Planninng For Terror

2 December 2004 - 7:00am

Neighbors are protesting construction of a New York City building, claiming it would make an especially explosive terrorist target.

"The new building would be part of a $5 billion plan conceived 30 years ago and on schedule for completion in 2012. The East Side Access project would link Long Island commuters directly to Grand Central...[the] 16-story building...would serve as a ventilation and cooling tower [but] local property owners have been fighting the facility in court, arguing that it would bring traffic and pollution," and, because the MTA "plans to store diesel fuel for an emergency generator in or beneath the building," many believe "that terrorists could target the building knowing that the resulting conflagration would likely destroy the surrounding buildings and spread to the underground passenger concourse below."

Source: The New York Observer, November 26, 2004
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All of that only scratches the surface of what's wrong with this study. The idea that complex urban development patterns and human behavior can be meaningfully studied according to one primary criteria — density — is wrong from the start.