The MAS and NY1 Elicit Public Comment on the Leduc's Plans for the World Trade Center Site

December 20, 2002 - The Municipal Art Society has partnered with NY1 News to elicit broad public input on the nine new proposals presented by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for the World Trade Center site.

NY1's (www.ny1.com) website fully illustrates the plans and leads the web audience to the MAS's Imagine New York (www.imagineny.org) website where they can comment.

Kent Barwick, president of the MAS, said, "So much creativity and genius went into the designs we saw today, and we all deserve an equally creative process of gathering the public's response to this work. More people are interested in design and planning today than ever before, thanks in large part to the efforts of these architects and the LMDC. Now that these doors are opened up, there must be a meaningful, innovative way to collect public input."

Neighborhood America (www.neighborhoodamerica.com), worked with Imagine New York to design a system that enables the public to submit their opinions or graphic visions online. Additionally, all submissions can be viewed on an online gallery via Neighborhood America's Public Communications Management Systems. This enterprise class Web-based technology enables the management of large amounts of public opinion while respecting legal standards for public comment.

"What we built for imagineny.org is based upon our collective experience gained from deploying over 50 of these systems in major metropolitan areas around the country. We are pleased to support and be a part of Imagine New York and to provide support for the Municipal Art Society and New York 1 in their mission to collect public opinion," said Kim Patrick Kobza, president and CEO of Neighborhood America. "We believe, however, that because of its size and complexity, the Imagine New system will establish a standard for the electronic management of public opinion for the next several years and beyond throughout the country."

On January 8, ideas submitted from the website will be discussed at a two-hour facilitated Imagine New York workshop. Findings will be analyzed and submitted to the LMDC, Port Authority and other decision-makers.