June 2002

Towers' Land to Remain a Memorial, Pataki Says - Jun 30, 2002
Gov. George E. Pataki vowed yesterday at a memorial ceremony for Sept. 11 victims that there would be no commercial development on the land where the twin towers stood. (New York Times)

Relatives Channel Grief into Activism - Jun 30, 2002
Gov. Pataki's promise yesterday that no one will build on the footprint of the Twin Towers is in part the fruits of dogged work by kin of 9/11 victims who have risen to lead family groups to become a powerful force in the city and nation. (New York Post)

City Liason to Take Smaller Role - Jun 30, 2002
Christy Ferer, Mayor Bloomberg's liaison with the 9/11 victims' relatives, says she's likely to start easing out of her current role after the first anniversary of the terror attacks. Her husband, Port Authority head Neil Levin, was killed in the World Trade Center tragedy. Ferer said her work as Bloomberg's liaison has been a "distraction" from grieving, and that there will come a time when she decides to stop. (New York Post)

Fire Chief Questions Closing of Downtown Streets - Jun 30, 2002
Battalion Chief William P. Blaich, who oversees Lower Manhattan for the Fire Department, has long questioned the closing of downtown streets in the name of security. Early last year, the federal General Services Administration shut part of Duane Street to outside traffic. Last week, Chief Blaich said he learned of informal plans to close a similar part of Reade Street, which runs along the plaza's southern edge and absorbs heavy traffic from the Brooklyn Bridge. (New York Times)

FEMA Expands Aid - Jun 29, 2002
After months of criticism about its missteps and delays in distributing financial help to New Yorkers affected by the Sept. 11 terror attack, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced yesterday that it was formally changing its eligibility criteria to allow aid to thousands more people who suffered economic hardship as a result of the disaster. (New York Times)

Schumer Proposes Lower Manhattan Park - Jun 29, 2002
Senator Charles E. Schumer called yesterday for a waterfront park to be built with some of the money set aside by the federal government for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan. He proposed an apron of parkland that would stretch from Canal Street on the West Side to Pier 42 on the East Side, where it would meet East River Park. (New York Times)

Relatives of Sept. 11 Victims Gather to Remember Civillian Heroes - Jun 29, 2002
Relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks paid tribute Saturday to the unheralded acts of heroism performed by unknown numbers of civilians who helped evacuate the World Trade Center. Their stories, though largely overshadowed by the more publicized deeds of firefighters and police officers, were remembered by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Gov. George Pataki and others in a memorial service in midtown Manhattan. (Newsday)

Even After 9/11, New York Attracts Immigrants from Puebla - Jun 29, 2002
The Immigration and Naturalization Service credits heightened security and screening, along with the fear factor, for the nearly 20 percent decline in immigration to the United States since Sept. 11. Little of that fear seems to have pervaded Puebla and its dusty yet colorful streets. This central Mexican state and its denizens, known as Poblanos, share a special relationship with New York City. An estimated half of the 500,000 Mexicans living in the New York metropolitan area trace their roots to Puebla. (New York Times)

Business Poor for Chinatown Jewlers - Jun 29, 2002
Nine months after the World Trade Center attack, Chinatown is bustling with tourists and shoppers scraping past each other on narrow sidewalks. But Chinatown's 250 jewelers are slowly suffocating. Fattened by the boom economy of the late 1990's, the industry has been hit by a triple blow: the World Trade Center attack slashed the number of financial workers and foreign tourists; the limp economy reduced consumer spending on luxury goods; and the closing of the Grand Street station cut off the closest subway stop. (New York Times)

International Students Under Close Watch - Jun 29, 2002
Since Sept. 11, the nation's estimated 1 million international students face increased scrutiny. New York City colleges and universities boast the largest number of international students -- more than 15,000. The biggest change, announced last month, is the implementation of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or Sevis. Under the system, the government forces schools to monitor students from the day they arrive in the United States. (Newsday)

Arts Organizer Said to Be Choice to Oversee 9/11 Memorial Effort - Jun 28, 2002
Moving to fill what will be one of the most scrutinized jobs in the rebuilding of downtown, the agency in charge of the effort is preparing to appoint a Merrill Lynch executive who is a longtime organizer of downtown cultural events to oversee the creation of a memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 attack, according to officials involved in the effort. (New York Times)

Families Show Vision for Large Memorial - Jun 28, 2002
Victims' families advising the developers of the World Trade Center site unveiled their vision for a large memorial complex yesterday. They called for an indoor/outdoor complex that encompasses roughly 9 acres, about half the available land. (New York Daily News)

Stuyvesant HS Wins Fight for Air Cleanup - Jun 28, 2002
Parents of students at Stuyvesant High School in lower Manhattan have won the latest skirmish in their battle to force the Board of Education to clean the school's ventilators. Parents had threatened to sue the board if officials did not agree to do a cleanup by the close of business Monday. (New York Daily News)

Port Authority Eyes Record $1B Construction Tab - Jun 28, 2002
As the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans to take back control of the World Trade Center site early next month, agency officials say they expect to award or spend a record $1 billion in construction projects around the region this year. Work at Ground Zero had a large role in increasing the authority's planned construction spending by $100 million more than originally projected for this year, Lombardi told the Port Authority board yesterday. (Newsday)

Small Businesses Benefiting Most Downtown, Report Says - Jun 27, 2002
More than nine months after the attack on the World Trade Center, economic recovery grants totaling $292 million have been made to thousands of lower Manhattan businesses. 75 percent of the economic aid distributed so far has gone to some 11,700 small businesses that employ an average of 10 people. (Independent Budget Office)

Struggling to Sort Out 9/11 Aid to Foreigners - Jun 27, 2002
When Congress approved the multibillion-dollar Victim Compensation Fund in the weeks after the terror attack, the legislation provided that noncitizens, even illegal immigrants, would be entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars in government awards. Now, with the first checks set to be cut soon, it has become increasingly clear that determining who is entitled to what is, in reality, a baffling puzzle complicated by differing national laws, unfamiliar ethnic customs and extraordinarily complex family relationships from Mexico to the Middle East. (New York Times)

Liberty St. Opens Giving Ground Zero View - Jun 27, 2002
The city has quietly reopened Liberty Street west of Greenwich Street to pedestrians. Until August, when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey begins to construct a more durable ÒViewing WallÓ to enclose the 16-acre site during construction, a growing number of visitors will view the site through the chain-link fence on Liberty Street. (Newsday)

Post-Sept. 11 Exodus Has Not Happened - Jun 27, 2002
Though a post-Sept. 11 exodus from New York was predicted, statistics do not show that New Yorkers have left the city. Most New Yorkers are learning to live with anxiety in a city that experts agree will always be high on the list of terrorist targets. The statistics show that the real estate market, buoyed in part by low interest rates, is as brisk as ever. (New York Times)

A Patriotic Theme Park Near Ground Zero? - Jun 27, 2002
Developers are seeking the city's help in creating a multimedia tourist attraction for the edge of Ground Zero that would be called "America's Hall of Fame." At the proposed $30 million facility, an animatronic Abe Lincoln would greet tourists who pay $19.50 to stroll through a series of exhibits dedicated to great Americans, including athletes, scientists, performers, politicians and the heroes of Sept. 11, according to a funding proposal. (New York Post)

Ground Zero Now Top Tourist Attraction - Jun 26, 2002
Tourism officials estimated that the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack has attracted more than a million out-of-town visitors since January. And perhaps more striking is that the fallen trade center site has done what it could not do when standing: turn the financial district into one of the city's top attractions. (New York Times)

The Brooklyn Jail Where Immigrants Disappear - Jun 26, 2002
Untold numbers of Arabs and South Asians have been brought to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a high-security federal prison in Sunset Park. More post-September 11 detainees have been jailed in county facilities in New Jersey, but critics say the Metropolitan Detention Center houses some of the worst constitutional and human rights violations by the federal government in these cases. (Village Voice)

Dog Statues Coming to City - Jun 26, 2002
About 300 life-size German shepherd sculptures made of fiberglass, intended to honor the hundreds of search-and-rescue teams that scoured the rubble of the World Trade Center after Sept. 11, will be placed mainly in front of firehouses, police precincts and parks throughout the city from mid-August through November. (New York Daily News)

Mayor Now Not Sure What Size of Memorial Should Be - Jun 26, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg, under increasing fire from 9/11 families, yesterday partly detracted his suggestion that a smaller memorial at the World Trade Center site might be better than a larger one. (New York Post)

Downtown Arts Groups In Danger Of Folding - Jun 25, 2002
Small and midsize arts institutions around the World Trade Center site are struggling and in danger of folding if they don't get more disaster funding, a City Hall report charged yesterday. Most of the cultural groups have relied on aid from private charities because government funding was cut dramatically after Sept. 11. Donations have not been enough to make up for money lost, the report says. (New York Daily News)

Last Recovery Crew Leaves Ground Zero - Jun 25, 2002
The city and the nation at large marked the end of the recovery effort at ground zero nearly a month ago. But it was only yesterday, as a crew of four firefighters carefully supervised the collection of the last bags of possible human remains from a bank building next door to the site of the towers, that the job was complete. (New York Times)

Feds Prepare WTC Probe - Jun 25, 2002
A federal agency preparing to investigate the Twin Towers collapse fielded a wide range of technical suggestions as well as criticism from fire safety experts, victims' relatives and experts from across the country yesterday. (Newsday)

Report Shows Ground Zero Visions - Jun 25, 2002
A series of site plans drawn up by the civic group New York New Visions provides a preview of what New Yorkers may see next month when public officials unveil development options for Ground Zero (New York Post)

Giuliani Supports 'Grand' Memorial - Jun 25, 2002
Families of Sept. 11 victims met with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani last night and won his support for a large memorial that could include much of the World Trade Center site. (New York Daily News)

U.S. Law Restricts Money for Rebuilding Downtown - Jun 24, 2002
The Stafford Act, which governs the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was not written for terrorist attacks. FEMA money can be used to rebuild homes, pay for rescuers' overtime and to clear debris, but to protect the public's dollars, it can't build a new transportation hub, pay for operational expenses in making up lost public school time and clear New York City of its $650-million-plus loss in tax revenues. (Newsday)

Critics: 9/11 Housing Relief Is Limited - Jun 24, 2002
Thousands left jobless after Sept. 11 have been unfairly denied government housing assistance because of a poorly run Federal Emergency Management Agency program, elected leaders and community organizers said yesterday. (Newsday)

Lawmaker: NYC Needs $10B for Security - Jun 24, 2002
A Queens congressman yesterday said the city needs at least $10 billion from the federal government to gird itself against possible terrorist attacks. The Democratic congressman, Joseph Crowley, made the estimate in a report detailing the city's anti-terrorism requirements. He said the Bush administration's plan falls short of the mark. (Newsday)

Victims' Kin to Speak at 9/11 Safety Hearing - Jun 24, 2002
Fire safety experts, engineers and families of victims killed in the World Trade Center will call today for stricter building and fire codes and better evacuation procedures in high-rises at a day-long hearing on the collapse of the twin towers sponsored by the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology. (New York Daily News)

Families Fret as Charities Hold a Billion Dollars in 9/11 Aid - Jun 23, 2002
Nine months after the terrorist attacks, in often small but intensely personal ways, donors and recipients alike continue to experience enormous frustration over the administration of the outpouring of private charity provoked by the death and damage of Sept. 11. (New York Times)

Small Businesses Hurt by Attack Have Mixed Reactions on Aid - Jun 23, 2002
Many owners of small businesses in Lower Manhattan have complained bitterly about what they call the paltry packages of government aid for businesses struggling to stay alive since the Sept. 11 attack, and about application processes they find onerous and filled with delays. But there are indeed satisfied customers, who hope the money will keep them going long enough for them to get on their feet. (New York Times)

Residents Protest PATH Train Plans - Jun 23, 2002
A tense showdown between Gov. Pataki and West Village residents over a plan to build two new PATH-station exits on historic Christopher Street is coming to a head. The Port Authority, which runs the PATH rail line between New Jersey and Manhattan, says second stairways at the Christopher Street and Ninth Street stops, both of which at present have only one exit, are needed to evacuate passengers more quickly in case of fire or terrorist attack. Many residents have joined the fight against the $29 million project, which they say will forever change the neighborhood. (New York Post)

Mayor Reaches Out to Families - Jun 23, 2002
City Hall will send a letter to relatives of every World Trade Center victim seeking their thoughts about the first Sept. 11 anniversary. Christy Ferer, the mayor's primary liaison to the families, has come under fire with several relatives who believe she has not expressed their views strongly enough (New York Post)

9/11 Memorial on Agenda when Giuliani, Families Meet - Jun 23, 2002
Some relatives of Sept. 11 victims will meet with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani tomorrow to discuss several matters, including a memorial at the World Trade Center site. While the coalition families had met with Giuliani nearly every week when he was mayor, they say they haven't met with Bloomberg for at least two months. (New York Daily News)

New York City History Museum Proposed for Downtown - Jun 23, 2002
New York City historians have proposed to erect a museum dedicated to the city's 400-year history that would complement a memorial and provide context to Sept. 11. The proposal has generated interest from city officials, but it faces several obstacles. (New York Times)

Under Fire after 9/11, I.N.S. Presents Database to Track Foreign Students - Jun 22, 2002
Immigration officials this month began presenting to New York universities and colleges a new system the federal government will use to track foreign students, in the hope that smaller technical institutes will begin using it as early as next month and that any flaws can be fixed before its use becomes compulsory seven months from now. The computerized system, if it is up and running on schedule, would embody the most comprehensive change since Sept. 11 to the way the nation manages its millions of foreign visitors. (New York Times)

Ex-fireman Charged with Looting WTC - Jun 22, 2002
A former New York City firefighter was charged with stealing personal items from the World Trade Center while he volunteered in the recovery effort, police said. (New York Post)

Air Quality a Major Concern Downtown - Jun 21, 2002
Most lower Manhattanites are more fearful about their air quality after the Sept. 11 attacks than about another terror strike, a new poll shows. Most residents also report more health problems since Sept. 11 and many say they're worried about getting cancer or asthma and other respiratory problems because of the attacks and massive fires. (New York Post)

Donations for Sept. 11 Biggest Response Ever for Catastrophe - Jun 21, 2002
Donations related to Sept. 11 totaled $1.9 billion - nearly 1 percent of all charitable giving in 2001, according to a new study yesterday. (New York Post)

Beams of Light May be Back for Sept. 11 Observance - Jun 21, 2002
The sponsors of the popular "Tribute in Light" memorial hope to bring it back for the one-year observance of Sept. 11 and are seeking support from the victims' relatives. (New York Post)

Cops Getting Help for 9/11 Stress - Jun 21, 2002
So far, nearly 500 police officers, primarily first responders to the World Trade Center attacks and Emergency Service Unit officers who spent months digging at Ground Zero, have used the police department's counseling program (New York Daily News)

NYPD Requests Terror Bunker - Jun 21, 2002
The Police Department has requested $270 million from the Bloomberg administration to build a high-tech underground "bunker" in case of another terrorist attack. (New York Post)

Housing Seen in WTC Plans - Jun 20, 2002
Apartment buildings may be included in redevelopment plans for Lower Manhattan. The Port Authority, which owns the Trade Center parcel, cannot legally build housing. But that would not prevent buildings around the Ground Zero area from being converted into apartments, officials said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Rebuilding May Expand Beyond Site - Jun 20, 2002
The agencies overseeing the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site have begun to look beyond the 16 acres where the twin towers stood for locations for some of the office and retail space that was lost at the site, officials said yesterday. The additional land might be needed because as much as half of the site would probably be used for a memorial to victims of the attack, and any new office buildings there would probably be no taller than 60 stories, said Lou Tomson, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. (New York Times)

Police on High Alert for Cop and Ambulance Car Bombs - Jun 20, 2002
Police sources told the Post that they are on the lookout for official vehicles, such as police cars, ambulances or a firetruck that could be used to deliver bombs. Recent attempts to purchase a replica ambulance in New Jersey may have fueled the alert. (New York Post)

15 Are Accused of Defrauding Sept. 11 Charities - Jun 20, 2002
At a news conference, the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, announced that 15 people had been charged in the latest wave of arrests in the investigation into theft from charities and government agencies that help people who suffered losses in the Sept. 11 attack (New York Times)

Some Neighbors Seek Greater Voice on Plans for Sept. 11 Memorial - Jun 19, 2002
Downtown residents and civic groups say they are worried that the early planning for a memorial is being left behind or closed to public input. Meanwhile, the official rebuilding effort is hurtling toward a master plan for the site. Downtown residents and civic groups say they are worried that the early planning for a memorial is being left behind or closed to public input. (New York Times)

Plan to Bring Big Accounting Firm Downtown Appears Dead - Jun 19, 2002
KPMG, the third-largest accounting firm in the world, will not move its headquarters from Midtown to Lower Manhattan near Ground Zero as planned. At the last minute, city officials and real estate brokers say, the deal ran afoul of competing factions at Lehman Brothers, the investment bank that was negotiating to lease 450,000 square feet to KPMG. The space was in 3 World Financial Center, the tower just across from the World Trade Center site that Lehman owns in partnership with American Express. (New York Times)

Appeals Panel Upholds Ruling for Open Court for 9/11 Detainees - Jun 19, 2002
A federal appeals panel refused today to block a judge's order that the Immigration and Naturalization Service hold open deportation hearings for so-called special-interest cases involving detainees held after Sept. 11. (New York Times)

City Working to Stop WTC Rat Problem - Jun 19, 2002
City officials said yesterday they're doing their best to battle the rodents that have come to the Ground Zero area attracted by the demolition, debris, broken sidewalks and busted pipes. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the city sent exterminators and set bait traps at more than 1,100 spots around Ground Zero and the Financial District. However, rat sightings are still common in the area (New York Daily News)

Flushing Cemetery Dedicates WTC Memorial - Jun 18, 2002
To help preserve the memory of those who perished in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, Flushing Cemetery has dedicated a new memorial. The World Trade Center Memorial features a 6 1/2-foot-tall granite slab depicting the twin towers. On either side of the slab is a granite block, the left block dedicated to the victims and the right to those involved in the rescue efforts. (New York Daily News)

Bloomberg Liaison's Comments Upset Some 9/11 Victims' Kin - Jun 18, 2002
The quarrel between Michael R. Bloomberg and some of the families of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorism has now extended to involve the mayor's liaison to those families. (New York Times)

Thefts Hurt WTC-area Shops - Jun 17, 2002
The issue of theft around Ground Zero lingers more than nine months later, this time as part of claims by small business owners for compensation from their insurance companies, the government or their landlords. (Newsday)

Lure of Millions Fuels 9/11 Families' Feuding - Jun 17, 2002
Now, as families confront the task of determining who is entitled to what in the estates of the Sept. 11 victims, conflicts small and large are breaking out, compounding the sadness, heartache and anger for already badly damaged families. Nowhere are these familial fractures more evident than in the workings of the federal government's Victim Compensation Fund, a multibillion-dollar program intended to give victims' heirs enough money to make them secure (New York Times)

Paramedics Families to Get 9/11 Death Benefits - Jun 17, 2002
The widows of the only two city EMS paramedics to die in the World Trade Center attacks are poised to receive death benefits that until now had been available only to firefighters' families. The State Assembly today is expected to give final passage to a bill that would mean $50,000 a year each to the widows. (New York Post)

No Remains Found Yet in Bank - Jun 16, 2002
Clad in Tyvex jumpsuits and heavy-duty respirators, recovery workers spent their second day searching for human remains inside the controversial Deutsche Bank building on Liberty Street yesterday. Firefighters, who expect to complete an initial sweep by tomorrow, said they had worked their way down to the 12th floor, but so far had found nothing. (New York Post)

Grieving Dads Go it Alone After Sept. 11 - Jun 16, 2002
More than 80 men from the metropolitan area who lost a wife or girlfriend with whom they had been raising young children, according to a Newsday analysis of those lost in the World Trade Center attack. The stories of mothers widowed by the attack, who were far more numerous, have been widely told. Less has been said about the emotional and domestic upheaval of the men whose lives also were abruptly dislocated. (Newsday)

Suburbs Show How Much 9/11 Hurt New York City - Jun 16, 2002
While New York City has suffered a high degree of unemployment after Sept. 11, Westchester, Rockland and especially Long Island have been gaining jobs. This tends to suggest that the crater in New York City's economy was, indeed, caused by terrorists. (New York Times)

Mayor Announces Website for Memorial Input - Jun 15, 2002
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the city has set up a Web site, voice-mail system and mailbox to collect suggestions for the official event to honor the one-year observance of the Sept. 11 attacks. (New York Post)

City and Bank Agree on Plan for 9/11 Debris - Jun 15, 2002
The search for human remains is under way at the last large building in the World Trade Center area that needs to be examined, city officials said yesterday after reaching an agreement with Deutsche Bank detailing how the city will sift through and remove debris from the bank's 130 Liberty Street building. (New York Times)

Bloomberg's Fragile Rapport With the Families of Sept. 11 - Jun 15, 2002
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been repeatedly assailed as being insensitive to families of Sept. 11 victims. At the same time, aides to the mayor have become increasingly angry with the media coverage of Mr. Bloomberg's run-ins with the families, suggesting that the same few people seem to be quoted as representing thousands (New York Times)

Many Criticize FEMA's Pace on Aid - Jun 14, 2002
Six weeks after the Federal Emergency Management Agency promised to re-evaluate more than 7,000 applications for disaster aid that it conceded might have been improperly rejected in the months after Sept. 11, the agency said today that it had granted 85 additional awards. This performance has infuriated members of New York's Congressional delegation, some of whom accuse FEMA of stalling the review process and simply repeating its mistakes at a time when the aid is most vital. (New York Times)

High Concentrations of Lead Found at Stuyvesant High - Jun 14, 2002
Stuyvesant High School's ventilation system has captured concentrations of lead, believed to be from the World Trade Center collapse, that are 30 times higher than acceptable federal limits, recent Board of Education tests found. (New York Post)

Giuliani Calls for a 'Grand' Memorial, Clashes with Bloomberg - Jun 14, 2002
A day after Mayor Bloomberg upset families of Sept. 11 victims by saying the final World Trade Center tribute should not be so big that it feels like a "cemetery," former Mayor Rudy Giuliani called again for a "grand, soaring memorial." Giuliani avoided criticizing Bloomberg. But he was passionate about his vision for a memorial. (New York Daily News)

At Landfill, World Trade Center Work Winds Down - Jun 14, 2002
Two weeks after the Ground Zero recovery effort was declared over, the sifting of debris at the Fresh Kills landfill continues. But here, too, the process is near complete. Barges once hauled as much as 18,000 tons of warped steel and other World Trade Center debris daily, but deliveries have now slowed to a trickle. The site could shut down in as little as four to six weeks. (Newsday)

9/11 Paramedics Seek Counseling - Jun 13, 2002
After two suicides by paramedics who worked extensively at Ground Zero, the cityÕs paramedics union called on the Fire Department yesterday to implement mandatory counseling for those who worked at Ground Zero (Newsday)

At Tower Site Vast Top Seen As Memorial - Jun 13, 2002
For months now, Larry Silverstein and his house architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, have been quietly drafting plans for a massive office building on the World Trade Center site that would equal the former Twin Towers in height, but with one significant difference: The top would be an uninhabited "memorial" structure that would fade into the clouds, suggesting a height beyond conventional measure. (New York Observer)

Downtown Transportation Hub Winning Support - Jun 13, 2002
Construction of a lower Manhattan transit hub and an expanded South Ferry subway station have risen to the top of a list of downtown transportation projects vying for $1.8 billion in federal aid. (New York Daily News)

Mayor: Memorial's Size a Concern - Jun 13, 2002
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday that the size of the memorial to honor victims of the World Trade Center attack should not overshadow the needs of downtown residents and businesses. The mayor's spokesperson later said that his comments were in response to concerns expressed to him by Battery Park residents (Newsday)

Suburbs Show How Much 9/11 Hurt New York City - Jun 12, 2002
While New York City has suffered a high degree of unemployment after Sept. 11, Westchester, Rockland and especially Long Island have been gaining jobs. This tends to suggest that the crater in New York City's economy was, indeed, caused by terrorists. (New York Times)

Group Offering Grants for 9/11 Remembrance - Jun 12, 2002
Neighborhood organizations planning to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks are eligible for up to $500 each, a community group announced yesterday. The Citizens Committee for New York City Ñ an umbrella group for more than 12,000 grass-roots organizations in all five boroughs Ñ has begun accepting applications for its Sept. 11 Remember and Renew grant. (New York Daily News)

WTC Planners Eye Tourism - Jun 12, 2002
A lead architect hired by redevelopment officials to reimagine the World Trade Center site said yesterday his firm is not looking at lower Manhattan solely as a financial hub. Tourism will play a "tremendous force" in the planning, said John Belle, a partner with architects Beyer Blinder Belle. He noted that about 10 million people have come to Ground Zero since Sept. 11. (New York Daily News)

Sept. 11 Relatives Want Commission - Jun 12, 2002
Clutching photos of loved ones lost, nearly 100 parents, siblings, children and other relatives of Sept. 11 victims gathered Tuesday outside the Capitol to urge an independent investigation into the terrorist attacks. The rally took place as the House and Senate intelligence committees were meeting behind closed doors to look into lapses in intelligence-sharing by U.S. officials before Sept. 11. Supporters of an independent commission said that inquiry is not enough. (Newsday)

Traffic Likely in WTC Rebuild - Jun 12, 2002
The head of the rebuilding effort yesterday sketched out the most "likely" layout for the World Trade Center site. Lower Manhattan Development Corp. chairman John Whitehead said the land will probably be cut into quadrants by two heavily trafficked vehicular streets with office towers rising above them. (New York Post)

Rebuilding the Winter Garden - Jun 12, 2002
Marble craftsmen are working in the first building construction at the World Trade Center void, reviving the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center. Early this year, engineers deemed that all the atrium's tricolor marble flooring would have to be replaced. Brookfield Financial Properties, the owner, has spent $5.8 million for the new marble, part of the $50 million in reconstruction costs for the Winter Garden. (New York Times)

Kids Traumatized by 9/11 not Getting Care - Jun 11, 2002
Children who were traumatized by the World Trade Center attack are not getting adequate mental-health care, several victims and experts said yesterday. During a congressional hearing in lower Manhattan, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton heard from panels that included grief specialists, school officials and survivors. (New York Post)

40 Per Cent of 9/11 Charity Funds Unspent - Jun 11, 2002
Less than 30 percent of the $2.3 billion donated to major Sept. 11 charities has gone to victims' families while 40 percent has yet to be distributed, according to a survey by The Washington Post (New York Post)

Poll Finds New York Fearful, but Upbeat Over Future, Too - Jun 11, 2002
Nine months after the destruction of the World Trade Center, New Yorkers say they are struggling with the psychological fallout from the attack, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. But New Yorkers remain, over all, extraordinarily optimistic about the immediate health of New York and its long-term future. The number of people who think that New York will be a better place to live in 10 or 15 years is higher than it was the month before the attack. (New York Times)

9/11 Baby Boom? Nobody Told the Stork - Jun 11, 2002
There has been a fair amount of talk about the prospect of rambunctious times at hospital delivery rooms this summer. Today is nine months since 9/11. And since nine months is roughly how long it takes for a baby to gestate, this has all translated into some surefire predictions. We have seen evidence both supporting and denying the trend, but time will tell whether or not a 9/11 baby boom is actually happening. (New York Times)

Effectiveness of Grants to Keep Jobs Downtown Is Questioned - Jun 11, 2002
The American Stock Exchange is the latest company to get a cash grant from the state and city for remaining downtown. The exchange, which will get $3 million, was in no danger of leaving the city. This grant, and others like it, has spurred increasing criticism of the grant program by urban planners, good-government groups and economists who question whether the $500 million in federal funds designed to revitalize Lower Manhattanmoney could be better spent. (New York Times)

Idea For Transit Hub Downtown Could Mean Tearing Down A Block Of Buildings - Jun 10, 2002
Officials planning a new downtown transit hub are considering a radical proposal to raze a square block off lower Broadway for an ambitious aboveground terminal topped by office towers. The Port Authority, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have discussed various versions of the plan - and it is now being explored by Parsons Brinckerhoff, the engineering firm hired to rethink the downtown transit map, said sources familiar with the proposal. The buildings on the block bordered by Fulton and John streets and Broadway and Nassau Street would be condemned and razed and the confusing maze of subway connections at the station would be "rationalized," the sources said. A new terminal - akin to a downtown Grand Central - would be built over the site. (New York Post)

Subways At Risk For Nerve Gas Attack, FBI Says - Jun 10, 2002
In its latest terror warning, the Federal Bureau of Investigation says subway systems in the United States are at risk for nerve gas attacks. The U.S. transportation Department had earlier warned that New York CityÕs subways could be targeted by terrorists, but this is the first warning from federal authorities to cite transit systems nationwide. (NY1)

Imagine New York Workshops Produce Many Ideas In New Report - Jun 9, 2002
Memorials, not only at ground zero but also throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. A cultural and performing arts center and more green space downtown. Better waterfront access, and greater security and public safety measures. And an open, democratic process to decide the post-9/11 future of Lower Manhattan. These are among the themes that have emerged from more than 250 workshops and public hearings, involving nearly 4,000 people from three states, sponsored over the last four months by the Municipal Art Society. The arts society whittled down the 19,000 ideas generated during the workshops to a set of 49 visions, which are contained in a report to be released tomorrow. (New York Times)

Recovery And Cleanup Officials To Determine How To Clean Up Deutsche Bank Building - Jun 9, 2002
City officials are slated to meet tomorrow to resolve a conflict over searching a contaminated building near Ground Zero for remains, the latest tangle in the recovery effort at the World Trade Center site. Fire Department and Office of Emergency Management officials are to meet tomorrow with management of the Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty St., across from the southern edge of Ground Zero, to figure out when that building can be searched for remains, sources said. (New York Post)

More Remains Found At Ground Zero, Ten Days After Official Closing - Jun 8, 2002
Workers searching through debris in buildings adjacent to the World Trade Center site this week found the remains of about a dozen people, city officials said Saturday. In the past week, workers thoroughly searched 90 West St. and 130 Cedar St., two office buildings that were heavily damaged on Sept. 11, said Megan Sheekey, a spokeswoman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Crews searching those buildings over the past week have found bone fragments, teeth and even parts of a plane's luggage rack. The remains will be turned over to the city Medical Examiner's office for identification. (Associated Press)

Housing Subsidy Program For Residents Near World Trade Center Approved By Feds - Jun 8, 2002
People who live in lower Manhattan, torn from their homes for weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, are being offered grants of up to $12,000 to stay in the area. The grants, which are also available to those who move to lower Manhattan, require people to stay put for at least two years. The grant program was formally unveiled yesterday by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez, Gov. Pataki and John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (New York Daily News)

New York City Facing $16 Billion Debt After 9/11 - Jun 7, 2002
New York City is likely to suffer a net loss of up to $16 billion because of the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal study released yesterday shows. The report estimated the attacks caused the city to suffer $83 billion in losses - but can expect to recover $67 billion of that through federal aid, insurance and new economic activity. (New York Post)

City, State Get $48 Million For Bioterrorist Security - Jun 7, 2002
New York State and New York City received $48 million in federal funds yesterday to beef up safeguards against bioterrorism. The money is part of $1.1 billion in national terrorism preparedness funds being distributed to all 50 states, U.S. territories and three major cities - New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. (New York Daily News)

WTC Proposal Aiming High - Jun 7, 2002
The architect hired by World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein has created plans for an office building on the site that would rise as high as the 110-story Twin Towers that once stood there. David Childs, a partner at the Manhattan architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, has built a model of a building about 1,300 feet tall. (Newsday)

Twin Towers Fund Makes More Distributions - Jun 7, 2002
The Twin Towers Fund, established by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to assist the families of uniformed rescue workers killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, has begun distributing a third round of benefits totaling more than $103 million. The current round of payments will go to rescue workers not included in previous distributions. (Newsday)

Push on to Keep Cross at Ground Zero for Good - Jun 6, 2002
A movement to keep the Ground Zero cross at Ground Zero got a boost yesterday when a redevelopment official suggested it be made part of a permanent memorial. An effort is afoot to make these steel girders Ñ found broken into the shape of a cross in the rubble of Building 6 Ñ part of permanent memorial. Ed Malloy, a board member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., asked the agency to incorporate the steel cross into the design of a planned Sept. 11 memorial at the World Trade Center site. (New York Daily News)

Windows on the World Workers Resolve Conflict - Jun 6, 2002
Resolving a conflict with the union that represented workers at the destroyed Windows on the World, its former owner David Emil agreed to hire five more displaced employees for his new Times Square restaurant.After being threatened with a protest at last night's opening of Noche, Emil offered the additional jobs and agreed to employ nine other workers for banquets at the Latin-inspired restaurant at Broadway and W.49th St. (New York Daily News)

Ground Zero Oil Leaks Need Cleanup - Jun 6, 2002
A recent environmental report said that the Seven World Trade Center site requires ongoing environmental cleanup. The collapse of the 47-story tower there resulted in the release of 130,000 gallons of oil from the Consolidated Edison substation, while an unspecified amount of oil leaked from two damaged storage tanks formerly owned by Salomon Smith Barney. (Newsday)

Low Offices Are Suggested for Towers Site - Jun 6, 2002
A plan for low office buildings that could be enlarged at a later date is under consideration for the World Trade Center site, the top planner for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Alexander Garvin, said yesterday. Mr. Garvin termed the strategy one possible way to resolve questions about rebuilding the site when there is a glut of office space downtown. (New York Times)

McCall Urges Upstate Voice in 9/11 Recovery Agency - Jun 6, 2002
H. Carl McCall, a Democratic candidate for governor, said yesterday that upstate and suburban New Yorkers should have a direct say in planning the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan, and that the state agency overseeing the rebuilding effort should be enlarged to include members from outside New York City. He also said he would revamp the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the 16-member agency created by Gov. George E. Pataki to help New York recover from the Sept. 11 attack. (New York Times)

New Court Program Set Up For Small Business Owners Facing Eviction - Jun 5, 2002
Civil Court officials kicked off a new program yesterday to help small businesses in lower Manhattan ward off evictions because of 9/11-related problems. Civil Court Administrative Judge Fern Fisher called it a unique project that will provide free lawyers and mediators, who will serve as pro-bono volunteers. (New York Daily News)

Public Hearing Exposes Divide Between More Affluent and Working Class Downtown - Jun 5, 2002
At last week's public hearing convened by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, many of those who spoke expressed anger that hundreds of millions of dollars had been set aside for large corporations and the well-off residents of Battery Park City and TriBeCa, at the expense, they said, of small businesses and the more needy residents of Chinatown and the Lower East Side. (New York Times)

Windows on the World Workers Say Their Boss Didn't Do Enough - Jun 4, 2002
Some people who once hailed David Emil, whose company ran Windows on the World at the top of the World Trade Center, as a hero for helping the restaurant's workers and their families are suddenly calling him a cheat and double-crosser as he prepares to open his next big restaurant in Times Square. Their passions still raw from Sept. 11, dozens of former Windows workers are furious at Mr. Emil for not giving all 90 jobs at his new restaurant, Noche, to Windows workers. They accuse him of betraying his promise to do his utmost to find jobs for the workers who helped make Windows the nation's highest-grossing restaurant, with $37 million in revenue in its last full year. (New York Times)

Landlords Learn Anti-terror Tactics - Jun 4, 2002
Authorities released information about an al-Qaida guide to apartment hunting to more than 250 landlords, property managers and security representatives at One Police Plaza in the first of a series of forums aimed at helping New Yorkers identify suspicious activity. The three-hour session was planned after the FBI learned of threats to blow up apartment buildings. (Newsday)

Council Proposes Tree Memorials - Jun 4, 2002
Members of the City Council want to plant hundreds of "freedom trees" throughout the five boroughs to honor those killed Sept. 11. With support from a member of the Coalition of 911 Families Group, Councilman James Sanders Jr. (D-Queens) will ask the council to endorse putting trees on public property in neighborhoods where city victims lived. (Newsday)

Relatives of Victims Pay Respect in Final Tribute At Ground Zero - Jun 3, 2002
Nearly nine months after hijacked jets knifed into the twin towers, about 900 victims' relatives gathered at a final memorial service before the recovery effort gives way completely to redevelopment. Clutching photographs of the dead, relatives of the more than 2,800 murdered on Sept. 11 lingered at the edge of Ground Zero and stared into the void where the bodies of 1,700 could not be found. (New York Daily News)

Commencement Speeches Throughout City And Country Evoke September 11 - Jun 2, 2002
Nearly everyone who worked the commencement speech circuit this spring talked about Sept. 11, whether it was the horror of that morning and its aftermath, or the lessons learned by both the nation's government and its citizens. Included with this article are excerpts from various commencement speeches delivered at schools throughout the country in recent weeks, many of them touching on September 11. (New York Times)

Times Square Emerges From Post-September 11 Winter - Jun 2, 2002
"While a few have moved away and others refuse to come, the city of humankind goes on nearly as before, and the lights of Times Square still burn like an electric timber fire. The greatest concentrate of humanity carries on," writes Charlie LeDuff in an article about Times Square after September 11. With the spring weather returning to the city, LeDuff applauds those who continue to visit and revel in Times Square. (New York Times)

Trade Center Victims' Families Criticize Mayor For Skipping Ceremony - Jun 1, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg drew fiery criticism from the families of some Sept. 11 victims for turning down an invitation to tomorrow's family service at Ground Zero. "He went back and forth all week long and decided that the families should have their time," said Bloomberg's press secretary . "He is sincerely appreciative of the invitation." (New York Daily News)