Federal Program Reimbursing For Air Filters Extended Until January - Sep 30, 2002
A program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that reimburses for air filters, purifiers, vacuums and air conditioners purchased by those affected by the World Trade Center attack was scheduled to end today but has been extended to the end of January. While the city's 3.2 million households are eligible to seek reimbursements for $1,600 in such expenses, just 1,744 air conditioners, 2,821 air purifiers, 1,680 vacuum cleaners and 2,128 air filters have been purchased through the program, the largest portion in Manhattan, officials said. (Newsday)
World Trade Center Cough Still Persistent Among Hundreds - Sep 30, 2002
Physicians in the city have made it clear: The malady now officially called World Trade Center cough is like nothing they've ever seen, and hundreds - perhaps thousands - of people are experiencing it. The ailment, as described recently by Dr. Kerry Kelly, the New York Fire Department's chief medical officer, is characterized by a reduced lung capacity and a hyper-reactivity of the airways to inhaled particles, bacteria and viruses. The cough is dry and nonproductive and can leave the sufferer gasping for air. The culprit appears to be not asbestos, but microscopic bits of glass. (Newsday)
Vast Detail on Towers' Collapse May Be Sealed - Sep 30, 2002
What is almost certainly the most sophisticated and complete understanding of exactly how and why the twin towers of the World Trade Center fell has been compiled as part of a largely secret proceeding in federal court in Lower Manhattan. Many fear, however, that the closely held information, which includes the analysis and the possible answers that families and engineers around the world have craved, may remain buried in sealed files, or even destroyed. Bound by confidentiality agreements with their clients, the experts cannot disclose their findings publicly as they wait for the case to play out. (New York Times)
Architects Debate Whether Or Not To Rebuild At Forum - Sep 30, 2002
At the first Columbia University Seminar on Art and Society at the New-York Historical Society, Daniel Libeskind, the architect who designed the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Leon Wieseltier, the literary editor of The New Republic, and Sherwin B. Nuland, the author of "How We Die," argued about one question concerning the rebuilding at the World Trade Center site: Should there be something rather than nothing? Or nothing rather than something? (New York Times)
Schumer And Pataki Argue Over Using Rebuilding Funds - Sep 30, 2002
A battle is shaping up between Senator Charles Schumer and Gov. George Pataki over hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds to rebuild Lower Manhattan in the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center. Schumer is seeking to block nearly $700 million in transportation projects being considered by several agencies under the control of Pataki. Schumer said he was concerned that devoting $700 million of that aid to projects unrelated to 9/11 would shortchange the projects directly related to the attack, mainly the construction of a transit center linking the subway and PATH lines around the trade center site. (New York Times)
Fund for Terror Attack Victims Offers Awards in 14 Test Cases - Sep 30, 2002
Kenneth R. Feinberg, the special master in charge of the federal Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund, told 14 families last week that he had offered proposed awards ranging from $600,000 to $3.9 million after reviewing circumstances like extreme mental anguish and the intangible, hard-to-replace services provided by the family members who were killed. (New York Times)
New York's Past Environmental Problems Can Teach Us About 9/11 - Sep 29, 2002
History's lessons on pollution are worth considering when thinking about the consequences of Sept. 11 for public health and government regulation. Most of the horrors of New York's environmental past, scientists say, like the grim air episodes in 1953, 1962 and 1966, were chronic and cumulative. Sept. 11 was sharp and sudden, but for most residents at least, relatively brief. (New York Times)
Giuliani Says City Was Prepared for 9/11 - Sep 29, 2002
Rudolph Giuliani, in his first detailed account of his administration's actions on 9/11, said mistakes were made at the World Trade Center, but the city was as well-prepared as could reasonably be expected. Giuliani's remarks came in an interview timed to coincide with the release this week of his book, "Leadership," in which the Sept. 11 attack, and the aftermath, are a major topic. (New York Times)
City Razing Unstable Building Near Ground Zero - Sep 29, 2002
Officials began demolishing a two-story building near the World Trade Center disaster site in lower Manhattan late Saturday evening after cracks were found in an exterior wall and the structure was deemed unsound. The building, at 89 Greenwich St., sits on the corner of Greenwich and Rector streets. (Newsday)
Poll Finds Many New Yorkers Would Not Work In Very Tall Buildings - Sep 29, 2002
A New York Times/CBS News Poll conducted in late August found that most New Yorkers would be unwilling to work high up in a tall structure at ground zero. In the poll, 53 percent said they would be unwilling to work high up in a new building at the site. Only 39 percent were willing. Seven percent had no opinion. Asked if the new buildings should be as tall as the twin towers, only 32 percent said yes. Fifty-nine percent said no. (New York Times)
Creator of a Memorial Wall To Face Review By City Art Commission - Sep 29, 2002
A Brooklyn native spurred creation of a granite memorial wall in honor of the 115 Brooklyn-based firefighters who died on Sept. 11, but the project hit a bump when the man found he must get approval of the city Art Commission before the wall can be erected. (Newsday)
Rebuilding Officials Set For Tour of Memorials - Sep 29, 2002
As the planning for Ground Zero enters a new phase, rebuilding officials are turning greater attention to the memorial - starting with a five-day tour of permanent tributes around the country. Anita Contini, who is overseeing the memorial process for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, and relatives of two Sept. 11 victims are about to begin a whirlwind tour around the nation, meeting with officials at Shanksville, Penn., the Pentagon, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Oklahoma City. (New York Post)
Echoes of 1993 Attack For Fire Department - Sep 29, 2002
The problems that plagued the FDNY on Sept. 11 were a replay of those the department encountered in handling the 1993 Twin Towers bombing. A report issued last month on the Fire Department's problems on Sept. 11 cited unreliable radio networks, breakdowns in communication with the NYPD and failure to follow nationally recognized emergency protocols. But another report said the same woes plagued the FDNY when it responded to the Feb. 26, 1993, trade center bombing. The report, titled "Unprecedented," was published in the FDNY's official magazine. The 1993 report said, for example, that there was poor radio communication because "the steel construction of the buildings interfered with the radio signals." (New York Post)
Downtown, a Debate Over Burying West Street - Sep 28, 2002
Local opposition has begun to build against the idea of covering West Street with a tree-lined promenade. Though few so far, a growing number of Battery Park City residents have begun to lobby against a West Street tunnel, saying they fear that a decade-long construction project will further isolate their neighborhood, rather than reconnect it to the rest of Lower Manhattan. (New York Times)
9/11 Assistance Program Is No Safety Net - Sep 28, 2002
The financial assistance program in New York State that officials described as a kind of ultimate safety net for those who lost their jobs or had their property damaged because of the World Trade Center disaster has given grants to only a small fraction of the people who applied. Indeed, officials from the Individual and Family Grant program admit they have not even reviewed more than half of the nearly 73,000 requests for aid that they received in recent months. (New York Times)
Transportation Officials Discuss Plans for Downtown Transit - Sep 28, 2002
A Metropolitan Transportation Authority official said Friday that the agency is considering plans for improvements to several downtown subway stations, including a "Rector connector" that would link two train lines. The projects are under discussion as planners weigh options for large-scale changes to the intricate transportation network in lower Manhattan, which was heavily damaged in the attack on the World Trade Center. (Associated Press)
Putting A Rush On World Trade Center Designs - Sep 28, 2002
Six teams of architects have until late November to come up with new designs for Ground Zero - and some of the builders say that's not enough time. "This is not the kind of project one would want to see rushed," said Jesse Reiser, an architect with Reiser & Umemoto in Manhattan, a member of one of the teams. "There should have been more time.""It can't be as complex as it should be in that time frame," said architect Charles Gwathmey, the designer of Morgan Stanley's Times Square headquarters and a member of one of the selected teams. (New York Daily News)
Design Teams Are Selected for New Plans for 9/11 Site - Sep 27, 2002
Six teams of architects, artists and designers, including individuals and firms that have created some of the most renowned buildings and public works of the last quarter-century, were chosen yesterday by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to create new designs for the World Trade Center site. (New York Times)
Details on the Finalists for Trade Center Site - Sep 27, 2002
A list of the six teams selected by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, with excerpts from their application. (Newsday)
Killed on 9/11, Fire Chaplain Becomes Larger Than Life - Sep 27, 2002
The Rev. Mychal F. Judge, the sandal-shod fire chaplain with friends across New York, died at the World Trade Center 54 weeks ago, and has since become the center of a fervent following. But while some admirers of Judge are promoting him for canonization, his story is not as simple as the glorification of a good man who died bravely. (New York Times)
Trade Center Leaseholder Asks for Delay in Insurance Case - Sep 27, 2002
The trial over the multibillion-dollar insurance claims at the World Trade Center is likely to be delayed until at least next spring, so that the complex's leaseholder, Larry A. Silverstein, can file an appeal of a recent ruling involving 3 of the 22 insurance companies involved in the case. (New York Times)
Firefighter Committs Suicide in Front of 9/11 Shrine - Sep 27, 2002
A veteran firefighter assigned to one of 9/11's hardest-hit FDNY units shot and killed himself yesterday in front of a makeshift shrine he built to friends and colleagues lost in the terror attack, sources said. (New York Post)
A Cyberspace Rebuilding Debate Moves to Battery Park - Sep 26, 2002
A group who took part in an online discussion about rebuilding lower Manhattan, organized by the Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York as part of its Listening to the City initiative, stayed in touch by e-mail after their two-week discussion ended in early August. They were known to one another only by online aliases and argument until they met in Battery Park City last month. (New York Times)
Judge Rules for 3 Insurers on Coverage of Twin Towers - Sep 26, 2002
Larry Silverstein's $7 billion claim that the World Trade Center suffered two separate terrorist attacks was dealt a setback yesterday when a federal judge ruled that 3 of 20 insurers owed him insurance payments for only a single attack. (New York Times)
Judge John S. Martin Jr.'s Latest Opinion in Swiss Re v. WTC. - Sep 26, 2002
Full text of the court document. (Newsday)
City Asks Feds to Allow Police to Monitor Political Groups - Sep 26, 2002
The city asked a federal court yesterday to boost the NYPD's power to keep tabs on political groups -- saying this would give police another tool to help prevent terror. But the New York City Civil Liberties Union vowed to fight the bid. (New York Daily News)
Sunflower 9/11 Tribute - Sep 26, 2002
Artist Xavier Roux chose sunflowers as his medium for a tribute to the World Trade Center because they grow fast, and to towering heights. In early summer, Roux planted 4,000 of them, from ground zero to Chelsea, in the shape of the twin towers. The flowers outline two huge rectangles roughly four times the size of the original towers. Only a few sunflowers survived -- about 150, he estimates. (New York Times)
The Technology Behind the Winter Garden Rebuild - Sep 26, 2002
During the yearlong, $50 million reconstruction of the Winter Garden dome, all of its audio and lighting circuits have been reinvented. Thousands of daily visitors to the Winter Garden will be unaware of the cutting-edge semiconductors, servers, digital links and custom network engineering behind the atrium's new $1.8 million digital sound and lighting system. (New York Times)
Little Health Risk to Residents from 9/11, Panel Says - Sep 25, 2002
Most downtown residents are at minimal risk for health problems from World Trade Center contamination, a panel of experts said last week. Scientists told about 100 participants at a forum Thursday at the Borough of Manhattan Community College that workers at ground zero were the most likely to suffer consequences from the toxic particles that were spewed into the air after the disaster. (Downtown Express)
Few of Those Eligible Register for Cleanup Help Near 9/11 Site - Sep 25, 2002
With just a week left to sign up, only about a quarter of the New York City residents eligible to have their apartments tested and cleaned to remove leftover World Trade Center dust have registered, federal environmental officials said today. Many people still do not know that the offer even exists. (New York Times)
Downtowners Request More Time For Cleanup - Sep 25, 2002
People worried that their lower Manhattan homes are contaminated by dust from the destruction of the twin towers pleaded with the feds yesterday for more time to apply for a cleanup program. Federal Environmental Protection Agency chief Christie Whitman told Sen. Hillary Clinton she may be willing to push back the Oct. 3 deadline -- it has already been extended once -- but said the city has not made a formal request. (New York Daily News)
EPA: Toxins Near WTC Low, But Emissions Persist - Sep 25, 2002
The amounts of toxins in cleaned apartments and offices near the World Trade Center site are low and well within public health guidelines, according to a study released yesterday by the American Lung Association of New York City. But the study confirmed the fears of local residents that the concentration of diesel emissions from construction trucks and backup generators in lower Manhattan is "quite high. (Newsday)
Goodyear: I Turned My Cab Driver in to the FBI - Sep 25, 2002
Last July, Sarah Goodyear argued politics with a livery driver who said a friend heard something about Osama, something about the city being in danger. On September 13, 2001, she reported him to the FBI. Now, a year later, she finds out how he feels about it. (Village Voice)
Queens Art Center Removes Controversial 9/11 Art - Sep 25, 2002
A Queens art center has removed a controversial window display that depicted people falling from the World Trade Center. Eleven white silhouettes had been placed on the three floors of the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning on Sept. 10 - and met with immediate criticism. (New York Daily News)
Federal Government Taxing WTC Grants - Sep 25, 2002
Cash-strapped businesses trying to hang on in lower Manhattan expect to take another financial hit - this time from the IRS. Every penny of the $772 million in federal grants being given to struggling small businesses near Ground Zero is taxable. (New York Daily News)
Examiner Proposes DNA Screen to Separate 9/11 Hijackers Remains from Memorial - Sep 25, 2002
The Medical Examiner's Office wants to extract DNA samples from the possessions of the Sept. 11 hijackers - so the remains of the terrorists can be identified and separated from their victims. Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch asked the FBI to provide the terrorists' belongings at the request of victims' relatives, who want the killers' remains removed before unidentified and unclaimed remains are interred in a future memorial at Ground Zero. (New York Post)
9/11 Scholarship Seeks Applicants - Sep 25, 2002
A graduate memorial scholarship at the University of Glasgow -- open to the children of those who perished on September 11 -- has yet to find an applicant. Most of the 3,025 people who died in the attacks were too young, clustered largely between the ages of 30 and 40, to have children old enough for such an advanced degree. (New York Times)
Office Space Should Be Rebuilt Off The Footprints, Silverstein Says - Sep 24, 2002
Larry Silverstein, the real-estate developer who holds the lease to develop on the World Trade Center site, wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece yesterday that all the commercial space destroyed in the September 11 attacks must be rebuilt over the next decade for the "good of the city and the region." "If we do not replace the lost space," wrote Silverstein, "lower Manhattan never will regain the vibrancy it had as the world's financial center." (Wall Street Journal)
Ideas To Be Explored For Housing and Retail Revitalization Downtown - Sep 24, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the city Department of Planning are teaming up to study ways to build more housing in lower Manhattan and make Fulton St. a prime retail and entertainment center, officials said yesterday. The housing study will examine the market south of Houston St. Officials will emphasize the need to build more housing along the Fulton St. and John St. corridors, as well as south of Liberty St. The Fulton St. study will look at the shops, arts and entertainment offerings currently along the strip and offer ways to lure more tenants to the street, which will be extended through the disaster site. (Newsday)
Big-Name Lawyers To Assist Federal Victims Compensation Fund - Sep 24, 2002
Kenneth R. Feinberg, the special master in charge of administering the federal September 11 Victims Compensation Fund, has invited 41 retired judges, lawyers and professors to join a new legal system that will mediate objections raised by the families and help determine how much each victim's family should receive. Among those assisting are William H. Webster, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, the former attorney general, and Arthur R. Miller, the Harvard law professor. (New York Times)
Construction Could Begin Soon On Battery Park City Ferry Terminal - Sep 24, 2002
Construction on a new, state-of-the-art ferry terminal at Battery Park City is expected to begin by the end of the year, the Port Authority announced yesterday. The terminal, scheduled to open in June 2004, will replace a temporary dock and two slips that currently handle 13,500 people traveling between lower Manhattan and Hoboken and Jersey City each day. (New York Post)
Housing Could Boom Downtown, Report Says - Sep 24, 2002
Lower Manhattan could gain up to 8,000 new apartment units over the next 10 years, substantially increasing the size of its residential neighborhoods, according to a new development study by the independent Citizens Housing and Planning Council. Focusing on the area below Chambers Street, the report says 4,000 to 8,000 new apartments could be added through conversion of older office buildings and new construction - a substantial increase over the 12,500 units there now. (New York Post)
Development Corporation Faces Likely Changes - Sep 23, 2002
Sources told The Post that the city-state Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, in charge of rebuilding the World Trade Center site, will face major changes after the election - whether Gov. George Pataki or Carl McCall win the governors race. (New York Post)
Marble Tributes to 9/11 Have No Permanent Home - Sep 22, 2002
Highland, New Jersey's Memoria Project, as it is called, has become a powerful evocation of the 9/11 tragedy. It draws local families in mourning and tourists from far away who have heard about the mammoth white columns with their haunting figures of a man and a woman half-encased in stone. But while it has become an instant icon here, the Memoria Project is essentially homeless. (New York Times)
N.Y.U., Fearful of Publicity, Cancels Class on Ground Zero - Sep 22, 2002
New York University course that was to have focused on the intersection of politics, finance, design and culture in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan has been canceled because of concerns about the potential political fallout from the course. (New York Times)
Ground Zero Businesses Miss 9/11 Loans - Sep 22, 2002
Across the country, thousands of companies that offer pricey pleasures to the affluent have been larded with millions in taxpayer-subsidized loans because of 9/11-related economic woes. Unfortunately, the battered businesses in and around Ground Zero did not fare quite as well, according to a Daily News analysis. (New York Daily News)
9/11 Contractors Near Agreement on Insurance - Sep 21, 2002
The construction companies that excavated the debris from ground zero were near agreement with the city yesterday on a deal to use federal emergency money to buy $1 billion in insurance, which the companies would use to defend themselves against any lawsuits from residents, property owners and workers connected with the cleanup. (New York Times)
White House, in Shift, Backs Inquiry on 9/11 - Sep 21, 2002
The White House gave in today to growing Congressional demands for an independent investigation of last year's terrorist attacks, setting the stage for a comprehensive inquiry into the failures and vulnerabilities that made the hijackings possible. (New York Times)
WTC Architect Hire Sparks Controversy - Sep 20, 2002
The Port Authority announced yesterday that it had hired another architecture firm to help redevelop the World Trade Center, sparking confusion among some observers as to which firm will lead the rebuilding effort. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it has hired Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects to do in-house transportation planning and coordination of the various stages of development. (Newsday)
PATH Station At Trade Center Making Progress - Sep 20, 2002
The temporary PATH station at the World Trade Center site will be completely enclosed by November of this year, with a scheduled completion date of December 2003, Port Authority chief engineer Frank Lombardi told the agency's commissioners at yesterday's board meeting. (Newsday)
Experts Pan Port Authority's Transit Hub Plans - Sep 20, 2002
Architects and urban planners yesterday panned the Port Authority's design ideas for a Ground Zero transit hub, saying they are uninspiring. (New York Post)
9/11 Park to be Built Near Medical Examiner's Office - Sep 20, 2002
City officials are looking at converting the parking lot behind the medical examiner's office - where the remains of hundreds of 9/11's unidentified victims are kept - into a park. (New York Post)
Security Cited in Proposals on Lawsuits From Sept. 11 - Sep 20, 2002
Transportation safety officials are proposing tight new procedures to limit the possibility that sensitive airport security information will become public, and exploited by terrorists, in lawsuits stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks. (New York Times)
Fire Unions Call for Inquiry on Radio Failures - Sep 20, 2002
The leaders of New York City's fire unions yesterday called for an independent investigation into the widespread communication problems that plagued firefighters during the World Trade Center disaster, saying that they had lost confidence in the city's review. (New York Times)
9/11 Brought Hardship for Artists - Sep 19, 2002
A recent survey by a downtown arts group found that over 80 percent of New York City artists are making less from their work after 9/11, and that 10 percent are facing eviction. (Downtown Express)
Top Architects Competing for WTC Designs - Sep 19, 2002
A long list of celebrated architects - including Richard Meier of New York, Santiago Calatrava of Spain and Daniel Libeskind of Germany - are competing for the prestigious job of rethinking the World Trade Center site. (New York Daily News)
After Complaints, Rockefeller Center Drapes Sept. 11 Statue - Sep 19, 2002
A bronze statue in Rockefeller Center, meant to commemorate those who jumped or fell to their deaths from the World Trade Center, was abruptly draped in cloth and surrounded by a curtain wall yesterday. The statue, Eric Fischl's "Tumbling Woman," depicts a naked woman with her arms and legs flailing above her head, as if in a backward somersault. It had drawn some complaints since it went on view in the complex's lower concourse about a week ago. (Associated Press)
Council Wants Liberty Bonds to Build More Homes for Poor - Sep 19, 2002
More than half of any new apartments built with the special financing created by Congress in response to the terrorist attack on Sept. 11 should be offered at below-market rents for low- and moderate-income families, City Council leaders said yesterday. (New York Times)
Transit Links Called Vital to a Revival of Downtown - Sep 19, 2002
The rebuilding of Lower Manhattan requires making direct transit links to Kennedy and Newark airports, burying West Street and erecting a major transportation center, a group of business and real estate officials say in a paper that is to be released today. (New York Times)
Sept. 11 Pigeon Tribute Goes Awry - Sep 19, 2002
Jersey City officials released 80 white pigeons last week during a Sept. 11 anniversary ceremony, but instead of flying skyward, some of the confused pigeons clipped people at the event - and at least one plunged into the Hudson River. Since the memorial service, the pigeons have been seen slamming into the windows of nearby office towers. The reason: Jersey City officials apparently wanted to save a few hundred bucks and bought their birds from a Newark poultry shop instead of getting pricier homing pigeons - which are trained to fly back to their handlers. (New York Daily News)
No Quick Fix for Radios, New York Fire Dept. Says - Sep 18, 2002
New York City's fire commissioner said it could take years before all the equipment needed for reliable communications inside the city's tallest buildings is put in place. Because the Fire Department's response to the attack on the World Trade Center was plagued with communications problems, the commissioner, Nicholas Scoppetta, said that he had made improved communications one of his most urgent priorities since he took office in January. But new radios by themselves would not solve the problems. (New York Times)
300 Firms Competing to Help Remake Downtown - Sep 18, 2002
More than 300 architecture and planning firms, including those of the notable architects Philip Johnson and Robert A. M. Stern, have answered the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's call for more innovative concepts for the World Trade Center site, rebuilding officials said yesterday. (New York Times)
Plans for Transit Hub - Sep 18, 2002
Preliminary computer images of a plan for a dramatic transit hub at Ground Zero show a wavy atrium roof and views looking out onto a future trade-center memorial and the Winter Garden. (New York Post)
Study Says Lower Manhattan Urgently Needs to Draw More Firms - Sep 18, 2002
Officials in charge of rebuilding must draw as many as four major corporations to lower Manhattan - and stop other companies from fleeing - if the city is to recover from the economic losses related to the Sept. 11 terror attacks, according to a new report. (New York Post)
House Backs Federal Panel to Study Building Disasters - Sep 18, 2002
The House gave final Congressional approval to a bill that would create a federal panel to investigate building disasters. (New York Times)
WTC Panel to Tour Memorials - Sep 18, 2002
Redevelopment officials will visit more than a dozen memorials around the world before selecting the design for a permanent tribute to the 2,801 victims of the World Trade Center attacks, officials said yesterday. (New York Daily News)
Winter Garden Reopens - Sep 18, 2002
The doors of the Winter Garden opened to the public on Tuesday for the first time in 371 days. For many, it was like coming home. (New York Times)
Stock Exchange Commemorates Reopening - Sep 18, 2002
With bowed heads and silent prayers, the stock exchange came to a standstill this morning to mark the anniversary of its reopening after last yearÕs terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. (Newsday)
A Minister's Path to Ground Zero - Sep 18, 2002
For the Rev. Bill Minson, ground zero is his calling. For a year, Mr. Minson, 52, a stocky minister who wears a clerical collar but who never went to a seminary and who was ordained in an independent church set up to provide spiritual direction, including astrology and numerology readings, has haunted the site. (New York Times)
1 and 9 Back in Service - Sep 16, 2002
Lower Manhattan notches a major milestone on the long journey back to normalcy today when workday commuters return to the fully restored 1 and 9 subway lines as well as a newly reopened Cortlandt Street station on the N and R. (Newsday)
Shrinking Financial District Will Affect Plans For Lower Manhattan - Sep 16, 2002
One year after the attack on the World Trade Center, New York City's financial district is still shrinking, raising serious questions about plans for rebuilding Lower Manhattan. In decades past, the district has bounced back from recessions and catastrophic fires. But current trends militate against future growth in financial services downtown, or even in New York City, according to a range of people who have knowledge of the district. (New York Times)
Plans to Raze Fulton St. Block for Transit Hub - Sep 16, 2002
Transit officials want to demolish a block of buildings on lower Broadway and replace them with a glass-enclosed, atrium-style terminal, as part of the project to reconfigure the Fulton Street subway station. Planners for the Metropolitan Transit Authority want to use the power of eminent domain to condemn and demolish all five buildings on the east side of Broadway between Fulton and John streets, officials said. (New York Post)
Concerns With City Response to 9/11 - Sep 16, 2002
A year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the city has not yet offered legislation to address building code and emergency response issues, and most of the proposals to increase cooperation among emergency agencies remain on the drawing board. (Newsday)
After Buffalo Arrests, Arab Americans Prepare for Backlash - Sep 16, 2002
Ever since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Arab-Americans and Muslims have complained of harassment and discrimination, from a backlash immediately after the attacks to a more recent official crackdown on visas and firings. According to one recent poll conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, 57 percent of 945 American Muslims surveyed said they've experienced bias or discrimination since Sept. 11, while 87 percent said they knew a Muslim who had. (Newsday)
Ground Zero Panels Open for Public Viewing - Sep 16, 2002
For the first time since their unveiling for the victims' families last week, six wooden panels inscribed with the names of all 2,801 people killed at Ground Zero were open for public viewing at the edge of the World Trade Center site yesterday. (Newsday)
9/11 Families Raise Funds for Others - Sep 16, 2002
The Coalition of 9/11 Families has started a scholarship program for needy youngsters around the country who are victims of crime or future terrorism. It will sponsor a star-studded figure skating event at Madison Square Garden on Friday evening to kick off the fund-raising effort. (New York Daily News)
Downtown Real Estate Market Has More than Recovered - Sep 15, 2002
The New York City real estate market has come a long way since its nadir last year, after the Sept. 11 attacks devastated the entire downtown area. Prices on residential properties in desirable Manhattan neighborhoods like Tribeca, north of the World Trade Center site, have nearly erased their dramatic Sept. 11-related losses and are up 10 to 20 percent this year, according to local realtors and appraisers. (New York Times)
F.B.I. Makes Sixth Arrest in Buffalo Inquiry - Sep 15, 2002
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested a sixth man of Yemeni descent, family and friends said in Buffalo, NY tonight, in addition to the five young American citizens charged Saturday with providing "material support" for Qaeda terrorists. (New York Times)
Port Authority Still Planning to Build New West Village PATH Exitx - Sep 15, 2002
Reversing an earlier stance on building new PATH-train exits in the West Village, the Port Authority still hopes to get $29 million in federal 9/11 relief funds to pay for the project, The Post has learned. (New York Post)
False Terror Alert - Sep 15, 2002
Passersby alerted the police and caused authorities to rope off a section of Battery Park, delay some 9/11 memorial events and bring the 4, 5 and 6 trains to a halt after seeing a Sikh Transit Authority worker climbing out of a subway maintenance hatch yesterday. The worker was just doing his job. (New York Post)
Connecticut Diner Raises WTC Funds - Sep 15, 2002
Like many others, Joe Ravalese and Jim Chamberland wanted to do something for the families of New York City's uniformed officers who perished Sept. 11. At their 110-seat Country Diner in Enfield, Conn., 135 miles from New York, they have shown that no gesture - from $9.11 pasta dinners to a $9.11 memorial pin - is too small. Ravalese and Chamberland ended up raking in $10,000 for their NYC 9/11 Fund. (New York Daily News)
U.S. Charges Five Men in Buffalo With Awaiting an Order for Terror Strike - Sep 14, 2002
Five Arab-American men charged today with operating an active cell of Al Qaeda in western New York had received intensive weapons training in Afghanistan in the summer of 2001 and been sent back to the United States to await the order for an attack, federal law enforcement officials said today (New York Times)
Architect and Former Politician Join Group Selecting Planning Firms For Rebuilding Downtown - Sep 13, 2002
A former congressman and the head of the Harvard Department of Architecture have been tapped to help redevelopment officials choose five new planning teams for Ground Zero. Toshiko Mori, a Manhattan architect and Harvard scholar, and Richard Swett, an architect who served two terms as a congressman from New Hampshire and was ambassador to Denmark, will be part of a seven-member review committee to begin work next week. (New York Post)
First Lady Laura Bush Addresses Bronx High School - Sep 13, 2002
The World Trade Center attack was one of the "days of infamy" that seem to mark every generation, like the bombing of Pearl Harbor or the assassination of President John Kennedy, First Lady Laura Bush told Bronx high schoolers yesterday. Bush told girls at St. Thomas Aquinas High School she was sitting in class Nov. 22, 1963, when she heard the country's youngest President had been murdered. "I honestly didn't think that the First Lady of the United States would come to the Bronx," said Crump, a sophomore. "But she came and she was so cool, so normal. It didn't even feel like she was the President's wife." (New York Daily News)
Politicians Discuss Moving Primary Date Away From September 11 - Sep 13, 2002
The intricacy of campaigning on the cusp of Sept. 11 has the state's top Democrats and Republicans giving new consideration to an old notion: moving New York's primary elections from September to the spring. Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the Assembly, said he would propose legislation to change the primary to June, and Joseph L. Bruno, the majority leader of the Senate, said he would study the idea.\ (New York Times)
Rebuild on a Human Scale, Says Historian - Sep 12, 2002
A new dynamic is taking hold in lower Manhattan. Good-government groups that have long called for the diversification of the downtown economy, as well as the development of affordable housing and a more diverse retail environment for the people who live there, find that their voices are being heardÑand heeded. (New York Observer)
9/11/02: A Day of Tributes, Tears, and the Litany of the Lost - Sep 12, 2002
With moments of silence and recitations of familiar speeches, with the tolling of bells and the lighting of candles, with peaceful music and vows of military retribution, the United States observed the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, joined by countries around the world that honored the date in their own, distant ways. (New York Times)
City Streets Become Places to Remember - Sep 12, 2002
The streets surrounding the World Trade Center site became places of remembrance yesterday, as people from around the country descended upon lower Manhattan to remember lost friends and pay their respects. (Newsday)
Family Members Collect Mementos at Ground Zero - Sep 12, 2002
Hundreds of family members brought away small mementos of Ground Zero yesterday, the first time many of them had been able to visit and touch the hallowed earth of the World Trade Center site. (New York Post)
Survivor Eager to Remove Name From List - Sep 12, 2002
Nickola Lampley said she was stunned to see her name flashed on television during the roll call of 2,801 dead and missing read at yesterday's World Trade Center remembrance. (New York Post)
Lamenting Death, and Vulnerability - Sep 12, 2002
America mourned yesterday, not only for those lost a year ago but for a loss of national certainty, too. From Times Square to the little town of West Branch, Iowa, the people of the most powerful nation on earth paused to salve their still raw wounds and come to terms with a vulnerability they had not felt before a year ago. (New York Times)
For the Families, a Long Year's Journey Into Grief, and Back Again - Sep 12, 2002
For Jan Hoffman, a reporter who, starting in late September and concluding this week, interviewed hundreds of friends and relatives of 9/11 victims for Portraits of Grief, the New York Times' series of biographical sketches of the victims, broad shifts in the grieving seemed to emerge. (New York Times)
In New York on 9/11/02, a Void in the Air - Sep 12, 2002
A year later, New Yorkers were back on their trains, and back to the blank faces, the ones veiled by newspapers, the chador of the subways. The headlines called out the day, its commemorations, the public solemnities. But then and now, hardly anyone in New York is navigated by official declarations. (New York Times)
New York Moments on 9/11/02 - Sep 12, 2002
Stories of how New Yorkers spent the anniversary, from places like a firehouse in Harlem, Ground Zero, Newark airport. (New York Times)
Echoes of 9/11 at Film Festival - Sep 12, 2002
Day six of this year's Toronto International Film Festival was set aside to observe the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States. Two films that seem to encompass the full range of emotion toward those attacks and their lingering aftermath were given gala screenings by the festival. (Newsday)
Theatrical Tributes on Anniversary - Sep 12, 2002
On Sept. 13, 2001, Broadway united in a show of resilience by taking to the stage in the aftermath of catastrophe. Yesterday, the theatrical community found many ways to mark the anniversary. Candles were lit at 6:30 in the evening during a vigil in Duffy Square. Marquees all around were dimmed 90 minutes later. (New York Daily News)
Wall Street Pauses in Remembrance - Sep 12, 2002
Michael Pascuma, the oldest living active floor broker in the nation, who lost his son and namesake on Sept. 11, rang the American Stock Exchange opening bell yesterday. (New York Post)
Victims' Families Make Trip to Ground Zero - Sep 12, 2002
For some families of Sept. 11 victims, the one-year anniversary was a milestone that had to be stepped over, not a moment to be embraced. (New York Daily News)
On The Anniversary, On Top of the Empire State Building - Sep 12, 2002
The Empire State Building became the tallest in town a year ago. The observation deck was closed that day. For a few dozen visitors this morning, it feels respectful, patriotic, even a bit brave. (New York Times)
Quiet Day in Belle Harbor - Sep 12, 2002
In Belle Harbor, a small-town slice of New York City that is miles -- and worlds -- apart from ground zero, businesses in the neighborhood are shuttered, and throughout the windy streets the many American flags on the lawns and porches fly at half-staff. (New York Times)
The World Remembers Sept. 11 Attacks - Sep 11, 2002
From an isolated research facility at the South Pole to the trading floor of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the world on Wednesday remembered the terrorist attacks one year ago that, along with killing thousands of Americans, left hundreds of foreigners dead. As New York slept, the day began on the other side of the globe with a tree-planting ceremony in New Zealand. (Associated Press)
September 11 and Mental Health: The Profession Tests Its Limits - Sep 11, 2002
In the midst of the crisis following the September 11 attacks, the city's abundance of mental health professionals turned out to be a mixed blessing. There was no shortage of help, but few practitioners were trained in disaster response. City officials and agencies like the Red Cross had little control over therapists who wandered into firehouses, made their way to ground zero or stopped people on the street to offer counseling. Also, for the first few days no mechanism was in place to allow researchers to collect data that could teach crucial lessons about why some people are resilient while others are not, and which treatments are effective for whom. (New York Times)
Many Aspects of the Disaster Remain Unexamined - Sep 11, 2002
One year later, the public knows less about the circumstances of 2,801 deaths at the foot of Manhattan in broad daylight than people in 1912 knew within weeks about the Titanic, which sank in the middle of an ocean in the dead of night. (New York Times)
Families of Victims Develop Political Clout and Savvy - Sep 11, 2002
Because their loved ones were slain in a televised act of war, the private politics of the families of the World Trade Center have become our local and national politics, and their pain a part of our public debate. One year later, family members are fiercer, savvier, and better organized than they ever were before and show absolutely no hint of going away. (New York Magazine)
New York Magazine: 9/11/02 One Year Later - Sep 11, 2002
New York Magazine runs profiles of four widows, plans for a rebuilt site by 7 architects, a look at why former Mayor Rudy Giuliani "can't let go,' and a look at the statistics of September 11. (New York Magazine)
Dozens of Suits Filed Against Port Authority for Attacks - Sep 11, 2002
About 1,000 families and victims of the Sept. 11 attacks beat a deadline yesterday to sue the Port Authority for hundreds of millions of dollars, blaming the owner of the World Trade Center for dangerous design faults and safety failures. (New York Post)
Marchers Begin Profound Anniversary - Sep 11, 2002
Bagpipers and drummers marched through an early morning mist from each of the boroughs toward Ground Zero, beginning the cityÕs commemoration of its darkest day. (Newsday)
Some Relatives To Avoid Ground Zero - Sep 11, 2002
Whether itÕs because the site brings on unbearable pain, or because they are simply too weary from a full year of scripted mass memorials, several relatives of cops, firefighters or World Trade Center workers made the difficult decision to skip the main event. (Newsday)
One Year Later: 25 New Yorkers On The Attack's Impact - Sep 11, 2002
Newsday's online coverage today includes a multimedia slideshow of 25 New Yorkers, each describing how the terrorist attacks one year ago have affected their lives. (Newsday)
New York Post: 9/11 One Year Later - Sep 11, 2002
The New York Post's anniversary coverage includes a profile of children whose parents died in the attacks a year ago today, and a sampling from the paper's morning September 11, 2001 edition, with its coverage of the mayoral primary race and fashion week. (New York Post)
One Year Later, Still New York, in Pain and Glory - Sep 11, 2002
One year after it faced its own mortality, New York, in its daily curiosities and unexpungeable flavor, is still New York. For some time, no one knew if that could happen. New York has not disconnected from itself and devolved into a trembling mass of paralysis. It has not been unmade but remade. Its sense of control and invulnerability is gone, but New York has become a city of regeneration. (New York Times)
Poll: For Many New Yorkers, Life Did Not Change on 9/11/01 - Sep 11, 2002
One year after the attack on the World Trade Center, nearly half of all New York City residents say the event has not changed their lives. In a New York Times/CBS News poll, conducted by telephone from Aug. 25 to 29, 48 percent of the people questioned said their lives had not changed as a result of Sept. 11. (New York Times)
Many Commemorations of Attack Anniversary Going Ahead - Sep 11, 2002
Even as new intelligence information and threats of terrorism reminiscent of ones detected a year earlier prompted the Bush administration yesterday to put the country on high alert, Americans are going ahead with plans for memorial services, bagpipe processions, peace vigils, prayer services, tree plantings and commemorations of every imaginable sort to mark the anniversary of 9/11. (New York Times)
New York Times: A Nation Challenged 9/11/02 - Sep 11, 2002
The New York Times' special section for September 11, 2002 has an article about New York, still the same in all its "pain and glory," an interview with Mayor Bloomberg, a story about how last year's attacks affected the Arab-American community in Michigan, and a series of 11 individual profiles of people like Lauren Manning, who was injured in the World Trade Center attacks and spent three months in a coma, and Jan Demczur, who used a squeegee to escape from an elevator in the North Tower. (New York Times)
Security Increased Throughout City For Anniversary - Sep 11, 2002
Extra cops and National Guard troops fanned out across the city and state yesterday to allay fears of a copycat attack spoiling today's somber ceremonies. Governor George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg insisted that no specific terrorist threats were being aimed at New York, and that the city has been on high alert since last Sept. 11. Pataki deployed extra National Guard troops and State Police at Canadian border crossings, airports, watersheds, state health laboratories, the Capitol in Albany and bridges and tunnels leading into the city. Trucks will be subject to checks at bridges and tunnels and other vehicles will be randomly selected for inspections. The subway system will also get extra protection. (New York Daily News)
Students To Discuss Feelings, Fears on Anniversary - Sep 11, 2002
In high school classrooms across the city today, students will discuss how the world and their lives have changed since the attacks on the World Trade Center. While initially the Board of Education recommended only a moment of silence at 8:46 AM, the time the first plane struck the World Trade Center, officials later supplied teachers with lesson plans and guides from mental health experts. (New York Daily News)
More Than Half of Victims Identified - Sep 11, 2002
The medical examiner's office passed the halfway mark in identifying the World Trade Center dead yesterday, as the number of victims verified by remains reached 1,401. The bleak but encouraging milestone came a day before the one-year anniversary of the disaster that killed 2,801 and generated the largest and most prolonged forensics effort in U.S. history. (New York Daily News)
New Yorkers Cope With The Aftermath - Sep 10, 2002
Australian paper the Sydney Morning Herald interviewed seven different people about their reactions and responses to September 11: two victims' relatives; a woman photographed during the attacks who is now unemployed; a firefighter; a survivor of the attacks; an ambulance driver; and a window cleaner who was trapped in an elevator during the attacks. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Memorials Give Jerseyans Places to Grieve - Sep 10, 2002
Around New Jersey, 9/11 remembrances and memorials -- some as simple as a few plantings or a plaque, others elaborate works commissioned from renowned artists -- have been established, are being built or are in the planning stages. May sites were chosen because they will be natural gathering places for people. Other sites have evolved more organically, almost choosing themselves, like the site in Essex County, where a memorial is being built at Eagle Rock Preserve in West Orange. (Star Ledger)
Greenwich Volunteers Made a Difference at Ground Zero - Sep 10, 2002
While hundreds of Greenwich residents gave their money, time and sympathy in response to the terrorist attacks, a number assisted in the rescue, recovery and cleanup efforts. Some volunteered independently while others worked through local charities and religious organizations. For a few, relief work was part of their job. (Greenwich Time)
FBI Declares Alert On 9/11 Anniversary - Sep 10, 2002
The FBI has issued a new alert that the city could be targeted by terrorists on the anniversary of Sept. 11.The warning came as the NYPD mobilized thousands of cops to keep the city safe during during ceremonies at Ground Zero and in every borough.\ (New York Daily News)
City Seeks Names of Students Struggling After 9/11 - Sep 10, 2002
Six months after Sept. 11, an anonymous survey of more than 8,000 New York City schoolchildren found that one in 10 was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder and 26 percent had at least one of seven other mental health disorders, including anxiety, depression and substance abuse. Now, city officials want to know who these children are. (Newsday)
Maspeth Fire Squad Rebuilds - Sep 10, 2002
Newsday profiles Maspeth's Hazardous Materials Company No. 1 and Squad 288, who lost 19 men on September 11. (Newsday)
City Defends 9/11 Speech Plans - Sep 10, 2002
As officials rushed to make final preparations for tomorrow's Sept. 11 observances, Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday defended the decision not to include any original speeches in the day's program, suggesting a desire not to upstage President George W. Bush's national address. (Newsday)
The New Yorker: One Year Later - Sep 10, 2002
The New Yorker's anniversary coverage includes a history of the World Trade Center site, reflective talk of the town pieces by three widows, and three poems that respond in different ways to September 11 2001. (New Yorker)
Lung Ailments May Force 500 Firefighters Off Job - Sep 10, 2002
As many as 500 New York City firefighters may have to retire early as a result of breathing problems caused by smoke and fumes at the World Trade Center. (New York Times)
Cantor Fitzgerald Seeks to Relocate to Union Square - Sep 10, 2002
Cantor Fitzgerald, the bond broker that lost 658 employees on Sept. 11, is negotiating to build a $100 million headquarters in Union Square. (New York Times)
Tower at Financial Center Changes Hands for a Song - Sep 10, 2002
A major downtown skyscraper is changing hands for a surprisingly low price, in what may be the latest indication of how steeply property values have dropped in Lower Manhattan in the last year. (New York Times)
Liberty Bonds to Finance New Brooklyn Offices - Sep 10, 2002
A new Brooklyn office tower to be built by Forest City Ratner Companies and occupied by the Bank of New York will be the first commercial construction project to be financed by Liberty Bonds, which were approved by Congress in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, city and state officials said yesterday. (New York Times)
Police Remember Fallen Officers in Quiet Ceremony - Sep 10, 2002
Relatives of the 23 officers killed in the attack on the World Trade Center, and those of two others who died in the line of duty in 2000, gathered yesterday for an unveiling of the 25 names etched on a memorial wall two blocks from ground zero. (New York Times)
Cantor Fitzgerald: From Devastation to Determination - Sep 10, 2002
A year after 658 employees died in the attacks, Cantor Fitzgerald is emphatically still here Ă‘ on track to earn just under $100 million in the year that began last Oct. 1, a dominant player in the bond markets once again, with solid backing from its banks, a tenacious grip on its valuable software patents and new offices in Midtown Manhattan. It is still here Ă‘ but it is not the Cantor it was a year ago. (New York Times)
For Psychologist, Year of Grief Brings New Understanding - Sep 10, 2002
"The past year has forced me to cross the border from provider to patient, and it taught me how much I did not know," writes psychologist Robert Klitzman, whose sister died in the World Trade Center attacks. (New York Times)
Post-9/11 Coping, From Preparedness to Fatalism - Sep 10, 2002
Some New Yorkers are preparing for another terrorist attack by loading up on safety devices; others are getting their affairs in order. Parents and single people alike are weighing the scary possibilities and quietly pursuing a strategy of personal preparedness. (New York Times)
Park Slope Elite Fire Dept. Unit Works to Rebuild and Recover - Sep 10, 2002
One year after losing 12 men in the Sept. 11 terror attack, the elite Squad 1's firehouse in Park Slope, Brooklyn, bears little physical resemblance to the devastated place that quickly became a depository for grief and memorial gifts from all over the world. Talk to anyone affiliated with the squad, and you sense that the firefighters have done their best to forge ahead emotionally, too. But it is impossible to block those spontaneous, bittersweet moments. (New York Times)
The Changing Face of Ground Zero - Sep 10, 2002
Marc Santora captures the scene at Liberty Street near Ground Zero yesterday. (New York Times)
Firefighter Statue Gets Permanent Home - Sep 10, 2002
The 6-foot-tall bronze statue of a kneeling firefighter, which had sat on a truck bed in the street outside the Milford Plaza Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, has found a permanent home just a few feet away. It has been moved from Eighth Avenue near 44th Street to the sidewalk as a permanent memorial to firefighters and members of law enforcement agencies who died on Sept. 11. (New York Times)
New York Post: 9/11 One Year Later - Sep 10, 2002
The Post adds to its special anniversary coverage with an article about babies who were born on September 11 2001, and another on 9/11 births that kept fathers at the hospital instead of at the World Trade Center. Also, a story describing the scene at Ground Zero yesterday. (New York Post)
One Year Later, Canadian Ties With U.S. A Fine Balance - Sep 9, 2002
For Canadians now reliving the shock and loss of last September there is the persistent reminder that while this country shares a continent with the U.S., it often thinks like the rest of the world. (Toronto Star)
A Year After 9/11, Worries About Toxic Dust - Sep 9, 2002
As schools reopen and the city continues testing and cleaning thousands of apartments for lingering dust, residents are voicing unsettling health concerns about the fallout from the cityÕs worst environmental disaster. (msnbc.com)
The Economist: 9/11 One Year On - Sep 9, 2002
The Economist's section commemorating the anniversary of the September 11 attacks looks at how the U.S. has (or has not) changed, saying that 9/11 was like "a bolt of lightning that brilliantly and briefly illuminated the landscape without changing it. The storm passed." (The Economist)
9/11 Documentary "Anatomy of September 11th" Stands Out - Sep 9, 2002
An installment of A & E's "Investigative Reports" series seeks to explain why the World Trade Center towers, such massive steel buildings, fell. (New York Times)
Play About Fallen Firefighters Now a Movie - Sep 9, 2002
When it first opened last December "The Guys," said to be the first play about Sept. 11 to reach the New York stage, was widely expected to last a season, no more. Now the script of the play is out in paperback, and "The Guys" will have its premiere as a movie on Wednesday -- Sept. 11 -- at the Toronto Film Festival. (New York Times)
September 11 As Seen By 11 Foreign Directors - Sep 9, 2002
"11'09"01 Ă‘ Sept. 11," is an unusual movie, both touching and disturbing, which comprises 11 short films made by 11 international directors, each lasting 11 minutes 9 seconds, plus one final image. (New York Times)
A Year of Making U.S. Safer - Sep 9, 2002
One year after the worst terrorist attacks on United States soil, Americans are safer but still far from safe. In recent days, the top Bush administration officials charged with securing the nation at home and abroad have all cited progress but also acknowledged the continuing threat in their public comments. (New York Times)
9/11 Prompts New Caution in Skyscraper Design - Sep 9, 2002
Only a year later, the attacks have profoundly altered one of the deepest and most original expressions of American culture, ego, muscle, and scientific and financial prowess: the skyscraper. New threats have already led developers, engineers, architects and building tenants to rethink how they hold up and fortify these grand structures. The story includes an interactive feature showing changes in buildings under construction and in the planning stages. (New York Times)
Hollywood's Response to 9/11 - Sep 9, 2002
As part of the Los Angeles' Times' "9/11 A Year After" coverage, the paper takes a look at 9/11's influence on Hollywood, and finds that the prediction that "nothing would be as it was before" appears to be only partly true. (Los Angeles Times)
On 9/11, New York's Emergency Office Could Do Little - Sep 9, 2002
The city's Office of Emergency Management was designed to be cutting edge and thus deeply reassuring to a city that knew it was a target for terror: it would prepare for the worst and oversee the response when the worst hit. Whatever its grand ambitions, when crisis struck on September 11, the agency found itself marginalized and overwhelmed. (New York Times)
One Year Later in Middletown, NJ, the Town That Lost 36 - Sep 9, 2002
The Times continues its series of articles about Middletown, N.J. the town that has become a national symbol of devastating loss and communal caretaking since losing 36 residents on Sept. 11. The town is now struggling with the urge to move past the trauma of last September and the need to remember. (New York Times)
Government Planning to Fingerprint Foreigners - Sep 9, 2002
Immigration agents at the nation's border crossings, airports and seaports this week will begin to fingerprint foreigners who they suspect may pose security risks. (New York Times)
New York Post: Special Coverage "Those We Lost" - Sep 9, 2002
The New York Post's "Those We Lost" anniversary section includes a list of all who died in the World Trade Center attacks, with their ages and occupations. The section also runs stories about the rescue workers who found the body of Rev. Mychal Judge, called "Father Mike," an interview with an 18-year-old whose father died in the attacks and a profile of a couple who met on Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Post)
Legal Deadline Approaches for 9/11 Families - Sep 9, 2002
Thousands who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 attacks could miss their chance to sue the Port Authority because they're either preoccupied with grief or unaware of tomorrow's deadline for filing suit, lawyers say. The Port Authority has received more than 1,000 notices of intent to sue, said agency spokesman Allen Morrison. But perhaps double that number have potential claims and have not filed such a notice, which is required before suing. (New York Post)
Charity For Firefighters Under Investigation After Possible Fraud - Sep 9, 2002
Despite receiving $320,000 more in donations in 2001 than the year before, the New York Firefighters Foundation, a Florida-based charity that solicits money in the name of New York firefighters, gave away only $48,000 in scholarships and grants - less than 4% of all donations received, and only two-thirds of the amount disbursed in 2000. Not a penny of the million-plus raised by the charity has gone to relatives of fallen New York City firefighters, according to a Daily News investigation. The state attorney general is now investigating the operators of the charity. (New York Daily News)
New York City Police Museum Hosts Powerful Exhibit On 9/11 - Sep 9, 2002
Of the hundreds of Sept. 11 commemorations across the country this week, few are as powerful as the collection now on display at the New York City Police Museum. To enter the four-story building downtown is to step into the day of the attacks. The items on display at the exhibit, entitled "Stronger Than Ever: The NYPD Responds to 9/11," were culled from hundreds of artifacts from Ground Zero and the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, where Trade Center debris was taken. Others were loaned or donated by police officers, families of the slain and the public. (New York Daily News)
Former Employees in World Trade Center Scattered Throughout City - Sep 9, 2002
Most of the largest of the trade center companies relocated in midtown, a Newsday survey found. Others clustered downtown and in Jersey City, while smaller firms also scattered to Queens and Brooklyn. Newsday reporters interviewed more than 100 people who had worked at the World Trade Center and found a wide range of responses to being displaced from the offices in the twin towers they called home. (Newsday)
BBC News - September 11th: One Year On - Sep 9, 2002
The BBC News website features a section about the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, with features about the war on terrorism as well as about the reaction in New York City and around the world. Aside from eyewitness accounts and recollections of the day, the site also features an animated guide to the collapse of the towers as well as a feature on the effect of the attacks on Chinatown in lower Manhattan. A photo essay also highlights images from Ground Zero. (BBC News)
New York Times Book Review: Reading 9/11 - Sep 8, 2002
The New York Times Book Review's anniversary coverage includes a September 11 reading list and a critical essay by Walter Kirn about the themes and merits of the mountains of 9/11 books that appeared after the attacks "like flowers after a funeral." (New York Times)
Poll: New Yorkers Say Sept 11 Should Be About Looking Forward - Sep 8, 2002
A new New York Post poll says that on the eve of the anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history, New Yorkers are ready to move on. When asked whether the anniversary of Sept. 11 should be about "looking back and remembering" or "moving forward," 47 percent agreed that the future is what they want to focus on, while only 36 percent wanted to look back. (New York Post)
Giuliani Reflects on Last Year and the Future - Sep 8, 2002
At a newsconference last week, former mayor Rudolph Giuliani began with a brief, informal statement about the coming memorial ceremony, then answered questions for about 45 minutes on subjects ranging from the political to the personal, at one point relating his memories of waking up on Sept. 12, 2001, to see the sun rise. (New York Times)
9/11 Families Feel Apart From the Country - Sep 8, 2002
A year later, the families of Sept. 11 Ă‘ a small city's worth of widows, parents and other kin touched by terror Ă‘ say that what defines them most is their sense of separation from other Americans. As a nation that wept together resumes its hectic, distracted course, family members and outsiders say, September's bereaved have become a lost legion, left to find their own way. (New York Times)
9/11 Gave a Devastating Shove to the City's Economy - Sep 8, 2002
Economists and business experts suggest that even if many of the city's economic losses might ultimately have occurred anyway, the Sept. 11 attack compressed what might have been a relatively mild recession into a few very painful months. (New York Times)
Religious Leaders are Writing 9/11 Sermons - Sep 8, 2002
While secular leaders are refraining from speechmaking Ă‘ whether out of fear of inadequacy or a sincere sense of awe Ă‘ it will be the preachers shaping the oratorical legacy of Wednesday's public recollection of Sept. 11, 2001, in New York. (New York Times)
Two Familes One Year Later: One Stayed, the Other Moved - Sep 8, 2002
Although relatively few families eventually left New York City after the World Trade Center attacks, September 11 forced people to reassess their relationship with the city. Two families living almost exactly at Ground Zero made two very different decisions. (New York Times)
Marine Biologists Dig to Find Net Effect of 9/11 - Sep 8, 2002
Marine biologists are studying the effects of the Sept.11 attack on the fish and invertebrates that live on the bottom of New York Harbor. After the attack, a miasma of smoke and fragments of the trade center drifted around lower Manhattan, eventually settling onto the Hudson's surface. (Washington Post)
An Investment Bank Rebuilds and Reflects One Year Later - Sep 8, 2002
Keefe Bruyette, located in the 88th and 89th floors of the World Trade Center's south tower, lost 67 of its approximately 250 employees, including nearly its entire group of research analysts and traders. Two weeks later, when a Keefe Bruyette executive asked Mr. DiAntonio to come back and help rebuild the trading desk, he accepted without hesitation. "It was an easy decision," he says. The firm will be open on the anniversary of the attack, and a memorial service will be held at the day's end at a midtown church. (Wall Street Journal)
Daily News - Special Coverage of 9/11 Anniversary - Sep 8, 2002
The Daily News coverage of the September 11 anniversary features an extended essay by Pete Hamill recalling the events of September 11 a year ago. Other stories about September 11 take a look at the impromptu memorials that sprung up around the city; stories of the workers at Ground Zero; the outpouring of money into charities set up to help aid victims of September 11 and their relatives; and a look at the cultural repsonse to 9/11. (New York Daily News)
Newsday: Special Section - 9/11 One Year Later - Sep 8, 2002
Newsday presents a special section with coverage devoted to the September 11 attacks and the reactions and aftermath a year later. Highlights include a feature on security one year later; profiles of survivors; excerpts from letters and artwork by students and children responding to the attacks; and a searchable list of anniversary-related events throughout the city and Long Island. (Newsday)
Commemorations Begin As Anniversary Nears - Sep 8, 2002
As the anniversary of Sept. 11 approached, New Yorkers and visitors to the city remembered the terrorist attacks with tributes, ceremonies and recollections of private grief. Events taking place Sunday included a memorial walk led by paralyzed police detective Steven McDonald and the presentation of a plaque honoring transit workers. A coalition of groups opposed to President Bush's war on terror and his plans for attacking Iraq held a march from Times Square to Union Square. (Associated Press)
New Yorkers Still Fearful One Year Later - Sep 7, 2002
An overwhelming majority of New Yorkers think about the September 11 attacks at least once a week, with almost half thinking about them at least once a day, according to a poll from Newsday. Furthermore, some New Yorkers from outside Manhattan are taking less frequent trips into Manhattan, while over 70 percent of those surveyed foresee another terrorist attack taking place in the United States in the future. (Newsday)
Congress, Back in Its First City, Pays Tribute to 9/11 Victims and Heroes - Sep 7, 2002
Congress convened a special meeting in New York yesterday to pay tribute to the victims and the heroes of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and, in the words of the speakers, to show the world that America had been made stronger by the assaults on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. (New York Times)
Radical UK Muslims to Rally on September 11 - Sep 7, 2002
Britain's most radical Islamic group, al-Muhajiroun, is planning to hold a controversial conference on September 11 highlighting ``the positive outcomes'' of last year's attacks, according to its Web Site. The conference will be held at London's Finsbury Park Mosque, home to firebrand cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri and previously visited by terror suspects, including Zacarias Moussaoui, an alleged conspirator in the attacks. (Reuters)
Pataki's Tours for 9/11 Silence Usual Critics - Sep 7, 2002
As Wednesday's anniversary of the attack approaches, Gov. George Pataki has toured the city and state, taking part in as many as three 9/11 remembrances a day. But even privately, top Democrats do no more than grumble about details of the Republican governor's recent Sept. 11 itinerary. If anything, many sound jealous that he is positioned to reap what political rewards there are in being associated with New York's response to the devastation. (New York Times)
Raymond Kelly On New York City Security One Year Later - Sep 7, 2002
As part of a series of interviews about the city and the country one year after 9/11, the New York Times interviewed New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly about the state of security in the city today, and what "safe" should mean for New Yorkers. (New York Times)
Smaller but Heartfelt Ceremonies Around U.S. - Sep 7, 2002
With the coming anniversary, the nation will be watching Washington and New York, where elaborate memorial services will be televised around the world. But for people elsewhere in the country, there will be thousands of smaller services at churches, on courthouse steps, or in the privacy of homes. (New York Times)
Gathering For Widows Who Gave Birth After 9/11 - Sep 7, 2002
Widows who gave birth after Sept. 11 gathered yesterday at Cipriani in Midtown in preparation for the first anniversary of the attacks. (New York Times)
24-Hour Jet Patrols Resume - Sep 7, 2002
With the Sept. 11 anniversary approaching, 24-hour military fighter jet patrols have resumed over Washington and New York, officials said yesterday . (New York Post)
Bloomberg Asks Networks Not To Run Constant Images of 9/11 Collapse - Sep 7, 2002
Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn't want to see reruns of the searing images of Sept. 11, he declared yesterday on his WABC Radio show, asking the television networks not to run the images of the towers' collapse again and again. (New York Post)
Rabbis: Think of 9/11 This New Year - Sep 7, 2002
Rabbis around the city are asking Jews who began celebrating Rosh Hashanah last night to focus on remembering those lost on Sept. 11, cherishing life and learning from failures - even those of our government. (New York Post)
No Invitation To September 11 Ceremonies For Taiwan - Sep 6, 2002
In a bow to the State Department, Mayor BloombergÕs office has denied Taiwan, a democratic nation that lost nine people in last yearÕs attacks on the World Trade Center, an invitation to participate in WednesdayÕs memorial service for September 11 victims. (New York Sun)
Restrictions Finalized For September 11 Flights Over New York City - Sep 6, 2002
Airline passengers will have to stay in their seats the first 30 minutes of any flight out of New York's major airports and the last 30 minutes of any flight in next week as part of new security restrictions put in place for the Sept. 11 anniversary. (Newsday)
Teachers Look for the Lessons of September 11 - Sep 6, 2002
Teachers around the country are preparing to replay Sept. 11 next week in many ways. The anniversary has emerged as an occasion for special lessons on history and technology, poetry and psychology, art and architecture, hatred and patriotism. (Los Angeles Times)
New Yorkers Stressed, Few Seek Help - Sep 6, 2002
A government study of 3,512 people in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut found that 75 percent reported having emotional problems after Sept. 11, but only 12 percent asked for help, even from friends and family (Associated Press)
Winter Garden Reopens - Sep 6, 2002
Yesterday, with a host of government officials and construction workers on hand, officials of Brookfield Properties, owner of three of the World Financial CenterÕs four buildings and Lower ManhattanÕs biggest commercial landlord, showed off to the press the companyÕs $50-million reconstruction of the Winter Garden -- the soaring, glass-enclosed public space that is the jewel of the World Financial Center. (Newsday)
9/11 Television: A Special Day of Pain and Comfort - Sep 6, 2002
The 9/11 anniversary programming, which has already begun, will steadily increase until Wednesday. There is not much new within this onslaught. But just as television was the medium through which most of us experienced the attacks, now television is setting the memorial tone as it offers Ă‘ or rather demands with its blanket coverage Ă‘ a day of reflection. (New York Times)
Tattoos Serve As Personal Memorials - Sep 6, 2002
Like those long favored by military veterans, Sept. 11 tattoos have become a public declaration of loss, defiance and survival. Firefighters, police officers and bereaved relatives all sought solace though memorials inked into their skin. (Associated Press)
Sculptor Forced to Move 9 / 11 Statues - Sep 6, 2002
An artist who spent the summer creating a memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was forced to move two 13-foot statues from a federal park where they were created. (Associated Press)
Films Make Art of 9/11 Chaos - Sep 6, 2002
You can't speak strictly cinematically about the attack on the Twin Towers; it was an extraordinary disaster, one whose emotional and spiritual dust hasn't even begun to settle. Nor can one judge the plethora of anniversary films and videos now coming out by standard critical criteria. (Newsday)
Democrats: Pataki Exploits 9/11 - Sep 6, 2002
Senior Democrats yesterday accused Gov. Pataki of capitalizing on the Sept. 11 tragedy to promote his campaign for governor. (New York Post)
Both Candidates for Governer to Pull Ads Beginning Tues. - Sep 6, 2002
In honor of the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11, Gov. Pataki will pull all his political ads from the airways for three days beginning on Tuesday, not just on the anniversary itself, officials said yesterday. (New York Post)
City Struggles for Economic Recovery - Sep 6, 2002
The city's economy, battered by the powerful riptides of Sept. 11 and last year's recession, may have hit bottom in February but has been drifting ever since. Local unemployment stands at a dismal 7.7%. (New York Daily News)
9/11 cost Insurers $40.2B - Sep 6, 2002
Insurers will pay out an estimated $40.2 billion for losses stemming from the Sept. 11 terror attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a top insurance trade group reported yesterday. (New York Daily News)
9/11 Poem to Be Read Before Congress - Sep 6, 2002
Billy Collins, poet laureate of the United States, will read this poem about Sept. 11, "The Names" before Congress today at its joint session in New York City. (New York Times)
125 Cedar St: Still Coated in Dust and Ash - Sep 6, 2002
The rest of the city might have moved past 9/11, but a year after a year after the destruction of the trade center flooded their living rooms and bedrooms with ash and debris, the residents of 125 Cedar Street are still living it every day. The apartments sit largely barren, still coated in dust and ash, with no sign of the vibrant life the residents enjoyed for a quarter century at the feet of the twin towers. (New York Times)
At 125 Cedar St: A Tea Set that Captured the Moment of 9/11 - Sep 6, 2002
Elaine Williamson's tea set, encased in a fine, gray dust, was photographed by Edward Keating and published last Sept. 20 on the front of the The New York Times' daily section "A Nation Challenged." Several newspapers around the world also published it and the photograph became an icon of 9/11. When Williamson first returned to her apartment, she took the tea set with her. (New York Times)
A Scholarship Fund for Children of Those Who Suffered Financial Losses - Sep 6, 2002
AXA Financial Inc., the financial services company, is donating $3 million to start a new scholarship fund for victims of the terror attacks on Sept. 11. The fund, named Families of Freedom 2: Building Futures Through Education, will devote itself to providing scholarships and educational support for indirect victims of the attacks Ă‘ those who lost jobs and businesses Ă‘ and their children who are on the verge of going to college. (New York Times)
N.Y. Seeing Only Part of Promised Aid - Sep 5, 2002
Soon after Sept. 11, President Bush promised New York City more than $20 billion in federal aid. A year later, only a fraction of that money has been spent. Thousands of aid applications are sitting in government offices, while the cash flow has been slowed by red tape and a lack of consensus over how to rebuild the World Trade Center site. (Associated Press)
September 11 Birthdays: Between Remembrance and Celebration - Sep 5, 2002
For many of the countless Americans born on Sept. 11, that date assumed an ominous ring for the first time last year. Wednesday will be a balancing act. With the first anniversary shaping up as a national day of remembrance and rededication Ă‘ a true Memorial Day Ă‘ a lot of people will have to struggle to get through the televised ceremonies and tributes, not to mention the unearthly quiet of a weekday when many businesses will close and many Americans will elect to stay indoors. (New York Times)
Subway Service to Resume on Routes Closed After 9/11 - Sep 5, 2002
Subway service on lines serving Brooklyn, the West Side of Manhattan and the Bronx will return to normal for the first time in a year on Sept. 15, when three of the four subway stations closed since the World Trade Center attack are to reopen, city and state officials said yesterday. (New York Times)
On Anniversary, Ground Zero Vendors Will Be Banned - Sep 5, 2002
Scores of vendors creating a "carnival atmosphere" at Ground Zero will be barred from the site's perimeter during the one-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, officials said yesterday. (New York Post)
Economic Anguish of 9/11 Is Detailed by Comptroller - Sep 5, 2002
The attack on the World Trade Center will cost New York City $83 billion to $95 billion, depending on how many businesses wind up leaving the city, according to a report issued yesterday by William C. Thompson Jr., the city comptroller. (New York Times)
An Icon After Sept. 11, Giuliani Keeps Options Open - Sep 5, 2002
A year after Sept. 11, Rudolph W. Giuliani can contemplate an unspecified political future that he could not have dreamed of before. (New York Times)
A View of Loss, and of Recovery - Sep 5, 2002
The silence of devastation at the Winter Garden, destroyed on Sept. 11 but now rebuilt, has been replaced by the hush of anticipation. (New York Times)
Lots of Progress in Rebuilding Downtown - Sep 5, 2002
Beneath the once-scarred streets of lower Manhattan, 130 miles of electric cable have been replaced. So has nearly a mile of gas pipe. Aboveground, more than 122 buildings have been cleaned of dust and grime, and almost every street has been repaved. (New York Daily News)
Near Ground Zero, Paternal Pataki Reaps Dividends - Sep 5, 2002
Pollsters and political insiders have found that New York City residents are more optimistic about the future, and more confident in their leaders, than other Americans. Howard Wolfson, the executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, calls it the "Ground Zero effect," and its chief beneficiary is Gov. George Pataki, the two-time Republican incumbent who is seeking re-election this fall. (New York Observer)
Voices of the 9/11 Generation - Sep 5, 2002
In June, Newsday invited students to send in artwork, essays or poems about September 11. Hundreds of youngsters sent in work that conveyed their sadness, confusion, horror - and, happily, their indomitable optimism and resolve - in the aftermath of last year's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. A sampling of the students' work. (Newsday)
Tangible Reminders of Sept. 11 Get Pride of Place in Exhibitions - Sep 5, 2002
Dozens of cultural institutions plan to display hundreds of objects recovered after the terror attacks of Sept. 11. They will exhibit a flower-bedecked mountain bike believed to have been abandoned by a missing World Trade Center messenger, a crushed firefighter's helmet from ground zero, the bent squeegee handle used to escape from a North Tower elevator, and many other historical objects. (New York Times)
Cartoonist Draws on 9/11 for Strip - Sep 5, 2002
Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Maus" cartoonist-novelist, is creating an autobiographical comic-strip serial for the Forward, the national Jewish newspaper, chronicling his reaction to 9/11. (Newsday)
Theatrical Odyssey Memorializes 9/11 - Sep 5, 2002
"Brave New World," a three-day theater marathon commemorating the attacks of Sept. 11, was the brainchild of playwright J. Dakota Powell, who had lost a relative in the collapse of the World Trade Center. The show runs Monday through Wednesday at Manhattan's Town Hall and benefits the New York Children's Foundation. (Newsday)
Liberty Island Hosts Family Party - Sep 5, 2002
Liberty Island was opened at night for the first time in four years yesterday, for a night of live music and fireworks to mark the end of a "summer camp" for relatives of the 9/11 victims. (New York Post)
De Niro Chosen For 9/11 Tribute - Sep 5, 2002
Robert De Niro is among the scores of people whom city officials have asked to read the names of the Sept. 11 victims during next week's tribute. Others are expected to include Secretary of State Colin Powell and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Some family members have expressed concern that there will be too many celebrities. (New York Post)
Special Investigation: Weapons Aboard Planes - Sep 4, 2002
To test the supposedly more stringent security imposed at the nation's airports after the Sept. 11 attacks, Daily News reporters boarded flights over the Labor Day weekend carrying contraband - including box cutters, razor knives and pepper spray. Not a single airport security checkpoint spotted or confiscated any of the dangerous items, all of which have been banned from airports and planes by federal authorities. (New York Daily News)
New Task Force to Help Fire Department Prepare forĂŠ Terror Attacks - Sep 4, 2002
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday that a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency would head a terrorism preparedness task force within the city's Fire Department, a group that will include a former director of Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency. The task force will evaluate the department's technical capabilities to deal with various terrorism threats, and make recommendations. (New York Times)
With 9/11 Flag, A Mystery Unfurls - Sep 4, 2002
There it was, one of the enduring symbols of Sept. 11: a simple American flag that became an icon when it was raised by three firefighters over the ruins of the World Trade Center.But where is it now? In the months after the terrorist attack, the flag traveled a very patriotic route around the world. When it was returned to its owners a few weeks ago, they noticed that it was not the same flag. (New York Times)
Poll Finds Children Still Traumatized by 9/11 - Sep 4, 2002
Nearly a year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, children in New York City and nationwide are still showing signs of psychological trauma related to the disaster, a poll has found. Sixty-nine percent of parents in New York - and more than 40 percent of parents nationwide - say nightmares, anxiety, headaches and depression continue to plague their children. (Associated Press)
FDNY's Emissary to World - Sep 4, 2002
In the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack, firefighter Jim Carney found himself thrown into the role of arranging funerals and care for the families of the 343 firefighters killed. (New York Post)
Labor Leaders Hail Workers for 9/11 Sacrifices - Sep 4, 2002
New York City's union movement marked Labor Day yesterday in a far different way than in past years, turning its annual rally into a commemoration of the nearly 3,000 people, including 600 union members, who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. (New York Times)
Judge Says Sept. 11 Families Can Change Minds on Suing - Sep 4, 2002
A federal judge in Manhattan said yesterday that he would allow families of Sept. 11 victims who decide to sue the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to change their minds if they later decide to seek an award from the Victim Compensation Fund. (New York Times)
Airlines Struggling After 9/11 - Sep 4, 2002
Nearly a year after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the nation's major airlines have gone financially from bad to worse to not much better, and the New York region's aviation industry still hasn't recovered. (Newsday)
Eight Names Removed From Victim List - Sep 4, 2002
At least eight people whose names are among those presumed to have died in the WTC disaster will be dropped from the official tally later this week. Detectives assigned to the NYPD's Missing Persons Squad have determined that a number of people presumed to have perished in the Sept. 11 disaster are indeed alive. (New York Post)
Tribute in Wax - Sep 4, 2002
]The three firefighters photographed raising the American flag over the ashes of Ground Zero, an image that became the symbol of America's will to fight terror, were honored yesterday at the unveiling of a life-size wax monument of the moment. (New York Post)
Kerik Haunted by Sept. 11 Images - Sep 4, 2002
In the past year Bernard Kerik has published a tell-all memoir, left his job as New York's police commissioner and joined his former boss Rudolph Giuliani at a start-up consulting firm. But in a recent interview at the firm's Times Square office, Kerik still seemed the tough-talking street cop -- though one scarred by Sept. 11. (New York Times)
Sept. 11 Books Hit Bookstores - Sep 3, 2002
A year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, bookstores across the country will mark the anniversary with readings, vigils and other events. They will also be selling books. More than 100 related works are due this fall and virtually all booksellers have tables set aside. (Associated Press)
City's Payouts Decrease in 2002, Due to 9/11 - Sep 3, 2002
Lawsuit payouts by New York City nose-dived by nearly $100 million to $458.6 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30, the Corporation Counsel's Office reports. The 17.7 percent drop, however, is not likely to offer the city respite from the steady increase in payouts over the last decade because the decrease was principally a product of the disruption caused by the Sept. 11 attacks. (New York Law Journal)
USA Today: 9/11 One Year Later - Sep 3, 2002
USA begins its online anniversary coverge with an interactive look at a "year of recovery," and part 1 of a series recounting September 11, 2001 from interviews with over 300 survivors. (USA Today)
Sept. 11 Urban Legends Abound - Sep 3, 2002
As the anniversary of Sept. 11 approaches, terror-related urban legends are running rampant. Luckily, Snopes.com, the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is working to keep pandemonium at bay with levelheaded debunking of these well-meaning but often goofy warnings and too-good-to-be-true stories. (Salon)
A Troubling Year For Muslims in America - Sep 3, 2002
This has been a deeply troubling year for Muslims in America Ñ a time of bitter misunderstandings and often stark extremes of experience. On one level, the governmentÕs questioning and detention of hundreds of mostly immigrant men in probes that many believe are based on religious and ethnic profiling have created a powerful sense of siege. But there also have been other, less remarked-upon changes. (Newsday)
For Survivors, No Escaping the Memories of Sept. 11 - Sep 3, 2002
For attack survivor Neil Getter and many other Aon employees contacted last month, the first anniversary is stirring stews of memories and emotions that are boiling over. A largely unspoken undertone of guilt is palpable in talking with the employees of Aon, which lost 175 workers that day. It is as if they believe they should have done more for others, even if that almost certainly would have meant their own deaths. (Newsday)
Giuliani Says WTC Offices a Possibility - Sep 3, 2002
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said yesterday that the World Trade Center redevelopment effort should focus on a memorial but didn't rule out putting up buildings on the site. In the current issue of Time magazine, he writes, "If it were up to me, I'd devote the entire 16 acres to the memorial" - a stance at odds with that of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other officials. (New York Daily News)
16-Acre Memorial Has Little Support From Local Politicians - Sep 3, 2002
Former mayor Rudolph Giuliani allies such as Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Pataki - who control development on the World Trade Center site - failed yesterday to back Giuliani's call for preserving the entire 16-acre area for a tribute to those killed Sept. 11. (New York Post)
PBS Draws Ire Over 9/11 Show - Sep 3, 2002
The cityÕs largest public television station is marking September 11 with a documentary whose Web site is being lambasted by Israelis and American Jewish groups for offering an inaccurate and one-sided history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. (New York Sun)
Ground Zero Kids Head to Temporary Midtown High School - Sep 3, 2002
A new high school catering to students residing near Ground Zero will open on Thursday, but in a location far uptown. The New Millennium School will hold its first year of classes for 125 ninth-grade students at the High School for Arts and Design at Second Avenue and 57th Street. City school officials were unable to secure adequate space downtown in time for the new school year, officials said. (New York Post)
Long Island Teens Arrested in Bias Attack - Sep 3, 2002
Two Long Island teenagers have been arrested for punching a 15-year-old Muslim boy in a bias attack after yelling that he and his mother "blew up the Twin Towers," the Suffolk County Police said. (New York Post)
Handbags Made From Giuliani's Ties at 9/11 Benefit - Sep 3, 2002
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has had more than 60 silk ties from his personal collection transformed into handmade women's handbags to be sold in an auction tomorrow night benefiting the Twin Towers Fund. (New York Post)
Face of Firefighting, Taken One at a Time - Sep 3, 2002
Laura Yanes, an amateur photographer, walked by a firehouse near Union Square in July 2001 and simply snapped a picture of a firefighter. Her project grew after September 11, and Yanes now plans to photograph every single New York City firefighter. So far, less than a year into the project, she has photographed 2,000. (New York Times)
With Towers Gone, Area May Be Vulnerable to Lightning - Sep 3, 2002
When the World Trade Center stood, lightning regularly struck its towers and was safely discharged to the ground. Now, scientists say, Lower Manhattan may be much more vulnerable to lightning. Meteorologists and engineers have been given new impetus to study how lightning behaves in urban areas and how best to protect city dwellers. (New York Times)
Many Minds, Each Envisioning a Different 9/11 Memorial - Sep 2, 2002
In planning for a memorial in New York City to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks at the World Trade Center and elsewhere, a struggle for control of the process has laid bare a tangle of unending grief, cultural chasms, distrust of government and pure and simple rage among a host of disparate groups. Residents of Lower Manhattan, business owners, architects, commuters, historians and relatives of the dead are vociferously making their views known. (New York Times)
Unanswered Questions About 9/11 Plotters - Sep 2, 2002
One year later, the FBI has assembled an excruciatingly detailed record of the movements, phone calls, and financial transactions of the 19 hijackers. And investigations overseas have shed some light on the plot's genesis. But many important questions remain unanswered. What was the exact al Qaeda chain of command? How were the hijackers communicating with their leaders? And did the hijackers scout other targets for future al Qaeda operations? (U.S. News and World Report)
The Lost Chance To Prevent 9/11 - Sep 2, 2002
Long before 9/11, the White House debated taking the fight to al-Qaeda. It didn't happenÑand soon it was too late. (Time)
What To Do With Ground Zero - Sep 2, 2002
One year after the terrorist attacks, the place where the Twin Towers once loomed looks like any big-city construction site. But exactly what will be built there is still anyoneÕs guess. One of the many remarkable stories of the last year is how public opinion, galvanized by the tragedy, has derailed the business-as-usual development plans that called for replacing the World Trade CenterÕs 11 million square feet of office space. (Newsweek)
People Divided on Sept. 11 Holiday - Sep 2, 2002
Americans are divided about whether Sept. 11 should be a national holiday like Veterans Day or Memorial Day, according to a CNN-Time poll released Sunday. While 44 percent favor the idea, 51 percent opposed it, down from a 48-48 split in March. (Associated Press)
Newsweek: 9/11, One Year Later - Sep 2, 2002
Newsweek's September 11 anniversary coverage includes a look at that tragic day with five who survived the attacks, an analysis of how September 11 will go down in history with five prominent U.S. historians, and several essays on the artistic response to the World Trade Center attacks. Also: a look at the future of New York City. (Newsweek)
Time Magazine: 9/11, One Year Later - Sep 2, 2002
Time Magazine's anniversary coverage includes profiles of 11 people affected by the attacks, including the last person found alive at Ground Zero, an Afghani woman and a 12-year-old girl whose father died on September 11, 2001. Also: essays by Rudolph Giuliani, Michael Kinsley, Andrew Sullivan and others. (Time)
A Painful Anniversary - Sep 2, 2002
As it approaches the first anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attacks in American history, the nation is gearing up for what may well be the largest collective ceremony of remembrance in American history. (U.S. News and World Report)
Architect At LMDC Sketched WTC Vision For Protetch Gallery - Sep 2, 2002
Months before renowned architect Billie Tsien joined the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., she sketched her own vision for the World Trade Center site. This week, the design by Tsien and her husband, Tod Williams - "Buildings in the Form of Trees," first drafted in January - will find a wider audience in the new catalog of the Max Protetch Gallery. (Newsday)
After Sept. 11, Defiant Workers Empower NYC - Sep 2, 2002
Many New York City workers said they have become more appreciative of their jobs and respectful of their colleagues since Sept. 11. They said they are more aware that life is fleeting, and that anger and hatred take away from it. And as they deal with the consequences of Sept. 11 - lingering fears of another attack and continuing grief over the loss of life - they have become heroes themselves, the muscles that keep this city turning. (Newsday)
Tribute to City's Sanitation Workers - Sep 2, 2002
Sanitation workers were praised yesterday as the "unsung heroes" of Sept. 11 for their nine-month cleanup of Ground Zero. Nearly 300 members New York's Strongest were honored at a reception for their work hauling 1.7 million metric tons of debris from lower Manhattan to the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island. (New York Post)
Congress' visit a show of solidarity - Sep 2, 2002
It's been 212 years, but Congress is returning to New York. About 200 members are expected to convene in a joint session at Federal Hall on Friday to pass a resolution expressing unity with New York City and declaring the nation's resolve against terrorism. (New York Daily News)
Police Search for Man Using 9/11 Victim's Identity - Sep 1, 2002
Police are searching for a thief who stole the identity of a Newark man who died in the World Trade Center. The widow of Sean Booker, who was 35 when he perished Sept. 11, 2001, alerted authorities after a letter addressed to her husband indicated that he had received a traffic ticket on May 5 in Tarboro, N.C. (New York Post)
Thinking Big in New York, Seeking a Grand Vision of Public Works - Sep 1, 2002
Hovering above the initial debate over the World Trade Center site is a more sweeping and historically significant question: Can New York City, which for more than a century led the world in the construction of major public works only to repudiate the practice some 30 years ago, somehow learn to build on a grand scale again? (New York Times)
A Year Later, City is Still On Edge - Sep 1, 2002
A year after terrorists brought down the World Trade Center, most New Yorkers are coping uneasily with the aftermath of the debacle. Most are determined to carry on normally. But a striking majority - 72% - believe another terrorist attack is very or somewhat likely. (New York Daily News)
WTC Transit Plans Altered After Victims' Families' Pleas - Sep 1, 2002
Plans for an underground transportation concourse at the World Trade Center site have been altered in response to pleas from family members of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks that the concourse not run beneath the footprint of one of the destroyed towers, officials in the rebuilding effort say. (New York Times)
Struggle to Tally All 9/11 Dead by Anniversary - Sep 1, 2002
From the earliest hours after the the destruction of the World Trade Center, one of the most painful and complicated tasks has been determining precisely how many people died and who exactly they were. The city is finally on the verge of establishing the final death toll, a need that is given urgency by the approach of the first anniversary of the attack and the city's plans to read each victim's name during the main ceremony at ground zero. (New York Times)
Artists' Reflections on Creativity Since the Day of Destruction - Sep 1, 2002
The cultural landscape today may not seem terribly different from what it was a year ago. But some artists with Manhattan roots and habits, whose daily views were dominated by the World Trade Center towers, have found that the air they breathe in is not the same, and neither is the imaginative product they exhale. (Newsday)
Film Captures City in 9/11's Wake - Sep 1, 2002
When he saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center, film director Steven Rosenbaum did what he does best: He told his colleagues to pick up their cameras. Rosenbaum's film "7 Days in September," which opens Friday in two local theaters, is the first documentary released theatrically that captures the events of 9/11 and the following week. It's a story told through the eyes of 27 different filmmakers. (New York Post)
Trade Center Collapse Destroyed Crime Investigation Evidence - Sep 1, 2002
Federal agencies say some of their investigations were affected when evidence was lost in the rubble of Ground Zero. And a few "lucky" criminals benefited. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Customs, the Secret Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission all had offices adjacent to the World Trade Center in buildings that were destroyed or severely damaged. (New York Post)
Victims' Familes Still Wrestling With Financial Issues - Sep 1, 2002
Families of September 11 victims have had access to money, and plenty of it - more than $2.5 billion raised by major charities, according to estimates, and a pot exceeding $5 billion available to those who apply to the federal Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund. But the amount each family will get from that fund, set to make distributions based on each victim's salary and projected lifetime earnings, and how charities are making gifts and to whom are issues many families are still wrestling with a year after the tragedy. (New York Daily News)
Difficulties Emerging in Rebuilding: An Interactive Map - Oct 30, 2003
Newsday's interactive map shows the problems and difficulties with the current WTC plan. (Newsday)
Cost and Timetable for Rebuilding Lower Manhattan In Question - Oct 30, 2003
As Gov. George Pataki prepares to make a major speech today on rebuilding the World Trade Center, he faces questions about the master plan, the cost and the timetable. The overall cost of the project seems to have risen. The source of the money remains unclear. And as Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff noted in a letter to the Port Authority released Tuesday, no clear cost estimates or schedule has been made available. (Newsday)
Mayor Fears Costs of WTC Pension Bill - Oct 30, 2003
Mayor Bloomberg is urging Gov. Pataki to reject legislation that could boost retirement payouts for thousands of emergency workers who responded to the World Trade Center attacks. In an unusually forceful letter, obtained by The News, Bloomberg suggested the measure could cost the city and state up to $260 million a year. (New York Daily News)
Trial Date Set For Silverstein's WTC Dispute - Oct 30, 2003
A tentative trial date in the multibillion dollar dispute between World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and his insurance companies was set for February yesterday. (Newsday)
Man on List of WTC Victims Alive and Well in California - Oct 30, 2003
The only two children thought killed in the World Trade Center attack never existed - and a man who was reported to be their father is alive and well. It's a tangled yarn - and it's even more puzzling to Paul and Gail Van Velzer, who can't figure out why a woman they don't know reported Paul and two supposed sons were dead. (New York Post)
Mayor's Office Seeks More Retail Space at Ground Zero - Oct 29, 2003
After many months of playing a backstage role in planning the new World Trade Center, the Bloomberg administration stepped forward yesterday and declared that the master plan would have to include far more streetfront retail space and one more full-fledged street than it now calls for. (New York Times)
A New Account of Sept. 11 Loss, With 40 Fewer Souls to Mourn - Oct 29, 2003
After what officials call an exhaustive investigation that spanned the world, the city has removed more names from the official tally of people killed in the World Trade Center attacks. The reasons are the same as in the past: finding people once thought dead; duplication; insufficient data; fraud. In many cases, investigators could not prove a supposed victim had ever existed --a jarring concept, given that some names are embedded in the collective memory. (New York Times)
Ground Zero Workers Still Suffering Health Problems - Oct 29, 2003
One-third of Ground Zero workers are suffering serious health problems, and many face life-long illnesses, doctors told a congressional panel yesterday. But much of the money earmarked to help the firefighters, cops, construction workers and others sickened by the toxic plume at the World Trade Center site is stuck in limbo. The funds have been authorized by the federal government but not disbursed. (New York Daily News)
WTC Architects Bury Hatchet - Oct 29, 2003
The two feuding architects charged with designing the first new building at the World Trade Center site met yesterday and agreed to put aside their differences in order to come up with a final plan for the tower, a source said yesterday. (Newsday)
Silvertein Near Deal on Buyout - Oct 29, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority appear to be close to making a buyout offer to the mortgage company that loaned Silverstein the money to lease the complex, lawyers said yesterday. (Newsday)
Changes to Libeskind's Freedom Tower - Oct 28, 2003
Daniel Libeskind's striking vision for a "Freedom Tower" at Ground Zero has morphed into a more conventional glass-and-steel office building attached to an angular spire, as shown by one of the architect's new drawings obtained by The Post. Libeskind has been pushing this revised version of his tower design in a fight with trade center developer Larry Silverstein and his architect David Childs, who is the lead architect for the site's signature building. (New York Post)
Anger Over Eviction of Lower Manhattan Middle Eastern Restaurant - Oct 27, 2003
A wealthy church is evicting a popular Middle East restaurant from a lower Manhattan building it owns in what angry diners claim is a plot to get more money from the MTA -- which is planning to buy the property to demolish it. The building housing the Alfanoose restaurant, at 150 Fulton St., will be torn down by the end of 2004 to make way for a new transportation hub, a centerpiece of lower Manhattan's post-9/11 renewal. (New York Post)
9/11 Commission Threatens To Subpoena White House Files - Oct 27, 2003
The federal commission investigating intelligence and security lapses before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is threatening to subpoena White House records if they are not handed over voluntarily. (NY1)
Chinatown Store Founded in 1891 Succumbs to Effects of 9/11 - Oct 26, 2003
Last month the 32 Mott Street General Store, Chinatown's longest continuously operating store, became the latest victim of the economic troubles that have gripped this community since Sept. 11, 2001. City marshals came and evicted Paul Lee, who had fallen badly behind in his rent. For more than a century, Lee's family worked at the store. It is clear now that the store, long a stop on Chinatown walking tours, will not be reopening. (New York Times)
Santiago Calatrava's Work: A Clue to What's to Come at Ground Zero - Oct 26, 2003
Last summer, Santiago Calatrava was commissioned to design a $2 billion transportation hub at the World Trade Center site. For the moment, Calatrava is speaking about the project only in general terms, under the watchful eye of his client, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. But clearly he has grand ambitions for the station. "It has to feel as important as Grand Central, or the old Penn Station," he says. (New York Times)
Architects Agree to Meet to Work Out Tower Design - Oct 25, 2003
Trying to resolve their differences over the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site, the tower's architect and Daniel Libeskind, the site's master planner, agreed yesterday to work together on a design that would more closely follow the Libeskind plan. (New York Times)
Pataki Backs Libeskind in Tower Debate - Oct 24, 2003
Gov. Pataki yesterday backed Daniel Libeskind's vision for a Ground Zero Freedom Tower - weighing in on a dispute over the structure's design that threatens to stall the progress of lower Manhattan's recovery from 9/11. "I think it's very important that the vision that was enunciated for the master site plan be ultimately what is constructed at Ground Zero," Pataki said, when asked about the fight between Libeskind and David Childs, the tower's lead architect. (New York Post)
Port Authority Stays Out of Architects' Struggle - Oct 24, 2003
The Port Authority will not help resolve a clash between a pair of architects designing the signature skyscraper at Ground Zero, Executive Director Joseph Seymour said yesterday. (New York Daily News)
Marriott Ceding Property Where Hotel Stood on the World Trade Center Site - Oct 24, 2003
Yesterday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey voted to proceed with an agreement for the Host Marriott Corporation to cede the property where the Marriott Hotel stood, and clear the southwest edge of the 16-acre trade center site for redevelopment as a memorial. (New York Times)
Visions for Tower Clash at Trade Center Site - Oct 23, 2003
Only 10 months before groundbreaking is expected to take place for the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site, the master planner of the site and the architect for the tower's developer, who are supposed to be collaborating, have reached an impasse on how the skyscraper should look. (New York Times)
Libeskind Storms Out Of WTC Meeting - Oct 23, 2003
Ground Zero master planner Daniel Libeskind stormed out of a meeting about the design of the site's Freedom Tower, threatening to break up his collaboration with the project's lead architect, David Childs. (New York Post)
Test Runs of PATH Train Stop at WTC - Oct 23, 2003
A PATH train, carrying only a conductor and an engineer, zipped under the Hudson River and eased into a bare-bones station at Ground Zero yesterday. The commuter train came to a stop at 1:42 p.m. - weeks ahead of schedule. There was no fanfare. No political speeches. But the moment foreshadowed a significant triumph in the long, hard recovery of lower Manhattan. (New York Daily News)
65,000 call for special 9/11 honors - Oct 22, 2003
A group pushing for special recognition for rescue workers at the Ground Zero memorial brought petitions signed by 65,000 people to Gov. Pataki's midtown office yesterday. Leaders of the group, Advocates for a 9/11 Fallen Heroes Memorial, said they hope that the governor will influence the 13-member panel choosing the memorial design to include separate recognition for firefighters and police officers. (New York Daily News)
Silverstein Gets Another Week To Resolve Dispute - Oct 22, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein has another week to resolve a dispute with GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp., which lent him $563 million to lease the Twin Towers site. Tuesday, Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn extended the negotiation period, a month after giving Silverstein and the Port Authority, which owns the trade center site, until Tuesday to settle with GMAC. (Newsday)
An Architect's Grand Vision for a Trade Center Transit Hub - Oct 22, 2003
In hiring Santiago Calatrava to design the new transit hub at the World Trade Center, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey thought large. And in his first public words about the project, Mr. Calatrava made it clear that he, too, would think large - on the scale of Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station. Old Pennsylvania Station. (New York Times)
Community Board Postpones Decision on 9/11 Street Names - Oct 22, 2003
Faced with a heart-wrenching request from family members, Community Board 1 officials decided last week to postpone any decisions on renaming area streets for Sept. 11 victims until plans for the World Trade Center memorial are announced. (Downtown Express)
Council Says Patriot Act Threatens Liberties - Oct 21, 2003
The City Council is attacking the federal Patriot Act as downright unpatriotic. A resolution backed by 29 of the 50 Council members contends the act threatens "fundamental rights and liberties." The Patriot Act, passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, granted federal agents sweeping powers to use wiretaps, conduct electronic and computer eavesdropping and access private financial data. (New York Daily News)
Many People Who Spent Months At Ground Zero Have Respiratory Ailments - Oct 21, 2003
Thousands of people who are not cops or firefighters but who toiled at ground zero are now sick, even disabled, from asthma, chronic infections, and other respiratory illnesses. These conditions, some experts maintain, were caused by the ³crud² - the mixture of dust, ash, fumes from burning plastic, pulverized concrete, and vaporized human remains around ground zero. (New York Magazine)
Libeskind Planning to Time Release of Memoir to 9/11/04 - Oct 20, 2003
World Trade Center master planner Daniel Libeskind wants to time the release of his memoir to the third anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack - and in a proposal circulated to editors suggests tying the book's promotion to other Ground Zero events. (New York Post)
PATH train WTC stop to reopen Nov. 23 - Oct 19, 2003
The PATH station at the World Trade Center site will reopen in late November, the Daily News has learned. Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman would not confirm or deny the Nov. 23 opening date. But he noted the resumption of service to the WTC site will benefit tens of thousands from New Jersey who work in lower Manhattan. (New York Daily News)
New York City to Extend Lease on Airports - Oct 16, 2003
Ending a feud that has lasted nearly a decade, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced yesterday that New York City would extend its lease of La Guardia and Kennedy Airports to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey until 2050 in exchange for a $700 million upfront payment and a steep increase in annual rents. The agreement formally ended talks of a so-called land swap in which the city was to have traded the land under the two airports, which it owns, to the Port Authority in exchange for the World Trade Center site, which the authority owns. (New York Times)
Fire Dept. Drill on Bioterror Is Set for Today - Oct 15, 2003
The Fire Department will simulate its response to a bioterror attack today on Staten Island, conducting practice smallpox vaccine inoculations on every firefighter and emergency service worker in the borough. In reality, the estimated 700 emergency workers participating will get their annual flu shots, but the exercise is meant to test how quickly members could be vaccinated in the event of an outbreak. (New York Times)
Whitehead Says Liberty Bonds WonÂąt be Wasted Downtown - Oct 15, 2003
The chairperson of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. said last week that he thinks tax-free Liberty Bonds will be needed to build the proposed offices at the World Trade Center site and there are not enough bonds to cover all of the office demand in Lower Manhattan. (Downtown Express)
EPA Delays Release of Lead Tests - Oct 15, 2003
The Environmental Protection Agency says it is not ready to release its findings on the post-9/11 toxin tests the agency conducted in 250 Lower Manhattan apartments, although community members are concerned after obtaining what appears to be raw data from the tests. (Downtown Express)
Port Presents Plans for PATH Hub at W.T.C. - Oct 15, 2003
The Port Authority began the environmental review process to build a transportation hub at the World Trade Center site last week and officials said nothing less than downtownÂąs future prosperity was hanging in the balance. (Downtown Express)
Winter Garden Visitors Confused Over Plans - Oct 15, 2003
Although tourists continue to view the World Trade Center site from the Winter GardenÂąs expansive second-floor picture windows, many do not know that the memorial has not been selected yet, thinking it was already part of the selected site plan of Daniel Libeskind. (Downtown Express)
On Columbus Day, President Praises 9/11 Hero - Oct 14, 2003
President Bush marked Columbus Day yesterday by remembering New York City Fire Chief Peter Ganci, saying his death in the World Trade Center as he evacuated his men embodied the Italian-American spirit. In brief remarks at the White House, Bush said the sons and daughters of Italy "take special pride in the deep tradition of service to this country." (New York Daily News)
Libeskind Writing a Memoir - Oct 14, 2003
World Trade Center master planner Daniel Libeskind is shopping a book proposal for his memoirs - and he promises to donate a portion of the proceeds to the children of 9/11 victims. The proposal, under the working title "Foundations of Optimism," began landing on editors' desks last week. Libeskind, 57, has already started writing the book, his agent, Scott Mendel, said. (New York Post)
Critics: World Trade Center Plan Is Just Too Dense - Oct 13, 2003
If the World Trade Center master plan were subject to New York City zoning rules, critics say, the bulk of the site with its four towers on three square blocks would far exceed allowable density limits. (Newsday)
Handyman Leaves $1.4M To City - Oct 11, 2003
Come spring, plans for new ball fields will be under way and thousands more daffodils will bloom in city parks and street medians, thanks to a Minnesota handyman who left $1.4 million in life savings to the city after the Sept. ll, 2001, terrorist attacks. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said Friday that nearly $1 million of the bequest from the late Joseph Temeczko of Minneapolis, a Polish immigrant who was in his 80s and died two years ago this month, is earmarked for ballfields. (Newsday)
WTC Tower Will Now Top 2,000 Feet - Oct 10, 2003
Ground Zero's signature Freedom Tower will soar above 2,000 feet - well beyond the previously announced height of 1,776 feet - under a revised design being worked on by architect Daniel Libeskind, a rebuilding official said yesterday. (New York Post)
Memorial Finalists Selected, But Not Revealed - Oct 10, 2003
The jury picking a memorial for the World Trade Center site has selected a group of finalists from among 5,200 submissions, and the designers have been asked to begin refining their ideas. Development officials yesterday refused to discuss details of the competition and would say only that the public will see a number of designs in the "coming weeks." (New York Post)
Pataki Wants Insurance Settled So Trade Center Work Can Begin - Oct 10, 2003
Gov. George E. Pataki is attempting to forge a settlement between the developer Larry A. Silverstein and his insurers in their long-running battle over how much money will be available to rebuild the World Trade Center. With a revised master plan for the 16-acre site now in hand and a recent setback in Mr. Silverstein's legal case, downtown executives say that Governor Pataki wants the issue resolved quickly so that rebuilding can proceed without more money being squandered on lawyers. (New York Times)
Details Emerge on Post-9/11 Clash Between White House and EPA - Oct 10, 2003
Tensions between the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality over informing the public about air safety after the collapse of the World Trade Center may well have been greater than revealed in a report issued by the E.P.A.'s inspector general in August, according to newly released documents. (New York Times)
Grasso's Place on LMDC Board Questioned - Oct 10, 2003
Richard Grasso was ousted last month as the head of the New York Stock Exchange, and now his place on the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board is in question. (Newsday)
New Campaign to Prepare Schools In Case of Terrorism - Oct 9, 2003
The Bloomberg administration is launching a new campaign to educate parents and school staffers on what to do in the case of a terrorist attack or other emergencies, The Post has learned. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's office of school safety and planning is using $890,000 in federal funds to set up the emergency preparedness training program - including posting information on the Department of Education's Web site and producing CD-ROMs and videos. (New York Post)
Fire Commissioner Calls for Special Recognition in Memorial - Oct 9, 2003
Before a somber audience, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta repeated his call yesterday for special recognition for firefighters at the planned Ground Zero memorial. Scoppetta spoke in front of a sea of blue uniformed firefighters gathered for the annual memorial service at the Firemen's Monument on Riverside Drive at W. 100th St. (New York Daily News)
Council Introduces Downtown Pollution Reduction Bill - Oct 9, 2003
At a City Council hearing last week, the Environmental Protection Agency urged the passage of a bill that would mandate the use of clean air technology for vehicles rebuilding the World Trade Center site. Under the proposed law, construction equipment Downtown, including the WTC site, would have to use ultra low sulfur diesel fuel and special technology to reduce emissions. (Downtown Express)
WTC Firehouse Will Welcome Firefighters Back - Oct 9, 2003
The firehouse across the street from the former World Trade Center site may welcome its firefighters back by the end of this month, a member of Engine Company 10 said on Monday. (Downtown Express)
Wrangle Over Downtown Rebuild Funds - Oct 8, 2003
The chairman of the agency overseeing downtown revitalization took a shot at the Bloomberg administration in a growing feud over $2 billion in tax-free bonds earmarked for rebuilding after Sept. 11, 2001. Mayor Bloomberg wants to use the federally subsidized bonds to build office and residential buildings around the city. But last week, Lower Manhattan Development Corp. boss John Whitehead sent a memo to board members showing at least a dozen sites near Ground Zero where new office towers could be built using the tax-exempt Liberty Bonds. (New York Daily News)
What's In a Name? For the WTC, a Lot. - Oct 8, 2003
There are 93 World Trade Centers worldwide. So what bearing, if any, does this fact have on establishing the name of the trade center currently under development in downtown Manhattan? This was one of the questions raised at "Starting at Zero: Reinventing the Identity of the World Trade Center Site," a panel discussion held Sept. 24 at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York. The purpose of the event, which was sponsored by the American Institute of Graphic Arts, New York Chapter, was to reflect on the issues around the moniker of the sixteen-acre Ground Zero site; consider how the site's identity can be rebuilt; and most of all, think about how a name had the power to reflect our views of the city. (Metropolis )
U.S. Convicts 2 in 9/11 Swindle of $350,000 in Business Relief - Oct 7, 2003
A jury in Federal District Court in Manhattan has convicted two men of defrauding government and private programs and stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in aid meant for people and businesses hurt by the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. (New York Times)
WTC Legal Battle Costs Larry Silverstein $100 Million - Oct 7, 2003
Larry Silverstein has spent close to $100 million so far on the mammoth legal battle with his Twin Towers insurers - and has told officials he needs another $80 million a year to pay for lawyers and other expenses, according to court papers and other sources (New York Post)
Report Fuels Fear That City Won't Get All of Promised 9/11 Aid - Oct 6, 2003
New York officials have long worried that the city will get billions of dollars less in federal aid to rebuild Lower Manhattan than the $21.4 billion President Bush promised after the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Although the White House, Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg have dismissed those concerns, a new report by the General Accounting Office is helping to increase them. (New York Times)
M.T.A. to Include 19th Century Building in Downtown Transit Hub - Oct 3, 2003
In planning the enormous Fulton Street Transit Center on Broadway, between Fulton and John Streets, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has agreed to preserve the 115-year-old Corbin Building at 11 John Street and, if it proves possible, incorporate it into the station. (New York Times)
Man Convicted of 9/11 Aid Fraud - Oct 2, 2003
A man who tried to swindle thousands of dollars out of a 9/11 aid program for lower Manhattan residents was slapped with a $2,000 fine and sentenced to community service, officials said yesterday. (New York Post)
Celebrated Architects Join WTC Team - Oct 2, 2003
"Ground Zero is set to become a Hall of Fame for the all-stars of contemporary architecture now that developer Larry Silverstein has named three of the worldÂąs most celebrated architects to design massive towers to line the perimeter of the site. London-based Lord Norman Foster, of Foster and Partners; Tokyo-based Fumihiko Maki, of Maki and Associates; and Jean Nouvel, of Ateliers Jean Nouvel in Paris will design towers ringing the memorial site planned for the southwest corner of the new World Trade Center, if Mr. Silverstein has his way," writes Tom McGeveran in the Observer. (New York Observer)
'World-Class' Architects Picked for WTC Buildings - Oct 1, 2003
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein named a trio of renowned architects yesterday - including Lord Norman Foster, who tried for the main Twin Towers site design - to create designs for the five office buildings at Ground Zero. British architect Foster, Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki and French architect Jean Nouvel will work with Silverstein architect David Childs. (Newsday)
White House to Help Review Downtown Air Quality After 9/11 - Oct 1, 2003
The White House has agreed to work with Congress and independent environment experts to review the quality of air in lower Manhattan immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, Sen. Hillary Clinton said yesterday. The review will seek to determine whether air near Ground Zero was safe to breathe and whether toxins continue to linger in buildings near the attack site. (New York Daily News)
Retail Returns to Liberty Street - Oct 1, 2003
Just south of ground zero, Liberty St. is getting ready for its closeup. Workers hang signs and dust countertops as merchants prepare to return for the first time in more than two years to storefronts facing the former World Trade Center site. It is a bittersweet homecoming for some. (Downtown Express)
City Council Issues Report on Downtown Greenmarket - Oct 31, 2002
Among the myriad ideas for how best to develop the former site of the World Trade Center and revitalize the downtown economy, add marketplace. A study issued last week examines the feasibility of several types of markets, ultimately suggesting a 42,000 square foot market hall be built as part of the WTC redevelopment project. (Downtown Express)
9/11 Families Enter GA Senate Race - Oct 31, 2002
A group of Sept. 11 victims' families has entered a tight U.S. Senate contest in Georgia - running ads against one candidate, charging he doesn't back a sweeping probe into the attacks. (New York Daily News)
Small Firm Figures In LMDC's Plans - Oct 31, 2002
While six teams of world-renowned architects were hired to develop new visions for the World Trade Center site to great acclaim, a seventh team is quietly developing its own plans for the site. The two-person firm of Peterson/Littenberg Architecture & Urban Design, hired in May to serve as in-house architects to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., will draw up plans using the same guidelines as its competitors. (Newsday)
WTC Planners Taking International Memorial Tour - Oct 30, 2002
City officials, civic leaders and Sept. 11 victims' families are heading to Europe to look at how cities abroad planned rebuilding efforts - and created memorials. The 50-person trip will come a month after lower Manhattan planners toured memorials around the U.S. (New York Daily News)
Student Caught With 9/11 Hero's FDNY Parking Permit - Oct 30, 2002
A Pace University student was arrested yesterday for stealing the FDNY parking permit of a legendary firefighter who died on Sept. 11, officials said. Fire marshals caught Vadim Reznikov, 20, near the university - which is across from City Hall - after noticing the stolen permit on his car, officials said. (New York Post)
Despite 9/11, Survey Finds NYC Best City to Visit - Oct 30, 2002
Despite the terror attacks, this is the best U.S. city to visit, according to a Zagat survey to be released today. Zagat, best known for its restaurant guide, said New York took 41% of consumer votes, and second-place San Francisco received 23%, with Los Angeles a distant third at 10%. (New York Daily News)
New Yorkers Among Pentagon Design Finalists - Oct 30, 2002
When they learned of the competition to design a memorial at the Pentagon, Brooklyn architects Edwin Zawadzki and Mason Wickham finally found a way to assist in the recovery after Sept. 11. The Fort Greene couple and two other New York City teams have been named finalists in the Pentagon memorial competition, three of six chosen from 1,126 eligible submissions to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (Newsday)
Material from 9/11 Insurance Case Shows a Graphic Look at Towers' Collapse - Oct 29, 2002
Last week, a federal judge in the World Trade Center insurance case made it clear that he had no objection to the public release of a trove of material, including videotape, compact discs, witness accounts, mathematical analyses and high-tech imagery. Taken together, the dozens of boxes represent the largest single repository of raw data and expert analysis on the Sept. 11 attack in Lower Manhattan, dwarfing the analysis compiled by the government in its first examination of how and why the towers collapsed. (New York Times)
9/11 Family Member Appears in Nassau Political Ad - Oct 29, 2002
The father of a World Trade Center victim who has made tighter immigration controls a personal quest will appear in a televised political advertisement this week, endorsing a Nassau County Republican candidate for Congress. Political analysts and officials of both parties said they believed this was the first time a family member of a Sept. 11 victim has been used so directly in a partisan campaign. (New York Times)
9/11 Storefront Memorial Moved to New York Historical Society - Oct 29, 2002
A time capsule from Sept. 11, 2001, the last memorial to stand as testimony to what was left when the smoke lifted at the World Trade Center, was removed yesterday by a team of experts in respirators and hazardous-materials suits. The Chelsea Jeans memorial, a glassed-in collection of dust-covered, flag-bearing Ralph Lauren sweaters and Levi's jeans, was painstakingly dismantled, and workers began moving it to the New-York Historical Society. (New York Times)
List of 9/11 Transit Projects Sent to Washington - Oct 29, 2002
The first batch of lower Manhattan transit projects to be paid for with post-9/11 federal aid has been quietly sent to Washington for approval, sources said yesterday. The transit wish list was compiled after months of sometimes contentious meetings among the Port Authority, Lower Manhattan Development Corp., state and city transportation officials and elected leaders, including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). (New York Daily News)
DNA Test On Hold for WTC Victims - Oct 29, 2002
A groundbreaking genetic procedure expected to identify the remains of more victims of the World Trade Center attacks is still being scrutinized for approval by the city. The medical examiner's office had hoped to start using the testing method, which looks at tiny variations in the smallest building blocks of DNA, as early as last month. But the medical examiner is still trying to perfect the test. (New York Daily News)
Parents And Teachers Oppose Office Tower Near Ground Zero School - Oct 29, 2002
Fearing more terrorist attacks, parents and educators have spoken out against construction of a 32-story corporate tower next to an elementary school near Ground Zero. PS 234, on Greenwich Street between Chambers and Warren streets, is about five blocks from where the Twin Towers stood. Students and staff fled for their lives when the skyscrapers toppled. (New York Post)
Port Authority, City May Clash Over Rebuilding Office Space - Oct 28, 2002
A new set of guidelines for Ground Zero, meant to reduce square footage on the site, has set the battle lines for a potentially bitter real-estate fight between the Port Authority and the city. With pressure growing to peel office space from the trade center, the authority has insisted that any reduction below 10 million square feet be made up by allowing the agency to build elsewhere in lower Manhattan. But city officials are adamantly opposed to letting the bistate agency extend its reach beyond the 16 acres of Ground Zero. (New York Post)
Intrepid Museum Gives Memorial for 9/11 Hero Dog - Oct 28, 2002
The golden retriever whose World Trade Center heroics earned him a citation in The Guinness Book of Records was honored at a memorial service yesterday at the Intrepid Museum. (New York Post)
Study Faults Bolts in WTC Collapse - Oct 27, 2002
Single-bolt connections in the framework of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers contributed to their collapse in the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the findings of a team of top engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (New York Post)
9/11 Aid Forms Are Becoming Minibiographies of the Dead - Oct 26, 2002
For many people, applying to the federal Victim Compensation Fund figured to be something of a clinical exercise, a statistical blur in which thousands of families would compute the lost earnings of loved ones who died on 9/11, then wait for the government to mail out checks. But for many families and friends of victims, and lawyers who did not even know them, the application process has given the create intimate minibiographies about the dead, based on interviews, photos or videotapes. For the families, the most important motivation to assemble these narratives may not be the push for more compensation, though they certainly may have that effect. Instead, the real value may lie in their timeless and therapeutic resonance in telling the full story of life, love and loss beyond cold, raw numbers. (New York Times)
Ground Zero Couple Sue Port Authority for $20 Million - Oct 26, 2002
A couple who live two blocks from Ground Zero sued the Port Authority for $20 million yesterday, saying they fear they may get lung cancer from the soot and ash they breathed for a year. (New York Post)
Airport-Related Business Here Hit Hard by 9/11, Costing 10,000 Jobs - Oct 25, 2002
Since the World Trade Center attacks, La Guardia and Kennedy Airports have suffered larger economic losses than most other major hub airports in the country, a new study by the Center for an Urban Future has found. Those losses permeate almost every aspect of the two airports' business, from cargo and passenger traffic to hotel vacancies, and have caused the elimination of 16.5 percent --10,000 jobs--of all airport-related jobs in the city since 9/11. That is by far the largest percentage loss of any industry in the city, including the securities industry, which has lost 9 percent of its jobs since then. (New York Times)
Buildings With Code Violations Rejected From 9/11 Residential Grant Program - Oct 25, 2002
Anyone who lives in an apartment near Ground Zero and hopes to cash in on a $281 million federal grant program had better make sure the building is up to code. Lower Manhattan redevelopment officials are rejecting or deferring grant applications from tenants in nearly 200 buildings because of outstanding fire and building-code violations. (New York Daily News)
Critics: 9/11 Aid Program Unfair - Oct 25, 2002
City advocacy groups and congressional representatives are looking at ways to improve a federal 9/11 assistance program that they say is floundering. The Individual and Family Grants program falls short of meeting applicants needs, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) said at a news conference. The grants average $1,039 in individual aid, less than half of what similar disaster programs elsewhere provide - and the New York program's arduous application process and short deadlines keep aid from many who need it, Maloney said. (New York Post)
Planners Urge Decisions on Downtown - Oct 24, 2002
Last night, a half-dozen chairmen and chairwomen of the New York City Planning Commission, past and present, whose experience goes back to the days before the World Trade Center was built, said that the planning process in Lower Manhattan must begin showing results soon if it is to counter the very real threat that downtown could lose the financial-service industry, its economic backbone. (New York Times)
Officials Seek Changes in Rules for Sept. 11 Business Program - Oct 24, 2002
Businesses that were in the World Trade Center should get more money than other businesses from a program granting relief from the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, a group of officials said yesterday. Under the current rules for the aid plan, called the World Trade Center Business Recovery Grant Program, small businesses that were in the trade center when it was destroyed are treated the same as small businesses on the blocks around them, the officials said as they called publicly for different rules for the program. (New York Times)
FEMA Gives Schools $80.5M Grant - Oct 23, 2002
Yesterday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave a grant of $80.5 million to city schools. FEMA responded to local elected officials who had appealed for the assistance. The money is to be used to add 15 hours of instruction for students throughout the city and 30 hours for students in lower Manhattan who remained out of school for several days after the terrorist attack, said Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. (Newsday)
Apartments Tested Downtown Are Ruled Free of Asbestos - Oct 23, 2002
The vast majority of the apartments in Lower Manhattan that have been cleaned and tested over the last few months had no asbestos contamination from World Trade Center dust, federal Environmental Protection Agency officials said yesterday in releasing the first results from the cleanup program. (New York Times)
Families: Return Ash at Fresh Kills Landfill to WTC - Oct 23, 2002
Relatives of people lost in the Sept. 11 attack told a City Council panel yesterday that government officials should collect dust and ash taken to the Fresh Kills landfill during the recovery and return it to the World Trade Center site as part of a future memorial. (Newsday)
Comparing 2 Sets of Towers: In NYC and Kuala Lumpur - Oct 22, 2002
Charles H. Thornton, one of the world's most renowned engineers, has been both asking and answering the question that most have carefully avoided: could another building have stood longer than the twin towers did, let more people escape or perhaps never collapsed? In statements that some experts see as bold and others as self-serving, Thornton has argued that at least two enormous buildings would have withstood the Sept. 11 attacks far better than the World Trade Center towers did: the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the world's tallest buildings and, in a structural sense, alter egos of the trade center. (New York Times)
Expert Report Disputes U.S. on Trade Center Collapse - Oct 22, 2002
Experts commissioned in a $4 billion insurance case involving the World Trade Center have come to conclusions that fundamentally contradict a federal investigation into what caused the twin towers to collapse. The new analysis, according to several experts who have examined the confidential findings, holds that the unusual engineering design of the towers did not contribute to the collapses, and that the damage caused by the planes and the resulting fires made the failures of the buildings inevitable. (New York Times)
Federal Government Giving $700 Million Less in 9/11 Aid - Oct 22, 2002
Remember that $21.4 billion in federal aid New York was promised after the Sept. 11 attacks? Well, subtract about $700 million. It was quietly taken off the books by the White House and Congress in recent months. (New York Daily News)
Governor Criticizes Wall Street Relocation Plan - Oct 22, 2002
Gov. Pataki vowed to do everything in his power to kill a doomsday plan drafted by federal regulators that could force the flight of thousands of Wall Street jobs. Authored by the Federal Reserve Board, Securities and Exchange Commission and Office of the Controller of the Currency, the plan urged 15 to 20 major banks and five to 10 major securities firms - most of which have headquarters or key operations here - to consider relocating backup sites as much as 200 to 300 miles out of town. (New York Daily News)
9/11 Mental-Health Funding for City Schools Stalls - Oct 22, 2002
Students haunted by the terror attacks will have to wait for extra mental-health counseling as the feds and the state dawdle in getting money to city schools. So far, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has distributed up $8.9 million of the $40 million that school officials deem necessary to deal with the emotional fallout from Sept. 11, according to Education Department records. (New York Daily News)
Federal Disaster Proposal Could Cost City Billions - Oct 21, 2002
Fears of another major attack on New York City could force the exodus of thousands of Wall Street jobs and billions of tax dollars if a doomsday plan quietly drafted by federal regulators takes effect, the city's business leaders say. The disaster contingency plan could push as many as two dozen major banks and securities companies to their backup operations as much as 200 to 300 miles out of town. (New York Daily News)
New York Times Book Review: 'American Ground' - Oct 20, 2002
William Langewiesche's book "American Ground" is a "slim but powerful account of the dismantling of the wreckage of the World Trade Center," writes Jeffrey Goldberg in the New York Times today. The book's strengths are its use of the "truth, unclouded by sentiment," and "capacity to surprise: it is a work of original reporting, and its pages are filled with astonishing observations." (New York Times)
Family Business Still Waiting to Reopen Downtown - Oct 20, 2002
More than a year after terrorists struck the World Trade Center, two of James Costalas' businesses have closed for good. The Costalas family, who have run a business in lower Manhattan for four decades, is still unable to reopen their remaining one, a takeout food shop and cafeteria called the Food Exchange at 112 Liberty Street. The shuttered row of shops sits in the shadow of an overhead platform, built to protect pedestrians during the repair and cleaning of the buildings after the fires and collapses across the street had damaged and contaminated them. (New York Times)
Violations by Buildings May Delay Tenant Grants - Oct 20, 2002
Residents of nearly 200 apartment buildings in Lower Manhattan could find their applications for Sept. 11-related housing grants denied or delayed because of outstanding violations of building or fire codes, according to officials of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. (New York Times)
Workers Injured on 9/11 Not Getting Compensation - Oct 20, 2002
Hundreds of workers who claim injuries from the World Trade Center attacks or aftermath have been having difficulty obtaining workers' compensation benefits, according to physicians and lawyers who work with them. (Newsday)
Dangerous Side Affects to 9/11 Antidepressant - Oct 20, 2002
A popular antidepressant drug widely prescribed to New Yorkers affected by the Sept. 11 attacks could trigger suicidal thoughts and cause severe withdrawal problems in some patients, experts say. Paroxetine, marketed in the U.S. as Paxil, is prescribed for those suffering depression, panic attacks, anxiety and post-traumatic stress. But some experts say the top-selling drug may increase the risk of suicidal or violent behavior in some patients when they start using it. (New York Post)
9/11 Families Upset That Landfill Could Be Final Resting Place - Oct 20, 2002
Diane Horning won't allow the ashes of her son and other Sept. 11 victims to be treated "like garbage." She was stunned recently to discover that soil and ashes containing cremated remains of many killed on 9/11 remain at the Fresh Kills landfill. They have been covered with dirt and sprinkled with grass seed. Horning and her family are leading a drive to return the remains to what she and others believe is their rightful resting place: Ground Zero. (New York Post)
U.S. to Give New York Schools $80 Million in Sept. 11 Aid - Oct 19, 2002
New York City schools will receive an $80 million reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to cover lost instruction time after the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, an official familiar with the discussions said yesterday. (New York Times)
Sept. 11 Altered New York's Political Landscape - Oct 19, 2002
On September 11, 2001, the political landscape in New York changed in an instant, just like everything else. Gov. George Pataki suspended primary voting. It would resume two weeks later. By then, term-limited Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had become a hero to his battered city and beyond. The approval ratings for Pataki, constantly at the mayor's side, soared. (Associated Press)
City Runs Fifth Disaster Drill - Oct 18, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg and more than 40 city, state and federal officials put their heads together at the Con Edison Learning Center in Queens yesterday to figure out how the city would respond to a radioactive bombing. This was the fifth mock disaster hosted by the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management. Others have focused on bioterror attacks and coastal storms. (New York Daily News)
After 9/11 U.S. Customs Service Avoids Tall Buildings - Oct 18, 2002
The U.S. Customs Service, which lost its home at 6 World Trade Center on Sept. 11, has not moved back downtown because its employees are now reluctant to work in tall buildings. At a City Council subcommittee yesterday, Customs brass said they were "avoiding high-rise office space." (New York Daily News)
McCall: Pataki Using 9/11 to 'Divert Attention' From Problems - Oct 18, 2002
Carl McCall yesterday made Sept. 11 a campaign issue - accusing Gov. Pataki of using the trade center attacks "to divert attention" from other problems facing the state. (New York Post)
9/11 Family Members: New Guidelines Give Back Seat to Memorial - Oct 18, 2002
Relatives of World Trade Center victims are speaking out against the new guidelines for the rebuilding of Ground Zero - fearing a memorial to their loved ones continues to take a back seat to commercial development. (New York Post)
Transit Hub Plans May Raze Broadway Buildings - Oct 17, 2002
A plan to build a new Fulton Transit Center to better connect downtown subway lines may include razing some buildings on Broadway. Merchants on a commercial stretch of Broadway near ground zero expressed their dismay last week at a transit proposal to raze their block to make room for a renovated subway complex at the Broadway/Nassau St./Fulton St. station. (Downtown Express)
3 Plazas Could Border WTC Site - Oct 17, 2002
Three new public spaces could be created along the edge of Ground Zero within the next five years under a preliminary concept being put together by a prominent architect hired by the Port Authority. The inviting open areas would take in 7 World Trade Center, St. Paul's Chapel and 1 Liberty Plaza, helping to reconnect the disaster site to the rest of the city. (New York Daily News)
New Medical Aid for 9/11 Workers - Oct 17, 2002
Hundreds of workers and volunteers injured at Ground Zero will receive ongoing treatment through Health for Heroes, a new program at Mount Sinai Medical Center. The treatment is being funded by a $1 million grant from the Bear Sterns Charitable Foundation. (New York Daily News)
Anti-terror Shop Opens Downtown - Oct 17, 2002
In what might be considered a sign of the times, a boutique selling anti-terror gear opens today a few blocks from Ground Zero. The Nassau Street store, known as "Safer America," is being touted as the "first anti-terrorism store in America." (Newsday)
Fire Dept. Retiree Campaigns for Skyscraper Safety - Oct 17, 2002
Retired deputy fire chief Vincent Dunn has wound up in the center of a campaign calling for fire safety improvements in the city's skyscrapers. (New York Times)
Debate Over Atlantic Monthly Author's Ground Zero Account - Oct 16, 2002
On Tuesday, Oct. 15, North Point Press, an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, shipped out copies of American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center, by journalist William Langewiesche, an account of the cleanup at Ground Zero by the only reporter granted unrestricted access to the site. But just in time to complicate the publication of this otherwise highly praised book, an unlikely protester named Rhonda Roland Shearer has appeared. Ms. Shearer, a 48-year-old artist and the widow of the Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, is on a personal crusade to debunk LangewiescheÕs reportage, derail his Pulitzer hopes, and see the book recalled and destroyed. (New York Observer)
With No Single Leader, Rebuilding Officials Fight Private Battles - Oct 16, 2002
The public controversy swirling around the World Trade Center design process is nothing compared to the growing bickering behind closed doors. The lack of a definitive leader has created competing lines of authority, complete with personal and bureaucratic animosities, sources said. (New York Daily News)
Battery Park City "Green" Building May be a Sign of Downtown's Future - Oct 15, 2002
20 River Terrace, begun early last year just a few blocks from the World Trade Center, was to be the world's most environmentally correct residential high-rise, its developers said Ă‘ an air-purified, solar-paneled monument to the marriage of mother earth and technological gee-whiz. Now as construction resumes after a 10-month break during the cleanup of ground zero, the 27-story tower has become even more than the sum of its ambitions, builders and environmentalists say. (New York Times)
Threat of Deportation Is Eased for Husband of a 9/11 Victim - Oct 15, 2002
An illegal immigrant who faced deportation after he lost his wife in the World Trade Center attack will most likely be allowed to stay in this country with his two sons, Senator Charles E. Schumer said yesterday. (New York Times)
Brooklyn Battery Decks Could Be Used for Apartments - Oct 15, 2002
Downtown planners may build a deck over the entrance ramp to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, reclaiming the space for apartment buildings. Decking over the tunnel entrance and exit ramps - and replacing the Battery parking garage - would make usable some three square blocks that could eventually hold more than 1,000 apartments, said sources familiar with the idea. (New York Post)
Firehouse Memorial Honors Its Heroes - Oct 14, 2002
Made with granite, stained glass and love, a memorial to 10 firefighters from Engine 8/Ladder 2 who died in the terrorist attack now fills their midtown firehouse. Relatives of the 10 men broke into applause seeing the 9-foot-high memorial and then wiped away tears as they placed single red roses upon it. This scene was repeated in many of the city's 75 firehouses during the FDNY's weekend dedicated to its fallen. (New York Daily News)
Lessons From A Memorial Tour - Oct 13, 2002
Officials who toured memorial sites last week learned about remembering the little things. The five-day, five-city tour of 18 memorials early this month both startled and comforted the officials and the relatives, giving them, they said, fresh perspectives on their efforts to create a memorial to the victims of Sept. 11. (New York Times)
Firefighters Honor Fallen - Oct 13, 2002
A ceremony at Madison Square Garden yesterday honored the memories of the 343 firefighters who died on September 11, 2001. The memorial service included all those lost since November 2000 and included a 6 1/2 minute standing ovation from the crowd. (Newsday)
Immigrant Families Face 9/11 Mystery - Oct 13, 2002
With persistence and swabs of DNA, Rosario Arrazola is trying to piece together the life of her husband and prove he died at the World Trade Center. The woman, from Tlachichuca, Mexico, is among a handful of Latin American family members who say their missing loved ones were lost while working in or near the Twin Towers -- but left no trace here because, as undocumented immigrants, they led lives cloaked in silence. (Newsday)
Architects Get WTC Site Plans - Oct 12, 2002
Six teams of architects set off Friday on an eight-week course to plan the future layout of the World Trade Center site, as officials released a new set of program requirements, including a range of office space and a large transit station at Fulton and Greenwich Streets. The teams received a day-long briefing Friday from officials and a tour of Ground Zero. (Newsday)
Debate Rages Over Transit Downtown - Oct 12, 2002
A pitched battle over the $4.55 billion set aside for transit in Lower Manhattan is already being waged behind the scenes, fueled by a debate that many say could determine the future of downtown: Should the money be spent only to improve the transit lines already there? Or should it also be used to bring in new train service, for the first time making downtown as accessible to suburban commuters as Midtown has always been? (New York Times)
Public Frustration Persists Over 9/11 Relief Program - Oct 12, 2002
Seizing a rare opportunity to confront officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, scores of Lower Manhattan residents expressed frustration and continuing anger yesterday over the relief agency's financial assistance programs for those affected by Sept. 11. In a forum at City Hall, the residents said FEMA had done a poor job of communicating timely and accurate information about eligibility criteria and guidelines. (New York Times)
Firefighters Rally for Wages - Oct 12, 2002
Thousands of soggy firefighters gathered in a muddy field in Central Park yesterday to demand a bigger pay raise from the city than the 11.5% offer their union rejected this week. Politicians, union leaders and celebrities such as Susan Sarandon, Denis Leary and Steve Buscemi invoked the sacrifice of 343 FDNY members in last year's terrorist attacks and repeatedly implored Mayor Bloomberg to come up with more money. (New York Daily News)
New WTC Airtrain Plan - Oct 11, 2002
Travelers could hop on a train at the World Trade Center and speed to Kennedy Airport, under an ambitious and costly proposal being considered by downtown planners, rebuilding officials said yesterday. The idea, under study by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the city Planning Department, is part of a broader concept to market lower Manhattan as an "international center" that would draw companies wanting quick access to Kennedy and Newark airports. (New York Post)
Firefighters' Union Turns Down City's Pay Offer - Oct 11, 2002
New York's Bravest said "no" to the city's pay-raise offer yesterday, setting the stage for heated contract negotiations between firefighters and a city facing its most serious fiscal crisis in the aftermath of Sept. 11. (New York Post)
Chinatown Park, Ad Campaign Get 9/11 Grants - Oct 11, 2002
A Chinatown park and a marketing campaign to lure tourists downtown got the first grants yesterday from a $200 million federal program to help nonprofit groups near Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)
Rebuilding Official Sleeps Through Meeting - Oct 11, 2002
The World Trade Center design process has been lambasted as a giant snooze - and yesterday, it put a top official to sleep. A Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board member actually dozed off during early morning discussions about planning a permanent memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. (New York Daily News)
Trinity Church Struggles With Memorial Fence - Oct 11, 2002
The Sept. 11 memorial fence surrounding St. Paul's chapel, while once lauded as a tapestry of love and support, is now being called an eyesore. The elements have dulled bright inks and softened new cloth into sagging rags. The fence, at a certain angle, could be mistaken for a camp for derelicts. The Trinity Church leaders, de facto caretakers of the tattered collection, are struggling with what to do with what started as an outpouring of grief and support. (New York Times)
LMDC: Fewer Offices, More Options in Planning for Ground Zero - Oct 10, 2002
Officials overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan agreed yesterday to give designers more flexibility in planning the future of the World Trade Center site, reducing by 40 percent the amount of the commercial space that must be included in plans for it. The new instructions are to be given tomorrow to six new teams of architects, artists and designers selected last month to work on innovative plans to rejuvenate the symbolic heart of the financial district. (New York Times)
WTC Site's Near Future Looks Alot Like Current Construction - Oct 10, 2002
Wrangling over long-range master planning Ă‘ commercial space, commuter rail links, the memorial itself Ă‘ has obscured the reality that the trade center site is being rebuilt now, without town hall meetings, architectural competitions or much public debate. The new PATH station and viewing wall being built right now will be the physical reality experienced for years by hundreds of thousands of visitors and workers in Lower Manhattan. (New York Times)
No Plans to Fix or Demolish Deutsche Bank - Oct 9, 2002
Across the street from ground zero, a 50-story, black-netted, damaged and contaminated building hovers over the site as well as the rest of the Lower Manhattan. No one has any idea what is going to happen to the building at 130 Liberty St., but executives working with the owners, Deutsche Bank, recently told Community Board 1 officials that even if the bank decides to demolish the building, it would take two years to do. (Downtown Express)
No More Discount Rents At 53 Park Pl - Oct 9, 2002
No one wanted to live at 53 Park Place. The ashes, construction, and tourists that filled Lower Manhattan in the aftermath of Sept. 11 caused the flight of 80 percent of the tenants who lived in this 12-story apartment complex, one of the closest residential buildings to the World Trade Center site. Discounted rent and a grant program for residents brought the first wave of tenants back to the buidling. But now, the owners of 53 Park Place are offering two-year leases, but at an increased rent. (Downtown Express)
Big Push on School 9/11 Aid - Oct 9, 2002
School officials are inching toward an agreement to win millions of dollars in post-Sept. 11 emergency funds - but congressional representatives aren't taking any chances that the cash won't come through. (New York Daily News)
Thousands Will Honor Fire Department's Dead - Oct 9, 2002
Tens of thousands of firefighters, some traveling from as far away as Ireland and Japan, are expected to fill Madison Square Garden and the surrounding blocks on Saturday as the Fire Department holds an official memorial service for members who died in the attack on the World Trade Center. (New York Times)
Citing 9/11, Appeals Court Upholds Secret Hearings - Oct 9, 2002
The federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled yesterday that the Bush administration had acted lawfully in holding deportation hearings in secret based on its assertion that those detained might have links to terrorism. (New York Times)
After 9/11, City's Police and Fire Depts. Question a Central Command - Oct 9, 2002
The city's police and fire commissioners said at a City Council committee hearing that a central command system was not needed, and that neither department was qualified to seize control of the other. The statements, coming after a consultant's report told the city that a unified command was necessary in catastrophes as big as the World Trade Center attack. (New York Times)
Schumer Criticizes U.S. Customs on N.J. move - Oct 9, 2002
Sen. Chuck Schumer blasted the U.S. Customs Service yesterday for planning to move its operations out of lower Manhattan to create a new "international trade center" in Newark. (New York Daily News)
LMDC: Fewer Offices at Site - Oct 9, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. expects "a substantial reduction" in office space required for the World Trade Center site to allow for less density and more freedom in redesigning the site, its president said yesterday. (Newsday)
Silverstein: Still Wants Entire WTC Office Space Rebuilt - Oct 9, 2002
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein insisted yesterday that there is "an enormous need" to rebuild every inch of office and retail space destroyed by the terrorist attacks. (New York Daily News)
Downtown Transit Funds Spark Battle - Oct 9, 2002
A battle over federal funds for downtown transportation projects has broken out among City Hall, the Port Authority and the MTA - stalling key decisions on transit issues considered central to reviving lower Manhattan. (New York Post)
Small Businesses Just Outside Aid Boundaries Get Much Less - Oct 9, 2002
The World Trade Center Business Recovery Grant Program provides compensation for lost revenue to companies with up to 500 employees that are situated from 14th Street to the Battery. The highest compensation is given to businesses that were in the World Trade Center and have reopened elsewhere and those in the neighborhood closest to the site. However, the way the program has drawn its boundaries frustrates the businesses just outside them. (New York Times)
Hundreds of Downtown Residents Paid to Stay - Oct 8, 2002
Checks will go out this month to more than 300 downtown residents who were among the first to be approved for a series of federal grants aimed at keeping people in lower Manhattan, development officials said yesterday. (New York Post)
Lower Manhattan Residents Will Be Exempt From Tax on Aid - Oct 8, 2002
The Internal Revenue Service plans to exempt Lower Manhattan residents from most if not all taxes on government money given to them to stay in or move to the area, the office of Senator Charles Schumer said last night. A Schumer spokesman said, however, that the I.R.S. had not decided whether to exempt businesses near ground zero from taxes on government aid they receive or compensation for lost revenue related to the terrorist attack. (New York Times)
9/11 Victim Count Drops - Oct 8, 2002
The number of people listed as victims of the World Trade Center attack has dropped below 2,800, after three people were found alive and one duplication was cut from the names read at the anniversary ceremony, a city spokeswoman said yesterday. (Associated Press)
Borders to Return to Lower Manhattan With New Store - Oct 8, 2002
Borders Books and Music, whose flagship downtown store at the World Trade Center was destroyed in the attack last year, is returning to Lower Manhattan, where it signed a lease last week to open a store in a landmark building on Broadway. The Borders store was the largest single retail tenant at the World Trade Center complex and was one of the chain's highest grossing stores. (New York Times)
Underground Concourse Idea For Transit Hub Criticized - Oct 7, 2002
Ambitious plans for an underground concourse linking new downtown transit centers and the Hudson River have met with quiet but growing criticism that could doom what was once billed as a centerpiece of the rebuilding effort. "The glory of New York is the streets,"said Hugh Hardy, an architect who examined the concourse idea for the civic group New York New Visions. "These gruesome tunnels ought to be reimagined as public space, not just transportation connections." (New York Post)
Memorial Tour Yields Ideas For World Trade Center Site - Oct 7, 2002
A memorial first, a museum later. That was the suggestion of a special panel, which just returned from touring memorials around the country to help plan the future of the World Trade Center site. The group also looked at some of the practical pitfalls of memorial design, such as using material that wears away too quickly, and advised on the need to hear many voices and represent a variety of interests in selecting a jury to judge competing memorial designs. (New York Daily News)
Size Not Important For Memorial, Officials Say - Oct 7, 2002
The memorial to victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks that rises at Ground Zero must be driven by the power and clarity of its message, and not the amount of land it stands on, rebuilding officials said. "The power of a memorial is not related to its size," said Lower Manhattan Development Corp. President Lou Tomson, sitting in the airport at Montgomery, Ala., after his entourage visited the Rosa Parks Museum and the Civil Rights Memorial - the last stop of a five-day national tour. Anita Contini, who's overseeing the LMDC memorial process, said most people felt "the more simple ones had more power." (New York Post)
New York Life Happy With Move Downtown After September 11 - Oct 7, 2002
New York Life, one of the largest mutual funds companies in the country, was ready to sign a lease to move downtown to 120 Broadway on the morning of September 11. Despite the attacks, the company has settled down in lower Manhattan and has not regretted the decision at all. (Newsday)
After 9/11, New York Is America's De Facto Capital - Oct 6, 2002
While New York has long been the nation's center of culture, finance, fashion and media, the city in the aftermath of Sept. 11 cohered into something more than the sum of its perennially celebrated parts. After its highest towers were taken down, New York rose from its initial shock to illustrate in real time what America actually is, a huge and resilient democracy animated by citizens of every conceivable stripe, pursuit and ethic. (New York Times)
City's Bomb Squad is Busier Than Ever - Oct 6, 2002
Since Sept. 11 2001, New York City's Bomb Squad is picking up a lot more suspicious packages than usual -- on some days 200 percent more, as many as 50 a day. The squad also has to look out for "dirty bombs," which spread radiation. (New York Times)
A WTC Survivor Offers Thanks to Therapists - Oct 6, 2002
World Trade Center survivor Lauren Manning thanked the occupational therapists who helped her, in front of a crowd of therapists gathered at the Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University for their annual state conference. (Newsday)
Washington Tribute for Firefighters - Oct 6, 2002
Hundreds of firefighter families gathered yesterday in the nation's capital to comfort each other and to honor 446 of the country's firefighters - the vast majority from New York - who gave their lives last year while battling blazes. (New York Daily News)
Bloomberg: Firefighters' Rally Poorly Timed - Oct 6, 2002
The Bloomberg administration criticized the Uniformed Firefighters Association yesterday for organizing a rally seeking higher pay one day before 50,000 firefighters from around the world attend a massive memorial service in New York. (New York Daily News)
Husband of 9/11 Victim is Told He'll Be Deported - Oct 5, 2002
Vasiliy V. Ryjov, an illegal immigrant who lost his wife in the World Trade Center attack, is facing deportation back to his native Georgia, a former Soviet republic. Last month, the Immigration and Naturalization Service rejected his application for permanent residency, saying he had falsely claimed to be married to another woman, Dora Tobias, in 1993. (New York Times)
Steel-Beam Cross Considered for Memorial - Oct 5, 2002
A cross made of steel beams from the World Trade Center that has stood for a year at ground zero will be considered for inclusion in a permanent memorial to the victims of the attack on the World Trade Center, officials overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan said today. (New York Times)
Oklahoma City and New York: Two Cities Visited By Disaster - Oct 5, 2002
As Lower Manhattan Development Corp. officials visited Oklahoma City Friday, as part of a six-day memorial-research trip across the country, they found a city with plenty of experience to share. A major piece of advice development corporation officials heard was "include everyone." Oklahoma City lost 168 people when Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. The outdoor memorial, featuring 168 empty chairs and a shallow pond, opened in 2000. A museum opened in 2001. (Newsday)
Families of NYC Victims Want Mention at Pentagon Memorial - Oct 4, 2002
Families of the World Trade Center victims reacted with disapproval at reports Thursday that the Pentagon memorial will list only the 184 victims who died in the attack on the Pentagon. The Pentagon's design competition already has narrowed its search from more than 1,100 entries to six finalists, with the final selection planned for December. "The families said they want to focus on this small group," said Carol Anderson-Austra, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project manager. "They're a little sensitive because New York gets an awful lot of press." (Newsday)
West Street Tunnel Not As Expensive As People Think, Says One Landowner - Oct 4, 2002
A West Street tunnel could be built in lower Manhattan for far less than the $2.8 billion estimated by development officials -- making it feasible to create a grand promenade from the Battery to Ground Zero, a major downtown landowner says. Engineering consultants working for Brookfield Properties, which owns the World Financial Center across West Street from Ground Zero, said one method of building the tunnel would be faster and cost less than other plans, and West Street could be buried from the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel to Murray Street in 31/2 years at a cost of $1.2 billion, a Brookfield official said Wednesday in a presentation to Community Board 1. (New York Post)
Doctoroff Blocks Battery Park City WTC Aid - Oct 3, 2002
Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff is blocking $15.6 million in disaster relief for Battery Park City tenants and homeowners - even though City Hall agreed to the cash payouts.Doctoroff said yesterday that the grants no longer "seem appropriate" because a much larger federal aid program has been created to help people living near Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)
NY Congressional Delegation Asks For WTC Health Aid - Oct 3, 2002
Fourteen members of the New York congressional delegation asked President Bush yesterday to sign off on $90 million in federal aid to monitor the health of Ground Zero workers. A month has passed since several members of the bipartisan group asked Bush to meet with them. (New York Daily News)
Vietnam Memorial Team Advises a Slow Pace - Oct 3, 2002
The founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund cautioned visiting New York officials yesterday not to make the "mistake" of rushing to design and build a Sept. 11 memorial. "I think they're moving at the speed they have to move at, because this plays so big on the world stage," said Jan Scruggs, a former infantry corporal. (New York Daily News)
New York Congressional Delegation Proposes Direct Aid To New York - Oct 3, 2002
Some of the government's Sept. 11 aid to New York should go directly into city and state coffers, Democratic lawmakers said yesterday. Citing "gaping holes" in the city and state budgets, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for a law allocating some of the $21 billion to replace lost tax revenue. "Right now, even though the money is there, we can't use it," Schumer said in Washington, where he was joined by Sen. Hillary Clinton and Democratic Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney of Manhattan. "And so, what we're seeking to do here is untie the hands of the federal government." (New York Daily News)
Senator Schumers Backs Away From Criticism Of Use of Transit Funds - Oct 3, 2002
Sen. Charles Schumer is backing off his wish that a pot of federal money for lower Manhattan go only to a "Grand Central Station" downtown instead of a string of other pricey projects, officials said yesterdaySchumer's apparent change-of-heart came after he met with officials overseeing rebuilding downtown, aides said. "It seems there's enough money for both," Schumer spokesman Phil Singer said. (New York Post)
Senator Schumer Criticized For Remarks About Federal Funding For Transit - Oct 2, 2002
Senator Charles Schumer came under fire from other New York officials yesterday for his unexpected attempt to block federal disaster funding for several lower Manhattan transit projects. Public comments from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority hinted at behind-the-scenes wrangling among federal, state and city officials who are trying to divvy up the transit aid, sources said. (New York Daily News)
Women Taking Key Roles In LMDC Rebuilding Effort - Oct 2, 2002
Half the top leadership posts at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation are held by women, including 21 of the 41-member staff. Four of six vice presidents are women, working on the memorial and cultural programs, community outreach and government relations, and corporate development and legal affairs. Each woman has a distinctly different resume, and they say gender doesn't matter in their workplace. (Newsday)
Rebuilding Officials Begin Tour At Shanksville, Pennsylvania - Oct 2, 2002
In the abandoned coalfield where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed, the wall of impromptu remembrances overflowed with hundreds of flags, police patches, little angels and firefighter caps. It resembled many such tributes that sprang up in New York City a year ago. And it supported one lower Manhattan development official's desire to link somehow the three Sept. 11 memorials -- in Pennsylvania, at the Pentagon and in Manhattan. Lower Manhattan Development Corporation memorial director Anita Contini sees many similarities among how the three Sept. 11 memorial sites will be created -- from talking to the families to including other interested parties. (Newsday)
Port Authority Gives Pope a WTC Memento - Oct 1, 2002
Port Authority cops presented Pope John Paul with a cross yesterday made out of metal and other debris from the rubble of Ground Zero. The cross was presented to John Paul during his weekly public audience by a delegation of the Port Authority Police. (New York Daily News)
Downtown Residents Concerned About Safety Amid Endless Construction - Oct 1, 2002
Few things are certain about the future of Lower Manhattan expect perhaps one: residents will be living with massive construction projects for years to come. Already some people say they find themselves tiptoeing around giant cranes wondering just how safe they are. (Downtown Express)
Silverstein Sending Tower Data to U.S. Agency - Oct 1, 2002
A day after disclosing that their engineering experts had produced an important body of analysis on why the twin towers collapsed on Sept. 11, lawyers for Larry Silverstein, whose companies own the lease on the World Trade Center, said yesterday that they had abruptly begun shipping the material to a federal investigative agency. (New York Times)
Plans For Chinatown Arts Center - Oct 1, 2002
A new multimillion-dollar Asian culture and performing arts center modeled after the Lincoln Center would anchor Chinatown and help revitalize an area still recovering from the World Trade Center attack, according to a community-based plan announced Monday at City Hall. (Newsday)
Poor Transit Connections Lead Companies to Leave Lower Manhattan - Oct 1, 2002
Companies near Ground Zero are beginning to hire more employees - but still may bolt from lower Manhattan because of poor transit connections, a survey revealed yesterday. The poll, by the Alliance for Downtown New York, found that financial problems downtown have stabilized, but could worsen as companies' leases expire. (New York Daily News)
Without Resources to Sue, Widow Takes Federal 9/11 Award - Oct 1, 2002
Erma Bourdier, whose husband, Francisco, was killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, could have sued for tens of millions. But left with a 2-year-old daughter to raise alone and lacking the deep pockets to hire a lawyer with enough juice to take on the airlines or Port Authority, Bourdier agreed yesterday to accept a monetary award from the federally funded Victim Compensation Fund. (New York Daily News)
A Call for Release of Data on Collapse - Oct 1, 2002
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn) demanded yesterday the release of court-sealed documents that could shed new light on the collapse of the World Trade Center. The documents include extensive studies done after the collapse by both sides in a suit brought by Larry Silverstein, the businessman who held the lease on the Trade Center, against insurance companies. (New York Daily News)