How Poorly Did the Environmental Protection Agency React to 9/11? - Nov 30, 2003
From the first days after Sept. 11, 2001, the fears and unknowns about health and air quality in Lower Manhattan were compounded by the politics that swirl, as always, around the Environmental Protection Agency. An arm of the federal government that is second-guessed and distrusted as perhaps no other had been put in charge of the environmental response. What was in the air and what people in Washington and New York believed about the E.P.A. were immediately intertwined. (New York Times)
Coast Guard's Defense Against Terrorist Threat in New York - Nov 30, 2003
The Coast Guard's 91106 six-boat fleet is the government's eyes and ears against water-borne terrorism for New York and New Jersey. It is part of the federal Marine Safety and Security Team, within the Department of Homeland Security, that made its debut in New York Harbor two years ago. (Newsday)
Ground Zero Workers Dropping Lawsuits Against City - Nov 29, 2003
Hundreds of workers who got sick after working on the World Trade Center recovery and cleanup are dropping their lawsuits against the city, officials said yesterday. (New York Daily News)
Practical Problems Arise With Memorial Designs - Nov 29, 2003
It may be early in the process to worry about the designs' details, which will be refined and revised. But interviews with people who worry about such things for a living Ă‘ an arborist, an urban planner, a civil engineer, a structural engineer and others Ă‘ suggest that some problems are already apparent. (New York Times)
Court Denies Compensation for Flight Attendant Distraught over 9/11 - Nov 29, 2003
A flight attendant who claimed she was too distraught to return to the job after a colleague died on 9/11 while covering her shift should not get worker's compensation, a New Jersey state appellate court ruled. (New York Post)
An Old Sign, Touting Marvels Of World Trade Center, Still Up On Church Street - Nov 28, 2003
While "World Trade Center" signs around the new PATH station startled commuters and visitors this week, a smaller but even more poignant graphic remnant of the past was hiding in plain sight across Church Street. "What has 200 elevators, 1,200 restrooms, 40,000 doorknobs, 200,000 lighting fixtures, 7 million square feet of acoustical tile ceilings, more structural steel than the Verrazano Narrows Bridge Ă‘ and was built for a final cost of over one billion 1970s dollars?" asks the colorful sign between seven-foot cast-iron posts, outside Century 21, near the corner of Cortlandt Street. "That's right, the World Trade Center." (New York Times)
Architects Work To Reconcile Visions on Freedom Tower - Nov 27, 2003
The signature tower of the rebuilt World Trade Center is taking shape, and not a moment too soon. With scant three weeks left, the two architectural teams working together on the tower Ñ one led by World Trade Center leaseholder Larry SilversteinÕs architect David Childs, the other by Ground Zero master planner Daniel Libeskind Ñ have been engaged in intense, seven-day-a-week meetings aimed at reconciling each sideÕs competing vision for the Freedom Tower, which is to be the tallest of five skyscrapers to rise from the ashes of Ground Zero. (New York Observer)
Schumer Asks Anonymous Republican to Stop Blockage of 9/11 Bill - Nov 27, 2003
Senator Charles Schumer has asked the mystery Republican lawmaker blocking a 9/11-compensation bill to let the measure go before the Senate. "This is a Thanksgiving plea to the solitary senator who is holding this bill up anonymously," Schumer said yesterday. "It's only humane to let this go." The bill would extend the deadline to file for claims from the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund. (New York Post)
New Money for Security, Appearance Downtown - Nov 27, 2003
The heavily guarded area around the New York Stock Exchange will be beautified, and its security revamped, with a $10 million grant announced yesterday by state and city officials. (New York Post)
Memorial Cloud, Dual Memory Lead in Memorial Poll - Nov 26, 2003
Two designs - one featuring a light-infused glass cloud, the other incorporating pictures of victims - are emerging as the most popular Ground Zero memorial proposals. The civic group Imagine New York, in partnership with other organizations, including the Daily News, has been conducting an online survey to measure public reaction to the eight World Trade Center memorial designs unveiled last week. (New York Daily News)
Statue of Liberty Could Open in 2004, After Generous Donations - Nov 26, 2003
A higher-security Statue of Liberty could open to the public as early as next year, officials said yesterday. The American Express Corp. has pledged at least $3 million of more than $5 million needed. The company contributed to past improvements of the 117-year-old monument. (Newsday)
Republican Senator is the Reason for Block on Extension - Nov 26, 2003
A Republican senator is using a special rule to block efforts to extend the deadline for filing claims with Sept. 11 victim compensation fund, leaving family members fearful they may miss out. "A lone, anonymous Republican senator is holding up the bill," declared Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), speaking on the Senate floor. (New York Post)
Senate Rejects Extension of 9/11 Compensation Program - Nov 26, 2003
Congressional officials from the New York area conceded yesterday that their last-gasp attempt to extend the deadline for the federal government's extraordinary program to compensate the relatives of Sept. 11 victims had all but failed. (New York Times)
Young Designers Dominate Memorial Competition - Nov 25, 2003
The unveiling last week of eight competing designs for a World Trade Center memorial has provoked an inevitable debate about whether any of the projects can properly honor those who died on Sept. 11, 2001. But nearly everyone has been struck by how many of these projects, plucked as they were from a pool of more than 5,000 anonymous submissions, are the work of young artists and not the architectural elite. (New York Times)
The Last Train Out on 9/11 - Nov 25, 2003
Noel Roman is haunted by the solitary figure of an older, well-dressed man who plodded up stairs toward the World Trade Center in the final moments of a world that ended on Sept. 11, 2001. "I'm not sure if he was limping or moving with a cane," says Roman, 44, who was at the controls of the last PATH train to leave the trade center before the towers collapsed. "I think he died, you know. What upsets me is that if we knew what was going on, that man never would have gone up those stairs." (Newsday)
State Officials Press Washington on Security Cash - Nov 25, 2003
Reacting to a Daily News report that shows Wyoming reaping far more per person in anti-terror funds than New York, state leaders vowed to work to revamp the formula so awards are based on threat levels - not pork-barrel politics. (New York Daily News)
Exhibit of World Trade Relics Opens at Historial Society - Nov 25, 2003
Three old friends gathered in the days before Thanksgiving amid a roomful of scattered artifacts, once-mundane objects that have been transformed by trauma. These are relics of the World Trade Center attack; they will be displayed in a new exhibition at the New-York Historical Society that opens today. (New York Times)
Return to Ground Zero: An Emotional Commute - Nov 25, 2003
Yesterday, on a morning that proved at once painful and uplifting, downtown workers streamed into the heart of the former World Trade Center site for its first rush hour since the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times)
PATH Station at Ground Zero Reopens - Nov 24, 2003
The World Trade Center PATH Station opened at 2 p.m. yesterday, after a $323 million, 16-month reconstruction, to applause and tears along the platforms and aboard the trains. On the sides of the cars, ruby-red "WTC" destination signs glowed once again. (New York Times)
Street in Queens Renamed for Firefighter - Nov 24, 2003
Hundreds of people gathered at a street corner in Queens yesterday to rename a street after firefighter Carl F. Asaro, who was killed at the World Trade Center. The intersection of 147th Street and Willets Point Boulevard in Whitestone, where Asaro was born and raised, now bears his name. (New York Post)
Per Capita, New York Gets Least Federal Money for Security - Nov 24, 2003
New York, the world's premier target for terror, gets less homeland security funding per person than virtually any state in the nation. Man for man and woman for woman, Wyoming (population 493,782) does better - $38.31 per person, compared with the paltry $5.47 in counterterrorism funds spent on each New Yorker. (New York Daily News)
On World Trade Center Memorial, Criticism Outstrips Praise - Nov 22, 2003
The experts having already weighed in voluminously on the subject, the Municipal Art Society asked ordinary people to give their perspectives on the eight finalists in LMDC's memorial competition for Ground Zero, in a handful of small sessions that seemed to blend the give-and-take of a creative writing workshop with the raw emotions of a 12-step meeting. (New York Times)
NY Senators Warn Congress Against Taking Away 9/11 Money - Nov 22, 2003
Sens. Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer are warning congressional budget writers to keep their hands off the money sent to New York City after the 9/11 attacks. (New York Post)
As Deadline For 9/11 Aid Nears, Many Families HavenÕt Filed - Nov 22, 2003
Members of New York's Congressional delegation say the federal government's ambitious effort to compensate the relatives of Sept. 11 victims will fall far short of its intent if Congress does not act soon to extend the Dec. 22 deadline for filing claims. Were such a shortfall to occur, it would amount to a major disappointment in what was seen as an extraordinary attempt to compensate thousands of people quickly and generously for one of the worst catastrophes on American soil. (New York Times)
Silverstein To Get Cash Back in 9/11 Deal - Nov 22, 2003
The developer Larry A. Silverstein and his investors are getting back most of the cash they put up for their winning bid more than two years ago to take control of the World Trade Center in the largest real estate deal in New York history. Even so, Mr. Silverstein will remain in control of rebuilding the 10 million square feet of office space that is planned for the trade center site in the next 10 or 15 years. In the end, according to people who have been briefed on the deal, he will have little of his own money at risk for one of the most important corners of the Manhattan landscape. (New York Times)
NYC Will Challenge 9/11 Subpoena - Nov 22, 2003
Citing privacy of Sept. 11 victims, the mayor's office vowed to fight a federal commission's subpoena seeking documents that detail the city's response at the World Trade Center. The commission, which is investigating the nation's preparedness before the 2001 attacks and its response to them, said Thursday it wants tapes and transcripts of 911 calls as well as internal firefighter interviews conducted afterward. (Associated Press)
Memorial Favorites Chosen in Online NY Post Poll - Nov 21, 2003
Two Ground Zero memorial designs - a cloud-like canopy filled with light and another with sunken reflecting pools in the footprints - have emerged as the favorites, according to several Web polls yesterday. A survey on The Post's Web site the day after the eight final designs were released to the public showed "Reflecting Absence," by New York Housing Authority architect Michael Arad, as the lead proposal, garnering 26 percent of support from Post readers. (New York Post)
Department of Homeland Security Going in Wrong Direction, Say City Police - Nov 21, 2003
Department of Homeland Security officials are "going in the wrong direction" when it comes to protecting high-threat areas like New York City, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday. (Newsday)
New Yorkers Split on Memorial Designs - Nov 21, 2003
Some memorials console, some teach. And the Sept. 11 memorial proposed for the World Trade Center site may eventually do both. But after the announcement on Wednesday of the eight final designs in the competition, New Yorkers remain deeply split over the memorial's most basic outlines: What is its purpose? Whom is it for? And when should it be done? (New York Times)
Federal Subpoena for 9/11 Police Tapes - Nov 21, 2003
The 9-11 Commission has voted to subpoena the city for failing to hand over documents related to the city's response to the World Trade Center attack. The panel said the city's refusal to hand over the material had "significantly impeded the commission's investigation." (Newsday)
Opponents to West Street Tunnel Speak Out - Nov 20, 2003
More than a dozen people lined up at the microphone during a public information meeting to denounce the proposal, supported by Gov. George E. Pataki, to spend $860 million to bury a half-mile section of the road alongside the planned World Trade Center memorial site. Most of the comments were familiar: the tunnel plan was too expensive; construction would disrupt traffic for too long; the money would be better spent elsewhere; the tunnel ramps would be dangerous to pedestrians. (New York Times)
Several Versions of Recollection and Grief - Nov 20, 2003
Eight possible memorials at the World Trade Center site, each deferring in some way to the ghosts of the twin towers, were shown to the nation yesterday. The plans, chosen by a 13-member jury for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, did not come from the hands of celebrated architects but rather a diverse group of designers, many of them young, who live in and work in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Chicago, Houston, Paris, Ithaca, N.Y., and Oakland, Calif. (New York Times)
9/11 Memorial Jury Confronts Conflicting Agendas - Nov 20, 2003
The jurors of the 9/11 memorial competition had many constituencies to please. And many were unhappy, although there was nowhere near the vehemence as when the initial plans to rebuild the site were announced last year. The chorus of conflicting voices ranged from the outraged to those who found inspiration in the proposals' creativity, but many also expressed the need for further contemplation. (New York Times)
A Call for Better Emergency Plans for Skyscrapers - Nov 20, 2003
A federal commission studying the Sept. 11 attacks should press for wholesale improvements in the construction, fireproofing and evacuation of high-rise buildings, two skyscraper-safety advocates said Wednesday. (Associated Press)
Duty Calls After 9/11, Straining Family Finances - Nov 20, 2003
A kidney on the verge of shutting down. A home on the verge of being lost. For Kenneth and Angelean Thomas, the last few years have been one ordeal after another. A call to serve after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack gave rise to the Thomases' other major challenge: keeping a roof over their heads. (New York Times)
Intelligence Officials Warn of Security Risks - Nov 19, 2003
The U.S. intelligence community must improve its performance to prevent another terrorist attack in New York City and around the country, a panel of experts said last week. (Downtown Express)
Competition's Confidentiality Pact Raises Questions - Nov 19, 2003
Don't talk about it. Don't criticize us. We own all of the information (including your notes). That's the message in the open-ended confidentiality agreements that Lower Manhattan Development Corp. officials required memorial competition finalists to sign, according to a blank copy obtained by Newsday. (Newsday)
Families of 9/11 Victims Get Preview of Memorial Finalists - Nov 19, 2003
After seeing the eight finalists in the 9/11 memorial competition, family members of those killed in the attack used words like "reverential" and "respectful" to describe the designs. And "overwhelmed" when speaking of their own feelings. But some expressed disappointment that the plans did not set aside more of the twin towers' foundations as a setting for the memorial. (New York Times)
Disqualified Designer Sues LMDC - Nov 18, 2003
A Ground Zero memorial designer who was disqualified as a finalist went to court yesterday to force officials to put his plan back in the running - but redevelopment officials accused him of a "shell game." The judge in the case said he may force the LMDC to reinstate the design. (New York Times)
Families of 9/11 Victims Ask Park Service to Take Over - Nov 18, 2003
Families of 9/11 victims made a last-minute plea yesterday for the National Park Service to intervene at Ground Zero and preserve the area where the majority of the dead were found. The families asked that the "historical ruins" where the twin towers once stood be saved and included in a memorial to the terrorist attacks' 2,752 victims. (New York Daily News)
Extra Security at NYC Landmarks After Bombing in Turkey - Nov 17, 2003
Police have stepped up security at synagogues and major public places in New York in response to the terrorist bombings of Jewish temples in Turkey, officials said yesterday. The measures include posting police cars outside some synagogues and ordering patrol cars or beat cops to pass by others more frequently. Increased police presence was also ordered for city landmarks like Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the East River bridges and other high-profile spots, sources said. (New York Post)
Post 9/11 Driving Restrictions Lifted - Nov 17, 2003
Restrictions on single-occupancy vehicles, which have been in place since 9/11, are being lifted as of today at five lower Manhattan crossings. (New York Post)
Officials Oppose Plan to Put Park Service in Charge of Memorial - Nov 17, 2003
Just days before eight Ground Zero memorial designs are made public, development officials yesterday criticized a proposed federal study aimed at putting the National Park Service in charge of the tribute. They said a bill introduced in Congress by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) that authorizes the study could cause delays in rebuilding if it is passed But Maloney and 9/11 family members said the study is needed to determine whether the Twin Towers' "footprints" should be given landmark status - which could keep anything but the memorial from being built on them. (New York Post)
There is Enough Insurance Money for Freedom Tower, says Port Authority Chairman - Nov 14, 2003
Port Authority chairman Joseph Seymour said yesterday that even with the raging court battle, there are already enough insurance proceeds to build Gov. George Pataki's proposed 2.5-million-square-foot Freedom Tower. Whether there is enough money to build everything else on a long list of lower Manhattan projects as well as planned regional transportation projects is another question. (Newsday)
Firefighters May Receive Subpoenas From New 9/11 Probe - Nov 14, 2003
More than two years after the attack on the World Trade Center, city firefighters have been told they may have to relive that day again - under subpoena if necessary - in yet another investigation. Fire union officials say they can see no benefit in the planned interviews by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a federal agency that is looking into technical issues surrounding the collapse of the towers. (Newsday)
New York Times seeks Liberty Bonds For New Building - Nov 13, 2003
The New York Times' development partner, Bruce Ratner, is seeking $150 million in Liberty Bond, to help finance the newspaper's new midtown tower. But an executive at the Empire State Development Corporation, one of the two main government agencies controlling the purse strings of the Liberty Bonds, doesnÕt think Mr. RatnerÕs gambit to use federal 9/11 program money to save the Times tower is going to work. (New York Observer)
Heart Attacks Linked to 9/11 - Nov 13, 2003
Heart attack cases rose sharply at a Brooklyn hospital within weeks following the World Trade Center disaster, suggesting that emotional stress can trigger severe cardiac problems, researchers reported yesterday. Researchers from New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, looking at a total of 1,249 patients divided into three groups, found heart attacks rose by 35 percent in the 60 days after the terrorist attacks and tachyarrhythmias, irregular heart beats, by 40 percent. Irregular heart rhythms often cause sudden death. (Newsday)
Wife of Police Officer Who Died on 9/11 Won't Get His Pension - Nov 12, 2003
Less than three weeks before his death in the World Trade Center, NYPD Officer Santos Valentin and his wife signed a separation agreement. Now a Manhattan judge has ruled that although the agreement did not specifically remove her as his beneficiary, Selena Valentin will not get her husband's pension, which is worth an estimated $2 million. (New York Post)
Queens Museum of Art to Replace WTC Model With Miniature Tribute in Light - Nov 11, 2003
Twin pale-blue laser beams will replace the miniature replica World Trade Center towers that still stand in the Panorama of the City of New York at the Queens Museum of Art. The Tribute in Light, named in honor of the WTC victims of the terrorist acts of Sept. 11, is scheduled to be complete within the next three months. The Panorama, a scale-model of the entire city, is a permanent exhibit at the museum, where currently a red, white and blue ribbon is intertwined around the model towers. (Newsday)
Downtown Businesses Benefit from Wall Street Upturn - Nov 10, 2003
After three years of penny pinching, the cash is finally flowing again on Wall Street. "Suits are coming back to the financial and banking area, so our business is pretty much flying," said Neil Schleimer, a wardrobe consultant at Men's Wearhouse downtown. "We expect a very good fourth quarter." The store, located across from the World Trade Center, closed for two months after 9/11, but has seen 20 percent gains in sales since last year. (New York Post)
Schumer Sees Terror Threat to NYC Cruise Ships - Nov 10, 2003
Sen. Charles Schumer yesterday called on the U.S. Coast Guard to assess security at Manhattan's Hudson River cruise ship passenger piers - saying the terminals were ripe for terrorist attacks. "The security here at cruise terminals is not up to snuff," said Schumer in a press conference at the West 48th Street pier operated by P & O Ports. "We ought to have the same kind of security here as we do at the airports." (New York Post)
Con Edison Rebuilds Power Substations Destroyed on 9/11 - Nov 09, 2003
The reconstruction of the World Trade Center site took a small but symbolically important step forward yesterday as Con Edison began to rebuild two power substations that were destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Three electrical transformers were lowered by crane into cavernous vaults beneath what will once again become 7 World Trade Center. The transformers, each nearly 85 tons and 20 feet tall, are the first of 10 transformers that will be placed beneath 7 World Trade Center in the next few years, said Michael Clendenin, a spokesman for Con Edison. (New York Times)
Trade Center Design Gets Down to the Finest Detail - Nov 08, 2003
After months of dealing in broad concepts, the planners of the new World Trade Center are devising guidelines that will prescribe the actual forms of the buildings Ă‘ in inches and feet, metal and stone. A recent draft of the guidelines by Studio Daniel Libeskind, the master planners of the site, dictated the shape and size of every office tower so precisely that other architects would have had little leeway to pursue significantly different designs of their own. (New York Times)
Man Arrested for Inventing Spouse to Claim 9/11 Money - Nov 08, 2003
A Pennsylvania man was arrested late Thursday and accused of inventing a spouse who died at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, in order to obtain more than $100,000 from relief agencies, authorities said Friday. (Newsday)
Officials Ask for Private Money to Help Reopen Statue of Liberty - Nov 08, 2003
Two years after the terrorist attacks shut down the Statue of Liberty, officials are appealing for private donations to boost security so the monument can reopen. About $5 million worth of security measures still are needed, said National Park Service spokesman Brian Feeney. (Newsday)
Possible Memorial Finalist Disqualified - Nov 07, 2003
An unusual proposal for a World Trade Center memorial was initially selected by judges as a potential finalist - but then got bounced when it was discovered the author broke contest rules, The New York Post has learned. The proposal, dubbed Twin Piers, called for two enormous jetties, the size of the Twin Towers, extending into the harbor from Battery Park - bypassing entirely what was supposed to be the main memorial site inside the Ground Zero pit. (New York Post)
St. Paul's Churchyard Reopens - Nov 07, 2003
The western gates to St. Paul's Chapel on Church Street, which had been padlocked for no one knows how long, were reopened this week. So was the churchyard itself, which had been closed since Sept. 11, 2001. Suddenly, there is a contemplative public space Ă‘ brand new but 237 years old Ă‘on the edge of ground zero. The open gates allow visitors to approach the chapel as they would have in the 18th century, across a lawn dotted with headstones, through trees so tall they almost obscure the wooden steeple. (New York Times)
Woman Who Cheated 9/11 Charities Convicted - Nov 06, 2003
A woman was convicted in a 9/11 scam November 5, hours after she was locked up - because a juror found a note proclaiming the woman's innocence in a courthouse restroom. Evelyn Wellens and her co-defendant, Matthew Weissman, were found guilty of cheating Sept. 11 charities out of $80,000. Wellens had been freed after her arrest, but yesterday, Justice John Bradley jailed her after the note was discovered in the women's bathroom, courthouse sources said. Another juror found a note in the men's room, but it was unclear if he went to the judge. A search turned up seven notes, the sources said. All the notes said, "Evelyn Wellens is innocent," a source said. (New York Post)
Firehouse Near Ground Zero Reopens - Nov 06, 2003
The firehouse across from the World Trade Center site re-opened November 5 after being closed for two years. The Liberty St. firehouse, dubbed "Ten House," was badly damaged on 9/11 when flooded by mounds of concrete, dust and dirt from the collapsed towers. Five firefighters from the station died in the attacks. A $3.5 million repair project fixed the building and allowed some 50 firefighters to return home yesterday. Stainless steel has replaced the damaged brick. Inside the new stainless-steel kitchen is a red stove, with "The Ten House" painted across it in gold. "We'll never forget about any of our people, that's not even in the equation," said Fire Chief Gene Kelty. "I want the house to be an open door. If kids want to come in again - we want the schools to come over. We want the tourists to stop by and say hello." (New York Daily News)
Toxin Levels in Lower Manhattan to be Retested - Nov 05, 2003
Some Lower Manhattan residences will be retested for World Trade Center toxins as part of an agreement reached by Senator Hillary Clinton and government officials. But details of the plan remained foggy last week, even as the Environmental Protection Agency reported elevated levels of lead in 13.5 percent of the wipe samples the agency tested for metals and other toxins before cleaning the apartments in response to 9/11. The lead results were released at an Oct. 28 Congressional hearing on the health effects of the W.T.C. disaster held at Mount Sinai medical center and attended by U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler. (Downtown Express)
Libeskind's Design Guidelines Are Too Strict, Say Development Officials - Nov 05, 2003
Development officials are working to ease master planner Daniel Libeskind's design guidelines for Ground Zero office towers, fearing they are too restrictive and could drive top architects away from the project. One source told the New York Post that the guidelines are being revised "in the direction of [greater] flexibility." "There's very little room left under those guidelines for anybody to exercise their originality and talent. They're proscriptive," said architect Peter Eisenman, who reviewed a draft of Libeskind's guidelines obtained by The Post. (New York Post)
Firefighter returns 911 medal to protest firehouse closings - Nov 04, 2003
Retired firefighter Girard Owens has sent back the Survivor medal he earned for heroism on 9/11, demanding that Mayor Bloomberg reopen a Williamsburg firehouse closed in May. "I cannot accept this award at this time. I would rather have my neighborhood properly protected," wrote Owens in a letter sent to the mayor and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta. (New York Post)
Families Anguished Over Removal of Names from 911 Victim List - Nov 02, 2003
Two families living in Mexico were shocked to find that their relatives were among those removed from the list of 911 victims. Both men were undocumented immigrants, who, according to their families, were working at the World Trade Center during the attacks. (New York Post)
Federal Disaster Bill Could Bring More Aid To City - Nov 29, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg is hoping Congress will pass a law that would let the cash-strapped city snag $650 million in additional payments from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Congress will take up the issue when it resumes work in January and takes a second look at the appropriations bill that includes FEMA's budget. (New York Post)
Henry Kissinger Appointed Head of Commission To Investigate 9/11 - Nov 28, 2002
President Bush today named Henry A. Kissinger, a Republican who has been one of the most respected but polarizing figures in foreign policy and Washington for more than three decades, to lead an independent investigation into the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The 10 member-commission will conduct a wide-ranging inquiry into the causes of the attacks, whether they could have been averted and what changes are needed to prevent a similar occurrence. The commission is required to complete its work within 18 months. The leaders of the two parties in Congress must appoint the rest of the members by Dec. 15. (New York Times)
Federal Agency Urged To Extend Deadline To Apply For Aid - Nov 28, 2002
Politicians and community groups urged the Federal Emergency Management Agency yesterday to extend Saturday's deadline for grants for people affected by the terror attacks. The Individual and Family Grant gives cash to people who lost jobs or property Sept. 11, 2001. "To enforce this deadline and shut all these people out would be a slap in the face and a terrible injustice," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan). (New York Daily News)
Outspoken 9/11 Widow Joins Memorial Panel - Nov 28, 2002
Monica Iken, the widow of a Sept. 11 victim and one of the most outspoken advocates for victims' families during the rebuilding process, has been appointed to one of the two committees overseeing the planning of a memorial. Iken was notified of the appointment by letter this week, more than a week after the committees were announced. Some family members had complained publicly that rebuilding officials were ignoring people who have sometimes criticized the rebuilding effort. (New York Times)
Critics Knock E.P.A.'s Downtown Cleanup Plan - Nov 27, 2002
Three months into the Environmental Protection Agency's cleanup of Lower Manhattan apartments, many area residents remain frustrated with the program and the agency's response to their concerns. More than 6,000 Lower Manhattan households have registered for the voluntary asbestos testing and cleanup since the program began in August, said E.P.A. spokesperson Mary Mears. To date, just over 10 percent of the registered apartments, 627, have been tested, cleaned and received results. Of those, 617 have been cleared for asbestos and one has not. Nine were classified as undetermined. (Downtown Express)
State D.O.T. Skeptical of Long West St. tunnel - Nov 27, 2002
State Transportation officials, without burying the idea explicitly, nevertheless expressed skepticism last week that a long tunnel on West Street would make economic sense. Tim Gilcrest, the state Department of Transportation's director of planning, did not say he had ruled out a tunnel under the roadway, but he cited two numbers which presumably would make it hard to convince D.O.T. to build the tunnel. One is the cost, which his agency estimates to be $3 billion, not the $2 billion some tunnel proponents cite. The second is the fact that the state estimates only 30 to 40 percent of the Downtown 9A traffic would choose the tunnel over the at-grade roadway that would be built above. (Downtown Express)
New M.B.A. Program Helps Downtown Businesses - Nov 27, 2002
MBAs4NYC, a new non-profit volunteer organization that provides free financial consultation to small businesses affected by the W.T.C. attacks. MBAs4NYC is the brainchild of Colleen Galvin, a former Chase Manhattan and Citibank officer who was involved with several outreach programs after the Sept. 11 attacks. The organization draws on a pool of M.B.A. students and alumni from schools such as Columbia, Harvard and M.I.T., all of which have committed to helping promote the program within their New York alumni associations. (Downtown Express)
FEMA, Clinton, Schumer Announce $4.1 Million Pace Center - Nov 27, 2002
The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently granted $4.1 million to Pace University to pay for its facilities damaged in the attack on the World Trade Center. The announcement came at a ceremony attended by senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, who joined Pace University president David Caputo and FEMA chief-of-staff Reynold Hoover last Friday at the university's main campus at One Pace Plaza to celebrate the grant. (Downtown Express)
FEMA's Latest Bungle: P.O. Box for 9/11 Aid Shut for Nonpayment - Nov 27, 2002
For more than a year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has had no end of problems with its stewardship of the Sept. 11 aid programs. Now comes a bureaucratic bungle of a new magnitude. Last week, a FEMA post office box in Albany was closed after the agency failed to pay the rent for almost three months. The agency had set up the box to handle applications for a major reimbursement program. After the box was closed by the Albany post office, about 300 people who had mailed in applications potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars received their packets stamped "Return to Sender." (New York Times)
Fire Captian Invents Powerful New Radio - Nov 27, 2002
A fire captain toiling in an FDNY lab crafted a powerful new radio from $1,000 worth of parts that might help overcome widespread communication woes that contributed to firefighter deaths in the Sept. 11 attacks. (New York Post)
Lower Manhattan Site Picked for New High School - Nov 26, 2002
A new city high school - envisioned as part of lower Manhattan's renaissance - finally has a home near Ground Zero, sources said last night. School officials concluded their search for permanent digs for Millennium High School yesterday by getting space in a large office building at 75 Broad St., sources said. (New York Daily News)
Federal Bill Secures LMDC's Role in Memorial Planning - Nov 26, 2002
The federal government would guarantee the future of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. under recent congressional legislation to create a World Trade Center National Memorial. Introduced earlier this month by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan), whose district includes Ground Zero, the bill requires the development agency's public planning process to determine the memorial's design and location, with eventual administration by the National Park Service. (Newsday)
Inquiry Clears F.B.I. Agents in Egyptian's False 9/11 Confession - Nov 26, 2002
An internal inquiry has cleared the F.B.I. agents who obtained a false confession from an Egyptian student in the Sept. 11 attacks, and has raised new questions about the value of lie-detector tests. The student, Abdallah Higazy, was detained after investigators were told that an aviation radio, capable of communicating with commercial airline pilots, was found in his Manhattan hotel room overlooking the World Trade Center soon after Sept. 11. (New York Times)
Firefigher's 9/11 Story Doubted - Nov 26, 2002
Battalion Chief Richard Picciotto, who wrote the best-selling book "Last Man Down," about surviving the collapse of the World Trade Center's north tower is being ripped by firefighters for allegedly exaggerating his role in the Sept. 11 rescue efforts. (New York Daily News)
Investigation Finds Weak Security at NYC Tunnels and Bridges - Nov 25, 2002
Spotty security at the city's bridges and tunnels leaves them wide open to truck bombs and makes it easy for terrorists to transport explosives into Manhattan, according to a Post investigation. A week after the FBI warned of "spectacular" attacks - and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority issued a special alert on rented box trucks - a Post reporter rented a yellow box truck and drove it over a dozen crossings multiple times. It was rarely challenged. (New York Post)
Port Authority Won't Be Part of Ground Zero Design Display - Nov 23, 2002
A lower Manhattan planner asked the Port Authority yesterday to unveil its master plan alongside other new designs for Ground Zero next month - but the bistate agency turned him down. Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board member Roland Betts, head of the agency's site-planning subcommittee, told the Gotham Gazette in an online interview that he has invited the Port Authority to present the work at the Winter Garden next month, when as many as nine plans for the World Trade Center site will be unveiled. Port Authority spokesman Michael Petralia insisted the agency is working jointly with the corporation on the plan and that it simply isn't done yet. (New York Daily News)
Bookstore Cancels 9/11 Author's Reading - Nov 23, 2002
The Harvard Square bookstore WordsWorth abruptly canceled a scheduled reading Thursday night by William Langewiesche, author of ''American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center,'' after angry firefighters announced they'd picket the event. It was the store's first such cancellation, prompted by security concerns. An angry storm has swirled about Langewiesche since the book was published last month. Besides other criticisms of firefighters at Ground Zero, the book suggests that some might have engaged in looting before the twin towers collapsed Sept. 11. (Boston Globe)
F.B.I. Report on Student in 9/11 Case to Be Public - Nov 23, 2002
In a sharp reversal, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said yesterday that they no longer opposed the public release of a report on how the F.B.I. obtained a confession from an innocent Egyptian student who was detained last year in connection with the World Trade Center attack. The office of United States Attorney James B. Comey, which had submitted the report to a federal judge and asked that he not release it, told him in a letter that it had re-evaluated its position, given the intense public interest in the matter involving the student, Abdallah Higazy. (New York Times)
Schumer Urges Feds to Scrap Wall Street Disaster Plan - Nov 23, 2002
Calling a new Wall Street disaster plan a "dagger pointed at the heart of New York," Sen. Chuck Schumer urged federal regulators yesterday to scrap it and start from scratch. The plan recommends that financial firms build backup facilities as far as 300 miles out of town - and move thousands of jobs with them. (New York Daily News)
Rebuilding Official Praises Designs For World Trade Center Site - Nov 22, 2002
Seven architecture teams commissioned by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to design plans for Ground Zero have created work that is "astoundingly innovative, creative and exciting," according to Roland W. Betts, a Lower Manhattan Development Corporation director. Memorials on the tops of buildings and below ground, a formal 19th-century-style garden and the tallest building in the world are among the elements included in several new sets of plans being drawn up for the World Trade Center site, according to rebuilding officials who have seen them. (New York Times)
Port Authority Releasing Their Own Master Plan For Ground Zero - Nov 22, 2002
The Port Authority will release its own master plan for the World Trade Center site by February, detailing the memorialÕs size and location and transportation improvements, the agencyÕs executive director said Thursday. The master plan, being developed by architects hired by the Port Authority, will include mass transit, vehicular and pedestrian access and the minimum and maximum square footage of the commercial space. (Newsday)
Terrorism Driving Up Commercial Insurance Rates, Says City Comptroller - Nov 22, 2002
Commercial insurance premiums have risen up to 73 percent in the city since the World Trade Center attack and insurance for commercial property has become much more difficult to obtain, according to a report issued last week by city Comptroller William Thompson. (Downtown Express)
Rebuilding Agency To Look At Chinatown Traffic Problems - Nov 22, 2002
State and city officials are asking consulting companies for ideas on how to fix Chinatown's transportation woes, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation announced last week. The study will identify the major transportation issues in Chinatown and suggest ways to remedy the problems, officials said. Sections of Park Row, a major thoroughfare connecting parts of Broadway to Chinatown, have been closed since Sept. 11 for security reasons. (Downtown Express)
Design Announced For 7 World Trade Center - Nov 21, 2002
Developer Larry Silverstein released his designs for a new 7 World Trade Center on Wednesday. The 750-foot glass and steel office tower will have reinforced concrete walls, increased amounts of structural steel, double the required fireproofing materials and wider staircases than required by code. Located across Vesey Street from the trade center site, the $700-million tower will be the first building to rise again at Ground Zero. (Newsday)
Planners Commit To Doubling Retail Space At Ground Zero - Nov 21, 2002
The chairman of the company that holds the rights to build retail stores at the World Trade Center site said yesterday that officials assured him that his company, which has been quiet in public discussions about the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, will now have a more active role in planning the effort. Frank Lowy, chairman of the Westfield Group, an Australian operator of shopping malls, said that in a meeting yesterday, senior officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation also committed to trying to build more than twice the amount of retail space that existed on Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times)
Congressman Nadler Slams Federal Cleanup Program For Downtown - Nov 21, 2002
tacking an apartment cleanup plan in lower Manhattan as a ÒcharadeÓ, Congressman Jerrold Nadler said Wednesday the federal government is avoiding stringent testing and cleanup measures and using inadequate methods to rid homes of World Trade Center dust. (Newsday)
NYC Bridges Getting Security Cameras - Nov 21, 2002
The NYPD will position surveillance cameras on several of the city's bridges as part of its expanding war on terror, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday. The cameras will augment the cops already positioned at the crossings to inspect vehicles that could be carrying explosives. Kelly declined to say which crossings were getting the cameras. (New York Post)
Larry Silverstein To Announce Plans for 7 World Trade Center - Nov 20, 2002
Marking an important step in the rebuilding of ground zero, developer Larry Silverstein is set to release plans on Wednesday for a new 7 World Trade Center, just north of where the twin towers stood. The 52-story lower Manhattan office tower will incorporate "cutting-edge safety and environmental features," Silverstein's spokesman, Howard Rubenstein, said Tuesday. The new building will be narrower than its 47-story predecessor so that Greenwich Street, formerly cut off by 7 World Trade Center, can be restored. (Newsday)
Federal Victims Fund Master Insults Staten Island - Nov 20, 2002
The man in charge of doling out federal funds to Sept. 11 victims' families called Staten Island a "Third World country" - prompting cries yesterday for his firing. Representative Vito Fossella urged Attorney General John Ashcroft to fire Kenneth Feinberg, the Victim Compensation Fund's special master. But Feinberg insisted last night he has no plans to leave -- even after issuing an apology for the slur. (New York Daily News)
Insurance Companies Revisit Terrorism Insurance For Transit Authority - Nov 20, 2002
If a terror attack were to strike the city's subways or any of the MTA-run bridges and tunnels, the agency's policy would cover only $100 million in property damages, officials said yesterday. "Anything over that figure, we are not covered for," said Gary Caplan, the MTA's director of budgets and financial management. The MTA said the $100 million terrorism policy, which has a $30 million deductible, was the most it could afford. Pre-Sept. 11, the MTA had a policy with $1.5 billion in coverage for all disasters, including terrorism. (New York Post)
127 Airport Workers Face Charges of Hiding Past - Nov 20, 2002
127 current and former workers at La Guardia and Kennedy International Airports who were recently arrested, or who face arrest, have one thing in common, federal, state and local authorities said yesterday: they received security clearances at the airports either by lying about their criminal histories or by presenting fake identification. (New York Times)
Chinatown Still Struggling After September 11 - Nov 19, 2002
More than a year after the terrorist attacks, Chinatown is struggling to recover economically, according to a report by the Asian American Federation of New York. The neighborhood's largest employer, the garment industry, has been particularly slow. Before 9/11, there were about 250 garment factories in Chinatown; a year later, a quarter, or 65 factories, have closed. Restaurants and jewelry stores are suffering as well with business over the summer down 40 to 60 percent. Most of the dislocated workers in Chinatown are women between the ages of 41 and 54. (Asian American Federation)
Talks On Airport-Ground Zero Land Swap Not Progressing - Nov 19, 2002
A land swap proposal that would have given the city control of Ground Zero and a much-needed cash infusion is dead, according to the Daily News. The general outline of the deal, first floated in August, called for the city to trade Kennedy and LaGuardia airports to the Port Authority for the 16-acre World Trade Center site. But the short-lived talks never progressed far enough to involve specific financial terms, officials said. (New York Daily News)
Critics Pan Commuter Subway - Nov 19, 2002
A superfast subway train for Long Island commuters going downtown won't save enough time to be worth the multibillion-dollar price tag, critics say. The Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown, a coalition of more than 75 business, community and environmental groups, voted last week to oppose the plan floated by Brookfield Financial Properties, which could take five years to build. About two-thirds of potential commuters using the so-called "supershuttle" would only save three minutes or less, according to their analysis. (Newsday)
Fuel in Storage Inside Buildings Raises Security Concern - Nov 19, 2002
Tens of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel, used for huge backup generators and air-conditioners, are stored in a half-dozen big buildings in Manhattan, posing a potentially lethal hazard in the event of an accident or a terrorist attack. The city's Buildings and Fire Departments are investigating the fuel tanks at the buildings because of the similarities to the situation at 7 World Trade Center, where thousands of gallons of burning fuel may have contributed to the collapse of that skyscraper after the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times)
Subway Workers Lack Terror Training - Nov 19, 2002
Despite repeated requests, subway workers have gotten no training in what to do if the transit system is hit by a chemical or biological attack, union leaders charged yesterday. "If a terrorist attack were to happen in the subways, our workers wouldn't know what to do," said Jimmy Willis, a top official of Transport Workers Union Local 100. He said his union has asked the MTA to train its subway employees - especially in evacuation procedures. Those requests, he said, have fallen on deaf ears. (New York Post)
Officials Debate How To Unveil New Ground Zero Plans - Nov 18, 2002
Ground Zero planners are grappling with how best to show the public the new round of World Trade Center designs set to be unveiled next month. The designs, replete with memorial and office spaces, will be completed before the middle of December. The possibilities for exhibiting the new designs include a live broadcast at the glass atrium Winter Garden, which overlooks the site. Each design team would be given about 20 minutes of air time to detail its work. A tape of the broadcast then could be distributed to TV outlets. (New York Daily News)
Post-9/11 Immigrant Treatment Protested - Nov 17, 2002
About 200 people marched yesterday in lower Manhattan against the government's post-September 11 treatment of immigrants. Wearing signs such as "Stand Against Racial Profiling," demonstrators sloshed from One Police Plaza about four blocks to the Jacob Javits Federal Plaza, chanting against detentions and deportations. (Newsday)
More Trouble in Chinatown as Job-Training Effort Fails - Nov 17, 2002
The organization that provides most of the nonprofit job training in Chinatown has eliminated its program for dislocated workers, causing worries in a community still reeling from a battered economy and the aftershocks of the Sept. 11 attack. The organization, Chinatown Manpower Project, sent a letter to the New York City Department of Employment in September, saying it would not continue its four-year contract with the city because it could not meet its performance goals. (New York Daily News)
Firefighters To Protest Claims of Looting From Book - Nov 17, 2002
Furious FDNY members are gearing up for a protest on Monday against a book claiming New York's Bravest looted World Trade Center stores while the twin towers burned. William Langewiesche, author of "American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center," accuses firefighters of loading pairs of jeans from a Gap store in the mall beneath the twin towers onto their Ladder 4 truck while the terror attacks unfolded. (New York Daily News)
Street Renamed To Honor Firefighter - Nov 17, 2002
A Bronx street was renamed yesterday in honor of a firefighter whose voice is heard extensively on the audio tape of the Sept. 11 response recently released by the Port Authority. (New York Post)
Some Victims' Families Feel Influence on 9/11 Memorial Slipping Away - Nov 16, 2002
One of the most potent political forces to rise from the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center -- the widows and other family members of those killed last year on Sept. 11 -- has found its influence over the rebuilding and memorial efforts gradually but significantly eroding. (New York Times)
September 11 Tape Recording of Firefighters Stirs Controversy - Nov 16, 2002
A 73-minute recording of firefighter conversations in the south tower of the World Trade Center was released yesterday, heightening the dispute between the city and firefighters over whether crucial communication equipment failed Sept. 11. The tapes seem to suggest the signal-boosting repeater used to amplify and retransmit radio signals worked in the south tower -- while few radio conversations in the north tower are heard. An earlier study endorsed by Mayor Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta had blamed malfunctioned equipment for contributing to the deaths of the 343 FDNY members who died in the terrorist attack. (New York Daily News)
IRS to Tax $281 Million in 9/11 Aid - Nov 15, 2002
The IRS is going after $281 million in post-Sept. 11 aid being used to entice people to live near Ground Zero. The Internal Revenue Service said yesterday tax bills will vary depending on where a tenant or homeowner lives and which type of housing aid granted. (New York Daily News)
Two Boards Are Appointed to Guide Sept. 11 Memorial - Nov 15, 2002
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation appointed two committees this week to oversee the 9/11 memorial effort, as part of what the agency's chairman called a "new phase" in rebuilding downtown. He also said yesterday that the public would be able to see exhibits next month showing the new plans for the World Trade Center site. Advertisement (New York Times)
Whitehead Defends LMDC Record - Nov 15, 2002
Lower Manhattan Development Corp. chairman John Whitehead defended his agency's record yesterday, claiming it has laid a strong foundation for downtown's redevelopment. Site plans being developed by reputable architectural teams will be publicly displayed by year's end and a memorial competition will follow, said Whitehead, fending off reports that he might leave. (Newsday)
Scarcity Of Jobs, Housing Threatening Chinatown - Nov 14, 2002
More than a year after the Sept. 11 attacks, a new study presents a bleak assessment of Chinatown and says its existence is threatened by a lack of jobs and affordable housing.The unemployment rate was 12 percent among those surveyed in the area, almost double the city average, according to the Rebuild Chinatown Initiative, a coalition of community groups. (Newsday)
Downtown Questions Olympic Plan - Nov 14, 2002
Two of the leading representatives of Lower Manhattan say they are concerned that the city's push to capture the Olympics in 2012 may divert attention from Downtown transportation and rebuilding projects. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Madelyn Wils, chairperson of Community Board 1 and a board member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., both said they saw potential problems with the Olympic bid, during separate telephone interviews. (Downtown Express)
WTC Families Angry at New Process for Planning Memorial - Nov 14, 2002
A group of World Trade Center families is lambasting a new process for crafting the Ground Zero memorial - charging that officials in charge of rebuilding are trying to silence the more vocal relatives. "There's not an open process and there should be," Jack Lynch said yesterday. Lynch, who lost his son Sept. 11, slammed the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. for creating two 11-member committees to plan memorial guidelines in virtual secrecy - without telling its larger family advisory council. (New York Daily News)
26 Arrests Made In WTC Charity Scams - Nov 14, 2002
Twenty-six people have been arrested in recent days on charges they tried to scam charity money or goods meant for victims of the World Trade Center attacks, the Manhattan district attorney's office said yesterday. The arrests involved a variety of alleged scams, including a morgue employee at Bellevue Hospital Center allegedly selling coffins that were donated for those killed by the terrorists, prosecutors said. (Newsday)
WTC Widows Demand Answers On 9/11 Probe - Nov 14, 2002
The White House insisted yesterday that it still wants an independent commission to probe the Sept. 11 attacks - but angry World Trade Center widows weren't buying it. World Trade Center widows were outraged to learn that the commission was stripped from President Bush's compromise homeland security bill, which the House passed last night by a 299-to-121 vote. (New York Daily News)
Comptroller: Insurance Industry Hiking Premiums for High Rises - Nov 14, 2002
The insurance industry is socking New York's landmark high-rises with premium hikes of 73% or more - out of fear that terrorists may strike again, city Controller William Thompson charged yesterday. (New York Daily News)
Silver: More Input on Rebuilding - Nov 14, 2002
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver expressed concern again yesterday that the agencies in charge of the redevelopment of lower Manhattan are making key decisions without seeking input from the legislature and the public. But Alexander Garvin, the chief planner of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., disagreed during an exchange between the two men in a public hearing yesterday. (Newsday)
Designs Unveiled for Transit Hub at Ground Zero - Nov 13, 2002
Demonstrating the speed with which planning at the World Trade Center site is taking place, Port Authority officials showed early designs for a permanent transportation hub at the site today, incorporating many elements of the temporary PATH station that is already being built. The preliminary designs include a soaring glass atrium that would allow subway and rail passengers to see skyscrapers towering overhead from several floors below ground level, enabling them to orient themselves to where they are in the downtown landscape almost as soon as they step off the trains. (New York Times)
Victims' Kin Find Fault With Overseer of 9/11 Fund - Nov 13, 2002
With greater frequency and deepening anger, the relatives of the victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks are growing disenchanted with the man who oversees the federal Victim Compensation Fund. They say he breaks promises, delays decisions repeatedly and provides conflicting guidance for a program that is intended to pay out billions in awards. (New York Times)
9/11 Families Back a Federal Role for Memorial - Nov 13, 2002
A group of World Trade Center victims' relatives backed a proposed federal bill yesterday to bestow national memorial status on the Ground Zero memorial. The bill would give the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. up to three years to create a memorial design - but would grant federal officials final approval. It also calls for the federal government to fund half the tribute's construction cost and pick up all the maintenance tab once it's done. The National Park Service would maintain the memorial. (New York Daily News)
Temporary PATH Hub Will Become Permanent - Nov 13, 2002
A temporary PATH station being constructed on the bedrock of Ground Zero may not be so temporary after all. A top rebuilding official revealed yesterday that the bare-bones temporary hub between Greenwich and Church Sts. will be used as the foundation for a permanent station. (New York Daily News)
Federal Study Finds that 9/11 Cost NYC $36 Billion - Nov 13, 2002
A new federal study estimates the World Trade Center attacks cost the city up to $36 billion - a number that's drastically lower than the city's figures. The Federal Reserve Bank's findings, published in the November issue of its Economic Policy Review, said it will cost $11.2 billion to rebuild the twin towers as they existed before the attack. (New York Daily News)
New Study Will Examine Firefighters' Mental Health - Nov 13, 2002
The union representing city firefighters announced yesterday that it has launched a massive study of nearly half its members to examine their mental health and the factors that cause excessive stress on and off the job. The Uniformed Firefighters Association said the study will be conducted by Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, which will poll 3,000 firefighters and 300 retirees. (New York Post)
Families Propose WTC 'Tomb' - Nov 12, 2002
Still reeling from the creation of a new committee structure to develop a memorial at the World Trade Center site, a coalition of 9/11 families is proposing a tomb-like structure to house unidentified remains of those lost Sept. 11. (Newsday)
Tall Tower Near Ground Zero Is Proposed - Nov 12, 2002
A developer who has built a dozen residential towers in the relatively safe environs of the East Side now wants to plunge into uncertain waters downtown, with a new 90-story skyscraper that would be the second-tallest building in New York City Ă‘ and only a block from Ground Zero. Trevor Davis has designs for a building that would be 1,050 feet tall, 4 feet taller than the Chrysler Building, but 200 feet shorter than the Empire State Building, on a block at Broadway and Fulton Street. (New York Times)
9/11 Tape Reveals a Gripping History - Nov 12, 2002
A recently released tape of 9/11 rescue efforts not only provides facts about a particular 78 minutes on Sept. 11, 2001, but also exposes what many see as a lingering diffidence toward searching inquiries into whatever broke down on that day, whether building codes in New York City or spy codes at the National Security Agency. (New York Times)
Congressman Calls for Federal Role in 9/11 Memorial - Nov 11, 2002
The federal government would help pay for the Ground Zero memorial and the U.S. Park Service would run it under a bill proposed by Manhattan Congressman Jerry Nadler. The legislation answers at least some of the concerns of a group of relatives of trade center victims, who have been pushing for a federal role. (New York Post)
Downtown Planners May Give FDR Drive a New Design - Nov 11, 2002
Planners overseeing lower Manhattan's comeback from the terror attacks are considering new designs for a portion of the FDR Drive south of the Brooklyn Bridge, officials said. The east waterfront access design has become a critical concern of planners -- and it is expected to be included when Mayor Bloomberg unveils his vision for lower Manhattan next month. (New York Daily News)
9/11 Funds Could Go to Cash-Strapped City Groups - Nov 10, 2002
Government officials are looking for ways to tap the $2 billion pot of cash controlled by the Ground Zero rebuilding agency -- the only act in town with money to spend. At a time when both the state and city face multibillion-dollar deficits, the federal funds given the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. have become increasingly attractive as a way to lessen the blow. Sources said city officials have discussed the possibility of allocating some of the agency's money -- some of which is required to be given to cultural organizations -- to groups that will have their city funding slashed. (New York Daily News)
9/11 Tape Raises Added Questions on Radio Failures - Nov 9, 2002
For much of the last year, New York City has said the devastating breakdown in fire communications at the World Trade Center was largely caused by the failure of an electronic device in the complex called a repeater, which was designed to boost radio transmissions in high rise buildings. Now, however, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's analysis of its 78-minute tape of firefighter communications from Sept. 11 flatly contradicts the city's version of what went wrong. It raises the possibility that different factors Ă‘ failure of other equipment, design of communications consoles in the tower lobbies, or a simple mistake made at a moment of high stress Ă‘ might have accounted for the communications breakdowns. (New York Times)
WTC Planner Quits in Conflict - Nov 9, 2002
A Ground Zero rebuilding official quietly stepped down from his post this week because of a conflict of interests, the Daily News has learned. Howard Wilson resigned from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.'s board because his law firm represents twin towers leaseholder Larry Silverstein in his billion-dollar insurance case. (New York Daily News)
Memorial Fence at St Paul's Chapel Being Cleared - Nov 8, 2002
A grass-roots memorial to the victims of the World Trade Center attack that grew in the last year from a few remembrances on the fence surrounding St. Paul's Chapel to a cluttered collection of tributes is slowly being cleared, one flag, one shirt, one doll at a time. One day a week, workers will clear away memorial tributes on 10 feet of the fence, five feet in each of two sections. The fence should be clear shortly after New Year's Day. (New York Times)
Pataki Plans Larger Rebuilding Role - Nov 8, 2002
After remaining largely removed from the details of the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan over the last year, Gov. George Pataki plans to take a more direct role in the process, state officials say, starting with considering major changes in the leadership and structure of the rebuilding effort. (New York Times)
Ground Zero Officials to Hire Mediator - Nov 8, 2002
Ground Zero officials are broadening their memorial planning process beyond victims' relatives - and hiring a special mediator to help put together the permanent tribute. The move, expected to be announced as early as today, follows Gov. Pataki's reelection - and leaves some victims' relatives worried that their input will be devalued. (New York Daily News)
New WTC Designs To Be Directly Shown to Public - Nov 8, 2002
The latest designs by Ground Zero architects will be brought directly to the public next month in two exhibits set up by curators from the Museum of Modern Art, officials said yesterday. Models and pictures of the designs will be displayed at the World Financial Center in mid-December, probably at the Winter Garden. At the same time, MoMA will display some of the same materials in its temporary space in Queens, said Terrence Riley, the chief curator for architecture and design. (New York Post)
Future Role of LMDC in Rebuilding Unclear - Nov 7, 2002
One year after its creation, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. faces serious questions about its future - from who will head the agency to whether it will continue to exist. While it's unclear whether LMDC president Lou Tomson will leave by next year, critics say that the overall World Trade Center redevelopment effort lacks clear leadership. (Newsday)
Firefighters Sue Over Arrests in WTC Protest March - Nov 6, 2002
Eight firefighters have filed a lawsuit against the city, senior officials of the Giuliani administration and several police officers, accusing them of false arrest and imprisonment in a violent confrontation a year ago during a protest march to the ruins of the World Trade Center. On Nov. 2, 2001, more than 500 firefighters took part in the protest, which was called in response to the Giuliani administration's decision to reduce the number of Fire Department personnel assigned to a search-and-recovery operation at ground zero. (New York Times)
LMDC President Likely to Leave After Elections - Nov 5, 2002
Lou Tomson is widely expected to step down as president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. after this week's elections. Insiders say the decision would be a personal one: Tomson, a top aide to Gov. George Pataki during his first term, has been commuting on weekends to the Albany area, where he lives. Tomson's departure could set off a turf battle for control of LMDC between Charles Gargano, chairman of LMDC's parent agency, Empire State Development, and Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's point person for rebuilding lower Manhattan. (Crain's New York Business)
Many Insurance Claims for Losses Caused by 9/11 Have Not Yet Been Paid - Nov 5, 2002
Within five months after terrorists struck the World Trade Center, insurance companies paid more than $16 billion in claims for damage from the attack, providing a sharp boost to New York's struggling economy. But the flow has slowed: so far this year, the insurance companies have paid $3 billion in claims. The payments have slowed, industry experts said, because insurance companies and their customers have taken care of the easiest claims, and now they are dealing with the most complicated ones, some of which may take years to resolve. (New York Times)
Lessons Drawn From Attack on Pentagon May Stay Secret - Nov 5, 2002
The World Trade Center report was completed and released last spring, but the Defense Department, fearing that the strengths and perhaps vulnerabilities of its headquarters were too clearly drawn, has held up the Pentagon study in a classification review and may never allow it to be publicly released. (New York Times)
City Says Olympic Plans Won't Hurt WTC Rebuilding Efforts - Nov 4, 2002
The city's $5-billion commitment to the 2012 Olympic Games will not overshadow its commitment to the World Trade Center site, promised government and labor leaders, who applauded the economic impact of the summer games. Rather than taking resources from the redevelopment of lower Manhattan, the bid will help the city rebuild long after the "extraordinary spirit" generated by the Sept. 11 attacks has faded, said Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, who leads the downtown rebuilding effort and the Olympic bid. (Newsday)
Sept. 11 Death Toll Declines as 2 People Are Found Alive - Nov 3, 2002
Two more names have been removed from the count of World Trade Center victims after a Florida man and a New York City woman were found alive, discoveries that bring the death toll from the Sept. 11 attack in New York City down to 2,795. (New York Times)
WTC Families Call for Half of Site to Be Used as Memorial - Nov 2, 2002
Worried that rebuilding officials haven't heard their wishes, a group of Sept. 11 victims' families implored architects designing new Ground Zero plans yesterday to use roughly half the site for a permanent memorial. In a letter sent to the six teams recently charged with crafting new visions for the site, the relatives asked them to honor the "bathtub" area, a 9-acre swath of land that includes the twin towers' footprints. (New York Daily News)
Vocal Groups Continue to Call for Rebuilt Towers - Nov 2, 2002
Politicians and planners have repeatedly dismissed the idea of rebuilding the World Trade Center towers, saying it is not economically feasible because few people want to work 100 stories above ground, especially at ground zero. But a few vocal groups of tower supporters insist that a large segment of the public is on their side. These small groups, which say they have gathered thousands of names on petitions in support of their goal, have continued to put up billboards, manage Web sites, speak and pass out leaflets at public hearings, often generating enthusiastic responses (New York Times)
Officials Accused of Distorting 9/11 Aid Statistics - Nov 1, 2002
New York's Congressional delegation and the leaders of several lower Manhattan organizations have accused federal and state officials of distorting the statistics of a major Sept. 11 aid program to make it appear that it had done a better job of distributing cash grants. The accusations involve the Individual and Family Grant program, which had been promoted by Gov. George Pataki as the ultimate safety net for people who had lost their jobs, had property damaged or needed to be reimbursed for air-quality equipment. (New York Times)
Assembly Speaker Says Lack of Accountability Is Slowing Rebuilding of Lower Manhattan - Nov 1, 2002
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday accused officials overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan of avoiding public accountability by failing to publicly discuss and vote on proposals to spend billions of dollars in federal aid promised after the Sept. 11 attack. (New York Times)
Port Authority Continues Plans for Underground Walkway on WTC Site - Nov 1, 2002
Port Authority planners are still considering running an underground walkway below the footprint of one of the Twin Towers - even though families of World Trade Center victims and some development officials oppose it. (New York Post)
WTC Site Designers Including Much Office Space - Nov 1, 2002
Several Ground Zero architects are thinking bigger may be better - offering surprising designs that increase the office space on the site well beyond guidelines intended to trim the trade center's square footage, a development official said yesterday. (New York Post)
Dispute Over Libeskind's Pay - May 29, 2004
Daniel Libeskind, the master planner for the World Trade Center site, and Larry A. Silverstein, the commercial leaseholder, are fighting over how much Mr. Libeskind should be paid for his work on the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower. Mr. Libeskind submitted a bill for $800,000. Mr. Silverstein countered with an offer of $125,000. And though the sides are still talking, they remain far apart (New York Times)
WTC's Angry Genius - May 29, 2004
Architect Daniel Libeskind is threatening to sue Ground Zero developer Larry Silverstein Ă‘ claiming he's owed a "genius fee" for his work on the Freedom Tower, sources told The Post yesterday. (New York Post)
9/11 Commissioner Apologizes for Comments At Hearing, Says Giuliani - May 28, 2004
A week after saying that communication failures between the Police and Fire departments on 9/11 were "not worthy of the boy scouts," 9/11 commission member John Lehman apologized in person to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani this week. At least, that's the version offered yesterday by Giuliani, who said Lehman came to his Giuliani Partners office on Wednesday to meet with him and two top aides, former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen and former Office of Emergency Management Chief Richard Sheirer. (New York Daily News)
Inspired by 9/11, NYPD Officer Helps Crack Terror Case - May 28, 2004
Hero Detective George Corey couldn't wait to join the ranks of the elite FBI-NYPD joint terrorist task force after the 9/11 attacks on his beloved city. He knew it might cost him weeks, even months, away from his wife and kids on Long Island while he tracked leads from Alaska to Cuba. Yesterday, Corey's tireless work paid off. (New York Post)
Mistress of 9/11 Victim Sues His Widow For Greater Share of Benefits - May 28, 2004
The mistress of a Port Authority officer who died in the attack on the World Trade Center is suing his widow, seeking a greater share of benefits for a child from their affair (New York Post)
Businesses Face Eviction To Make Way for Station - May 28, 2004
For the businesses in buildings that will have to be knocked down to make way for the Fulton Street Transit Station there is more resentment than excitement. (NY1)
Poll Gauges Downtown Residents' Thoughts on Rebuilding - May 28, 2004
A new survey of Lower Manhattan residents gathered opinions on how to redevelop the World Trade Center site and the surrounding area. (NY1)
With Rebuilding Money, New Sports Fields Being Built on Downtown Pier - May 28, 2004
The Hudson River Park TrustÕs board of directors at their May 20 meeting approved $5.5 million in contracts to build a three-and-a-half-acre, interim sports field at Pier 40. The Trust will pay for the work out of its general funds, plus $1.6 million from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. that had previously been slated for an ice-skating rink at Spring St. and the tennis courts. (Downtown Express)
Some Firefighters Leaving Their Wives for 9/11 Widows - May 27, 2004
If 9/11 was the earthquake, the families of firefighters are still, nearly three years later, trying to ride out the aftershocks, the painful, unforeseeable shufflings and reconfigurations that follow any death, much less hundreds within a single professional community. Unlikely though her story seems, Susan Zazulka is not the only wife of a firefighter whose husband left her for a 9/11 widow. There is also Mary Koenig, who lives in upstate New York, whose husband left her for a Staten Island widow named Madeline Bergin. And there is Christina Garger, a teacher on Long Island whose husband, Richard Garger, started seeing a 9/11 widow. One widow who wouldn't use her name said that she briefly dated a firefighter until she found out that he was still officially married. Fire Department sources say there are 10 or 11 such love triangles. (New York Times)
Police Fear Attack in New York - May 27, 2004
Police officials fear that New York will be hit with another Al Qaeda terror strike, according to an NYPD memo obtained by the Daily News. (New York Daily News)
City, Federal Government Debate Use of $4 Billion in Rebuilding Funds - May 27, 2004
The White House, city officials and lawmakers have held private talks to see if they can reallocate unused money President Bush promised the city after the 9/11 attacks, The Daily News has learned. The secret negotiations have focused on giving the city more flexibility to spend some $4 billion in unused funds. (New York Daily News)
Glass And Steel Dome For New Fulton Street Station - May 27, 2004
The new $750 million Fulton Transit Center will feature a 110-foot-high glass-and-steel dome that will allow sunlight to filter into what is now a dingy, maze-like subway complex, according to plans unveiled yesterday. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority hub, at Broadway and Fulton St., also would preserve the 115-year-old Corbin Building and use its arches as another entrance point. (New York Daily News)
New Yorkers Shrug Off Terror Warnings - May 27, 2004
New Yorkers took the latest terror warnings in stride. They believe the city is a likely terror target, particularly when the Republican National Convention is at Madison Square Garden this summer. But they have lived through too many alerts in recent years to do anything different. (New York Daily News)
Officials Tell New Yorkers Not to Worry About Warnings - May 27, 2004
Relax, New York - and leave the worrying to us. That was the message of calm delivered yesterday by Gov. Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, even as the White House warned of possible terror attacks against the U.S. in the coming months. (New York Daily News)
Fulton Street Subway Station Calls For Huge Glass Dome Downtown - May 26, 2004
Add another transparent polymorph to downtown's future landscape. If blueprints can be believed, office towers, apartment houses, commuter rail terminals - and now, even a subway station - will shimmer luminously as they taper and soar. Astride a tangled labyrinth linking four stations on the A, C, J, M, Z, 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposes a tapering, conical, 110-foot-tall steel-and-glass dome that would emerge from within a 50-foot-high glass-box pavilion at Broadway and Fulton Street. This translucent and transparent structure would, in effect, harvest daylight and send it as far as possible underground, opening new vistas and brightening what is now a dank warren of platforms and passageways. (New York Times)
Worry Grows That Cultural Plans for Ground Zero Are Off-Track - May 26, 2004
With needed fund-raisers backing away and decision making stalled on the cultural component of a redeveloped World Trade Center site, a growing chorus of critics are questioning the effectiveness of the process and whether the project has gone off track. Lost in the debate over whether an opera house can fill its off-season or whether a dance and theater space could together attract sufficient funds, some arts leaders and planning experts say, is the more fundamental question of whether either of these options lives up to the grand plans for Lower Manhattan's hallowed ground. (New York Times)
News Program Offers Cops Federal Terrorism Information - May 26, 2004
Cops on the beat in New York and Vermont will be able to instantly check suspects against the U.S. government's terrorist watch lists under a first-of-its-kind, FBI-coordinated program announced Tuesday. FBI Director Robert Mueller said the system will give state and local police a way of checking 12 databases maintained by federal agencies, and provide officers with a direct line to federal agents to report suspicious activities. (Associated Press)
Ground Zero Workers With Cancer Face Legal Challenge - May 26, 2004
In the agonizing hours after the towers collapsed on Sept. 11, Brooklyn Firefighter Pete Strahl was on his belly, crawling in a tunnel of debris under 7 World Trade Center to reach an injured civilian. Strahl is now battling a deadly throat cancer. His lung tests are also showing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dubbed the "World Trade Center cough" by medical experts. The difficulty for Strahl and other first responders at the World Trade Center is that they must prove their illnesses are job-related. So far, there is no medical evidence linking Ground Zero to cancer. (New York Daily News)
Governor Nominates 9/11 Widow for Port Authority Board - May 26, 2004
Christine Ferer, widowed when the 9/11 terror attacks took the life of Port Authority chief Neil Levin, was nominated yesterday by Gov. Pataki for a seat on the 12-member PA board. Levin, killed in the collapse of the Twin Towers, was executive director of the PA at the time. Before that, he served as state banking superintendent and later as state insurance commissioner. Ferer is currently a Pataki-appointed board member of Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which was created to oversee rebuilding in the wake of the attacks. She also serves as liaison for Mayor Bloomberg to families who lost relatives on 9/11. (New York Post)
Ridge Warns of Summer Attacks; Does Not Name NYC Specifically - May 26, 2004
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Wednesday that new information on a terrorist threat against the United States "talks about an attack" but said there is no need to raise the national alert level. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said city officials had not been advised that terrorists were plotting an attack there. (Associated Press)
Generators at Ground Zero Producing Power For First Time Since 9/11 - May 25, 2004
Early on Sunday, May 16, with no fanfare, power began flowing through the Con Ed substation at the World Trade Center for the first time since 4:33 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. Tomorrow, Gov. George E. Pataki, speaking by phone from the substation to Con Ed's energy control center uptown, will make it official: one more vital piece of the infrastructure around the trade center site is back in place, following the restoration of the subway tunnel for the Nos. 1 and 9 lines in 2002 and the opening of the temporary PATH station last year. (New York Times)
Ground Zero Workers Developing Cancer - May 25, 2004
The Daily News revealed yesterday that many cops and firefighters assigned to Ground Zero are developing serious illnesses, including cancer. And though no direct link between Ground Zero and cancer has yet been established, more victims came forward yesterday to tell their stories. (New York Daily News)
All But 9 of 1,700 Ground Zero Worker Lawsuits Have Been Dropped - May 25, 2004
In a glaring front-page blunder, The Daily News yesterday reported that a staggering 1,700 cops and firefighters have filed lawsuits against the city for health problems stemming from 9/11 - when only nine such suits are in the courts. The embarrassing goof prompted an unprecedented effort by the city's Law Department to set the record straight by firing off an e-mail "clarification" to reporters and editors across the city to rebut the false claims. (New York Post)
'Missing' Radio Worker Will Testify for 9/11 Commission - May 25, 2004
The World Trade Center official accused of failing to answer letters asking him to testify at the 9/11 commission hearings says he'll meet with commission members today. Lloyd Thompson, deputy fire safety director at 1 World Trade Center, insists he never got the panel's invitations. (New York Post )
9/11 Widows Moving On - May 25, 2004
A circle of firemenÕs widows have a secret: TheyÕre getting on with their lives. (New York Metro)
Pension Bill Would Help Ill Ground Zero Workers - May 25, 2004
City workers would be eligible for a tax-free disability pension - even if they've already retired - if they can prove their illnesses were caused by the terror attacks, under a controversial bill. Last year, the World Trade Center Presumption bill was passed by the state Senate and Assembly, but was canned after Gov. Pataki vetoed the measure at Mayor Bloomberg's urging. (New York Daily News)
In Time of Terror, Police Commissioner Gains Power - May 24, 2004
At a time when New York finds itself on the front lines in the worldwide battle with terror, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly is emerging as the city's top general, a city official with unparalleled influence in the Bloomberg administration. Perhaps the most powerful police commissioner in a generation, he wields enormous clout in City Hall as he strives to oversee the city's response to the terror threat and the safety of its streets, say former city officials and senior aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. (New York Times)
1,700 Cops, Firefighters Sue City Over 9/11 Sicknesses - May 24, 2004
In a dramatic sign of escalating health problems stemming from 9/11, more than 1,700 cops and firefighters have filed lawsuits against the city claiming they were sickened by work at Ground Zero or the Fresh Kills landfill. To handle the unprecedented legal overload, the city's Law Department set up a special division to tackle 9/11 claims and appointed attorney Kenneth Becker as chief of the World Trade Center unit. (New York Daily News)
Kelly, Bloomberg Question 9/11 Commission's Judgement - May 24, 2004
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly took a parting shot at the 9/11 commission, labeling comments by panel member and former Navy Secretary John Lehman as "ludicrous" during a TV interview aired Sunday. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking at Sunday's Salute to Israel Parade on Fifth Avenue, questioned the panel's right to pass judgment on New York officials. (Newsday)
Developing New Standards for Emergency Preparedness after 9/11 - May 24, 2004
NewsweekÕs Jennifer Barrett spoke with Arthur E. Cote, of the American National Standards Institute and the National Fire Protection Association two groups working together to establish national emergency preparedness standards. Cote spoke about what went wrong on September 11 and how the new standards will address those problems. Excerpts: (Newsweek)
Commission Believes City Still Isn't Prepared - May 23, 2004
Hard feelings persist in the wake of the 9/11 hearings in Manhattan, with one panel member insisting that the city's disaster planning "sucked." The two days of emotional hearings last week were punctuated with outbursts from audience members, tense exchanges between former city officials and the commissioners, even spats among people in the audience. (New York Daily News)
It May Take 2nd Attack To Fix Intelligence Problems, Says 9/11 Commissioner - May 23, 2004
It may take another catastrophic attack on America before there is the political will to fix problems with the nation's intelligence and counterterrorism efforts, the chairman of the 9/11 commission told the Daily News. The commission, which completed two days of emotional hearings in Manhattan last week, is drafting a blueprint for how Congress and President Bush can revamp the system that allowed 19 hijackers to conduct the most deadly terror attack in U.S. history. (New York Daily News)
Senator Recommends Military-Like Communication for NYC's First Responders - May 23, 2004
Police, firefighters and EMTs should adapt military communication techniques and technology when responding to emergencies, Sen. Chuck Schumer said yesterday. Schumer is introducing a bill to establish a new agency responsible for keeping rescue workers on the same wavelength. (New York Post)
Man Sought by 9/11 Commission Emerges to Speak of Chaos - May 22, 2004
For several months, the national commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks has been searching in vain for a man it believes could help answer some of the most critical questions of what happened inside the World Trade Center that day. His name is Lloyd Thompson, and for much of that morning two and a half years ago he was posted at the epicenter of chaos. Yesterday, weeks after the commission began sending him letters, interviewing former colleagues and checking with employers, Mr. Thompson emerged to tell his story. (New York Times)
Police Commissioner Criticized 9/11 Commission - May 22, 2004
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has slammed the Sept. 11 commission's criticisms of the city as "uninformed." New York's top cop also said the city was prepared for further terrorism - and that the likelihood of another attack has increased. (New York Daily News)
NYPD on Alert for Truck Bombers - May 21, 2004
Cops will begin checking trucks entering the Big Apple and other major cities today after the FBI received information that terrorists may use truck bombs to attack high-profile targets like the Empire State Building, The Post has learned. NYPD and Port Authority cops will check trucks entering the city via bridges and tunnels, sources said. They will also check trucks already in the city if they look suspicious. (New York Post )
9.11 Commissioner Admits that Giuliani Got Off Easy in Hearing - May 21, 2004
A member of the Sept. 11 commission expressed regret yesterday over the questioning of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on Wednesday and said the panel should have pressed him on failures in the city's response to 9/11 instead of praising him so lavishly. (Newsday)
City Tests Inter-Agency Radio for Emergencies - May 21, 2004
The city's emergency agencies have begun to test a device touted as a possible solution to radio communication gaps revisited in this week's 9/11 Commission hearings. (Newsday)
'Missing' Fire Safety Officer From 9/11 Hiding in Plain Sight - May 21, 2004
A World Trade Center fire safety officer the 9/11 commission couldn't find Ă‘ but who could shed light on why a crucial FDNY radio channel appeared to fail Ă‘ is hiding in plain sight. "I live right here and I go to work every morning," said Lloyd Thompson, 48, outside his apartment in a large complex in Yonkers yesterday. (New York Post )
Giuliani Defends City's Response to 9/11 - May 20, 2004
Rudolph Giuliani's appearance yesterday before the 9/11 Commission was the first time that, under public inspection, the finely wrought legacy that he had acquired could be called into question. But Mr. Giuliani's measured and courtly performance, unruffled by conspicuously gentle questioning from the commission, left his reputation essentially unscathed. In unscripted testimony, he led the panel through his personal Sept. 11, a poignant narrative that captivated the audience. Every question from the panel was framed with praise and expressions of gratitude (New York Times)
Bloomberg: Lack of Funding Increases Likelihood of Terrorist Attack - May 20, 2004
Michael R. Bloomberg told the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks yesterday that the federal government is placing New York City in greater danger by providing too little money to defend the city against future terrorist attacks. Describing the nation's counterterrorism budget as "pork barrel politics at its worst,'' Mr. Bloomberg told the commission that under current spending formulas, states and cities with little threat of being attacked are getting far more in federal subsidies per capita than New York. "It's the kind of shortsighted 'me first' nonsense that gives Washington a bad name,'' the mayor said, and "has the effect of aiding and abetting those who hate us and plot against us." (New York Times)
Giuliani: Firefighers Heard Evacuation Order, But Stayed to Help Civilians - May 20, 2004
In the epic accounts of Sept. 11 provided over the last two days by former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and his aides, the Police and Fire Departments bravely worked together, and no catastrophic failure to communicate doomed scores of firefighters inside the World Trade Center. Instead, Mr. Giuliani testified, those firefighters heard an evacuation order, but still did not leave the building. They were "standing their ground" to make sure civilians got out, he said. (New York Times)
9/11 Families Object to Congratulatory Tone at Hearing - May 20, 2004
Families of Sept. 11 victims are furious at what they call the failure of the 9/11 commission to investigate the disaster that cost more than 2,700 lives. "Today was a joke," widow Beverly Eckert said of yesterday's wrap-up of two days of hearings into how city officials responded to the World Trade Center attacks. (New York Post)
Giuliani Recounts 9/11 in Vivid Detail - May 20, 2004
Rudy Giuliani held the 9/11 commission spellbound yesterday as he recounted a day in New York City that began like any other - "a clear, beautiful day" - and ended in untold horror. In a detailed and moving recollection of Sept. 11, 2001, the former mayor said he'd just had breakfast with an aide and was headed to City Hall when he got the word. (New York Post)
Giuliani Concedes Flaws - May 20, 2004
The panelists' questions were nothing but deferential, and his own benedictions about the heroes of that day were lengthy. But several times before the Sept. 11 commission, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani starkly conceded planning and communication flaws in the city's response to the World Trade Center attack. The acknowledgments came almost off-handedly, with the rationale that "no one ever had encountered an attack like this." (Newsday)
Fire Union Complains of Being Ignored by 9/11 Commission - May 20, 2004
The federal commission investigating the 2001 terrorist attacks left here Wednesday without hearing public testimony from a single firefighter, police officer or other city emergency worker who was at the site that day. Fire union officials were particularly angry at what they considered a snub. They argued that if commission members wanted to get to the bottom of what happened, they should have let emergency workers tell them and the public about problems at the scene. (Newsday)
9/11 Commission Criticizes Emergency Response on 9/11 - May 19, 2004
The independent federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks came to New York yesterday and offered the most detailed public accounting yet of how the heroic response of police officers and firefighters was undermined by poor planning, inadequate equipment, faulty communication and generations-old interagency rivalries. At an emotional hearing about a mile from the site of the catastrophe, several members of the commission said the city's emergency-response plan was badly flawed at the time of the attack and suggested that 32 months after the attacks, the nation's largest city remains dangerously unprepared to deal with another terrorist strike. (New York Times)
For Deputy Fire Chief, Panel Hearing Highlights Tragic Decision - May 19, 2004
As the television and radio murmurs of the 9/11 commission hearing flowed through Fire Department headquarters in Brooklyn yesterday, no one listened more intently than one thin, unassuming man with a notebook in his lap. Sometimes he jotted notes, sometimes he nodded and sometimes he just shook his head. In many ways, Sept. 11 now defines this man, Deputy Assistant Chief Joseph W. Pfeifer. He witnessed the first jet hit the north tower, and immediately reported that "it looks like the plane was aiming toward the building." He arrived very early on the scene, and stayed long after. At one point, he and his only brother gazed at each other for a few moments before Fire Lt. Kevin Pfeifer went up some stairs, never to return. (New York Times)
Panel Assails Agency Turf Battle and Lack of Communication - May 19, 2004
The 9/11 commission took a hard look at how the city handled the World Trade Center attack and found systemic flaws may have proved fatal that day. The commission discovered bravery and courage, but they also found communication breakdowns and dysfunctional coordination within and between agencies. (New York Daily News)
Questions About Radios Go Unanswered as Operator Cannot Be Found - May 19, 2004
The communication failures in the north tower on Sept. 11 have been widely blamed on technical problems. But the cause of the radio failure may have more to do with human error, not mechanical - and the human's name may be Lloyd Thompson. The only problem is, Thompson is nowhere to be found. Thompson is a former fire patrol officer for a private security company hired by the managers of the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks. (New York Daily News)
Former Fire, Police Chiefs React With Anger to Criticism at Hearing - May 19, 2004
The 9/11 commission hearing yesterday in Manhattan turned into a series of angry finger-pointing exchanges Ă‘ and one panel member ripped the city's response to the World Trade Center attack as "not worthy of the Boy Scouts." The over-the-top charge from commissioner John Lehman drew a furious response from former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, who branded it "outrageous" and "despicable." (New York Post)
Family Members Suffer Through 9/11 Once More - May 19, 2004
Grieving relatives of Sept. 11 victims yesterday were pierced once again with unspeakable pain and raging anger as the 9/11 commission presented graphic evidence about the World Trade Center attack. As family members braced themselves by holding hands or wrapping their arms around each other, the hearing began with a minute-by-minute reconstruction of the catastrophe, including video of the planes' impact with the towers and the skyscrapers' collapse. (New York Post)
Giuliani Left in Tough Spot After Testimony From His Former Commissioners - May 19, 2004
Three top aides to Rudolph Giuliani left the ex-mayor with much to explain today when he faces the Sept. 11 commission. Giuliani's last police, fire and emergency management chiefs bumped and weaved their way through the panel's questions, in the bureaucratic style they once honed before the City Council. (Newsday)
9/11 Commission Will Focus on Lack of Coordination on 9/11 - May 18, 2004
Members of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks say current and former city officials in New York will be confronted at public hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday about why New York was not better prepared to deal with a catastrophic terrorist attack and why the city is still struggling to coordinate the disaster-response plans of its police officers and firefighters. The commission members said that many of the questions would center on the city government's failure before Sept. 11 to insist on greater cooperation between the long-feuding Police and Fire Departments, especially since the city had been the victim of earlier terrorist attacks, including the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. (New York Times)
Police Department Gives Officers Guide for Identifying Terrorists - May 18, 2004
The Police Department has issued a pocket-sized reference card for patrol officers detailing guidelines it says are designed to help them spot terrorists. The department tells its officers to watch out for people with drivers' licenses from more than one state, passports from more than one country, and identification papers with different names and people videotaping or photographing bridges, tunnels, utilities, landmarks and government facilities. (New York Times)
Many 9/11 Family Members Fear What Awaits Them At Hearings - May 18, 2004
Many relatives of people killed on Sept. 11, 2001 dread watching the latest round of hearings by the federal commission probing the attacks. Those hearings begin this morning at the New School with a recounting of the city's response. Even before the hearings convened, 9/11 families prepared to have raw wounds reopened. Family members say they sleep badly, have nightmares or are experiencing increased stress in anticipation of the graphic retelling of the worst terror attack in U.S. history. (New York Daily News)
Mayor Will Testify at 9/11 Commission Hearings - May 18, 2004
In a last-minute decision, Mayor Bloomberg will testify before the 9/11 commission tomorrow, amid indications the city's response to the attacks on the World Trade Center will come in for more praise than blame. (New York Post)
Profiles of Those Testifying at 9/11 Commission - May 18, 2004
The Sept. 11 commission convenes in New York City on Tuesday and Wednesday to examine the city's emergency response to the attacks. Here are some of the people scheduled to testify. (Newsday)
Strict Format for Hearings - May 18, 2004
Working under a rigid format, city officials will get to tell the country in a formal setting Tuesday what happened in the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States will hear from former and present police and fire commanders Tuesday and Wednesday, but it will limit formal statements from the witnesses to just a few minutes, according to those who have been invited to testify. (Newsday)
History of 9/11 in Cultural Events - May 18, 2004
May 28, New York City will be obliterated onscreen for the first time since September 11. Trailers for Roland EmmerichĂ•s $100 millionĂplus environmental-disaster flick, The Day After Tomorrow, are already hyping the carnage: Ă’What you see is happening now,Ă“ a news announcer warns, as locals panic, and waves of water crash through city streets. Ă’Lower Manhattan is virtually inaccessible!Ă“ EmmerichĂ•s film has nothing to do with terrorismĂ‘the apocalyptic gimmick here is global warmingĂ‘but its marketing nod to September 11 is unmistakable. A time line of cultural responses to terror in the post-9/11 era: (New York Magazine)
9/11 Evacuation Instructions Will Be an Issue at Commission Hearings - May 17, 2004
As part of its hearings this week in New York, the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks will report on one of the most contentious issues of that morning: the contradictory evacuation instructions given in the World Trade Center, particularly public-address announcements made by an official in the south tower urging tenants to stay in the building even though fire was raging in the other tower. (New York Times)
Police Commissioners Offer Different Perspectives to Panel - May 17, 2004
When the city's top cop and his predecessor testify tomorrow before the Sept. 11 commission, they will bring two very different perspectives on the NYPD's role in a terror-plagued world. (New York Daily News)
City Stages Anti-Terror Drill Downtown - May 17, 2004
More than 1,000 emergency workers descended on the Bowling Green subway station before dawn yesterday as two explosions ripped through the tunnel. In this staged nightmare, 40 people were killed and 170 injured - triggering a coordinated response from 20 city, state and federal agencies. (New York Daily News)
Sanitation Workers Seek Compensation for 9/11 Health Problems - May 17, 2004
In pending lawsuits filed in federal and state courts, 57 sanitation workers at Fresh Kills claim that city officials misled or did not inform them about the dangers of the World Trade Center dust and failed to train them and provide respirators for as long as two months. Their throats, lungs and stomachs, they said, were coated with the corrosive dust, causing mild to severe respiratory discomfort, such as asthma and persistent heartburn, and exposed them to potential future illness. Because they did not work at Ground Zero, the men could not qualify for the federal Victim Compensation Fund. (Newsday)
Will Bloomberg Testify at 9/11 Commission? - May 17, 2004
The chances that Mayor Michael Bloomberg will testify before the panel investigating the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks this week are "about 50-50," according to an official familiar with the situation. Bloomberg, who testified before the panel more than a year ago, is considering a reprise at the prompting of commission member former Democratic Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey. (Newsday)
Families Brace For Difficult Days at Commission Hearings - May 17, 2004
Families who have never stopped imagining their loved ones' last moments inside the burning World Trade Center are preparing to watch officials reconstruct that horrific day when the Sept. 11 commission comes to Manhattan this week. The panel will convene just miles from ground zero on Tuesday to examine the emergency response to the disaster, and officials are warning families that video footage of the attack and collapse of the towers will accompany detailed witness testimony. (Associated Press)
Mayor Assails Critics of Emergency Response Plan - May 17, 2004
Michael R. Bloomberg yesterday attacked critics who say his new plan to coordinate the city's response to emergencies does not go far enough to prevent squabbling and confusion between the Police and Fire Departments. "I don't know what they do for a living, but they should probably go back to whatever they do," Mr. Bloomberg said in his first public remarks since the new incident command system was announced Friday. (New York Times)
9/11 Commission Questions Fire Chief on Radio Use During Attacks - May 16, 2004
Questions about the radio system used by the Fire Department during the World Trade Center terror attacks are being raised anew by the 9/11 commission, which has grilled a hero FDNY chief whose brother died when the buildings crumbled. (New York Post)
Emergency Plan Will Likely Get Federal Funding - May 16, 2004
A federal official responsible for approving the city's plan for responding to emergencies said yesterday that, while he had not reviewed the plan in detail, he believed it would meet the standards required for federal funding to be granted. (Newsday)
Environmental Protection Agency Looks For 'Fingerprint' of Ground Zero Dust - May 16, 2004
Did the collapse of the World Trade Center produce dust with a particular imprint that distinguishes its origins beyond a doubt, and if so, what are its defining characteristics? That was one of the issues tackled during a May 12 conference call among experts charged with reviewing the Environmental Protection AgencyÕs response to the World Trade Center disaster. The panel held the two-hour telephone conference to prepare for its next public meeting, to be held on May 24 in Lower Manhattan. (Downtown Express)
A Park at Ground Zero: Architects' Ideas - May 16, 2004
The 1,776-foot-high Freedom Tower, which promises to become the tallest building in the world, is slated to begin construction this summer. But many of the other large office towers planned for the World Trade Center site may need to be scaled back; it is possible that they will not be built at all. So why not a park -- a grand urban park for downtown Manhattan? Earlier this spring, The New York Times Magazine asked several leading landscape-architecture firms to consider the question, and the proposals that are illustrated on the following pages offer a provocative variety of responses. (New York Times)
Giuliani's Testimony at 9/11 Commission Could Hurt Ties With Bush - May 16, 2004
More than two years after leaving office, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will testify before the Sept. 11 commission this week in an appearance that could put him in the awkward position of criticizing fellow Republicans in the Bush administration just as he is seeking a more prominent role in the party. Giuliani will probably be asked by the commissioners whether the city was aware President Bush had reviewed an intelligence briefing a month before the attacks that said terrorists might be casing buildings in New York. (Associated Press)
Ground Zero's Top Fundraising Post Remains Unfilled, Threatening Delays - May 15, 2004
After being turned down by several top business executives, Gov. George E. Pataki is struggling to find someone prominent to lead the campaign to raise as much as $600 million for a memorial and cultural buildings at the World Trade Center site. Mr. Pataki's inability so far to find a leader for the campaign has contributed to a delay in deciding which cultural organizations will occupy the site, these people said. (New York Times )
Mayor Announces Plan to Coordinate Agencies During Emergencies - May 15, 2004
Mayor Bloomberg announced a new set of protocols yesterday that seeks to define which agency assumes control at emergency situations. Called the Citywide Incident Management System, the plan was released just days before the 9/11 Commission is set to convene in New York, in part to explore how emergency responders coordinated their efforts after the Sept. 11 terror attack. (New York Daily News)
New Emergency Plan Favors Police Over Fire Department - May 15, 2004
The Police Department - not the Fire Department - will take charge of the response to terrorist attacks like 9/11 under a new emergency plan released yesterday by City Hall. (New York Post)
Critics Say Emergency Plan Doesn't Answer Toughest Questions - May 15, 2004
Bracing for next week's appearances before the Sept. 11 commission, the Bloomberg administration Friday outlined a command structure for disaster scenes that left critics still questioning who's in charge when. (Newsday )
Senator Clinton Tells New Doctors of Ground Zero Health Problems - May 15, 2004
About 35,000 people who worked at ground zero still face health problems from the dust and debris, but government is not offering enough help to those who risked their lives for others, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton told new doctors who graduated on Friday. (Associated Press)
9/11 Worker Meets Elementary School Pen Pal - May 15, 2004
Sgt. Maj. Mike Hughes returned to his cot after a long day of dealing with the debris from the terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center and found a small note and drawing sent to him by a little Kansas boy. "I picked it up, read it, looked at the drawing of the plane crashing into the trade center, and it just hit me," said Hughes, of Egg Harbor, N.J. "It was just a real nice note from a kid, and it really hit home. So I kept it with me for the entire seven weeks I was there." Hughes came face to face with the note's author, a fourth grader named Hunter Basye, Thursday when he and his wife, Joan, made a surprise visit to Basye's school. (Associated Press)
Council: MTA Dragging on Terror Plans - May 14, 2004
The MTA's counter-terrorism plans are unfolding too slowly, according to City Council members who say the pace jeopardizes safety. Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials testified in a council hearing Thursday that the agency plans to spend at least $200 million of $591 million in available security funds. But they could not say when they would spend the rest of the money, triggering criticism from council members. (Newsday)
Liberty Bond Extension Moves Through Congress - May 14, 2004
A five-year extension of Liberty Bonds for post-Sept. 11 construction in New York is headed to congressional negotiators after the Senate unanimously approved it as part of an international tax bill. The program to provide $8 billion in tax-exempt bonds, originally estimated to cost the government about $1.2 billion as part of more than $20 billion in federal aid to the city, is set to expire at the end of 2004. (Associated Press)
9/11 Commission Draft Report Faults Lack of Coordination Among Rescuers - May 14, 2004
Draft reports from the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks praise the bravery of New York's emergency responders while two of the largest buildings in the world were crumbling, but say their efforts were severely hampered by institutional problems, according to people who have seen some or all the findings. (New York Times)
Architects Compete to Design Church Destroyed on 9/11 - May 14, 2004
It is the smallest building planned at ground zero. But the architects who will compete to design the new St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church may face the biggest challenge. They will be asked by Archbishop Demetrios, the primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, for a design at once unmistakably ecclesiastical yet in harmony with the bold secular architecture around it, one that captures unearthly mystery in tangible dimensions and conveys a sense of something outside human experience. (New York Times)
Port Authority Asks Silverstein How HeÕll Rebuild - May 14, 2004
The owner of the World Trade Center site wants details from leaseholder Larry Silverstein on how he plans to pay to rebuild the site following a loss in a court case that had aimed to double his insurance payout. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is committed to working with Silverstein Properties ``to find out what their financial plan is for the rebuilding of the entire site,'' authority spokesman Steve Coleman said. (Associated Press)
Gang Members Charged With Terrorism Under New State Law - May 14, 2004
Five members of a Bronx gang of violent Mexican soccer enthusiasts have been charged with terrorism and other offenses under an anti-terror law that went into effect a week after 9/11, cops said yesterday. The five - members of the so-called St. James Boys - are accused of murder, manslaughter, weapons possession, assault and robbery, among other crimes. The gang members were the first suspects charged with terrorism under the state law, which went into effect Sept. 17, 2001. (New York Post)
Many Still Struggle To Get Workers' Compensation for 9/11 Ailments - May 13, 2004
Thousands of workers' compensation claims related to 9/11 have been filed, and many more, some people say, have gone unfiled because of a lack of faith in the system. To be sure, some workers were compensated without argument - for an arm that was broken or an ankle that was burned. Some recovered back wages after months of frustration and financial hardship. And some have not received any of what they believe they were owed. (New York Times)
9/11 Commission Wants to Hear From Bloomberg - May 13, 2004
Bob Kerrey, a member of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, said yesterday that New York has unique status as the only city in the country to be a repeat target of foreign terrorists and that the panel should hear from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg when it meets here next week. (New York Times)
Fire Union Head Wants to Testify At 9/11 Commission - May 13, 2004
The city's top fire union officials have asked to testify at 9/11 commission hearings next week, but the commission says the hearings are "reserved for people in authority." (New York Post )
9/11 Commission Prepares for Trip to New York - May 12, 2004
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is coming to New York next week with plans to provide a definitive account in words, sounds and pictures of what happened that day, a process that will tread on sensitive ground and unsettled history. (New York Times)
9/11 Commission Won't Hear From Rescue Workers - May 12, 2004
When the federal commission investigating the events of Sept. 11, 2001 meets here next week, it will not hear the voice of rank and file emergency workers who responded that day. The unions representing the city's firefighters and other emergency workers said they had not been invited to testify. A spokesman for the commission, however, said at least 50 members of the fire service had given statements to commission staff, and that staff had also reached out to the unions but had gotten no response. (Newsday)
City's Building Safety Legislation Stems From 9/11 - May 12, 2004
The City Council is expected to vote next week on the building safety legislation stemming from the city's technical inquiry into the World Trade Center collapses. Councilwoman Madeline Provenzano (D-Bronx), chairwoman of the housing and buildings committee, said the latest version of the bill, which requires high-rise building owners to install emergency signage, sprinklers and other safety measures, will pass committee and come to a full council vote next Wednesday. (Newsday)
Council Speaker Wants Volunteer Disaster Worker Program - May 11, 2004
Council Speaker Gifford Miller wants to enlist an army of City University students to help cops and firefighters in case of another disaster. "During a disaster, first responders may not be able to address every emergency in every neighborhood," Miller told a workshop on preparedness, held yesterday at one of CUNY's campuses, Baruch College in Manhattan. (New York Post)
First Lady Dedicates Garden To 9/11 Vicitms - May 11, 2004
First Lady Laura Bush yesterday dedicated a garden in Battery Park to victims of 9/11, invoking a beauty tip from a past First Lady. "Flowers in the city are like lipstick on a woman," said Bush, quoting Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of former President Lyndon Johnson and an avid horticulturist. "It just makes you look better to have a little color." (New York Daily News)
East River Tunnel May Crowd Out Other Transportation Projects - May 10, 2004
A proposed East River tunnel that would connect the AirTrain to lower Manhattan has raised concerns from transit advocates that funding will run out for two MTA projects already in the works. "The MTA has no extra money to give out," said Gene Russianoff, staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign. "With such limited resources, something's got to give." (New York Post)
Security Guards Attempt to Arrest Man For Photographing Building - May 10, 2004
Camera buff Ram Porat didn't think twice about snapping pictures of an Upper West Side housing complex - until he was surrounded by security guards with post-9/11 jitters who put him under "civilian arrest." Now Porat, 43, has filed a lawsuit against the Lincoln Towers complex and the city, saying his rights were violated by the guards who demanded he stop taking pictures and the cops who charged him with trespassing at their request. (New York Post)
Manhattan Wind Studied to Defend Against Chemical Attack - May 10, 2004
Researchers are reportedly planning to release a harmless gas in Manhattan to study how chemicals might disperse in the event of a terrorist attack. According to Newsday, a time and place have not been set, but the experiment could take place around Madison Square Garden and the Empire State Building. (NY1)
Ground Zero Environmental Impact Statement Still Lacking, Says Community Board - May 09, 2004
For all its 2,000 pages, a report on rebuilding the World Trade Center site did not go far enough in addressing specific public concerns, members of Community Board 1 said this week. In mid-April, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation released its final generic environmental impact statement on the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. The document was a revised version of a draft released in January, and in addition to repeating the expected impacts of the decade-long rebuilding effort it individually addressed some 671 comments submitted in response to the first draft. (Downtown Express)
9/11 Victim's Remains Will Go to Estranged Father - May 08, 2004
For nearly two years, the ex-wife of Sept. 11 victim Michael Trinidad has been battling in court with his eight sisters and brother over his remains. Now it appears that the precious few bones will not go to any of them - but instead to the father Trinidad barely knew. (New York Daily News)
Stock Exchange May Remove 9/11 Plaque Bearing Former Chief's Name - May 08, 2004
The New York Stocc Exchange may remove a plaque commemorating victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because it features disgraced former chairman Dick Grasso's name, sources close to the matter told The Associated Press on Friday. (Newsday)
MTA Failing on Antiterror Measures, Says Ex-Engineer - May 07, 2004
The MTA could be doing a "faster and cheaper" job of protecting the subway system from a terror attack, and has failed to focus on the system's most vulnerable spots, such as the East River tunnels, a former transit engineer said yesterday. (New York Post)
Giuliani: World Safer Than Before 9/11 - May 07, 2004
The world is a safer place than before the Sept. 11 attacks because the threat of terrorism is being dealt with head on, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Thursday. (Newsday)
In Rebuilding Update, Governor Backs New Tunnel Under East River - May 06, 2004
Governor George E. Pataki threw his political weight yesterday behind a plan to dig a new tunnel under the East River as part of a $6 billion rail link from downtown to Kennedy Airport and points east along the Long Island Rail Road. Mr. Pataki said the rail link would offer travelers a "one-seat ride to their terminal at J.F.K. in just 36 minutes" from Lower Manhattan. As an economic and political matter, the link would be even more important as the downtown gateway for up to 100,000 Long Island commuters, greatly expanding the capacity of businesses in the financial district to attract suburban workers who now live at least two train rides away. (New York Times)
Freedom Tower Draws First Tenants - May 06, 2004
The Freedom Tower got a vote of confidence yesterday from a pair of young entrepreneurs who plan to be the building's first private-sector tenants. Ronn Torossian and Adam Brecht committed to rent a 35,000-square-foot floor for their midtown firm 5W Public Relations at the 1,776-foot skyscraper at Ground Zero. "What happened on 9/11 was a terrible thing," Torossian, 29, told the Daily News. "We want to stand up and say we're not afraid of terrorists." (New York Daily News)
Freedom Tower Will Break Ground on July 4 - May 06, 2004
Groundbreaking for the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower - the signature new building at Ground Zero - will take place on the Fourth of July, Gov. Pataki said yesterday. (New York Daily News)
Giuliani, Kerrey, and the 9/11 Commission in New York - May 06, 2004
The real high drama when the 9/11 Commission comes to New York will be a low-key confrontation between two of New YorkÕs most compelling, albeit nonpracticing, politicians, Bob Kerrey and Rudy Giuliani. (New York Magazine)
Miller Blasts Mayor for Personal Anti-Missle System - May 06, 2004
Council Speaker Gifford Miller charged yesterday that Mayor Bloomberg is sending a mixed message by reportedly equipping his corporate jets with a missile defense system while insisting everyone is safe. "This is a mayor who tells New Yorkers to go about their business," said Miller, who is considering a mayoral run in 2005. "But not every New Yorker can go about their business with a $5 million anti-missile system. If he knows something we don't, he should tell us before we book our next flight," Miller added. (New York Post )
Jury Deals Another Blow to Silverstein in Ground Zero Insurance Case - May 04, 2004
A federal jury in Manhattan said yesterday that the single largest insurer at the World Trade Center was limited to a single payout of $877 million, not the double payment sought by the developer Larry A. Silverstein in his long-running legal battle over the downtown complex. It was another blow to Mr. Silverstein's 29-month campaign to collect $7.1 billion for rebuilding the trade center site and one that could ultimately force him to settle with 10 remaining insurance companies. Last week, the jury ruled that eight of the two dozen insurers at the trade center were not liable for double payments. (New York Times)
Governor Considers Two Options for Downtown/Long Island Rail Link - May 04, 2004
Searching for a rail link from Lower Manhattan to Kennedy Airport and Long Island, the Pataki administration is poised to choose between building a new tunnel or using the existing Montague Street tunnel on the M, N and R subway lines. The cost of a Long Island-Lower Manhattan link using the Montague Street tunnel has been put by officials and business executives at $5 billion to $5.5 billion. A new tunnel might add $1 billion to the cost. (New York Times)
New Report Examines Health Effects of 9/11 - May 04, 2004
The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center caused ``the largest acute environmental disaster that ever has befallen New York City'' and could lead to long-term health problems in rescue workers and city residents, according to a new report. The report -- an overview of work by six research centers that have studied health effects of the attacks -- found that dust from ground zero had caused a rise in cases of asthma and severe cough, particularly among firefighters and other rescue workers. In one study of 183 cleanup workers, 33 percent were found to have new-onset cough, 18 percent had a wheeze and 24 percent experienced phlegm production, the report said. (Associated Press)
Anti-Muslim Bias Reports Rise - May 04, 2004
In New York, the anti-Muslim atmosphere has not dissipated since a spike after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. In New York state, the number of harrassment or profiling incidents went from 48 in 2002 to 191 in 2003, a 296 percent increase, according to a report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations Research Center, Unpatriotic Acts. Most of those took place in the city. 1,019 incidents were reported nationally. (Newsday )
Two Men Detained After 9/11 Sue Justice Department For Abuse - May 03, 2004
In a federal lawsuit to be filed today, two immigrants who were detained after 9/11 charge that they were abused in the harsh maximum-security unit of a federal detention center in Brooklyn - the one cited by the Justice Department's inspector general last year for widespread physical abuse of its detainees. The accusations are similar to those now being made against military officers guarding prisoners in Iraq. (New York Times)
Ground Zero Priest Retires - May 02, 2004
With memories both fond and profound of how his little chapel came to be shrine, Rev. Dr. Daniel Matthews, rector of St. Paul's Chapel, is retiring today after 17 years. His last act as the rector of Trinity Church on Wall St., to which St. Paul's belongs, will be to cut the ribbon on a new exhibit at St. Paul's called, "Unwavering Spirit," which chronicles the grief and love shared inside its walls after Sept. 11. (New York Daily News)
Next Anti-Terror Drill Planned For Subways - May 02, 2004
The city's next high-profile disaster drill will simulate a subway incident in lower Manhattan, sources said. The mock mishap is planned in and around the Bowling Green station for early on May 16, a Sunday, when mass transit use is relatively sparse. (Newsday )
Over 33,000 Sign Up For 9/11 Health Registry - May 02, 2004
The World Trade Center Health Registry has now enrolled more than 33,000 people who may have inhaled harmful debris following the collapse of the twin towers. Health officials want even more to sign up, and they are making a special appeal for parents of children who attended school below Canal Street to register. Residents below Canal Street, rescue and recovery workers and anyone who was south of Chambers Street on September 11, 2001, are also encouraged to sign up. (NY1)
St. Paul's Chapel To Open Lasting Exhibit Dedicated to 9/11 - May 01, 2004
Just as it comforted rescue workers after Sept. 11, 2001, St. PaulÕs Chapel now brings solace to those who want to remember and commemorate the terror attack that happened in its backyard. On May 3, the chapel will unveil ÒUnwavering Spirit: Hope and Healing at Ground Zero,Ó an exhibit of artifacts that highlight the rescue and recovery efforts. (Downtown Express)
High School Damaged On 9/11 Moves Towards Rehabilitation - May 01, 2004
Nearly three years after 9/11, the black shroud will soon be lifted from one of the few Downtown buildings still undergoing structural rehabilitation following the World Trade Center collapse. The 14-story building at 90 Trinity Place, home to the High School for Leadership and Public Service, remains covered with scaffolding and black netting as workers reinstall massive granite panels on its facade. (Downtown Express)
Assembly Speaker Weighs In On Downtown Transportation Projects - May 01, 2004
The scene has been fairly typical over the last year. The governor or mayor or both call a press conference to make a big announcement about development in Lower Manhattan or the Far West Side. It usually hinges on a transportation investment, but the person who often is not there for the ceremony is Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. It is a curious omission particularly since Silver, AlbanyÕs most powerful Democrat, represents Downtown and as Assembly speaker, he has effective veto power over all Metropolitan Transportation Authority capital projects. (Downtown Express)
Over One Third of 9/11 Injury Claims Rejected - May 01, 2004
More than a third of the injury claims to the government's Sept. 11 victim compensation fund have been turned down, mainly for lack of medical proof or because ailments had cleared up. The fund has received 4,419 injury claims, significantly more than administrators expected when the application period ended late last year. Fund officials said 1,595 have been rejected. (Associated Press)
Rebuilding Officials Say Insurance Verdict Won't Limit Development - May 01, 2004
A court decision may have left World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein billions short of the cash he needs to redevelop Ground Zero, but officials said yesterday plans will move along - with or without him. (New York Daily News)
World Trade Center Insurance Verdict May Limit Site's Development - May 01, 2004
Though it is neither their purpose nor their charge, the jurors in the insurance case involving Larry A. Silverstein, the commercial leaseholder at the World Trade Center site, may be reshaping the future of downtown. By significantly limiting the insurance proceeds to Mr. Silverstein, and therefore his construction financing, they have made it more likely that only one skyscraper, the Freedom Tower, will rise at ground zero in the foreseeable future. (New York Times)