Etc...

Neglect, crime, wrecker's ball threaten famous US landmarks

The "most endangered historic places" in the US are especially diverse this year. The 2006 list, released recently by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, ranges from the entire hurricane-damaged Gulf Coast of Mississippi to the "Survivors' Staircase" of the World Trade Center to the funky 1950s-era architecture of "Doo Wop" summer resorts on the New Jersey shore. The staircase, all that remains of the twin towers after the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York, has taken on the status of a shrine. But it stands in the way of plans for a new WTC. The most endangered places and their sites, as ranked by the National Trust:

Smithsonian Arts & Industries Building (Washington)
Blair Mountain Battlefield (Logan County, W.Va.)
Doo Wop Motels (Wildwood, N.J.)
Fort Snelling Upper Post (Hennepin County, Minn.)
Historic communities and landmarks (Mississippi Gulf Coast)
Historic neighborhoods (New Orleans)
Kootenai Lodge (Bigfork, Mont.)
Kenilworth, Ill. (est. in 1889 as the "ideal suburban village")
Mission San Miguel Arcangel (San Miguel, Calif.)
Over-the-Rhine neighborhood (Cincinnati)
World Trade Center staircase (New York)