East Villager presents W.T.C. memorial plan

Michael Arad, the lead designer for the World Trade Center memorial, presented his “Reflecting Absence” design last Wednesday. The design by the previously unknown Arad, 34, an East Villager who works for the Housing Authority, includes two pools on the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. The memorial project’s cost is slated at $350 million. Arad said the pools will be “open and visible reminders of loss and absence.”