"In the wake of the September 11th attacks, Mike Wallace argues that we should not just rebuild but rethink and plan more broadly for the entire city's future. He tells the fascinating and largely unknown history of the financial center, exploding a variety of myths about the city's success in recent years. He speaks freshly and convincingly about the options for rebuilding Downtown, and he summarizes a wide variety of ambitious but viable projects to improve all of New York by launching what he calls a "new New Deal" - a multi-pronged plan that, mindful of both the successes and disappointments of the original New Deal, would feature such longed-for improvements as a revitalized port, improved mass transit, and more affordable housing." "Drawing on examples from the city's colorful past to show how New Yorkers have always faced difficult occasions with ingenuity, confidence, and vigor, Wallace argues that we need "a touch of Jane Jacobs and a dash of Robert Moses," and he provocatively shows how we can afford it all."--BOOK JACKET.