The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 238

Mayor Bloomberg is adamant that the 9/11 memorial ceremony will not take place this year at Ground Zero, but at a nearby park. Everyone agrees that construction at the site makes it unfeasible to hold the memorial inside the pit, but family groups oppose it being held where the Mayor proposes.

For five years, mourners have participated in the same ritual at the site: As the names of the nearly 3,000 victims were read aloud, echoing across what was once the World Trade Center basement, family members could also descend a long ramp into the seven-story pit. There, they laid flowers on the dusty bedrock.

Some angry family members have written letters to Bloomberg and Gov. Eliot Spitzer, warning that they will hold their own gathering if the ceremony is not moved back to its original place.

The families said Monday that they will now apply for a permit to do so, but it is unclear whether that would be successful; the city controls permits for the swath of land where previous remembrances were held, and a separate bistate agency is in charge of the seven-story pit.

That agency, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said Monday it was working to find a way to let families visit the site on the anniversary. Spokesman Steve Sigmund said that would not include permission to hold a separate ceremony, nor would it include access to the pit.

The family groups that are protesting say the new location has none of the same significance that ground zero holds.

"This is not the site _ it's across the street," said Anthony Gardner, whose brother was killed in the attack. "You have a better view of a Burger King than the actual trade center site."

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani has come out and said that he hoped that the memorial would be held at Ground Zero and not at the nearby location.

I think we all understand that the Ground Zero site is now a major construction area, and if this wasn't an issue this year, it would be in following years as steel rises on the site of the Freedom Tower, the Calatrava transit hub, and the 9/11 memorial. As a construction site, it does pose serious safety concerns.

I think that a reasonable alternative would be to close either Church Street or West Street on 9/11 as those are the two closest streets to Ground Zero, and hold the memorial facing into Ground Zero. This would not only enable those attending the memorial to get as close as they safely can go to Ground Zero, but you'd be able to have a large gathering within direct line of sight to where their loved ones fell. Indeed, many perished on those streets surrounding Ground Zero or their remains were recovered from the vicinity.

UPDATE:
One of the last remaining remnants of the WTC complex, a staircase that helped many flee the towers before their collapse, remains a thorny issue. No one quite knows what to do with the structure, which is in the way of reconstruction efforts. The latest idea is to load it onto a barge and moor it off Governor's Island. Battery Park City doesn't seem to want it and no one is sure what the permanent solution is:

"Everyone acknowledges that it has to be moved in order for the bathtub construction to continue," said Michael Connolly, a member of Community Board 1. "The question is, where do you put it until a decision is made about its permanent future?"

Last spring the state proposed moving the ragged staircase to Battery Park City, but residents put up a fuss.

The latest plan under consideration is to float the staircase on a barge off Governors Island temporarily until a permanent spot can be found.

Then there are those who would like to see the staircase simply go away.

"If the barge sank, it might make a nice natural reef," said Bill Love, member of Community Board 1 who opposes putting the staircase in Battery Park City, where he lives.

Love's comments are out of line. No way around that one. He's going to have to stand by those comments or offer an apology.

Something ought to be done that preserves the structure so that one can visit them without having to take a ferry or dive to see them. It should be incorporated into the memorial and museum, but I doubt that they're going to take on that project.