USA: TWO YEARS AFTER ATTACKS ON THE WORLD TRADE CENTER CONTROVERSY CONTINUES OVER HOW TO REBUILD THE SITE AND HONOUR THE VICTIMS

Record ID: 836224

  • Title: USA: TWO YEARS AFTER ATTACKS ON THE WORLD TRADE CENTER CONTROVERSY CONTINUES OVER HOW TO REBUILD THE SITE AND HONOUR THE VICTIMS
  • Date: 9th September 2003
  • Summary: (W8) NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) LV TILT DOWN GROUND ZERO HAS CONSTRUCTION WORKERS MV MICKEY KROSS, FIREFIGHTER GETTING GEAR TOGETHER INSIDE FIRE TRUCK MV KROSS SHUTTING DOOR TO FIRE TRUCK
  • Embargoed: 24th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA74WMEPIGOZZNWMF0767BXGXIE
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  • Story Text: Two years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, controversy continues over how to rebuild the site and honour the victims.
    Ground Zero is a site that has changed beyond recognition from two years ago, when on September the 11th 2001 the skyline of New York was violently forever changed.
    Ever since the towers fell - work at the site hasn't stopped. First there was the desperate search for survivors. Then the months of clearing away the tonnes of debris and the painstaking search for body parts.
    But it is now September 2003 and the site is transformed into a small city of ever increasing construction.
    For firefighter Mickey Kross the rapid speed of development is a welcome relief after two years of mourning. When the towers came down, he was buried under the rubble for several hours hundreds of his colleagues didn't make it out alive.
    Kross now gives impromptu tours of the site, laying ghosts to rest each time he retells his story. Kross has even moved to the area, heartened to see life coming back to the once decimated site.
    "I see all the people and the activity, I see the trinket sellers and the hot-dog stands and a lot people are disturbed by that but I am not, I kind of see there is life returning you know," he said with a smile.
    Once a frozen zone barred to all but rescue workers, Ground Zero now attracts visitors from all over the world most are just curious but for some Americans it's become a kind of pilgrimage.
    Tourist from Cincinnati, Christy Trawl, made a special trip to New York just to see the site.
    "You know you are American so its part of you, they were just like you, it just makes your heart feel really heavy though to see it in person," said the tourist.
    For her husband, Glenn it is especially poignant,
    "Being a police officer back in Cincinnati its kind of rough looking at this."
    For school children its a chance to learn about living history, for others, a commercial opportunity not to be missed. Souvenir merchants ply their wares around the vast perimeter of the site.
    Showing off $5 crystals depicted September 11th scenes, trader Charles said, "Our hottest selling one is the firemen and the one with the World Trade Center and Statue of Liberty and when you turn it, it is the Brooklyn Bridge."
    The site also draws all kinds of eccentrics from far and wide, like Harry Roland, who won't let visitors forget exactly where they are and what happened here two years ago.
    For the past 18 months he's been yelling out "This is history, don't let it be a mystery" at passing tourists while handing out maps and photographs detailing the attack.
    The fast pace of change at Ground Zero is welcomed by most - but is too painful for the relatives of those killed on September 11th. Monica Iken, who lost her husband Michael, is concerned that reconstruction is moving faster than she can grieve. Her husband's remains have yet to be found - and most likely never will be.
    "It's very difficult, because I know this is his final resting place and I also know that this is all I have,"
    Iken said whilst walking around the perimeter of the site.
    Many of the victims families are calling this sacred ground and are demanding the footprints of where the two towers once stood are left alone.
    "We feel that the footprints above and below ground have to be saved that way, so that families can go to bedrock and be able to be a part of that healing process down there. Most families feel that is where they want to be," said Iken.
    What replaces the Twin Towers, will have many functions to fill. Daniel Liebeskind's winning design must not only memorialise those who lost their lives, but also generate jobs and economic activity.
    Iken fears runaway commerce could corrupt the commemoration.
    "That memorial is so important to me and the families because that is the final resting place of our loved ones and that is the only place that we will have to go along with our children who are the future generation," she said.
    Liebeskind's design calls for the world's tallest tower at one thousand 776 feet high. The so-called basin of the site will be left bare - a stark reminder of the scale of the tragedy and garden refuge from the commercialism above.
    But bitter arguments surround the need for a peaceful memorial versus the economic needs of a battered Lower Manhattan.
    The hustle and bustle of foot traffic on the streets can be deceptive. Many stores lie empty the vacancy rate is at 13 per cent, that's double what it was before 9.11.
    Wall Street Rising's Dorit Matthews, is trying to lift Lower Manhattan out of its economic doldrums
    "Many of the smaller little mom and pop shops have actually closed down in the last two years since 9-11," she said.
    Charlie Colleti's shoeshine store is one of those struggling businesses. With the World Trade Center site gone, he's lost most of his passing foot traffic customers.
    He complains, "Business has been bad, its maybe 30 per cent off, its been tough."
    Although the big names have reopened and small-time traders have set-up stalls, the downtown economy is far from thriving. Investors are still somewhat nervous of setting up shop next to a giant construction site, the outcome of which is still uncertain.
    Matthews said, "It's really a case of finding the entrepreneurs who recognise that Lower Manhattan is really going to take off and convincing them to take a leap now."
    Colletti, is determined to hang in there, and be part of the promised regeneration "I think this is going to be the future, but when is the future that's the thing," he said.
    The one year anniversary was a ceremony of raw grief, but after two years of dust, debris and depression, battle-weary New Yorkers are looking at this anniversary as one of remembrance and hope.
    This September 11th the names of the 2,792 dead will be read out loud by children as dignitaries, families, firefighters and police once again gather at the site.
    The world is divided over Americas broader political and military response to what happened here two years ago.
    But long after wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are over, this will remain a place where New Yorkers will be constantly reminded of the devastating attack on their city.
    Just how it is to be reconstructed remains a very delicate balancing act between commercial reality and human sensitivity.
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