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EW YORK–On the day John Whitehead agreed to oversee the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, he worried that he was entering a political quagmire. "Nobody is going to agree," Whitehead told Gov. George Pataki. In the nine months since that conversation, nothing suggests that Whitehead's fears were unfounded. In July, architects and urban planners savaged five of the six plans for ground zero, calling them "dull" and "unimaginative." Four days later at a town hall meeting convened by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (the group Whitehead chairs), the memorials envisioned by every one of the six plans drew ratings of "poor" from either a majority or plurality of the 4,300 New York-area residents being polled. The designs failed to capture the imagination, says Beverly Willis, cofounder of Rebuild Downtown Our Town, a citizens group, because they seemed primarily designed to promote the financial needs of the site's owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Port Authority wanted the new complex to include 11 million square feet of office space–the same amount as the World Trade Center comprised–and that's what each of the six plans incorporated. As a consequence, all the proposals offered variations on a bulky block of skyscrapers around a memorial. The Port Authority–under political pressure–may now be rethinking that requirement. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks it may be smarter to develop badly needed housing at the site. Bloomberg's criticism and public reaction has sent rebuilding officials back to their planning boards. In the next few months, the LMDC will select up to five more teams to provide new ideas. The rebuilding officials now seem content to slow down. "If it takes three months longer," says Charles Gargano, Port Authority vice chairman, "so be it." Given what's transpired, that may be a best-case scenario.