilding of the towers.
So far, comedian David Brenner and actor Paul Rodriguez have signed on.
Unless the towers are rebuilt, the city will never fully recover, Brenner insisted.
“The greatest way to tell these people that they can’t beat us would be to rebuild them exactly the same way,” he said.
Rodriguez, a comedian-turned-actor who starred in the sidesplitting “A Million to Juan,” said, “Build them big, build them high, build them tall enough to scrape the sky.”
Tomorrow: The LMDC Family Advisory Council will get an advance look at six land-use options for the 16-acre World Trade Center site. *
Tuesday: The plans are to be unveiled publicly and will be on display for several weeks at Federal Hall.
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Saturday: The LMDC and a coalition of planners host “Listening to the City II,” where an expected 5,000 people will discuss the six options at the Javits Convention Center.
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July 22: A smaller version of “Listening to the City” will be held for people who couldn’t attend the weekend event.
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By early next month: The LMDC is expected to unveil a process for selecting the permanent memorial.
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September: The LMDC and the Port Authority will whittle the six land-use plans down to three – which likely won’t include the original six.
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December: The three land-use plans will be pared down to just one.
BY THE BOROUGHS
YES NO
MANHATTAN 48% 51%
BROOKLYN 65% 34%
QUEENS 32% 67%
BRONX 33% 67%
STATEN IS 39% 60%
Approx 1% undecided in each borough
Survey based on street interviews conducted by The Post staff last week of more than 600 New York residents.
THE GREAT DIVIDE – Should the Twin Towers be rebuilt?
YES 48%
Juan Martinez, 21, Staten Island: “The city is not the same. The skyline looks lopsided without it. I liked the old skyline, the new one sucks.”
Christine Schenker, 27, Queens Village, housewife: “It should be rebuilt. It shows our spirit, our determination. We are a united people, we are together, we’ve got big heart. They can’t destroy us.”
Bruno Pion, 33, Chemist, Union Square: “We live a few blocks away from the World Trade Center and it was always beautiful when we would see it with the sunset and how the skyline was balanced.”
Ricardo Laguerre, 17, Flatbush Brooklyn, student at Arasmis HS: “It’s important that we have them there to send a message to terrorists and the world that we are a strong country and we can bounce back from anything.”
Margarita Ramos, Brooklyn, Vice President JP Morgan: “It’s the center of commerce for the world, rebuilding them would send a significant message to the terrorists.”
Mabel Ling, 16, Bushwick, student: “I don’t believe in memorials. It will benefit the city more if they rebuild than having a memorial.”
Andre Rodriguez, 17, Jamaica, Queens, unemployed: “We shouldn’t be scared to build big buildings. We should show the terrorists we still have heart; that they can’t break us down. They can’t destroy us.”
Fred Galarraga, 33, Queens: “We should absolutely rebuild. We shouldn’t be cowards to the terrorists.”
Harold Kelly, 39, a construction worker, the Bronx: “New York doesn’t look or feel the same, it just ain’t the same without them. They should build them with tighter security – it’s not like we don’t have the money.”
Christian Spinoza, 49, Manhattan: “I feel like there’s something missing. The skyline is flat now. They were such an overwhelming symbol of New York.”
Priscilla Torres, 17, lives in Queens: “It’s a symbol for New York, without it, it just feels emptier. A memorial would just be sad.”
Byron Foster, 33, from Jamaica, Queens: “They represent the spirit of New York, they are an icon.”
NO: 50%
undecided: 2%
Vanessa Weinberg, 29, Greenwich Village, yoga teacher: “There should be something beautiful there like a park. People can go down there and meditate and think, ‘What could we do to make the world a better place?'”
Aldemir Diaz, 27, Hunts Point, The Bronx: “No. It would become a target. I don’t know if you’d be able to rent all that space again.”
Inez Elliot, 56, retired Verizon worker, Jamaica: “They were too tall. An easy target. A memorial for those who died, even a little chapel for the people to go to remember their loved ones would be a good idea.”
Sunny Marome, 56, from Brooklyn: “They could never be another Twin Towers, people remember it as it was, if they went back up they would be too painful a reminder of what happened. ”
Vincent Merry, 29, lives in Brooklyn: “It was the eighth wonder of the world, they’re gone and you couldn’t replace them. It wouldn’t do the tragedy justice.”
Kevin James Dalton, 35, Little Italy: “They should not have gone up in the first place, they were an eyesore to real New Yorkers.”
Nick Dejanosi, 37, marketer, Manhattan: “They were built once, if they were built again it would cheapen the memory of those who died. Something different should be built.”
Stephen Hamilton, 54, Manhattan: “It should not be rebuilt as it was because it would be a standing target. And besides, what it stood for is no longer relevant. It could never stand for what it used to stand for.”
Russell Collins, 26, Manhattan: “As human kind goes on, physical structures change throughout our history. The surroundings change over time and we must move on.”
Kevin McConnell, 46, Riverdale, The Bronx: “A lot of people died there so it shouldn’t be put back the way it was – just remembered.”