TEXT D Robert Congel, a
commercial real-estate developer who lives in upstate New York, has a plan to
"change the world." Convinced that it will "produce more benefit for humanity
than any one thing that private enterprise has ever done," he is raising $20
billion to make it happen. That’ s 12 times the yearly budget of the United
Nations and more than 25 times Congel’ s own net worth. What
Congel has in mind is an outsize and extremely unusual mega-mall. Destiny
U.S.A., the retail-and entertainment complex he is building in upstate New York,
aspires to be not only the biggest man-made structure on the planet but also the
most environmentally friendly. Equal parts Disney World, Las Vegas, Bell
Laboratories and Mall of America -- with a splash of Walden Pond -- the "retail
city" will include the usual shops and restaurants as well as an extensive
research facility for testing advanced technologies and a 200-acre recreational
biosphere complete with spring-like temperatures and an artificial river for
kayaking. After a false start in 2002, countless changes of plan
and a storm of local opposition, Congel is finally breaking ground again, with a
projected completion date of 2009. Later this month, bulldozers powered by
biodiesel are scheduled to begin leveling the site, a rehabilitated brownfield
in Syracuse, Congel’ s hometown. Whether Congel’ s firm, the Pyramid Companies,
can maintain the cash flow and political support needed to complete the project
is a subject of much local debate. Also disputed are Congel’ s goals of creating
200,000 jobs regionally and making Destiny nothing less than "the No. l tourist
destination in America." More mind-boggling than the sheer scope
of Destiny is its agenda. Congel emphasizes that renewable energy alone will
power the mall, with its 1,000 shops and restaurants, 80,000 hotel rooms,
40,000-seat arena and Broadway-style theaters. As a result, Congel says,
Destiny will jump-start renewable-energy markets nationwide with its investments
in solar, ,,wind, fuel cells and other alternative-energy sources. But if Congel
does manage to erect his El Dorado, will it really help cure our country’ s
addiction to scarce and highly polluting fossil fuel Or will it just be a
cleverly marketed boondoggle that may create more environmental problems than it
solves All by itself, the mall would boost America’ s
solar-electric power capacity by nearly 10 percent. "On every level, this
project astounds," Senator HIillary Clinton said in April, claiming that the
mall could make the area a hub for clean technologies and deliver a shot of
adrenaline to upstate New York’ s ailing economy. To help foot the bill for
Congel’s project, Clinton and other politicians successfully persuaded Congress
to provide financial incentives for mega-scale green development projects.
(Destiny, of course, will face little competition to reap hose
benefits.) After a false start, countless changes of plan and great local opposition,______.
A.Congel’ s confidence finally broke down B.Congel decided to modify the plan C.Congel starts again without losing his confidence D.Congel consulted Congress for suggestions ______.