In what could be viewed as either an attempt to restore public confidence in New York’s massive Ground Zero reconstruction project, or the continuing erosion of said confidence, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki have publicly endorsed the security-based redesign of the proposed Freedom Tower. “People involved in the rebuilding processs say that the tower, unveiled 18 months ago as the product of a contentious collaboration between two world-famous architects, is likely to lose its signature twisting form, along with its distinctive spire – a conscious reflection and reply to the Statue of Liberty’s upraised arm in New York harbor. Mr. Pataki, his aides and others stressed, however, that the Freedom Tower would not be reduced to an unsightly, fortress-like bunker, and that it would be built on the same general location planners had long ago settled on.”