Wtc News

[E40FDNYL35]

Where do Ground Zero planners go to shape the future of lower Manhattan?
Sunny California.

The two designers of the winning entry for the World Trade Center memorial are to meet today with Ground Zero master planner Daniel Libeskind in Berkeley, Calif., to begin the prickly task of making their disparate schemes fit together, sources said.
Libeskind and memorial creator Michael Arad left New York yesterday to work with Arad's new collaborator, world-renowned landscape artist Peter Walker.
Arad, a $50,000-a-year assistant architect for the city's Housing Authority and son of a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, already has made major changes to his initial design, "Reflecting Absence," including removing a wall intended for cultural use along West St.
He and Walker likely will make several more changes before their design is publicly unveiled next week, sources said.
But architectural experts said its incompatibility with Libeskind's master plan makes it so that feuds - like the one between Libeskind and architect David Childs over the 1,776-foot Ground Zero Freedom Tower - seem inevitable.
"The Freedom Tower was not a pretty process," said Mark Ginsberg, president of the American Institute of Architects' New York chapter. "I would expect that it will be as painful and drawn out and as bitter as that."
A source close to the memorial selection said Libeskind was surprised that the jury picked Arad's scheme, which features two reflecting pools in the void where the towers once stood.
Of the eight memorial finalists, Arad's went the furthest in dismissing three key elements of Libeskind's site plan - a 30-foot exposed pit, a bare slurry wall and a museum over the north tower footprint.
But Libeskind may continue to push his own plan, putting him at odds with the message from rebuilding officials that the memorial comes before everything else at the 16-acre site.
As though heading off opposition to Arad's plan, Gov. Pataki struck a conciliatory tone in his State of the State speech yesterday.
"In the end, we know that there is no right way to remember, only that it is right that we do remember," Pataki said.

[NJFFSA16]

NEW YORK (AP) - The newest incarnation of the ground zero
memorial, forged after weeks of negotiations and compromise,
features lush greenery, a descent to the bedrock of the World Trade
Center site, and a subtle tribute to rescue workers.
More surprising than the design unveiled Wednesday was the
positive response prompted by the revisions, a welcome change in
the often contentious process of remembering the nearly 3,000
victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"These revisions show that the Sept. 11 families and the
general public have finally been given a voice in this process,"
said Coalition of 9/11 Families executive board member Patricia
Reilly, whose sister died in the attack.
The changes unveiled by architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker
before a lower Manhattan crowd of politicians and power brokers
were worked out in emotional meetings with family members and in
sessions with the 13-member memorial jury.
The revised design of Arad's "Reflecting Absence" surrounds
what was once open space and a few pine trees with a forest of
deciduous trees, benches and grass. It includes an underground
museum displaying twisted steel beams, a crushed fire truck and
other artifacts from the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. It also features a
cultural center at the northeast corner of the site.
Arad, a 34-year-old assistant architect with the city Housing
Authority who lives in the East Village, said his "personal sense
of grief and loss" following the attacks prompted him to create
the idea of two reflecting pools, which he said symbolizes the lost
towers at their footprints.

One of the more controversial changes to Arad's design addressed
the prickly problem of how to list victims' names. Arad chose to
list the names at random around the reflecting pools, a visual
reminder of the "haphazard brutality of the attacks," but
designate rescue workers by placing their agency's insignia
alongside names.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Fire Commissioner Nicholas
Scoppetta said they were satisfied with the tribute.
"This is a simple, elegant, quite dignified way to remember,"
said Scoppetta, whose department lost 343 members when the twin
110-story towers collapsed.
Others representing the firefighters were disappointed in the
decision to list names randomly.
"We don't go for that," said John Finucane, a retired
firefighter who heads a group that sought separate recognition.
"It's a very poor way to say thank you."
Arad, speaking about how to name the victims, touched on the
emotions triggered by his work.
"Every way you find to do this satisfies some, but causes pain
and anguish to another," said Arad, whose voice cracked several
times during his presentation.
In a nod toward the family groups, the new memorial features a
ramp leading down to the museum that passes exposed parts of the
slurry wall, the last remnant of the towers' complex. Family groups
had pressed for the wall and the bedrock at the heart of the
towers' foundations to be visible in the final design.
A stone container at the bottom of one of the buildings'
foundations will contain remains of unidentified victims of the
attacks. The memorial will also pay tribute to the six people
killed in the Feb. 26, 1993, bombing of the trade center.
In Arad's original design, its twin reflecting pools were
interspersed with a scattering of pine trees intended to reflect
the height of the towers. But the groves of trees that replaced
them will symbolize life and rebirth, jury foreman Vartan Gregorian
said.
Jurors, speaking after the new proposal was made public, said
they had negotiated for the landscaping and other changes with Arad
after his design was selected from 5,201 submissions sent in from
63 countries and 49 states.
"It's going to help people come to terms," said juror Maya
Lin, designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. "It's going to
bring us all hope."
Arad asked Walker, a renowned landscape architect, to join him
after jurors said the plaza surrounding the pools was too stark,
"which I thought was very dramatic. But I probably went a little
too far with that."
The Nov. 19 selection of the memorial finalists was generally
greeted negatively, with critics describing the designs as generic
and failing to evoke the emotions of Sept. 11.
But Lin and other jurors said they chose Arad's design because
it represented the towers' collapse.
Fund-raising for the site will begin by the end of the month,
with construction expected to begin by the end of this year,
officials said.
The jury also recommended that the "Tribute in Light," the
twin towers of light stretching above the Manhattan skyline to mark
the anniversary, be retained.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[E40FDNYL35]

In order to find out how the majority of families and supporters would like to see the heroes of Sept. 11 recognized at the World Trade Center Memorial, the Coalition of 9/11 Families, Bill Doyle, and the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund are sponsoring a poll to gather their input. Once we have received your feedback we will submit the results to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and to Governor Pataki.

Please take a minute to lend your voice to this process. Visit World Trade Center Poll (http://www.coalitionof911families.org/) and take our short online poll(s).

[E40FDNYL35]

July 4th, 2004 -- A mottled-gray granite slab dedicated to the victims of the terror attacks was laid at Ground Zero yesterday, providing the cornerstone of the Freedom Tower that one day will reclaim the downtown skyline.Inscribed with a tribute to "the enduring spirit of freedom," the 20-ton hunk of garnet-flecked Adirondack mountain stone was hoisted by crane into a hole in the World Trade Center bedrock at an emotional ceremony that linked the rebuilding to Independence Day.

It was the first step toward construction on the site since the destruction of Sept. 11, 2001 - and the first ceremony to take place on the sacred, bare bedrock that was not limited to victims' relatives."How badly our enemies underestimated the resiliency of this city and the resolve of these United States," said Gov. Pataki, who holds the greatest sway over the rebuilding process and set the timetable for the world's tallest tower, which is to soar a symbolic 1,776 feet."Today, we, the heirs of that revolutionary spirit of defiance, lay this cornerstone and unmistakably signal to the world the unwavering strength of this nation, and our resolve to fight for freedom," he added.

Pataki shared the dais with New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, with whom he shares control of the Port Authority, Mayor Bloomberg and twin towers' leaseholder Larry Silverstein."I cannot imagine a more appropriate day to stand on this sacred ground and lay a cornerstone dedicated to freedom, the defining principle of our nation and the reason that we were attacked on Sept. 11, 2001," Bloomberg said.

He noted that it's the 10th time Manhattan will be home to the world's tallest structure. The Freedom Tower will have 70 stories of office space and a 276-foot spire reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty's torch.A brutal sun bore down on the dusty patch of bedrock amid a ceremony replete with solemn and uplifting moments.Julian Davis, 12, whose father, PA Police Officer Clinton Davis, was killed in the attacks, read from the Declaration of Independence.

Bagpipers skirled patriotic melodies, from "God Bless America" to "Yankee Doodle Dandy." The Young People's Chorus of New York City sang the national anthem and "My Country, 'Tis of Thee."

Some in the crowd of hundreds said they felt like a part of history."It's a step forward; it's a commitment to move on with life," said Charles Wolf, who lost his wife in the attacks.But a group of victims' relatives known as the Coalition of 9/11 Families stood at street level in protest, saying the construction was rushed.

"They should be committing to preserving the maximum amount of the remains of both footprints [of the twin towers] first before they proceed with nonstop construction," said Anthony Gardner, who lost his brother. "It shouldn't be the other way around."While the building is set for completion in 2009, the next year will see mostly infrastructure work, such as removing several stories of a now-shattered parking garage and shoring up the retaining walls holding back the Hudson River.

The cornerstone soon will disappear from view, as the steel skeleton takes its place on the horizon in 2006.The torqued tower's design was the subject of a battle last year between Silverstein's architect, David Childs, and Daniel Libeskind, who devised the site plan. The two men sat on opposite ends of the dais yesterday.

Silverstein, who has lost a string of court battles in his fight for more insurance proceeds, has said he has enough for the roughly $1.2 billion cost of the Freedom Tower.He plans to erect four other buildings, although questions remain about how he will finance the full project.

Inscription

TO HONOR AND REMEMBER THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 AND AS A TRIBUTE TO THE ENDURING SPIRIT OF FREEDOM. JULY FOURTH, 2004.

[E40FDNYL35]

NEW YORK -- Development officials said they would spend up to $3.5 million to ensure that "Tribute in Light," the twin beams of light memorializing the World Trade Center, can be seen on the anniversary of Sept. 11 for the next five years. The board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. voted Thursday to authorize the money to help the Municipal Art Society, the group which produces the display, to buy and maintain the 88 special searchlights needed to create the two beams. The display first ran in 2002 from March 11 to April 14 and was erected again for one night on Sept. 11, 2003. The searchlights needed to create the twin beams, which cost $700,000 per night, were previously borrowed from companies around the country.

[E40FDNYL35]

July 11, 2004 -- The latest World Trade Center victim to be identified is Daniel Lewin, an Massachusetts computer tycoon.
The married father of two kids was reportedly the first 9/11 casualty. A passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 11 — the first of two hijacked planes to crash into the Twin Towers — Lewin is believed to have been the businessman stabbed to death by terrorists.
And friends believe the 31-year-old Lewin — on his way from Boston to Los Angeles for an Internet conference — died while fighting back against the terrorists. Reached at their Jerusalem home last night, Lewin's parents confirmed their son's remains have been identified. "A couple of days ago we were informed about it," said his mom, Peggy. Lewin was born in Denver, but his family moved to Israel when he was a teen. Lewin went on to become a captain in the Israeli Defense Forces and an anti-terrorism expert. After the military, Lewin attended the Technion, Israel's top technology university. In 1996 the devout Jew returned to the United States to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
Two years later, Lewin co-founded Akamai Technologies Inc., which produces technology designed to facilitate online content delivery. At age 29, he had a net worth of more than $3.2 billion.

[E40FDNYL35]

October 5, 2005 -- The design of a cultural center intended for a freedom museum and drawing museum at the World Trade Center site must be altered to accommodate its new purpose — telling the story of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, development officials say. The building designed by the Norway-based Snohetta firm will still look "substantially similar" to drawings unveiled nearly five months ago of the cultural center, said John Gallagher, spokesman for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.
"The building was being designed with specific tenants in mind, and now obviously that tenant and that programming have changed, so there will be some modifications required," said Gallagher. The Snohetta building was created to house the International Freedom Center, removed from the building last week by Gov. Pataki, and the Drawing Center, which is looking elsewhere. Pataki, under pressure from an organized campaign led by 9/11 families who said the museum would distract from the trade center memorial, said Sept. 28 that the freedom center had generated "too much controversy" to keep its reserved spot at the Snohetta building. He said the building would contain only exhibits related to Sept. 11, as the museum's opponents requested. The LMDC met with the architects of the Snohetta building last week and will work together to make changes to the design that will "reflect the requirements of its new programming" ordered by the governor, Gallagher said. He said the location of the building, meant to act as a buffer between the six-acre memorial site and office, arts and retail space, will not change.

[stillPSFB]

Ray, are the Reflecting Pools going to be maintained in the final design? I think they are integral to the whole memorial idea, a place where we can all pause and reflect on what happened that day, and the Brothers that we lost. The pools will also help promote the idea of peace and tranquility at the memorial site.

[E40FDNYL35]

Ray, are the Reflecting Pools going to be maintained in the final design?......

The pools are still in the design….But who knows until there in. Remember this is New York. :rolleyes:

[firepics]

I tried to find the article, but the Daily News said some 10 pieces of bone fragments were found in the Dueche (sp?) Bank building that is being torn down. They are being tested to see if they are human.

Sad that after this long they are still finding possible remains. :(

[KemalT]

They have already rebuilt building 7, a building that fell on 9-11 due entirely to fire(it was not hit with an airplane, just set on fire.) I think it has some kind of concrete core construction to prevent a similar collapse.

Lots of people don't like the freedom tower design but I think it looks good - simple and elegant.

[E40FDNYL35]

October 14, 2005 -- The heart-wrenching story of 9/11/01 will be told at Ground Zero's memorial museum with artifacts ranging from monumental chunks of the Twin Towers down to a re-creation of a neighborhood eatery that fed thousands of rescue workers. New plans for the memorial museum, which are now being circulated, give a detailed look at how the nation will revisit the deadliest terror strike on American soil, with an intimate and admittedly unnerving account of the momentous event. Planners, who have been working with 9/11/01 family members, rescue workers, survivors and neighborhood residents, have come up with a list of artifacts that will fill the museum slated for the World Trade Center Memorial site. A tangled swath of the north tower's steel exterior just below the spot where a hijacked airliner crashed will be part of the exhibit that promises to pull no punches. "It just looks like sea kelp in the water. It's an amazing thing," Jeff Howard, a consultant hired to design the exhibits, said of the twisted metal.
Crushed rescue fire engines, taxis and police scooters along with twisted steel beams will punctuate the massive nature of the attack. A 6-ton chunk of melted steel, pulverized concrete and smashed furniture that has been dubbed "the Meteorite" will be trucked from storage at Hangar 17 at JFK Airport, where many of the artifacts are now stored.
Two steel columns will symbolize the rise and fall of the towers — a 5-foot-tall dedication pedestal erected on April 4, 1973, when the complex was completed and a 58-ton beam that was the last removed from the devastation in 2002. The anguish of the human tragedy will be seen in the reconstruction of the so-called Bellevue Wall, where suffering relatives posted desperate appeals for information about missing loved ones. And the devoted efforts of rescue workers will be illustrated with a recreation of Nino's, the neighborhood Italian restaurant that fed thousands of the firefighters, paramedics, rescue workers and volunteers who descended on Ground Zero after the attack. Howard said enough of the restaurant, including its bar and outdoor signs, are in storage at the New York State Museum and can be reassembled. The aftermath and national reaction to the attacks will feature some of the 150 sections of plywood that were used to build a temporary viewing stand overlooking Ground Zero. The boards are covered with signatures of visitors from around the world and inscriptions of their reaction. "One of our crucial messages to impart to visitors is that this is a defining moment in history," Howard told about 50 downtown residents, family members and planners at a meeting of the Civic Alliance to Rebuild New York this week.
The forums are part of an ongoing attempt to get public input into the project, with ground-breaking on the memorial and museum slated for next year and completion in 2009.
Lower Manhattan Development Corp. President Stefan Pryor said the museum plan will continue to evolve over time.
"All of the content remains malleable, and it will evolve over time based on these kind of public sessions," Pryor said. "These are complex ideas and profound and moving elements to this project, and it takes time to properly present those pieces." The preliminary plan for the 110,000-square-foot museum that will descend to bedrock around the footprints of the Twin Towers is based on recommendations of a panel of 9/11/ families, firefighters, rescue workers, survivors, neighbors and historians.
One message from family members was not to pull any punches in telling the story of Sept. 11, 2001 and the 1993 attack on the Twin Towers in order to convey the full impact of the loss and suffering. Following that advice, Howard said, means that some of the exhibit will be too difficult for kids and family members to view. They will be able to ride an elevator past the mangled artifacts directly to memorial areas on bedrock, he said. The museum will also include contemplative areas, including the truncated box-beams that mark each base of the Twin Towers and the slurry wall that rises 60 feet to street level, where an entry pavilion will be located. Howard said the entry pavilion would have a "touchstone artifact," possibly a section of the trade center concourse exterior that included the signature "trident" shape as the steel columns at the base divided into three vertical columns.
The memorial and museum will be overseen by the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, which has to raise $500 million for the project.
Plans laid out this week do not include possible uses of an above-ground museum building that was going to house the controversial International Freedom Center, which was yanked from Ground Zero last month by Gov. Pataki.

[Proby1711]

I am planning on going over for the 5th anniversary next September... I had two college friends who worked for Morgan Stanley in the South Tower... still classed as 'missing'... one of the guy's parents will be accompanying me... hope to see anyone (particularly FDNY ff's) who are going when I get there.

[RspctFrmCalgary]

Thanks for the update Ray. Finally some good news.

Next, the issue of how the names will be displayed! :mad: :(

[E40FDNYL35]

Carol Coakley rings bell in honor of her son Steven and other 9/11 victims during service at Ground Zero. Families of unidentified 9/11 victims begin their battle in court today to get the city to move half a million tons of debris they say contains their loved ones' remains to a proper burial site.
"I don't have a cemetery to go to," said Patricia Kiefer, 53, of Franklin, L.I., who lost her son, Firefighter Michael Kiefer of Ladder 132 in Brooklyn.
She was at a rally at Ground Zero yesterday, along with family members of some of the other 1,200 victims whose remains could be at Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island."That's not garbage," added Kiefer's daughter Lauren, 26, pointing to her brother's picture. "That's not something you throw in the garbage dump." Originally, families had pushed for the return of the debris to the WTC site, but they have since offered a list of alternatives, including Conference House Park on Staten Island, Ellis Island, and the Liberty State Park in New Jersey."We're still trying to amicably resolve the issue," said Norman Siegal, the attorney representing WTC Families for a Proper Burial. Kenneth Becker, of the city's Law Department, said the city still hopes to find "a solution that will appropriately honor those who tragically lost their lives as well as those who partook in the recovery effort."

[E40FDNYL35]

October 29, 2005 -- Ten bone fragments discovered more than four years after the World Trade Center attacks on the rooftop of a nearby skyscraper are human, officials said Friday. The pieces of bone, ranging in size from half an inch to two inches, were found on three days last month by construction workers sifting through gravel on top of the former Deutsche Bank building, officials said. Parts of the trade center's south tower carved a huge gash in the 41-story building's facade when it collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001. Deconstruction of the building, which is known to be contaminated with asbestos, lead, and trade center dust, began in September. The city medical examiner will try to identify the remains by extracting DNA and checking it against a database of World Trade Center victims, said medical examiner's spokeswoman Ellen Borakove.
"We're hoping to be able to create some profiles," she said. Borakove said test results returned last week indicated the fragments were human. She said it was too soon too tell whether the remains came from one person or more than one. The city has recovered 19,964 pieces of human remains from the trade center attack and identified 9,100 of them, Borakove said. Of the 2,749 people who died at the trade center, 1,152 victims have no identifiable remains. The medical examiner's office has said that more sophisticated DNA technology may someday develop to help identify the remains. Until then, they will remain in city custody and will eventually be encased at the trade center memorial.
Mary Fetchet, whose son, Brad, died at the south tower of the trade center, said Friday the discovery reopens old wounds. "It's just a reminder of the horrific nature of the event," said Fetchet. "When you talk about identification of bone fragments, it just brings you back to what really happened that day." The former Deutsche Bank building was purchased by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. last year and is scheduled to be completely dismantled in 2007.
LMDC president Stefan Pryor said that after construction workers found the fragments, "our rigorous protocols automatically assume findings of this nature to be human remains and therefore require that they be treated with the utmost care, dignity, and respect." The city inspected the entire building in the months following the attacks before turning it over to the building's owners, the LMDC said.

[pfd4life]

Ray, could we possibly see some pictures of the current progress? Or is there a link to the current construction?

[E40FDNYL35]

WTC WEBCAM (http://www.earthcam.com/cams/newyork/groundzero/) Ray, could we possibly see some pictures of the current progress? Or is there a link to the current construction?

[E40FDNYL35]

This is a crucial time. It now appears that the desires of New York's cultural elite may be competing head-to-head with the 9/11 Memorial & Memorial Museum for a very limited amount of funds.
While the LMDC has repeatedly said that the Memorial will take fund raising precedence, it is hard to believe that is what will happen when they are handing out $35 million federal dollars (your money) in the form of grants "to existing and new cultural institutions downtown."
We invite you to vote in our on-line poll which asks the question: "If given a choice between building a "cultural arts center" OR building the 9/11 Memorial and 9/11 Memorial Museum at the World Trade Center site, which would you choose?"

It is important to make your voice heard now so there is no question as to where we stand on this issue. To vote, please visit www.takebackthememorial.org/

Please help fight the GOOD fight......

Thank you for your time and your continued support.

[RspctFrmCalgary]

So far it is 99%, some mutts (22 of them) voted for the cultural center :mad: :confused: :(

Here's the link without the period ...

http://www.takebackthememorial.org/

[Pipeman2]

VOTED...and I wasn't one of the minority.

FTM PTB RFB
Box 8087

[E40FDNYL35]

November 28, 2005 -- The biggest change in lower Manhattan's skyline next year — deconstruction of the 9/11- scarred Deutsche Bank building — will begin in earnest in February when the first pieces of the 40-story structure come down. But New Yorkers can now get a preview of how the project will unfold, thanks to a computer-generated video that illustrates the project from beginning to end. It's posted on the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.'s Web site (renewnyc.com).
The Deutsche Bank building, damaged and empty since the World Trade Center attacks, will be detoxified and disassembled in a yearlong project to clear the site for a new tower and a half-acre park south of Liberty Street. The video depicts the complex process involved in sheathing the building with an air-tight container, cleaning it and then taking it apart piece by piece. "The deconstruction plan for the Deutsche Bank will assure the building is taken down safely," said LMDC President Stefan Pryor. "A number of controls are in place to ensure the safety of the surrounding community."
Over the next two months, scaffolding and netting will continue to rise around a building that is riddled with a noxious stew including asbestos, dioxin and heavy metals that blew in from the collapsing Twin Towers. Using its federal funds, the LMDC paid $90 million to buy the tower from its owner. The final tab for removing the building will be roughly $200 million.

[E40FDNYL35]

December 15, 2005 -- PENUELAS, Puerto Rico — Four years, three months and three days after she died in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center, Lourdes Galletti Diaz was buried yesterday. Her mother, Milagros Diaz Perez, received her daughter's partial remains, identified using DNA samples. Mourners walked through the main streets of Penuelas bearing yellow flowers in honor of Galleti, 33. "It's a relief to know that part of her remains are going to be buried here," said her mother.

Rest in Peace

[RspctFrmCalgary]

Now you are at peace, sleep with angels Lourdes :(

[E40FDNYL35]

December 20, 2005 -- Striking photos of the twin towers taken before 9/11 went on sale yesterday, starting at $49.95 for an 8-by-10-inch print, as part of a fund-raiser for the World Trade Center Memorial.
The memorial foundation opened a gallery on its Web site, at www.buildthememorial.org, that also offers views of Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the towers in 1974 and pricier posters of the memorial design.

According to the foundation, 60% of each sale, on average, will go toward the memorial building effort.

"Finally someone is trying to sell images of the World Trade Center for a worthwhile purpose," said Charles Wolf, who lost his wife, Katherine, in the terror attacks.

Foundation Vice President Lynn Rasic said the sale "is just one of the ways we're looking to involve the public in helping to build the memorial and remember the enormous power of the buildings."

Jack Lynch, of the Coalition of 9/11 Families, whose firefighter son, Michael of Engine 40, died at Ground Zero, said of the images, "They're history and they can do what they want with them. It would be another matter if someone wanted to exploit pictures of 9/11 and its aftermath."

In a recent update, the foundation said it has raised $102 million toward a goal of $500 million to build the memorial and memorial museum.

The foundation began its search for a construction manager two weeks ago. Groundbreaking is set for the spring, with an opening planned for 2009.

California-based online vendor pictopia.com is processing photo and framing orders.

[E40FDNYL35]

December 23, 2005 -- Tons of particles from the World Trade Center collapse - possibly containing the remains of victims - could be moved from the Fresh Kills landfill to another Staten Island site nearby. The city and a group of 9/11 families agreed yesterday to see if a 40-acre site on Muldoon Ave. could be suitable. The site was among those proposed by the World Trade Center Families for Proper Burial shortly after it sued in Manhattan Federal Court in August, seeking to force the city to move the WTC material.
James Tyrrell, an attorney for the city, told Judge Alvin Hellerstein that the city isn't prepared to accept that all of the disputed material should be moved.The city has estimated the material weighs as much as 480,000 tons and until now, has planned to mark the Fresh Kills site with a memorial. The city also claims that the Muldoon Ave. site contains household waste - an assertion disputed by Norman Siegel, the lawyer for the families.The material is what was left after the WTC debris was sifted extensively for human remains during the 9/11 victim identification effort.James Taylor, whose Taylor Recycling Facility worked in the Fresh Kills recovery, advised the families it would cost $135 million to develop the Muldoon Ave. site. The city says the price would go much higher.Besides urging the two sides to survey the site, Hellerstein called on Tyrrell to see if the WTC Memorial might make some note of those whose remains weren't recovered.

[E40FDNYL35]

January 5, 2006 -- Family members of 9/11 victims will be able to enter a private room in the World Trade Center memorial and look through a window at a chamber storing more than 9,000 pieces of unidentified human remains, officials said. In a "contemplation room" next door, the public will be able to pay respects to an empty, symbolic vessel.
Development officials disclosed more information about the design this week as they sought construction bids for the memorial. The climate-controlled, low-humidity storage chamber for the victims' remains is one of several rooms to be built where the trade center's north tower stood, said Anne Papageorge, who oversees memorial development for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. The actual remains will not be visible from the window, Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the city Medical Examiner's Office, said yesterday. Some family members said they would have preferred that the remains be entombed in the larger contemplation room. "Why should the public pay tribute to an empty box?" asked Edie Lutnick, whose brother was killed. Papageorge said that the symbolic vessel isn't large enough to hold the 9,100 unidentified remains and that it wasn't possible to keep it climate-controlled. She said the medical examiner's office also needs easier access to the storage chamber in case it has to retrieve remains.

So far, 1,594 of the 2,749 people who died at the trade center have been identified.

[E40FDNYL35]

January 9, 2006 -- Four-and-a-half years later, the terrible events of 9/11 are still fresh in the minds of New Yorkers, and now an online archive is ensuring the memories never fade. Starting today, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation will gather and post personal 9/11 reflections on its Web site, buildthememorial.org. "The plan is to launch a digital archive that will ultimately become part of the memorial museum," foundation Vice President Lynn Rasic said.
The foundation is priming the pump by posting several accounts it has already culled. In one account, Fire Lt. Mickey Kross of Engine Co. 16 recalls how he miraculously survived the collapse of the north tower while still inside the building. "I literally tried to squeeze myself into my helmet," he writes. "Debris hit me from all angles and enveloped the stairwell in total darkness." The searchable archive, to be called Story Builder, will also allow visitors to attach photos to their stories.
Foundation CEO Gretchen Dykstra said, "In preparing to build the memorial, the foundation is trying hard to remember this was an event that touched everybody." A Zogby poll done for the organization last summer found that nine out of 10 people believe 9/11 was the most significant historic event in their lifetime. The foundation recently announced it has raised more than $100 million of the $500 million needed to build the memorial and memorial museum. Dykstra told The News that the foundation is in talks with Columbia University about making buildthememorial.org an outlet for an oral history of 9/11 that the school compiled. "Our intention is to be a repository for as much of this human history as possible," she added. Another oral-history project, run by the nonprofit StoryCorps since July, has been recording the 9/11 remembrances of visitors to its studio on the concourse level of the Trade Center PATH station.

[MIKEYLIKESIT]

A cop dies & kin
blame 9/11 debris



By ROBERT F. MOORE
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU


Retired NYPD detective James Zadroga - who leaves behind a young daughter, Tylerann - wrote a letter about his work at Ground Zero.

A retired NYPD detective, who worked more than 450 hours at Ground Zero, died Thursday from brain and respiratory complications that his family insists were linked to the World Trade Center cleanup.
While autopsy results are pending, union officials maintain James Zadroga's death is the first post-9/11 death of a city officer linked to hazardous material from Ground Zero.

"Our detective is a hero," said Mike Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association. "He had a disregard for his own health and life and tried to save others."

In a chilling letter Zadroga wrote about a year after the terror attacks, he described his deteriorating health - including a constant cough and sore throat.

"No one cares at the job," he wrote. "They tell me I'm fine, go back to work. But, truthfully, I haven't felt this bad in my life.... And what thanks do I get now that I'm sick?"

NYPD officials said Zadroga, 34, was given a tax-free disability pension of three-quarters pay in 2004. His pension was the result of a pulmonary disease related to 9/11, a police official said.

After leaving the NYPD, Zadroga was responsible for his own medical bills.

"The department afforded the detective every medical option available," said NYPD Chief Michael Collins, a department spokesman.

Still, Zadroga's parents said he left behind $50,000 in medical bills. They also said neither the city nor the NYPD has ever acknowledged to them that their son's illness was tied to Ground Zero.

"They didn't treat him well," said his father, Joseph Zadroga, a retired police chief in North Arlington, N.J.

James Zadroga is survived by his 4-year-old daughter, Tylerann, who was her daddy's little nurse. She told him when his head felt warm and knew from his dependence on oxygen when he wasn't doing well, relatives said.

"I thought Daddy was only sleeping," she told her grandmother, Linda Zadroga, after her father's death.

Zadroga died at his parents' home in Little Egg Harbor, N.J. A funeral mass will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday in North Arlington. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has authorized an NYPD honor guard to attend the service.

Zadroga was inside 7 World Trade Center as it began to collapse on 9/11. He returned to the site for weeks to help search for victims' remains.

Palladino said he feared the deaths of more emergency workers could follow.

"We're just starting to learn now the long-term effects on first responders," he said.

[E40FDNYL35]

NEW YORK -- The city on Thursday was dismissed as a defendant in a lawsuit alleging that it was negligent in the collapse of one of the World Trade Center buildings on Sept. 11, 2001. The case proceeds against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the trade center complex, and others. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein noted that the city had created an emergency command center in the building, 7 World Trade Center, which collapsed seven hours after the nearby twin towers fell. He dismissed the city as a defendant after concluding the design and installation of an emergency backup generator system in the command center "was a good faith effort undertaken by the city to facilitate civil defense." "Clearly, this was not routine city business," the judge wrote, explaining why the construction of the command center qualified as a civil defense measure and was protected by the New York Defense Emergency Act, a 1951 law giving municipalities immunity for efforts to provide civil defense.
City lawyer Kenneth A. Becker said the ruling dismisses the last remaining property damage claim against the city arising from the 2001 attacks. "This helps permit the city to better plan for events like the Sept. 11 attacks without being subject to liability based on hindsight," he said.Corporation Counsel Michael A. Cardozo said in a release that the ruling was important to municipalities. "In light of the different catastrophic emergencies we have seen -- both here and in New Orleans -- the flexibility required to prepare and respond in innovative ways is critical, and this ruling reaffirms the legislative precedent allowing the planners to do their jobs without being second guessed," he said in a statement.
The lawsuit was brought by the Consolidated Edison Co. of New York and insurance companies, contending that the city had improperly designed and installed a fuel system for a backup electrical system to support its Office of Emergency Management on the Manhattan building's 23rd floor. It seeks unspecified damages. Con Ed operated below the building a substation that was heavily damaged. The 47-story building, erected in 1987, fell after fires were started by the collapse of the twin towers. Con Ed and its insurers contended that the building collapsed because of the negligence and fault of others. It noted the city built and maintained large tanks of diesel fuel in leased offices in the building and said the tanks caused the fires to grow out of control. It also claimed the contractors, engineers and architects who designed and built 7 World Trade Center were negligent. A Con Ed spokeswoman said the company would have to review the decision before commenting. A Port Authority spokesman said the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation.

[E40FDNYL35]

WASHINGTON — Families of New York firefighters killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, failed Tuesday to persuade the Supreme Court to allow them to go forward with a lawsuit against New York City and Motorola for supplying the rescuers with faulty radios. The high court let stand a decision by a lower appellate court that dismissed the lawsuit, which had blamed the city and Motorola for supplying firefighters with handheld communications devices that prevented them from hearing evacuation orders while they were in the north tower trying to rescue people.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said the families had waived their right to sue when they accepted money from the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund. The fund was created when Congress passed the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act, which was designed to keep airlines from being ruined financially and sending the nation’s economy into further chaos. The firefighters’ families argued that the lower courts had misinterpreted the law and Congress’ intent. The families accused New York and Motorola of entering into a fraudulent, no-bid contract that supplied firefighters with ineffective radios that city and company officials knew for years did not work in high-rise buildings. The Sept. 11 Commission, created by Congress to investigate the government’s performance leading up to the attacks, devoted a portion of its report to the communications problems. The equipment carried by firefighters on Sept. 11 was the same model that had been used by rescuers during the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. It didn’t work then, the commission said, and it didn’t work on Sept. 11. In court filings, Motorola didn’t address the complaints about the radios but argued that Congress had given the families a choice of filing a lawsuit or accepting money from the fund. By opting for compensation from the fund, the company said, the families “waived their right” to sue.

[E40FDNYL35]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/19/06
Lifelessly cold, gritty and rough.This chunk of metal weighing as much as a man is not a pretty thing, but already it has become the most precious possession of the Forsyth County Fire Department. "It's just a piece of steel, but touch it and, oh, my gosh," said Chief Danny Bowman. Unlike this 15-by-25-inch piece of scrap, some of the wreckage of the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center was released early on by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Cities, churches and other organizations have incorporated pieces of metal in memorials from Sacramento to Boston. This piece of history, brought from New York to Cumming just before Christmas, came with even greater significance to firefighters.
The Port Authority allowed the Fire Department of New York to claim a small amount of scrap steel as its own, according to Lt. Brian Gary of Forsyth County. The steel in Cumming is from FDNY's cache, and it's only the second piece that FDNY has given to an outside organization, said Gary, a fourth-generation New York City firefighter who has been with the Forsyth County department eight years. When Bowman suggested his idea for a 911 memorial in the foyer of the county's public safety building under construction on Settingdown Road, Gary put out the word to his New York colleagues.
It looked positive.
Bowman then wrote to FDNY Chief Salvatore Cassano on Dec. 9, requesting the "sacred artifact." "Should you approve," Bowman wrote, "the plan is to place the artifact on display where every person who enters our facility cannot escape its presence. To be able to experience this awesome piece of our heritage, would keep the supreme sacrifice of our brothers fresh in the memory of all who are honored to be in its presence."The request was granted, and 10 days later Gary was on his way to pick it up. Forsyth County's piece is a slice of an I-beam from which FDNY had already cut business card-size medallions to give to the survivors of the 343 FDNY firefighters who died in the attack and its aftermath."The biggest thing to them [FDNY] is that people from all walks of life get to touch it," Gary said.
When the Forsyth County Public Safety Center opens this spring, the memorial will be the first thing visitors see when they enter. Expected to open in May, the center on Settingdown Road will house the sheriff's office, Fire Department, emergency management agency and 911 operation. Plans for the memorial design are incomplete, but Bowman said it will be in place when the building is dedicated. The steel may be set in Georgia marble with a bronze plaque explaining its origin, Capt. Jason Shivers said. When Bowman told him the county had received the "important piece of history," County Manager Jeff Quesenberry said he gave immediate approval to integrate it into the new building. "It will be an item of significance for generations to come for both residents and visitors alike," Quesenberry said. The public will be able to view and touch the steel during regular business hours, Shivers said. Video monitoring and card-key entry after hours will help secure the piece, he said.
For FDNY and for Bowman, the physical connection is a must. Bowman said the feeling he got when he first touched the steel was like the spiritual experiences he had touching the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and visiting Lincoln's deathbed in Washington. "I honestly did not know what to expect from myself emotionally the first time I laid my hands upon the I-beam," said Bowman, who has not flown since the 9-11 attack. "I literally had my breath taken away."
He hopes for the same experience for everyone who visits.
Among those who have already touched the piece is Jason Early, a county firefighter and member of the Georgia National Guard's 48th Brigade deployed in Iraq, who saw the piece during a recent furlough. "He said, This is what our mission is all about,' " Gary said.

[E40FDNYL35]

February 2, 2006 -- When terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui is sentenced for conspiring in the 9/11 attacks, his victims' relatives will be watching from New York and around the Northeast, thanks to a closed-circuit TV feed at six federal courthouses. Moussaoui faces a mini-trial beginning on March 6 to decide whether he should be executed or spend the rest of his life behind bars. To accommodate relatives of the thousands of victims killed on 9/11, six courthouses in five states will show each day of the proceeding, gavel to gavel. Families of victims who live in the New York area can watch from federal courthouses in Manhattan, Central Islip, L.I. and Newark. The closed-circuit TV feeds are in addition to limited seating in the Virginia courtroom.

[E40FDNYL35]

February 3, 2006 -- A federal judge blasted former Environmental Protection Agency head Christie Whitman yesterday for telling residents and workers in lower Manhattan that the air was safe to breathe immediately following 9/11.
"Whitman's deliberate and misleading statements to the press, where she reassured the public that the air was safe to breathe around lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, and that there would be no health risk presented to those returning to those areas, shocks the conscience," Manhattan Federal Judge Deborah Batts wrote.Batts' scathing remarks came in a pretrial opinion in a classaction lawsuit filed by students, workers and residents of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn who say Whitman and other officials knowingly presented a false rosy picture of air-quality issues after the towers fell. "The good news continues to be that air samples we have taken have all been at levels that cause us no concern," Whitman said just five days after the attacks. The Daily News refuted Whitman's claim a month later, citing the EPA's own air quality studies, gathered via the Freedom of Information Act.
It is now accepted that the towers' collapse released a cloud of hazardous substances across lower Manhattan that included lead from 50,000 personal computers and some 2,000 tons of asbestos.Several rescue and cleanup workers have since developed cancer and other maladies doctors have linked to the air around Ground Zero. Whitman could not be reached for comment yesterday. The EPA said it was reviewing the 83-page opinion. Batts agreed to let the lawsuit proceed over the objections of EPA lawyers, clearing an important legal hurdle for the thousands who could recover damages if the lawsuit succeeds. "The court recognized that the EPA undertook the concerted effort to avoid its responsibility and this decision affords us the opportunity to give the aggrieved residents and members of the New York City community their day in court," said Justin Blitz, an attorney for the residents. Batts said Whitman's comments were irresponsible. "Without doubt, if plaintiffs had not been told by the head of a federal agency entrusted with monitoring the environment that it was safe, plaintiffs would not have so readily returned to the area soon after the attacks," Batts said.

[E40FDNYL35]

April 14, 2006 -- Nearly 300 more human bone fragments were recovered in the past four days from the roof of a skyscraper badly damaged by the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, officials said yesterday.
The bone fragments, most less than one-sixteenth an inch long, were found in gravel that had been raked to the sides of the roof of the 41-story Deutsche Bank building, said Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the city Medical Examiner's Office. Part of the trade center's 110-story south tower tore through 15 stories of the Deutsche Bank building when it collapsed. The 41-story bank building, covered in black netting, has remained vacant since 9/11, contaminated with asbestos and chemicals. The remains were discovered by workers removing toxic debris before dismantling the building floor by floor.
Two Fire Department battalion chiefs and retired firefighters joined in the search for remains this week after 9/11 family members complained that recovery experts should help the construction workers dismantling the building.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which bought the building for $90 million and is paying to tear it down, has added an archaeologist and an investigator from the ME's Office to oversee the work. The new procedures "have [yielded] and will continue to yield findings of potential human remains, which will be treated with the utmost care, respect and dignity," LMDC spokesman John Gallagher said. Ten bone fragments were found on the rooftop when the cleanup began last fall, and more than 80 others have been recovered in recent weeks.

[E40FDNYL35]

April 15, 2006 -- Some 9/11/01 relatives say they may go to court to stop demolition of the Deutsche Bank building at Ground Zero. They say they're upset that workers are still finding victims' remains in the structure. They want the building thoroughly searched before it's taken down. Yesterday, officials announced that nearly 300 more human bone fragments were recovered in the past four days from the roof of the skyscraper badly damaged by the Sept. 11, 2001, collapse of the World Trade Center. Workers have been going through the former Deutsche Bank building to remove toxic chemicals and trade center dust before they begin dismantling it floor by floor. They found 10 bone fragments on the rooftop when the cleanup began last fall and had found more than 80 in recent weeks. Two fire department battalion chiefs and retired firefighters joined in the search for remains this week after some September 11, 2001 family members complained that recovery experts should help the construction workers. The bone fragments, most less than 1/16 of an inch long, were found in gravel that had been raked to the sides of the roof of the 41-story skyscraper, said Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the city medical examiner's office. The work on the roof is expected to take another week to complete. Part of the trade center's 110-story south tower tore through 15 stories of the Deutsche Bank building when it collapsed. The bank building, covered in black netting, has remained vacant, contaminated with asbestos, trade center dust and other chemicals.

Diane Horning, who lost her son in the September 11 attack, said she believed the efforts were producing results. "As far as I understand it, I am satisfied, but I've noticed that there are families who are not,'' she said. "As far as I understand it, the firefighters that they've called in are the hands and knees people.'' The recovered remains are taken to a DNA lab for testing. Those that are identified are turned over to family members. Those that can't be identified will be stored at the World Trade Center memorial, where they will be available for possible future testing with better technology, the medical examiner's office spokeswoman said. The LMDC hopes to complete the search for remains and clean the building of toxins by June, when it wants to dismantle it. But federal environmental officials this week expressed concerns about the state rebuilding agency's plans and warned that they wouldn't approve the deconstruction without more information. The dismantling won't begin ``until such time as the regulatory team has agreed that LMDC has provided them with an acceptable plan for such work,'' Pat Evangelista, the World Trade Center site coordinator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, wrote on Tuesday. The EPA questioned a plan to use a concrete chute and other equipment that would pour debris down the side of the building, saying the agency never got approval for it. Said Gallagher: ``LMDC will expeditiously provide any further information, clarifications, enhancements or modifications to the plan that EPA requests.''

[RspctFrmCalgary]

I'm flabergasted that this is happening. :eek: :(

Was a detailed search of the debris in this building not carried out at all during the days, weeks, months that the clean-up of the site and surrounding area was taking place? :confused:

Or is it not a surprise to any of you there that this could happen over 4 years later?

Either way, I hope this brings closure for some families. :(:(:(

[E40FDNYL35]

I'm flabergasted that this is happening. :eek: :(

Was a detailed search of the debris in this building not carried out at all during the days, weeks, months that the clean-up of the site and surrounding area was taking place? :confused:

Or is it not a surprise to any of you there that this could happen over 4 years later?

Either way, I hope this brings closure for some families. :(:(:(

Sheri there was a primary search of the building.(I know we were assigned early on) The building was considered to be a collapse hazard. Everyone was pulled out so that the engineers could come in. I think everyone thought it was done completely.

[RspctFrmCalgary]

Thanks, Ray :) Happy Easter!

[E40FDNYL35]

April 18, 2006 -- An additional 150 tiny bone fragments have been recovered from the rooftop of a skyscraper near Ground Zero, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner said yesterday. More than 500 human bone fragments have been found at the former Deutsche Bank building since workers began cleaning it last fall and preparing to dismantle it. Retired firefighters last week joined in the search for remains - which have been found mixed in with gravel on the roof. The latest remains were recovered at the end of last week. One more week of recovery work on the roof is planned said the ME's spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove

[E40FDNYL35]

May 21, 2006 -- Leave it to the Bravest to get the job done. With the official memorial to 9/11 now mired in fecklessness, confusion and finger-pointing, New York City firefighters Friday night set about commemorating the events of that epochal day in characteristic style. That is to say, boldly and without regard for those who insist that all who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center be remembered, fundamentally, as victims. That is the essential message in the 57-foot long, 6-foot-high solid bronze bas relief memorial now being bolted to the side of 10 House - the firehouse directly across Liberty Street from the WTC which lost five men to the terror attack. The memorial is the product of the quiet collaboration of FDNY Manhattan Borough Commander Harry Meyers and the law firm of Holland & Knight, which suffered a grievous loss of its own on 9/11: Glenn Winuk, a 40-year-old full partner and a volunteer firefighter from Nassau County, who dashed into the burning Twin Towers to save lives - and who himself died. The singularity of Winuk's sacrifice, and that of the 343 New York City firefighters who died in the WTC rubble, needed to be noted - especially when it became clear that the official memorial would make no distinction between victims of the attack, and those who gave their lives in an effort to rescue them. So Holland & Knight quietly raised $530,000 for the memorial that's now being installed behind plywood at Liberty and Greenwich streets. It's powerful, as New York will see when the wraps come off next month. And it demonstrates what can be done - when there's a will to do it.

[RspctFrmCalgary]

May 21, 2006 -- Leave it to the Bravest to get the job done. With the official memorial to 9/11 now mired in fecklessness, confusion and finger-pointing, New York City firefighters Friday night set about commemorating the events of that epochal day in characteristic style. That is to say, boldly and without regard for those who insist that all who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center be remembered, fundamentally, as victims. That is the essential message in the 57-foot long, 6-foot-high solid bronze bas relief memorial now being bolted to the side of 10 House - the firehouse directly across Liberty Street from the WTC which lost five men to the terror attack. The memorial is the product of the quiet collaboration of FDNY Manhattan Borough Commander Harry Meyers and the law firm of Holland & Knight, which suffered a grievous loss of its own on 9/11: Glenn Winuk, a 40-year-old full partner and a volunteer firefighter from Nassau County, who dashed into the burning Twin Towers to save lives - and who himself died. The singularity of Winuk's sacrifice, and that of the 343 New York City firefighters who died in the WTC rubble, needed to be noted - especially when it became clear that the official memorial would make no distinction between victims of the attack, and those who gave their lives in an effort to rescue them. So Holland & Knight quietly raised $530,000 for the memorial that's now being installed behind plywood at Liberty and Greenwich streets. It's powerful, as New York will see when the wraps come off next month. And it demonstrates what can be done - when there's a will to do it.

Wow!

There's so much grace and dignity in this article. Key words: quietly raised

How sad that it is necessary to memorialize the firefighters in a separate and basically privately arranged memorial. Will FDNY Top Brass / Bloomturd raise a stink about it being hung on FDNY property?

My heart bleeds even more than it normally does when I think about that day, when I think about the stupid memorial not differentiating between private citizens who were killed vs. the 343 FDNY firefighters. It must be like a slap in the face, over and over again. Well, I won't get into that again, everyone on here knows I think the firefighters should be together with their brothers on the memorial - acknowledged and identified by their house, company and rank. They died together, they should be remembered together. Period.

Hats off to Commander Meyers and Holland & Knight.

[E40FDNYL35]

June 10,2006 -- The Firefighter Memorial will be unveiled today. It is located on the side of the quarters of Engine 10 and Ladder 10. This bronze plaque commemorates the events of September 11, 2001 and honors the Fire Department heroes who perished that day.

[E40FDNYL35]

June 10, 2006 -- With a view of the mammoth gap in the ground where the World Trade Center once stood, Rudy Giuliani helped dedicate the first major memorial to the 343 members of the New York City Fire Department who died in the terror attack. On Saturday morning, families of dead firefighters joined the former mayor and other officials to unveil the $1 million bronze sculpture affixed to the wall of a firehouse. Saturday marked the fourth anniversary of "the conclusion of recovery work" at ground zero, Fire Commissioner Magoo noted. "These men walked into the fire as other people walked out," said Giuliani, who became known as "America's Mayor" for his take-charge demeanor after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. Giuliani spoke to an audience of more than 500, flanked by fire engines under a row of U.S. flags that veiled the 6-foot tall, 56-foot wide bronze memorial, which Giuliani said symbolically was "forged in fire." The terrorists' aim was to kill as many people as possible, he said, while proving "that we were weak. ... But they were only able to partially achieve their first agenda," he said at the ceremony under the memorial wall of Engine Co. 10/Ladder Co. 10 _ the closest firehouse to ground zero. More than 25,000 people streaming out of the trade center were saved and more than 2,700 died. "It's stirring," said Jay Winuk as he stood by the unveiled memorial after the ceremony. "It reflects my brother perfectly." After realizing that Winuk, a 40-year-old partner in the Holland & Knight firm, had been killed, "we wanted to do something more lasting and fitting. We looked for a project," said his law partner, Brian Starer. The result is the grand bas-relief that shows firefighters approaching the burning buildings with shovels and trucks. One is shown with his helmet removed, sitting down to rest, burying his face in his hand. "I come to ground zero because it's the last streets he walked, it's the last thing he did," said Winuk's brother as he and other family members pressed into the memorial, some of them tracing their loved ones' etched name onto pieces of paper _ similar to what thousands have done at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington.

[NYSmokey]

Great job by all involved. RIP Fallen Brothers your memory lives on for all to see now.

Take a look at the Multimedia presentation on this link.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/nyregion/11memorial.html

[BFDNJFF]

That is simply beautiful. :)

[E40FDNYL35]

June 10, 2006 -- A memorial to the 343 members of the Fire Department killed on September 11th was unveiled near the World Trade Center site Saturday. The bronze plaque, standing six feet tall, 56 feet long and weighing 7,000 pounds, depicts scenes of New York's bravest on that day. Thousands of firefighters were joined by local leaders including former mayor Rudy Giuliani. The tribute will hang at Engine 10/Ladder 10, across the street from where the south tower once stood.
"With this memorial, we will ensure that their memory is kept alive,” said FDNY Fire Chief Peter Hayden. “They will be known as firefighter Michael Boyle, firefigher John Viggiano, Lieutenant Kevin Dowdell, Captain Patrick Brown, Chief Peter Ganci. They deserve that recognition and we made sure that they got it."

The FDNY officially ended its recovery effort at the Trade Center site four years ago Saturday.

[E40FDNYL35]

June 11, 2006 -- Solemn relatives of firefighters who died on 9/11 knelt quietly in front of their beautiful new memorial yesterday and took rubbings of their loved ones' names - names that were forged in fire and carved in timeless bronze to ensure they will never be forgotten. "It's perfect," said Rosemarie Langone, who lost two brothers, of the monument at the "10 House" near Ground Zero. "No matter what they build [at Ground Zero], it's not going to mean as much. That's for everybody, this is for us." Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke at the unveiling ceremony while President Bush, Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg sent prerecorded video messages. He later blasted city, state and federal officials for failing to build a memorial at Ground Zero nearly five years after the terrorist attacks.

"Forget about the buildings, the office space - that should all come second," he said. "The focus has to be on the memorial. Get it right. Future generations will respect us for that."

While politicians continue to dicker over the Ground Zero memorial, firefighters quietly built their own tribute to their 343 fallen brothers. Money was raised by law firm Holland & Knight.

"There's been much discussion of a memorial to be built over this hole in the ground that still stands after five years," said FDNY Chief of Department Peter Hayden. "We've had empty promises from empty suits, but the Fire Department has filled its promise."

The plaque, possibly the largest bas-relief sculpture in the world, stands 6 feet high and runs 56 feet along the side of the Engine 10 and Ladder 10 firehouse at Greenwich and Liberty streets. It depicts heroic firefighters responding to the burning towers. "It's beautiful. I'm very happy with it," said a tearful Beatrice Miller, who lost her son Henry, of Ladder 105. "I'm numb," she said of the memorial service and the memories it brought back. "Henry was too good for the world." "When you come here, you're going to be sad and overwhelmed with grief," Giuliani told the crowd. "But you're going to leave strengthened by these 343 men."

[E40FDNYL35]

June 11, 2006 -- There is that instant of horror to be relived, forever frozen in bronze. There are scenes of valor and camaraderie to be celebrated. But more than anything, there are names to be touched and traced: the Fire Department's 343 dead.

The first large-scale 9/11 monument at ground zero — a bold, literal and almost neo-Classical 56-foot-long bronze relief dedicated to the firefighters "who fell and to those who carry on" — was unveiled yesterday on the side of "10 House," the home of Engine Company 10 and Ladder Company 10, across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center.

In unison, members of the two companies removed six flag-bedecked panels that had been hiding the mural, then marched slowly away, revealing the full panorama, centered on the flaming towers, with heroic and humbled firefighters on either side.

Within moments of its unveiling, family members and firefighters in dress blues were on their knees at the mural, rubbing the inscribed names of those who died on Sept. 11, 2001, arranged by rank, from First Deputy Commissioner William M. Feehan to Paramedic Ricardo J. Quinn.

"I wish his name was not on that wall," said Miriam Juarbe, the mother of Firefighter Angel L. Juarbe Jr., as she clutched the rubbing she had just made. "He made us proud. He gave too much."

Brian D. Starer, vice chairman of the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation, which raised the money for the monument, said he found a 12-year-old boy making a rubbing who told him, "This is all I have of my father."

President Bush, appearing in a videotaped message shown at the opening of the ceremony, said, "The time for mourning may pass, but the time for remembering never does." Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was present, said simply, "It's very hard coming here."

Remembrance was the theme of the morning. Peter E. Hayden, the chief of the Fire Department, pointedly noted the absence of an official memorial across the street, on what he called "holy ground."

"We've had empty promises from empty suits," Chief Hayden said, "but the Fire Department has fulfilled its promise."

The ceremony coincided with the fourth anniversary of the Fire Department's cessation of recovery operations at ground zero, although the monument is not quite complete. It is framed, as intended, by nine lighting fixtures, but the 11 paving stones for its base have yet to be installed, pending city approval. These are to be of the same garnet-flecked Adirondack granite as the Freedom Tower cornerstone.

Since crowds are already a constant at 10 House, the monument is likely to become an instant landmark.

But its creators envision a more distant horizon.

"This is a 100-year monument," said Harold Meyers, assistant chief of the department and the Manhattan borough commander. "We wanted it to tell a story. One hundred years from now, we want you to look at this and say, 'This is what happened.' "

In the central panel are the flaming towers, caught at the instant when the second jet hit on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Flanking it are scenes of firefighters laying down hose lines, a weary firefighter reaching up from a curb, firefighters washing their faces at a hydrant, a fireboat on the horizon.

They are composed in exacting detail. Chief Meyers made sure of that. A chief at the temporary command station is wearing his regulation F.D.N.Y. tie clip. Some firefighters have chocks — door-opening wedges — strapped to their helmets.

Mr. Starer said it was impossible to put an exact dollar figure on the project because so much labor and material was donated. "This is a million-dollar memorial that didn't cost a million dollars," he said.

Holland & Knight is an international law firm whose New York office is at 195 Broadway, a block from ground zero. Its central role in the firefighters' monument can be traced to the earliest days of the rescue and recovery effort, when Mr. Starer helped furnish ice for the workers on the smoldering pile.

"I like to think of this story as ice to bronze," he said.

In September 2001, his wife, Cheryl Roy Starer, immersed herself in volunteer work at a triage center in Public School 234, four blocks north of ground zero. After two or three days treating workers with deeply bloodshot eyes, for whom conventional eye drops offered no relief, she set out to create soothing ice compresses.

Mrs. Starer telephoned her husband and said: "I want you to stop what you're doing. I need ice. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you." He asked how much. "All you can get," she answered.

Nuzzolese Brothers Ice, Diamond Ice Cube and Maplewood Ice answered Mr. Starer's call, delivering 20 tons of free ice daily to ground zero for a month. Then they asked to be paid for future deliveries.

To pay for the ice, Mr. Starer, an admiralty lawyer, took advantage of assistance that had been offered by three international shipping executives — Thomas Hsu, Gregory B. Hadjieleftheriadis and Axel Karlshoej — to create an "ice fund" for ground zero.

After nine weeks, ice was no longer needed, but there was still money in the fund. Mr. Starer offered to buy a fire truck, but fire officials proposed instead that the money be used for a memorial.

He agreed, with the understanding that the monument would also honor Glenn J. Winuk, a Holland & Knight partner and volunteer firefighter in Jericho, N.Y., who raced to the trade center after helping evacuate his own building. He was not seen alive again. Mr. Winuk's name appears on a separate plaque from the listing of the 343 New York City firefighters.

Mr. Starer approached the Rambusch Company, a 108-year-old firm that specializes in decorative metalwork, stained glass and lighting. He was drawn by the firm's experience and, not coincidentally, by the fact that its chairman emeritus, Viggo Bech Rambusch, is the brother of one of Mr. Starer's law partners.

"Trajan's Column," Mr. Rambusch declared to Mr. Starer.

Conjuring that Roman monument, Mr. Rambusch evoked the notion of unfolding reliefs, almost cinematic in continuity and clarity, transmitting a wartime narrative wordlessly across centuries. Further, Mr. Rambusch ordained, the 9/11 monument must be made of a noble metal: bronze.

His sons, Martin V. and Edwin P. Rambusch, worked on the project with Joseph A. Oddi, a delineator, and Joseph Petrovics, a sculptor.

It was Mr. Oddi who sketched the preliminary vision of the monument — the burning towers already the centerpiece — during a meeting in Chief Meyers's office in December 2003 at which firefighters talked about their experiences on 9/11.

A 10-foot-long plaster model followed. Dozens of details were fussed over: how high the fireboat sat in the water, how the radio cords curled.

Full-scale panels were made in plastilene clay. At this late stage, Charles R. Cushing, a naval architect and friend of Mr. Starer, noticed that the smoke from the north tower was drifting in the wrong direction. That was revised.

Negative plaster casts were made from the plastilene. These were used to make positive plaster casts that, in turn, were pressed into a mixture called French sand. That created another mold into which the bronze was cast, at the Bedi-Makky Art Foundry in Brooklyn.

The six-foot-high, 7,000-pound mural arrived in Manhattan on May 19 in two 24-foot-long side sections and an 8-foot-long central section.

It was put up overnight. Before the south panel was hoisted into place, the installation crew and the firefighters from 10 House were invited to write messages on the back with paint pens. Some offered sentiments like "I'm here with you" or " 'Til we meet again." Others enumerated their friends who died that day — six names, seven names, eight names.

"I'm not a misty guy," Chief Meyers said, "but I have to tell you, I had a misty moment."

And those sentiments are meant to stay private and personal. "I hope," the chief said, "no one ever gets to see the back of it."

[ducken]

E40L35 what are your thoughts of this? I personally was moved when I was looking at it. I was kinda woundering what you and your fellow FF in NY thought of this. You guys were obviously affected more then anyone else, do you guys feel it serves the memory of your fallen brothers well.

And thank you so much for keeping us up to date!!

I may have to make a trip up to NYC to see this in person, although i would be scared to death. A big city like that would eat up a little country boy like me.

[E40FDNYL35]

E40L35 what are your thoughts of this? I personally was moved when I was looking at it. I was kinda wondering what you and your fellow FF in NY thought of this. You guys were obviously affected more then anyone else, do you guys feel it serves the memory of your fallen brothers well.

And thank you so much for keeping us up to date!!

I may have to make a trip up to NYC to see this in person, although i would be scared to death. A big city like that would eat up a little country boy like me.


I think it is a GREAT TRIBUTE to Brave men. The ceremony was powerful yet fitting. I wish everyone could have heard Chief Hayden's remarks, he is a class act. In the Cave we are still missing members from that Tuesday. Now I can take my friend Mikey's sons to a Monument to spend time with their father and not some hole in the ground. I recommend EVERYONE to make a pilgrimage to the site and see what Murderers did that day.

[MIKEYLIKESIT]

Thanks for making sure none of us forget.... Ever

[ARH176]

I am starting to believe that the FDNY needs to step away from this fiasco and tell the "official memorial" people to put it where an endoscope will be the only way to view it. Let's see, 4.75 years and all there is to show is a big hole, and a few drawings that seem to get shot down in just hours. (I know that some of the other buildings are being rebuilt.)

Unfortunatly I can't offer any good ideas about how to fix the problem, or even any bad ones. Rant off.

I do believe that there is a trip to New York city in my future with plenty of film, memory cards or both, for use at the 10 house.

" empty promises from empty suits" so fitting.

Alan

edited to add: I am proud of the fact that the private sector and the brothers of FDNY could pull off a fitting memorial to those that made the supreme sacrifice.

[1261Truckie]

To my Brothers and Sisters in the F.D.N.Y.

While I now live in the Pacific Northwest and can only comment on the events in New York City from a distance, allow me to offer the following observations:

Thank you Assistant Chief H. Meyers for spearheading this Memorial.

Thank you Holland & Knight for all your efforts.

Thank you Mayor Giuliani for coming to the dedication.

Thank you, and God bless you Chief Hayden for your comments and your courage.

Thank you, God bless you and may God watch over you to ALL the Members of the F.D.N.Y. - those of you we lost on 9-11-01 and afterwards - those of you who searched, rescued from and recovered from The Pile - those of you who now serve with courage, honor and dignity.

You made a frightened nation proud on 9-11-01 and you continue to do so by your example.

We will never forget!

By the way, shame on you President Bush, Governor Pataki and especially Mayor Bloomberg for not attending the ceremony. It is obvious how you feel about your Bravest.

With my highest respect,

Jim Boyle (aka 1261Truckie)
Retired Firefighter
Former Auxiliary Firefighter F.D.N.Y. Ladder Co. 132 (1968 - 1975)

[dave29]

Thats so damn cool, I wanna go see it first hand someday

God Bless our FDNY Brothas

[E40FDNYL35]

July 4, 2006 -- The search for remains of 9/11/01 victims on a skyscraper near Ground Zero - suspended more than two months ago by environmental officials - will resume tomorrow. Workers, wearing masks for protection from asbestos and other contaminants, will continue cleaning the roof of the former Deutsche Bank building of toxic materials and searching for remains, said John Gallagher, spokesman for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. The Environmental Protection Agency suspended work on the roof in April, citing the LMDC for failing to properly protect workers from asbestos. It said in mid-June that the agency, which owns the vacant skyscraper and began dismantling it last fall, could resume the work. Part of the World Trade Center's south tower tore into 15 stories of the building when the tower collapsed Sept. 11, 2001.

[E40FDNYL35]

July 16, 2006 -- Scores of people rallied at Ground Zero yesterday to remember the fallen and call for a more thorough search for bone fragments still being found near the World Trade Center site. Activists have said they aren't convinced that enough is being done to recover any small bits of remains that might still be hidden among other debris at the vacant Deutsche Bank building, which was damaged beyond repair in the trade center collapse. More than 600 human bone fragments have been found in the 41-story tower, the majority turning up on the roof. Richard Gould, a professor of anthropology at Brown University, said he is concerned that teams scouring the building are using tools too crude to find every bone fragment. "What the site needs is a careful, systematic clearing job," he said. "So far, that hasn't happened yet." The search for remains at the skyscraper resumed July 5 after a two-month break ordered by environmental officials. The recovery of remains is being overseen by the city's Medical Examiner's Office and its forensic anthropologist, Dr. Bradley Adams, who formerly worked with a military task force recovering the remains of soldiers from Korea and Vietnam. Workers are also removing asbestos and other toxic materials from the building as a prelude to demolishing it. Those rallying at the site yesterday included dozens of veterans. Organizers of the event held a ceremony honoring World Trade Center victims who had also served in the military.

[E40FDNYL35]

The Bloombag administration has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit aimed at forcing the city to excavate and give a "proper burial" to tons of World Trade Center debris at Fresh Kills landfill. The Manhattan Federal Court suit was filed in 2005 by WTC Families for Proper Burial and 17 relatives of 9/11 victims, who charge human body parts are mingled in the debris from the twin towers recovery operation. But the relatives don't have the right "to overturn the city's decision on how to treat the WTC material" at the Staten Island dump, a lawyer for the city said in a new written response. "The possibility that the remains of some victims may not have been found ...does not empower this court to order the City of New York to commit tens of millions of taxpayers' dollars to resift and relocate the material," lawyer James Tyrrell wrote. The family members' lawyer Norman Siegel promised "a vigorous reply" to the city's motion. "We believe an egregious wrong was committed and that our clients' civil rights were violated," he said.

[E40FDNYL35]

NEW YORK -- The mayor called an emergency meeting at City Hall on Friday to figure out why human bones were discovered at ground zero this week and discuss what other areas of the site should be searched for remains of the Sept. 11 dead. The discovery stirred up renewed anger and anguish among families of the dead. "These are the bones that these mothers bore," said Rosaleen Tallon, whose brother died on Sept. 11. Bloombag called agencies to the meeting to "put them all together in a room to see what else we should go look at and why this wasn't discovered five years earlier." He also said that the city was planning to scour the site again for remains, examining other manholes and areas that might have been overlooked. Chief Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch told The Associated Press he was eager to see what came out of the meeting. "We've been in touch with the families and expressed our concern," he said as he headed inside. Meanwhile, police and forensic experts dug through a pile of rubble at the site Friday in search of more remains, an official said. The search involved additional material pulled from the manhole where the bones were found this week, and was expected to yield additional remains, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not instructed not to speak publicly about the matter. Construction work on several ongoing projects at the site - the Sept. 11 memorial, the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower and a transit hub - continued without interruption Friday, said Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman Steve Coleman.The remains, some as big as arm or leg bones, were found by a Port Authority contractor working with a Consolidated Edison crew excavating a manhole at street level, Coleman said. The location where the bones were found is next to where a podium is put up on Sept. 11 anniversaries for families to read the names of their loved ones. Family members called Friday for an investigation by Congress and state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer into the failure to completely remove the remains from ground zero. The group WTC Families for Proper Burial also called for ground zero construction to be halted until a proper search for remains can be completed. Diane Horning, who lost a son on Sept. 11, said at a news conference that a small piece of her son's body, found 4 1/2 years ago, was located near the latest discovery."Why were these remains removed and the site compromised? The entire recovery has never been handled as a crime scene," said Horning.The families said officials rushed to clean the debris from ground zero without properly considering the remains. Con Edison said that at the direction of the Port Authority, it entered the lower Manhattan site on Wednesday to remove material from two manholes that had been damaged and abandoned after the 2001 collapse of the twin towers. Crews hauled the excavated materials Wednesday to a work center more than a mile away, as is customary, Con Edison said. No one noticed there were human remains.On Thursday morning, the Port Authority contractor spotted the remains, and the medical examiner's office was contacted. More remains were found at the Chelsea site where the excavated material was taken, said Con Ed spokesman Mike Clendenin.The area was roped off, and investigators sifted through dirt under a white tarp. The team of workers included forensic anthropologists who are overseeing the medical examiner's massive effort to identify Sept. 11 trade center victims.Police said there was no evidence of wrongdoing, and an investigation was to continue Friday.Con Edison said it "shares the great sensitivity felt by families and rescuers associated with the tragedy" because many of its employees have been personally involved in the restoration and recovery efforts. Five years after 2,749 people died in the World Trade Center attack, families of about 1,150 victims still have not received word that their loved ones' remains were found amid the rubble. The remains of Charles Wolf's wife, Katherine, 40, were never recovered. He said his wife, an employee of insurer Marsh & McLennan, perished on the 97th floor of the north tower. "I am totally shocked that this was found in the pit," said Wolf, who showed up at the Chelsea Con Edison site after being contacted by television stations. "The fact that they were found in ground zero says there was some major, major shortfall in the recovery effort." Wolf, 52, of Manhattan, said a "qualified independent party," such as investigators with the military's Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, or JPAC, which looks for American soldiers who go missing, should handle the Sept. 11 remains search. "We've got a problem right now," Wolf said. "Where else are we going to find them next?" During the excavation of the 110-story twin towers, which began the evening of the attacks and lasted for nine months, about 20,000 pieces of human remains were found. The DNA in thousands of those pieces, many small enough to slip into a test tube, was too damaged by heat, humidity and time to yield matches in the many tests forensic scientists have tried over the years. The city told victims' families last year that it was putting the project on hold, possibly for years, until new DNA technology was developed. Every known process had been tried. But last month, Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch said that advances had been made by Bode Technology Group, the Virginia company contracted to work on recovered Sept. 11 bone fragments, and that "new identifications will be forthcoming." A medical examiner's office spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, said Thursday that no new IDs had been made but they still were expected. Besides the new remains found by the utility workers, the lab also has recently received hundreds of bone fragments discovered on the roof of a building just south of where the trade center stood. The building had been condemned since the attacks and was about to be torn down when workers found the bone pieces.

[E40FDNYL35]

A coalition of historic preservation groups accused World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein of making no effort to save the so-called Survivors Staircase. The now-battered stairs, which many in the north tower used to reach Vesey St. safely on 9/11, stand where Silverstein plans to build an office tower. The Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund, whose five groups include the Municipal Art Society and the New York Landmarks Conservancy, had been in talks with Silverstein and the Port Authority about ways to safeguard the steps. But the groups concluded, in a letter to Silverstein this week, that his tower is being designed by architect Norman Foster "as though the staircase had already been destroyed." A spokesman for Silverstein had no comment yesterday.

[RspctFrmCalgary]

A coalition of historic preservation groups accused World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein of making no effort to save the so-called Survivors Staircase. The now-battered stairs, which many in the north tower used to reach Vesey St. safely on 9/11, stand where Silverstein plans to build an office tower. The Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund, whose five groups include the Municipal Art Society and the New York Landmarks Conservancy, had been in talks with Silverstein and the Port Authority about ways to safeguard the steps. But the groups concluded, in a letter to Silverstein this week, that his tower is being designed by architect Norman Foster "as though the staircase had already been destroyed." A spokesman for Silverstein had no comment yesterday.

Yet another slap in the face. :( :( :mad:

As to the post previous to that one, well it just plain baffles me. :confused: Shaking my head in disbelief.

The remains, some as big as arm or leg bones, :( :(

[MIKESINDERS]

I wonder how those bone fragments got up on those roof tops?

[FlyingKiwi]

Sinders Rella.

(Ever hear of a bloke called Newton, he has started one of the best govmint conspiracies of all time, it implies everything drops downwards.)

Us conspiracy types are over here (http://forums.firehouse.com/showthread.php?t=84810&page=1)

[E40FDNYL35]

October 22, 2006 -- Fifteen more pieces of human remains - including a bone more than a foot long - were unearthed at Ground Zero yesterday after a new search for 9/11 victims kicked into high gear. The discovery came as a source said he wasn't surprised at the find - because the temporary road at the site was built on dirt scooped up from Ground Zero. A crew working with forensic experts yesterday also found wallets, shoes and cash at previously unsearched manholes near West St. The medical examiner's office painstakingly sifted through debris using a mesh - a technique used on archeological digs. The new hunt for 9/11 remains was prompted by the stunning discovery Thursday of more than 80 bones - some as large as 10 inches long. The number of remains found yesterday was confirmed by Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the city medical examiner, although she could not confirm the size of the bones. Skyler said the crew includes members of the FDNY, Con Edison, Verizon and the Port Authority. Mayor Bloombag ordered city officials Friday to search all the manholes in the area, which were covered over in 2002 to create a temporary service road to The Pit. Furious family members of 9/11 victims said they had lost faith in the city's competence. "If they were capable of doing the job, it would have been done over the last five years," said Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son, Christian, was one of 2,749 people who died on 9/11/01. He is one of the 1,150 victims whose remains have not been identified.

[E40FDNYL35]

October 23, 2006 -- The search for human remains at the World Trade Center site continued Monday after more than one hundred fragments and personal items were found in the last several days. A discovery by Con Ed workers doing routine excavation work on Thursday jump-started the search. The remains were found in a manhole along the western edge of the 16-acre site underneath a service road built in 2002. Six other manholes and utility cavities have been identified as places that may have been overlooked. Despite calls for construction at the site to stop, Bloombag said work will continue. "We're not going to shut down any construction," he said. "Construction is taking place on sites that have been thoroughly gone through and excavated, and we have to build for the future." Outraged family members want to know why the initial search was incomplete, and are now calling on the same federal agency who identifies remains of soldiers to join in the search. "We are not criticizing the work and the workers. We are criticizing the process, which is not working," said Diane Horning, whose son died on 9/11. "We have already got the best in the medical examiner's office, but you can't expect a fire fighter, as well intentioned as he might be, to have a skill level to find what an anthropologist could find," said Charles Wolf, whose wife died. "We have an anthropologist standing by at the Deutsche Bank building, but the problem there is that it has always been secondary. It has been if they run across them, we'll find it. It hasn't been primary. We need this ratcheted up to be primary."

[E40FDNYL35]

October 25, 2006 -- Workers found more human remains in a manhole next to Ground Zero that had been paved over after the attacks, officials said yesterday. Thirty-six more bone fragments from 1 to 6 inches long were discovered in the manhole on a West St. service road next to the former World Trade Center, officials said. Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner, said that brings the total to 150 remains found in a manhole that investigators believe was breached during the collapse of the towers. Nine manholes and three service boxes are being reinspected after Con Ed workers cleaning out the manhole made the surprise discovery late last week. So far, three manholes have been inspected, with six more to go. Some are buried many feet below the surface of the street. Work at the site was briefly put on hold Monday while the city tested the soil around the manholes for asbestos. The work resumed yesterday after the tests came back negative, officials said. Of the 2,749 people killed at Ground Zero on 9/11, 1,150 have not been officially identified by the discovery of remains.

[E40FDNYL35]

October 28, 2006 -- Stunned by the discovery of human remains near Ground Zero five years after the 9/11 terror attack, the city announced yesterday it will conduct a block-by-block search for more body parts in lower Manhattan.
The year-long effort will include hundreds of subterranean vaults, three abandoned buildings and the rooftops of an office tower and a hotel. The decision to launch an expanded search comes after the grim surprises of last week, when more than 200 bone fragments and personal effects turned up in an abandoned manhole on the western edge of the World Trade Center site.

Search will include:

Some 400 manholes from Barclay St. to Albany St. and from Broadway to the western edge of the World Financial Center.

The roofs of the Millenium Hotel and 1 Liberty Plaza. Both contain roof ballast, large rocks that were cleaned but not searched for human remains.

Two Verizon manholes in the middle of West St. next to the Trade Center site. Skyler promised to minimize traffic headaches by "doing this in the middle of the night if we have to."

The site of the former St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at 140 Liberty St. Trade Center debris may be compacted under asphalt that was laid down after the disaster.

Three buildings that were abandoned after the attack: the former Deutsche Bank, the Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall and 130 Cedar St. The searches at Deutsche and Fiterman already were planned before the new initiative. More than 700 bone fragments were found in the ballast of the Deutsche Bank tower in September 2005, years after the building had been pronounced clear.

The sites announced yesterday are in addition to seven other Con Edison manholes and three service boxes buried under a service road on the western edge of the Pit that have been targeted for search. The city now says it will dig up most of the service road and expand the search to underground vaults on other nearby streets, including Washington and Cedar Sts.

Of the 2,749 people who died when the twin towers collapsed, the remains of 1,150 have never been identified.

Looking for more


City will search roof of Millenium Hotel and 1 Liberty Plaza, both on Church St.

City will search interior and roof of 130 Liberty St., 130 Cedar St. at southeast corner and Fiterman Hall.

City will excavate 140 Liberty St., a plot between Liberty, Washington, Cedar and West Sts.

City will excavate much of the service road parallel to West St. running into The Pit.

[E40FDNYL35]

November 3, 2006 -- The city must widen its search for human remains at the World Trade Center site, including a grassy area that officials say wasn't cleared properly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, victims' families said yesterday. More than 150 relatives, holding loved ones' photographs, rallied on the perimeter of Ground Zero to urge the city to call in a military unit to find remains. "We shouldn't have to rally. We shouldn't have to beg," said Robin Audiffred, who has no remains for her husband, James. "You need to make it right. You need to do whatever it takes at this point." A lawyer for the Sept. 11 families, Norman Siegel, said that workers digging into a dozen manholes along a service road on the site's western edge have to tear up the entire road because more remains could be beneath it. He said that a grassy area near construction of a subway line on the site also has to be searched. Two officials involved in recovery work said debris from the attacks made it impossible to go through the area completely during the original search.

[E40FDNYL35]

November 16, 2006 -- The city set a timetable yesterday for expanding its search for remains at the World Trade Center. Starting this week, workers will begin searching the rooftop of the Millenium Hotel. Once that is complete, in about two weeks, workers will move to the rooftop of 1 Liberty Plaza. Then in December, workers will begin searching the grounds of the former St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at 140 Liberty St. and a section of the street known as "haul road," because it was used by trucks during the original cleanup effort. Sources who worked at the site five years ago have told The Post they expect many remains to be found at the site of the Greek church, since it was paved over after it was destroyed.

[E40FDNYL35]

November 19, 2006 -- The Freedom Tower found its footing yesterday.
Construction crews marked a major milestone in the redevelopment of Ground Zero, pouring the colossal concrete foundations for the central core of the 1,776-foot skyscraper. About 520 cubic yards of concrete - enough to cover a football field 31/2 inches deep - were trucked in from a plant in Queens and poured throughout the day, laying the groundwork for what many expect will become an iconic addition to lower Manhattan. "What we're doing here is not just building buildings, we're reclaiming New York City's skyline and making a testament to freedom," said John Cahill, a top adviser to Gov. Pataki. Hardhats started digging the foundation for the Freedom Tower in April, and the concrete foundation is scheduled to be completed during the next few weeks. Crews plan to begin installing giant steel columns - some of the largest in the world - by next month. The Freedom Tower, which is scheduled for completion in 2011, will be owned by the Port Authority under an agreement it finalized with World Trade Center site developer Larry Silverstein. Construction will continue through the winter, said Steve Plate, the chief engineer coordinating the behemoth project for the Port Authority. "This is history in the making," Plate said gleefully as concrete trucks rumbled by him in The Pit, about five stories below street level. By mid-2008, the lower levels of the skyscraper will begin to rise above street level, said Mel Ruffini, a project executive with Tishman Construction. "The men and women involved with this project are all dedicated to getting this building up as fast as possible," he said. Rebuilding at Ground Zero is expected to peak in 2009, when heavy steel and concrete work will be carried out simultaneously at the Freedom Tower and three other office towers.

[E40FDNYL35]

December 20, 2006 -- It's rising. The first steel columns were bolted into the foundation of the new Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site yesterday, including two that were signed by hundreds of people. Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloombag watched as a crane lifted a 25-ton steel column bearing the words "Freedom Tower" and workers bolted it into place. The construction crew cheered as the crane then lifted two other columns, both signed by hundreds of people last week in Virginia, where it was made, and at Ground Zero on Saturday. One of the workers was Brian Lyons, a superintendent with Tischman Construction Corp., which is building the 1,776-foot tower. His brother, Michael, was a firefighter who was killed on 9/11. Brian Lyons came to the smoking ruins that day to find him, and has been working at Ground Zero since. "I recovered his body right over there," he said, pointing to the south. "I feel closer to him when I'm here." Larry Silverstein, who is developing the site, said he's honored to have people like Lyons building the Freedom Tower. "It fills you with pride," he said. "They are so dedicated." The steel was produced in Luxembourg and then shipped to the Banker Steel Co. in Lynchburg, Va., where it was made into columns. Six more columns will be installed by the end of the year. "America's strength is evident in these columns of steel," said Pataki, on his last visit to Ground Zero as governor. "It's an emotional day," said Pataki, who leaves office on Dec. 31."There were good days and not so good days. But today is a great day. I'm extremely proud of what we've ended up with here."

[Res45cuE]

I would like to thank you, E40, for keeping the nation's FF's abreast of the ongoing news at the WTC. Being in the NY area, we get to see it every day on the news and in newspapers. However, most of these guys outside the tri-state never get to see it.
On a bit of a bitter sidenote, I find it appalling that threads debating the color of shyte can get 100 replies, but serious issues like this get nary a second glance.
That's my rant and I'm stickin' to it.
Please keep up the great work.

[bacfire]

It gets plenty of second glances. I've been following it since it started. It's just that us folks out in the sticks can't add much to it (speaking for myself, of course).

I made my first visit to Ground Zero last weekend. I was there for the beam signing, but didn't sign. The whole experience was more than moving; emotional beyond my expectations. The temporary 9/11 museum next door to Ten House just tore me up. Had to walk outside a couple times to pull myself back together. After that, I had an emotional hair trigger for the rest of the day. If y'all haven't been to Ground Zero yet...go.

Barry

[E40FDNYL35]

October 21, 2007 -- SYRACUSE - Six years after she died in one of the planes that struck the twin towers, Laura Lee Morabito has been laid to rest. "It's somewhat surreal being in front of you after six years of my sister's death," said her brother Craig Defazio during a service at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Skaneateles in central New York. Friday's funeral was scheduled after Morabito's wedding ring was found and her remains, identified Sept. 12 through DNA testing, were returned to her family. Two memorial services had been held in 2001. This time, family members said, they would have the relief of burying her in St. Joseph's Cemetery near Auburn, N.Y. A military honor guard stood outside the church. Morabito, 34, was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston, which was hijacked by terrorists and crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. She was a national sales manager for Qantas Airways. Her remains were found in the initial recovery effort but could not be linked to her with the DNA technology used at the time, according to the New York City medical examiner's office.

[rescue10lt]

This might not be the most appropriate forum for this but under
the thread topic, maybe it is. I didn't know Brother Criscitiello, he sounds like he was like just about every other firefighter that was good at the job; a good guy, hands on, loved being with his family and the guys at work called him Joey Screwdriver because he was always fixing things around the firehouse. Sound familiar? Anyway, it said in his obit that he participated in the WTC recovery efforts. I don't know how involved the MFD was with the efforts but seeing how close Montclair is to Manhattan, probably pretty involved. Joseph Criscitiello was diagnosed on March 17 with gastric lymphoma, a “very rare” form of cancer that eventually caused his death.
Is there any connection? I don't know; maybe, maybe not. Not my call but it seems that too many folks who were there are going away too soon.
Like I said; I didn't know Joe but he was a Brother. I only grew up in Montclair, went to school there then left. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Jan and their son, Joseph, and his family.

JOSEPH J. CRISCITIELLO – 51 MONTCLAIR FIREFIGHTER

Mr. Joseph J. Criscitiello, 51, passed away on Saturday, October 20 at the Hackensack Medical Center, Hackensack. Arrangement made by the Biondi Funeral Home of Nutley, 540 Franklin Avenue. Relatives and friends are invited to attend a funeral Mass in his memory at Our Lady of the Lake Church, Verona at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 25. Cremation will be held privately. To send condolences, please visit www.biondifuneralhome.com and sign the Guest Book.

Mr. Criscitiello was born in Newark and lived in Verona for 20 years. He was a Firefighter with the Township of Montclair, Truck #1 for 18 years. He was also a truck driver with Zimmerman Oil Company, Montclair. Mr. Criscitiello participated in the 9/11 Recovery Efforts, and was a member of the FMBA Local #20, Montclair.

Mr. Criscitiello is survived by his loving wife of 25 years Janyce (nee Nicastro) Criscitiello; his son Joseph Criscitiello; his sisters Antoinette Borkowski, Denise Grill, and Gina D’Alessio; his brother Thomas, and his father Thomas Criscitiello. He is the son-in-law of Ralph Nicastro and his wife Helen; and brother-in-law of Gayle Nicastro. He was predeceased by his mother Margaret (nee Pagano) Criscitiello; his mother-in-law Evelyn Nicastro; and his brother-in-law Ralph Nicastro.

Donations in Joseph’s memory can be made to the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation Cancer Center, 20 Prospect Avenue, Hackensack NJ 07601.

E40FDNYL35; you doing a good thing by continuing to get the word out, keep it up. Once again; be safe out there, Brothers and let's get everybody home.

Lt. David Walters
Miami Fire Rescue

[RspctFrmCalgary]

My deepest condolences to the Criscitiello family and the Montclair Fire Department for their loss.

Sleep with angels, Joey. :( :( :( :(

[E40FDNYL35]

November 16, 2007 -- The city has identified a second September 11, 2001 victim from human remains found in the past year buried underneath a service road at the World Trade Center site, officials said Friday. More than 400 human bone pieces have been recovered from beneath the service road that carried cleanup and construction trucks in and out of the site after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The search at the spot began in October 2006 when utility workers found over 80 bones in a manhole in the service road, and it has since spread to other manholes, underneath a highway and onto nearby rooftops. The city identified the first victim from remains found in the road in July, along with a victim identified from remains found in an abandoned, contaminated skyscraper across from ground zero. The family had not authorized the release of the name of the latest victim, the city medical examiner's office said. More than 1,800 of the 21,000 body parts recovered from ground zero have been found in the last two years in and around the trade center site. Still, more than 40 percent of the 2,749 people killed at the site have not been identified, because the bones recovered were too degraded and damaged by heat and time. The city has been using updated technology to try and re-extract DNA to make new identifications.

[RspctFrmCalgary]

Thanks for the update, Ray.

Never Forget.

:( :( :( :( :( :(

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December 16, 2007 -- City officials completed the excavation of the World Trade Center area this week, recovering 1,772 human remains, but vowed to continue searching as they rebuild the site. "At no point in the near future would it be prudent to declare this search 'over,'" Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler, who is overseeing the effort, wrote to Mayor Bloomberg Tuesday. But the city will close its year-old recovery facility on Water St. in Brooklyn and replace it with a mobile unit that will be deployed to the site when something suspect is seen. "I don't have faith that they're doing this search in a thorough way," said Diane Horning, whose son Matthew was killed in the Sept. 11 attacks. "In anthropological searches, they use toothbrushes and paintbrushes to find remains, not bulldozers." The roving unit will include two tractor-trailers for sifting remains, a flatbed and a smaller trailer, Skyler said. The medical examiner's office will keep workers at the site to flag any remains found during rebuilding efforts. The city widened its search of Ground Zero and surrounding streets in October 2006 after 80 bones were uncovered in a buried Con Edison manhole. The remains, often small bone fragments, were found at 130 Liberty St., 55 Church St., 130 Cedar St., Fiterman Hall and other places. The medical examiner's office, which finished its search Monday, also has unearthed 602 remains in the Haul Road area. Just yesterday, the office announced that another victim had been identified by remains found at Haul Road, but a name was not released. Of the 2,750 who died during the Trade Center attacks, there are 1,133 people whose remains still haven't been identified.

The search cost $38 million, $8 million more than the city had budgeted.



Lawmakers and firefighters rallied near Ground Zero Saturday to push for treatment centers for World Trade Center responders who live outside of New York - a program that is in jeopardy. The feds called off the search last week for a contractor to process medical reimbursements for those responders, a key step in establishing clinics around the country for workers who fell ill after toiling at the toxic site. Officials said it was canceled because bidders were confused by program requirements and because cost estimates had ballooned. But local lawmakers fear the move shows a lack of commitment by the White House. "The feds are still being dragged to the table to help out 9/11 responders. I think they should be leading the way instead of stepping in the way," said Rep. Vito Fossella (R-S.I./Brooklyn). Fossella was joined by fellow Congress members Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) and Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) and by the firefighters union in urging the Department of Health and Human Services to reverse its decision. "It smells badly that it is being canceled because of conflicting reasons," said Fossella, adding the HHS had once called the program essential to help ailing 9/11 responders.

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July 4th, 2008 -- This Fourth of July, 20 tons of beautifully polished national disgrace will be sitting in the work lot of a Long Island stone company.

"TO HONOR AND REMEMBER THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, AND AS A TRIBUTE TO THE ENDURING SPIRIT OF FREEDOM. - JULY FOURTH 2004," the inscription reads.

The second date marks the day this block of granite was laid with great ceremony as the cornerstone of the new Freedom Tower at Ground Zero.

"Today, we, the heirs of that