Remembering the dead.

The six recently unveiled proposals for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center are intended to serve merely as a starting point for discussion of what should rise up from ground zero, where the World Trade Center once stood. That's heartening news, because the proposals are patently disappointing and uninspiring. They lack any semblance of the scope, vision and reverence that should be expected for determining the future of what has become hallowed ground for all Americans.

The tough, emotional job of figuring out what to do with these 16 acres ultimately belongs to New Yorkers, and that city's needs and sacrifices must be kept firmly in mind. Because of the attack, New York incurred a massive debt, took a monstrous hit in its tax base and watched numerous businesses relocate.

Such fiscal realities resulted in a directive from developers to designers to replace every inch of the 11 million square feet of office space in the now-vanished trade center and that the available retail space would be increased by one-third from the previous 450,000 square feet. Planners were also told to include a 500,000 square foot hotel to replace the one that formerly stood between the twin towers.

While it's unfair to judge the proposals based on preliminary designs, the plans presented this week seem patently puny and disappointing. Certainly, none matched the breadth or elegance of the memorial at the site of the Oklahoma City federal building where a terrorist attack killed 168 people in 1995. Although victims' families asked that the footprints of the vanished towers be reserved for a memorial, two designs call for some development on those locations.

It's hard to imagine a more difficult job than designing the future development of ground zero. Many needs must be balanced and many voices must be heard. But the introduction of the six design proposals indicates that the voices of the nearly 3,000 people who died at the site and their families should be given a higher priority, as should the voices of the vast majority of Americans for whom Sept. 11 has become a defining event.

Ground zero has been described as the most valuable office and retail space in the world. So it is. But it is also, for both New Yorkers and Americans, one of the most emotionally and, yes, spiritually significant spaces in the world. The remains of nearly 1,000 people who died in the tower will never be accounted for, and their spirits remain at the site, as do the thoughts and prayers of Americans.

Yes, it's important to demonstrate to the world that the economic spirit and might of America remain unbroken, and that can be demonstrated by making certain that a portion of the site includes a vibrant business presence that demonstrates this country's determination to rebuild - to not only survive but to thrive.

Designers should be sent back to the drawing boards with a new directive: Their first priority should be to dedicate the majority of ground zero to the memory of those who died on Sept. 11, their families and to the nation that still mourns them.