A blog for all seasons; A blog for one; A blog for all. As the 11th most informative blog on the planet, I have a seared memory of throwing my Time 2006 Man of the Year Award over the railing at Time Warner Center.
Justice. Only Justice Shall Thou Pursue
In my continued participation in Project 2,996, a tribute to the 2,996 innocent victims of 9/11, where bloggers eulogize each victim, today I remember Pamela Chu. Previously, I have remembered Donald H. Gregory, Steven Harris Russin,Lt. Col. Jerry Don Dickerson Jr., Mary Lenz Wieman, Mark Francis Broderick, Capt. Patrick J, Brown, Hagay Shefi, Alison Marie Wildman, Daniel Thomas Afflitto, and Donna Bernaerts-Kearns. Please check out these tributes as well today, as they deserve to be remembered too. Pamela was a 31 year old Vice President of Cantor Fitzgerald, the bond trading firm located in the World Trade Center, that lost so many people on 9/11. Pamela was described as "beautiful, intelligent, modest, full of life, aggressive and honest." Her friend Christiana Yu said of her "I never saw her stressed out, but she told me about customers barking, `This is what I want. Don't sell too low. Don't buy too high.' And there was a lot of trading going at one time. And she was the only female trader and only Asian in her department, and that was difficult, but she seemed so relaxed." In the months leading up to 9/11, Pamela moved from her parents' home in Queens to a recently renovated rental apartment five minutes from her office. By doing that, she said, she could get to work by 6:30 a.m. That is was the dedication that she showed to her job. The Cantor Fitzgerald remembrance page says of Pamela:
Pamela enjoyed traveling and cooking. Every year for Thanksgiving, Pamela made the turkey and all the trimmings for the entire family. She was a really good cook. Her aunt and uncle did not particularly like turkey, but once they tried the exceptional turkey Pamela made, their minds changed forever. It will never be the same without Pamela celebrating the holidays.
Pamela was born in Korea, and with her parents she moved to the United States when she was 2. After graduating from the University of Buffalo, she started working for Cantor Fitzgerald as a temporary clerk, working her way up to Vice President.
Pamela was the personification of the American Dream. Come to this country, work hard and succeed. Pamela was survived by her parents, her brother, sister, and many friends. Her
While I may not blog nearly as much as I used to, I feel drawn to do so in commemorating the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by members of al Qaeda. It is unbelievable to believe it has been 15 years since that awful day. There are kids growing up who have never known or seen the World Trade Center as the Twin Towers; they see that only in photos or videos.
Some of the feelings and memories are getting hazy, the further we get from that terrible day, and yet I can get yanked back to the days and weeks after the attacks with a simple smell - walking past construction sites where they're demolishing steel or welding metal. It's the scorched earth metallic smell that triggers a physical and emotional response for me.
That and sometimes commuting into Hoboken and seeing a clear blue sky on a crisp sunny morning in the Fall, with planes and contrails in the sky.
I'm sure I'm not alone in getting those feelings or memories. Many of us experienced this in real time - in real life. We worried about families, friends, and loved ones, and the strangers we knew commuted through to Manhattan. We worried about those who went up into the Towers to save lives and those who came plunging down and the families they left behind.
We worried about the people whose cars stayed at park and rides for days and weeks after the attacks because their owners were among the victims. We worried about what might come next.
It's for that reason I write about this every year. It's why we need to remember what happened, and how we got to where we are now. For instance, there's any number of books to be recommended for background on the site, the rebuilding efforts, and the politics behind all of it. Local and national media outlets are also ramping up their coverage for the 15th anniversary. For instance, the Record has devoted an entire area of their website to 9/11 coverage.
I've written essentially the same opening each of the past few years. It's still appropriate to remember today, as it was when I first wrote this:
September 11, 2001. New Yorkers were heading to the polls to vote in primary elections to determine the next mayor of the city. It was a morning full of promise and baseball fans were excited about the Yankees' chances of making the playoffs, the Mets thinking about the future, and the start of the new football season. In other words, it was a day not unlike the ones we've experienced once again this year.
While everyone was focused on the day ahead, another group of people were thinking about the mission that would forever alter the skyline of NYC and alter history. Al Qaeda's terrorists were already on board four jets bound for New York and Washington DC and had already overpowered the crews.
I was on a NJ Transit train with my dad when I first noticed something wrong at the WTC out of the corner of my eye; it was smoke coming from the upper reaches of the tower.
It was just around 8:45.
The world changed, and I didn't quite realize it. No one did.
The damage done on that morning was nearly impossible to comprehend. In the mere blink of the eye, nearly 3,000 people were condemned to death and the World Trade Center would soon be reduced to a pile of rubble that would burn for weeks on end. Reports would come in that a third plane had struck and damaged the Pentagon. But the death rattle of the Twin Towers would continue for just under two hours and victims trapped above the fires had to make the choice to stay and choke on the heat and smoke or jump to a certain death. All too many make that decision to jump. Firefighters on the ground also succumbed before the towers fell - falling debris hitting firefighters and fleeing people alike.
Victim Number One would be there to comfort those who fell. Rev. Mychal Judge of the FDNY was comforting fallen firefighters and office workers alike when he was struck and killed by debris. So many people inside the Department and around the City thought so highly of him that he was honored as the first victim of the attacks - so that he could comfort and aid all those many others who were murdered on that day - to guide them to Heaven. There are continuing efforts to see him sainted, and his ministrations to those in need, especially on that day, certainly would do his memory justice.
All too many would unfortunately follow him - and not by their own choice.
Here are remembrances of a few of those killed on 9/11, as written by my friend legalbgl for Project 2,996:
Remembering what happened, why it happened, and what's happened to the people who were there on that horrible day, not to mention the consequences of the terror attacks are why I write this. It's also why the 9/11 Museum is so integral to commemorating and remembering. While the National 9/11 WTC Museum continues drawing millions of visitors a year, I still fervently believe that it should be brought under the auspices of the National Park Service with all their wherewithal and expertise in protecting our national heritage for future generations. The NPS would be a far better steward of this history and all it represents.
It's also why I think the museum should be free for all to come and bear witness to the events. This should be a no-brainer, and yet no one can agree on making that happen. The NPS already operates the 9/11 Memorial in Shanksville, PA, where Flight 93 crashed after passengers rose up to stop the terrorists from attempting to crash the plane into the Capitol or White House. It had been a long journey for that project to come to fruition, but the results are stunning. The families banded together to raise the money to obtain the land and build a suitable memorial - turning it over to the NPS. It was the right thing to do.
Historical artifacts from the WTC aren't found only at the WTC site or at Shanksville, but at memorials and museums across the country. Two of the biggest items have recently been made ready for the public - two PATH cars that were recovered from the WTC months after the attacks. They had been stored at JFK airport with other items, but were recently turned over to museums in Connecticut and Kingston, NY for display. The repository at the airport finally shut down earlier this year.
Despite 15 years having passed, there's still a human toll - both in mental and physical health terms. Many throughout the NYC metro area suffer from the mental toll of 9/11, both those who lost loved ones and those who watched the towers fall first-hand (simply by looking out the window as opposed to seeing it on tv) and could smell the fires for weeks thereafter. First responders are still dying from the exposure to the chemicals in the air, and the Zadroga Act was finally made permanent after far too long a delay by Congress.
On Friday September 9, there's a memorial procession by the NYPD's Emerald Society through Lower Manhattan to commemorate and celebrate the lives of those law enforcement members who died.
Construction at the site doesn't domination the front pages of local papers as it used to, as construction is nearing the end on several portions of the site. The entire Western side of Ground Zero is now essentially built out - between the Memorial, Museum, 1WTC, 4WTC, 7WTC, and the WTC Transit Hall.
The South Memorial Pool looking towards 4WTC.
Should it surprise anyone that the companies involved in rebuilding have been caught up in shenanigans, including lying about using minority hires in erecting the steel at the site? Larry Davis, who won a $1 billion contract on the strength of partnering with minority owned businesses, was found guilty of lying about who was involved in erecting steel at the site. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He lied about employing minority and women-owned businesses, said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
The following is an update of construction around the WTC site:
2WTC is once again in limbo. Despite reports last year that the Norman Foster inspired design was scraped in favor of one by Bjarke Ingels to fulfill the needs of News Corp, the company has backed out as anchor tenant. If and when 2WTC is finally built, it will likely become the one of the most expensive skyscraper ever built (after 1WTC) because of the complexity of designing and building the skyscraper in the location chosen. It's being built atop key infrastructure for the entire site, including ventilation for the PATH system, and the cost will soar to nearly $4 billion. Without the anchor tenant, there's no timeline for when the tower will be completed.
3WTC has nearly reached its final height as the concrete core was finally built out and the exterior curtain walls have started rising. The building is still scheduled to be open for business in 2018. It's anchor tenant is Group M, which took 700,000 sf of space in the 2 million sf building. Other tenants include Tiffany's and Hawksmoor Steakhouse.
4WTC is in the process of being occupied. Tenants are already moving in, though it is not yet fully occupied. Currently, the building is about 80% leased.
Bringing up the rear is 5WTC, which has pretty much fallen off the radar since the site of the former Deutsche Bank building was finally razed. There are no plans for what to do with that site, and it may continue to lie fallow. Frankly, the Port Authority should sell the site and let a private developer build out the site - whether as office space (not likely), or as a combination of hotel and residential space, which makes more business sense given the spate of these combination towers being built around the City, including at the former Moody's site a few blocks north at 30 Park Place, which also happens to be being built by Silverstein Properties.
The WTC Transit Hub is finally open but it cost more than $4 billion. That's nearly $2 billion over the original budget estimate, and the costs associated with this has sapped the Port Authority's ability to build new infrastructure in the region, which is its core mission. Instead, the agency has poured billions into a project that doesn't add any cross-river capacity. It's a glorified high-end shopping mall that's struggling to find tenants even as the nearby Brookfield Center at the former World Financial Center has been reimagined as its own high-end mall. It handles substantially fewer commuters than any of the other transit hubs in NYC - Penn Station or Grand Central Terminal, and the cost isn't going to be recouped anytime soon.
Still lagging is the Vehicle Security Center that runs along the south side of the WTC and which was previously occupied by the former Deutsche Bank building. There's a new platform and entrance area being built for vehicles servicing the WTC complex, but it's years behind schedule and over budget (like everything else at the WTC). Even St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church is seeing progress - and that's even with Santiago Calatrava designing the new church (who designed the PATH hub). The elevated park atop the VSC is being constructed at the same time, but the delays have had a ripple effect in getting work done elsewhere on the site, including bringing in tenants to their new offices. Liberty Park, as it is called, has been open since this past June.
The WTC Performing Arts Center (PAC) has long been off the radar, but now that the PATH hub has opened, the temporary headhouse at Vesey and Greenwich can be demolished to make way for the performing arts center. Barbra Streisand has been tapped as chairperson of the PAC's board. The PAC will be named in honor of Ron Perelman, who donated $75 million towards the $250 million cost. It's expected to be open in 2020.
The PAC has produced a video showing the new design and how it relates to its surroundings:
The North Memorial Pool looking towards the PATH transit center as it appears before the PAC is built.
While the PATH hub will be visually interesting and definitely become a photographer's favorite, the problem with it is that the $4 billion spent adds not a single iota of additional cross-Hudson capacity to the PATH system at a time when the Amtrak Hudson River tunnels are in dire need of work due to Sandy damage, and there's no place to increase capacity until new tunnels are built. The Port Authority is fudging the figures so as to claim that 250,000 pedestrians will use the transit hub daily. That's not exactly true. 35,000 people use PATH daily in and out of the WTC. The rest are people who the Port Authority expects to visit the mall being built as part of the hub, and the people who are working in 1WTC and 4WTC as those spaces are filled out. 250,000 people are not going to be taking PATH daily; they're also throwing in commuters from the MTA system courtesy of the Dey Street connector. Even with proposals to extend PATH all the way to Newark Airport, the ridership figures do not justify the billions spent the way they were. Last December, some New Jersey Democrats argued that PATH should scuttle the extension over the ongoing civil and criminal investigations of United Airlines and dealings with the former Chairman of the Port Authority David Samson. Those investigations have already led to several airline officials being fired and Samson entered a guilty plea in June.
The price does provide for a lot of marble though. The Port Authority wanted a white elephant - and they got one - clad in marble. Well, that was before they lined the halls with LED signage - particularly the East-West Connector with Brookfield Place.
The underground spaces are once again a mall.
I know that may shock or surprise some people, but unless the entire site was going to be transformed into a memorial or museum, the space was going to be put to commercial use. That's what was there before the WTC was destroyed. It has again become a mall.
Much of the fault for the slow pace of rebuilding is the result of Port Authority actions and omissions to limit cost increases, especially when it comes to the transit hub and the delays in building led to still more costs incurred. All of these costs add up, and they've sapped the Port Authority's ability to do other critical infrastructure work elsewhere in the region, like building the Gateway Tunnel or additional PATH service or cross-harbor tunnels - expanding transit options while the WTC complex continues to be rebuilt at a near glacial pace. That pace is also the result of the acts by governors in both New York and New Jersey to contain costs. Special ire should be directed at Gov. George Pataki whose interference in the design plans in the early years after the attacks added years and billions in costs to the rebuilding process.
1WTC shrouded in breaking clouds. Note that scaffold on the south side.
The Port Authority is considering selling 1WTC, though that's a parallel to the situation immediately before 9/11. Back in 2000, the Port Authority entered in to a 99 year lease with Silverstein Properties for the WTC complex. The deal was still being finalized with the insurance on the site when the attacks occurred. Now, the Port Authority is trying to get rid of its real estate portfolio. One has to wonder who'd consider buying it given the history of the site: namely being the target of two successful terror attacks. 1WTC remains nearly 30% vacant.
However, beyond the WTC complex, Lower Manhattan has remade itself as a residential district as much as a financial and business one. The population in Lower Manhattan has doubled since 2001, which reflects the resilience of the neighborhood.
Despite all the new construction, even at the WTC complex, the skyline will never be the same. Neither will our hearts, which are heavy with the loss and supreme sacrifices made on 9/11 by the rescue personnel who bravely rushed up the towers even as people were racing to get out of the towers or gasping as people were forced to jump to their deaths to avoid being burned alive in the fires that racked the towers.
I remember.
Last year, Century21 Department store wrapped their building across from Ground Zero with a full size mural. It's as appropriate then as today.
What the Century21 wrap will look like when done.
We remember.
Yellow roses adorn the names of those who served in the military and died on 9/11 as part of Veterans' Day remembrances.
The Tribute in Light
The view of Lower Manhattan from the Staten Island 9/11 Memorial at St. George.
A well deserved thank you to all who have served in our nation's armed forces. While all gave some, some gave their all, and you have my everlasting gratitude. It's not just a day to thank our service members for their service, but to remember that we owe it to them to make sure that they have our support beyond mere headlines and political punchlines.
We simply do not do enough to give our veterans the support they need. This takes several forms, but it boils down to not sufficiently paying them for their service while in uniform, and then not doing enough once they've separated from service.
It is the latter that is the most haunting given that politicians have essentially turned them into disposable heroes - they make great backdrops for political rallies and gatherings, but don't do nearly enough to make sure that they have sufficient mental health support and care. Far too many service members end up homeless, on the street, and or having mental illnesses that make it difficult for them to participate in the very society that they helped protect through their service.
Add to that the need to make sure that they have jobs with living wages after separation, and you've got two issues that should unite most Americans behind a plan that would give these service members the backing and support that they need and deserve.
So, while many of us sit back and enjoy the barbecues, the Indy 500, baseball, and other sporting events, take a few moments to remember all those who served and made it possible.
It's time for yet another photo spread. This time, it's from Tennessee, Kentucky, and a bit of North Carolina. Specifically, we're talking about Nashville, Mammoth Caves National Park, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and a few other famous spots, including The Hermitage and the Polk home.
The Parthenon, which was a temporary structure as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. It was such a hit, that the effort was made to make it a permanent structure, which was completed in 1931.
A rain soaked Parthenon
Mammoth Caves - the historical entrance tour. We missed out on seeing more of the cave system because we didn't make reservations ahead of time. We'll know better next time.
One of the many bears spotted during our trip through the Smoky Mountains.
There were countless waterfalls along the way. This is one.
Want to cross the Green River in Mammoth Caves National Park? Take a ferry.
Grotto Falls, in Smoky Mountains NP
At the President James Polk home in Columbia, TN.
Nashville at night.
The Ernest Tubb Record Shop, home to one of the most famous radio shows in country music. Imagine the history told, the music strummed in those walls.
The Kitchen Sinks at Great Smoky Mountains NP.
Yet another waterfall in Great Smoky Mountains NP.
Outside the Nashville Symphony.
One of the many neon signs along the Honky Tonk Row in Nashville.
New Jersey residents are about to feel the cold sting of a strike by NJ Transit rail workers. They've been without a contract for years and the matter has gone to federal mediators, who have ruled multiple times in favor of the unions:
Several union representatives and elected officials speaking at the rally urged state leaders to accept recommendations from a Presidential Emergency Board, which sided with the unions. NJ Transit officials rejected those recommendations.
At least one of the remaining sticking points surrounds health benefits, with the unions offering to pay 2.5 percent of their straight time salary for health benefits.
NJ Transit wants employees to pay 10 to 20 percent of premiums, depending on which plan they're covered by.
Transit and rail union officials sat down Friday with federal mediators National Mediation Board in Washington, D.C., where the two sides discussed a new offer from the agency to avert a March 13 strike or lockout.
While the two sides failed to reach a settlement, a release from the National Mediation Board said the discussions were "positive and constructive."
Asked if an agreement is in the offing, coalition spokesman Stephen Burkert declined to discuss details.
"We're closer now than we were months ago," Burkert said following the rally. "We want to settle this, and we want to do it at the bargaining table."
The two sides will meet again Monday in Newark in hope of hammering out a final settlement, Burkett said.
So far, Governor Chris Christie, fresh off kissing Donald Trump's ass in the GOP primaries after dropping out of the race himself because he couldn't generate any traction despite spending more time in New Hampshire than New Jersey, has been uncharacteristically silent about this major issue facing the state.
It could be that Christie doesn't know what NJ Transit is, or that it is a major economic engine for the state. Or, he doesn't know how to deal with the problem. Either way, he's been MIA on transit issues and his GOP allies in the state legislature seem more interested in slashing or abolishing the estate tax than they are making sure that the transportation trust fund and pension fund obligations are met.
Let's also point out that NJ has not raised the motor fuels tax in a generation, while NJ Transit riders have faced repeated increases in fares over the past decade because the state continues to reduce its support for transit. New Jersey is one of the states most heavily dependent on mass transit, and the cuts and fare hikes have combined to leave the agency without wiggle room to deal with contract matters with its employees.
To help close an $80 million budget gap, NJ Transit has proposed to increase its fares an average of 9 percent, effective Oct. 1, 2015. This would be the first fare increase in five years; the last fare increase averaged 22 percent. As part of this proposal, some bus and train service would also be reduced. Meanwhile, the state’s gas taxes, already among the lowest in the nation, have not been raised since 1988.
The motor fuel tax now purchases less than it did a generation ago, so there's even less money to go around.
These workers deserve pay raises and it shouldn't be shouldered entirely by the commuters.
Frankly, there's no easy answers here - but it starts with refocusing attention on how the state budgets transit. Gov. Christie went ahead and pulled money from the Port Authority to rebuild the Pulaski Skyway in a decision that the federal SEC is investigating as a potential violation of bonding with the Port Authority. That's because the state didn't have any money in the trust fund to pay for the work. All across the state, bridges and other infrastructure is crumbling, and there's no money to do all the work.
This affects the ability of residents to get around the state, and affects public safety. After all, we shouldn't have to live in fear of concrete falling off bridges, bridge abutments collapsing, or structures failing entirely. And mass transit is one way in which more people can get around the state reducing congestion and traffic. Gov. Christie has long shown disdain for mass transit and these problems are coming home to roost.
Far from showing leadership, Gov. Christie is all but abdicating his leadership role and instead focused on how his choices can best suit his political future. That's no way to run the state, and it shows.
If this strike or lockout occurs, there is simply no way for hundreds of thousands of workers to get into the City. There isn't any capacity available to add buses to cover all the displaced workers. We're talking about gridlock, lost productivity both in New Jersey and in neighboring New York. Telecommuting is the only option for those fortunate enough to have it, but for those who work in fields where they have to be there in person, this will have serious financial consequences to them, their families, and their employers.
Moreover, the strike would also cripple freight movement throughout the state since NJ Transit controls tracks used by freight lines and the freight wouldn't be able to move. This would have a devastating effect across the state.
The GOP frontrunner and presumptive nominee for the GOP nomination, Donald Trump, once again was caught quote-tweeting a white supremacist. This isn't a one-off instance.
For any other candidate in any other year, this would have terminated their campaign. This isn't like any other election year, and Donald Trump isn't like any other candidate.
Those tweets are actually garnering little in the way of opposition from within the GOP. And now, he's garnered support of noted racist/white supremacist and former Grand Dragon of the KKK David Duke and yet he keeps playing games.
Donald Trump wouldn't disavow David Duke's support for his presidential bid, saying Sunday that he knows nothing about the white supremacist leader.
"Just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke, OK?" Trump told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."
"I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists," he said. "So I don't know. I don't know -- did he endorse me, or what's going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists."
You simply cannot make this stuff up.
Trump claims to have a perfect memory, and can't recall that he went after Duke in 2000.
It's all part of a pattern that has long been undeniable for months. Trump is actively soliciting, and pandering to, white supremacists and racists that form a significant portion of the GOP base. It's part of the reason that the GOP isn't pushing back against the racist and white supremacist and fascist statements Trump has made over the past few months. They're increasingly worried that they'll lose critical votes.
All of Trump's statements and actions, and the counter-actions by the GOP are symptomatic of the rot in the GOP itself. They've spent years cultivating anger, fear, and hatred among the GOP base. Now, they've found the guy that epitomizes all that in Trump.
This is the tenth year that I have participated in Project 2996, a tribute to the 2,996 innocent victims of 9/11, where bloggers eulogize each victim. Previously, I have remembered Steven Harris Russin,Lt. Col. Jerry Don Dickerson Jr., Mary Lenz Wieman, Mark Francis Broderick, Capt. Patrick J, Brown, Hagay Shefi, Alison Marie Wildman, Daniel Thomas Afflitto, and Donna Bernaerts-Kearns. Please check out these tributes as well today, as they deserve to be remembered too. Also, please check out Lawhawk's post, where he continues to do an amazing job of detailing the progress of the WTC Site and the politics surrounding the site! As I look back on these tributes, I remember why this project was started. To eulogize the 2,996 victims of 9/11. However, as we have been learning since that day, the list of victims has grown. Some 20,000+ people, first responders and people living and working in the area, are sick with various diseases, including respiratory illness, and cancer. Just recently, Marcy Borders, who was captured in a haunting photo, covered in toxic 9/11 dust, died of stomach cancer. These people, dying all too often from toxins they encountered on 9/11 and in the immediate aftermath. It is for this reason that all Americans, must put aside politics, and pressure our politicians expand the Zadroga Act, to include more help for these people. To expand the list of covered illnesses to include cancers, lymphoma, leukemia, etc., as well as PTSD, and physical injuries. Moreover, Congress needs to take steps to make funding for this act permanent, and not subject to political whims!
Today, I remember Donald H. Gregory. as always, I select my tributes randomly from Project 2,996's website. What struck me when I was going through the site is that even today, 10 years later, we still have names that were not selected by bloggers in the past. So I selected Donald, from the list of names with no eulogy listed. I hope that my words can capture the person.
Donald was a survivor. He survived the 1993 attacks on the World Trade Center, walking 104 floors down in the World Trade Center on the day that terrorists declared that New York City buildings and innocent people were not off limits. While the 1993 attack did not leave an indelible mark on the ones sworn to protect us, it did on Donald, who had dreams thereafter that he was trapped in the building as it was collapsing. Unfortunately, those nightmares became reality.
On September 11, 2001, Donald wasn't supposed to be in his office, where he, like so many others, worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. He had survived triple bypass bond surgery, which had kept him out of the office for several months. He had survived circulatory issues related to diabetes, and had been out for several weeks. But, the dedicated professional, wanted to return to work, and had come back only late in the week before the attack. .
Donald is survived by his wife Maureen, who he made a point of kissing every day. Maureen remembered Donald as a man of "quiet faith". "He had a generosity of spirit that extended to all in our family. Most importantly, he taught to believe in yourself." Donald also has three children, Amanda, then 20, Sara, then 19, James, then 14, who inherited his father's love for sports,
I can't believe that it's already been 14 years since 9/11. I remember it like it was yesterday, and yet there's an entire generation of kids whose only knowledge of the events of the days and weeks after the attacks is from books, videos, or personal recollections such as this.
That's one of the reasons that I continue to write these annual remembrances. It's also for myself.
I've written essentially the same opening each of the past few years. It's still appropriate to remember today, as it was when I first wrote this:
September 11, 2001. New Yorkers were heading to the polls to vote in primary elections to determine the next mayor of the city. It was a morning full of promise and baseball fans were excited about the Yankees' chances of making the playoffs, the Mets thinking about the future, and the start of the new football season. In other words, it was a day not unlike the ones we've experienced once again this year.
While everyone was focused on the day ahead, another group of people were thinking about the mission that would forever alter the skyline of NYC and alter history. Al Qaeda's terrorists were already on board four jets bound for New York and Washington DC and had already overpowered the crews.
I was on a NJ Transit train with my dad when I first noticed something wrong at the WTC out of the corner of my eye; it was smoke coming from the upper reaches of the tower.
It was just around 8:45.
The world changed, and I didn't quite realize it. No one did.
The damage done on that morning was nearly impossible to comprehend. In the mere blink of the eye, nearly 3,000 people were condemned to death and the World Trade Center would soon be reduced to a pile of rubble that would burn for weeks on end. Reports would come in that a third plane had struck and damaged the Pentagon. But the death rattle of the Twin Towers would continue for just under two hours and victims trapped above the fires had to make the choice to stay and choke on the heat and smoke or jump to a certain death. All too many make that decision to jump. Firefighters on the ground also succumbed before the towers fell - falling debris hitting firefighters and fleeing people alike.
Victim Number One would be there to comfort those who fell. Rev. Mychal Judge of the FDNY was comforting fallen firefighters and office workers alike when he was struck and killed by debris. So many people inside the Department and around the City thought so highly of him that he was honored as the first victim of the attacks - so that he could comfort and aid all those many others who were murdered on that day - to guide them to Heaven. There are continuing efforts to see him sainted, and his ministrations to those in need, especially on that day, certainly would do his memory justice.
All too many would unfortunately follow him - and not by their own choice.
Here are remembrances of a few of those killed on 9/11, as written by my friend legalbgl for Project 2,996:
Local commemorations are already underway (and here and here) and will continue through the week throughout the region. This is the second year for which the WTC Museum is open on 9/11. While I still find the cost of going to the museum to be ridiculously expensive and think that the museum should be free for all who visit, it has quickly become one of the most visited museums in the city.
While I don't need to be able to visit the museum myself, the museum is for those who weren't even born yet or understood what actually happened at the WTC site on 9/11 and the weeks, months, and years that followed. The museum should be free for all to come and bear witness to the events. This should be a no-brainer, and yet no one can agree on making that happen. The NPS already operates the 9/11 Memorial in Shanksville, PA, where Flight 93 crashed after passengers rose up to stop the terrorists from attempting to crash the plane into the Capitol or White House. It's been a long journey for that project to come to fruition, but the results are stunning. The families banded together to raise the money to obtain the land and build a suitable memorial - turning it over to the NPS. It was the right thing to do.
This should likewise be the outcome at the WTC - the museum and memorial should be turned over to the NPS for administration and oversight.
While the federal government created the James Zadroga health and compensation fund (Zadroga Act) because of the ongoing health concerns, including cancers, of those who carried out relief and recovery efforts at Ground Zero, parts of the program are set to sunset once again without further action by Congress. As more time passes, the link between exposure to the environment at Ground Zero and cancer is increasingly clear.
More people continue to seek assistance via the program, including those emergency responders who came from across the country to spell the FDNY and NYPD and PAPD in the grim task of recovering the remains of those murdered. The Zadroga Act wasn't perfect by any means and it has come too late for some, but it's a start to compensate and aid families of responders who are suffering from all manner of ailments attributed to Ground Zero exposure. The Act should be made permanent, especially as the number of victims of the attacks grows - more names will be added to the list of those who fell as a result of 9/11. That includes another 21 FDNY officers who worked during the recovery after the attacks.
Congress, and the GOP in particular, have not taken the necessary action to reauthorize the Act, and they are putting the lives of the responders at further risk and adding needless stress from the financial uncertainties:
As funding for the program reaches its expiration date, many lawmakers are pushing for extended, long-term compensation for victims. This April a number of federal lawmakers called for a permanent reauthorization of the James Zadroga Act. Despite reluctance by some members of Congress to fund the reauthorization, which will cost around $400 million annually, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand told Jon Stewart in July that she expects a vote sometime around September 11. Both Gillibrand and Stewart are passionate supporters of the act, with Stewart calling any resistance to it “the most galling example of a legislature removed from the purpose of their job.”
There are also efforts being made to honor those transit workers who were involved in the recovery and rebuilding efforts. After all, the MTA helped transport workers to and from Ground Zero and Staten Island where debris was being sorted, helped with logistics, and had to rebuild devastated infrastructure in and around the WTC, including stations, tracks, and related equipment.
Construction at the site doesn't domination the front pages of local papers as it used to, as construction is nearing the end on several portions of the site. The entire Western side of Ground Zero is now essentially built out - between the Memorial, Museum, 1WTC, 4WTC, 7WTC, and the nearly finished above-ground portion of the WTC Transit Hall.
The South Memorial Pool looking towards 4WTC.
The following is an update of construction around the WTC site:
1WTC has finally recaptured part of the skyline and is regarded as the tallest skyscraper in North America at 1,776 feet. 1WTC is now open for business, including the observation deck, which opened earlier this year. That's even as work continues around its base on the eastern side.
Construction of the Transit Hub is still underway, and Santiago Calatrava's design shows its final form, even as the cost pushes past a staggering $4 billion. That's nearly $2 billion over the original budget estimate, and the costs associated with this has sapped the Port Authority's ability to build new infrastructure in the region, which is its core mission. Instead, the agency has poured billions into a project that doesn't add any cross-river capacity.
4WTC is in the process of being occupied, after being completed last year. Tenants are already moving in, though it is not yet fully occupied.
3WTC is once again rising skyward after a delay due to lack of financing and tenants signed. It is more than halfway to its full height, and it is scheduled to be open for business in 2018.
2WTC is seeing progress at last, although the design has completely changed. Architect Sir Norman Foster is off the project, and his design has been shelved in favor of one designed by Bjarke Ingels, whose design comes courtesy of the whims and wishes of News Corp, who will be an anchor tenant. 2WTC will likely become the one of the most expensive skyscraper ever built (after 1WTC) because of the complexity of designing and building the skyscraper in the location chosen. It's being built atop key infrastructure for the entire site, including ventilation for the PATH system, and the cost will soar to nearly $4 billion. Oh, and for those keeping track, 2WTC is likely to be finished in 2020.
Still lagging is the Vehicle Security Center that runs along the south side of the WTC and which was previously occupied by the former Deutsche Bank building. There's a new platform and entrance area being built for vehicles servicing the WTC complex, but it's years behind schedule and over budget (like everything else at the WTC). Even St. Nicholas Church is seeing progress - and that's with Santiago Calatrava designing the new church (who designed the PATH hub). The elevated park atop the VSC is being constructed at the same time, but the delays have had a ripple effect in getting work done elsewhere on the site, including bringing in tenants to their new offices.
Bringing up the rear is 5WTC, which has pretty much fallen off the radar since the site of the former Deutsche Bank building was finally razed. There are no plans for what to do with that site, and it may continue to lie fallow. Frankly, the Port Authority should sell the site and let a private developer build out the site - whether as office space (not likely), or as a combination of hotel and residential space, which is much more likely given the spate of these combination towers being built around the City, including at the former Moody's site a few blocks north at 30 Park Place, which also happens to be being built by Silverstein Properties.
The North Memorial Pool looking towards the PATH transit center.
Last year, the Port Authority announced that they expect the transit hub to be open by the end of 2015. I personally don't see it happening, unless the Port Authority will open it the way the MTA has done at the Fulton Center. I fully expect that sections will be closed off for construction to continue as the main transit hall is largely available. There's still demolition work underway - the temporary platform spaces and mezannine levels have to be demolished and reconfigured, and there's no indication that the work will wrap up by the end of the year. In other words, this will be a phased reopening.
The PATH hub as viewed from Church and Fulton Streets.
A nearly complete transit hub superstructure
So, while the hub will be visually interesting and definitely become a photographer's favorite, the problem with the PATH transit hub and all that spending is that it doesn't exactly add capacity to the system. The Port Authority is fudging the figures so as to claim that 250,000 pedestrians will use the transit hub daily. That's not exactly true. 35,000 people use PATH daily in and out of the WTC. The rest are people who the Port Authority expects to visit the mall being built as part of the hub, and the people who are working in 1WTC and 4WTC as those spaces are filled out. 250,000 people are not going to be taking PATH daily. Even with proposals to extend PATH all the way to Newark Airport, the ridership figures do not justify the billions spent the way they were (and there's reports that some New Jersey Democrats are looking to scuttle the extension over the ongoing kerfuffle involving United Airlines and dealings with the former Chairman of the Port Authority David Samson that has already seen several airline officials get canned).
The price does provide for a lot of marble though.
The mezzanine level for the PATH terminal; there is marble as far as the eye can see.
The Port Authority wanted a white elephant - and they got one - clad in marble.
Much of the fault for the slow pace of rebuilding is the result of Port Authority actions and omissions to limit cost increases, especially when it comes to the transit hub and the delays in building led to still more costs incurred. All of these costs add up, and they've sapped the Port Authority's ability to do other critical infrastructure work elsewhere in the region - expanding transit options while the WTC complex is built at a near glacial pace. That pace is also the result of the acts by governors in both New York and New Jersey to contain costs. Special ire should be directed at Gov. George Pataki whose interference in the design plans added years to the rebuilding and added costs.
1WTC shrouded in breaking clouds. Note that scaffold on the south side.
For the most part, construction at the site has been without serious accidents, though there have been some close calls. Last November, a scaffold malfunctioned and required a high rise emergency 600 feet in the air:
A view up the South side of 1WTC - it's my favorite view of the tower, and this particular image shows the malfunctioning scaffold on November 15, 2014.
At the same time, the Fulton Center, which is a block East of the WTC site is open, and will eventually link to the PATH transit hub via the Dey Street connector (which is still shut despite being completed for several years), and ultimately those working at the World Financial Center (Brookfield Place) would be able to access Fulton Center without having to travel outside. There's no official timeframe for when the Dey Street connector being opened, even though all the necessary infrastructure is complete.
Interior as seen from Broadway and Fulton escalator bank
The skyline will never be the same. Neither will our hearts, which are heavy with the loss and supreme sacrifices made on 9/11 by the rescue personnel who bravely rushed up the towers even as people were racing to get out of the towers or gasping as people were forced to jump to their deaths to avoid being burned alive in the fires that racked the towers.
I remember.
Last year, Century21 Department store wrapped their building across from Ground Zero with a full size mural. It's as appropriate then as today.
Century21 department store doing a full block wrap
The Century21 Department Store installing a full-block wrap on their Church Street frontage.
What the Century21 wrap will look like when done.
We remember.
Yellow roses adorn the names of those who served in the military and died on 9/11 as part of Veterans' Day remembrances.
The Tribute in Light
The view of Lower Manhattan from the Staten Island 9/11 Memorial at St. George.
