Potential for Lower Manhattan, in spite of LMDC

Nicolai Ouroussoff writes in today's Times:

"...the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has steadfastly refused to open up discussion on the site's overall organization. Not only has it sought to prevent the architects from speaking publicly about their ideas, according to several architects interviewed, but it has also warned them against sharing their ideas with one another, saying that this would be a breach of their confidentiality agreements.

...This constitutes an enormous squandering of talent, as well as a total disregard for how the creative process unfolds. And it has essentially shut the public out of the process."

I have to agree, though I think the flaw in the design process started even earlier, with the selection of the architects and in planning out the rebuilding. With this clamp down on information sharing -- especially as it becomes ever more critical that the larger group focuses on needs of future tenants, programming, uses, etc -- it's hard to understand why any of the designers were initially chosen (outside of their brand names, of course).

It's good to see that there is some desire to collaborate - now, if only they could.