The spot isn't big enough to build the world's largest Walmart, at least if you were going to have a parking lot(it is only 17 acres)--furthermore, the idea about planting trees is equally unpractical, since it is a six or eight story deep hole which would have to be filled in with soil if any sort of park were to be created.

As to what people think, it is hard to say--I think a lot of people would like to have the skyline restored, so that you don't get that awful sense that something is missing when you look at Manhattan--there are lots of different groups who express strong opinions of one sort or another, band, while they are trying to affect public opinion, none of them reflect public opinion--

Of course people who actually live on Manhattan for the most part couldn't see the WTC and can't see the empty space anyway--The "footprint" looks like just another easy to overlook urban construction site unless you approach it from the side that has all the flowers, memorial stuff, etc, and, especially given the looming presence it has in our minds, that side is relatively hard to find.

The most striking thing is that if you didn't know the WTC was once there, you wouldn't have any sense that anything was missing--