VOLUME 29, NUMBER 1
Fighting for 9/11 survivors BY D U SI CA SU E M A LE S E V IC he last-minute Zadroga Act reauthorization last month was cause for celebration Downtown — and especially for 9/11 Environmental Action, which has been on the frontlines of the fight for healthcare for survivors of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Congress first passed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act in 2010 with only five years of funding for two programs: the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, and the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides healthcare and monitoring for more than 70,000 Ground Zero responders and Downtown survivors. The reauthorization will provide funding many years into the future for the work of groups such as 9/11 Environmental Action, which does outreach to give survivors access to the programs. “Now with the reauthorization of Zadroga, we have a lifetime of care,” said Kimberly Flynn, the group’s director and one of its co-founders. “We have 75 more years of the World Trade Center Health Program. This is unprecedented for communities.” Flynn, who has been working for almost 14 years on issues around the environmental fallout of the World Trade Center attacks, emphasized the importance of 9/11 Environmental Action’s continued outreach, pointing out that there are many people who are still eligible for the programs but don’t know it. Of the nearly 400,000 people Downtown who were exposed to contaminants after 9/11 attacks, only 72,000 — just 18 percent — have enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program to receive healthcare and medical screening for the many aliments associated with the toxins that flooded the neighborhood, and which sometimes show up only years later. The renewed Zadroga funding will now provide an additional 25,000 treatment
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JANUARY 14 – JANUARY 27, 2016
BOARD GAMES Residents call for sweeping change in leadership at Battery Park City B Y D USICA SUE MAL ESEVIC AN D YAN N IC RACK wo vacancies. Two expired terms. One local resident. Community Board 1 members think that’s a recipe for major
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changes to the Battery Park City Authority’s board. CB1’s Battery Park City Committee wants Gov. Cuomo, who picks the leadership of the state authority that runs the
Photo by Jonathan Alpeyrie
St ardus t i n Soho Fans flocked to David Bowie's Soho apartment after news of the singer's death on Jan. 11, creating an impromptu shrine piled high with flowers, candles, photos, and heartfelt notes thanking the gender-bending icon for the impact he had on their lives. Bowie, who also performed as the character Ziggy Stardust in the 1970s, was a longtime Downtown stalwart, and performed in a starstudded concert at Battery Park City in May 2002 aimed at helping Lower Manhattan recover after the devastation of the 9/11 attacks. For more, see page 10.
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neighborhood, to appoint residents to a majority of seats on the seven-member board. “This is a public benefit corporation, it has been established for some time, and there has only ever been one resident on the seven-person board,” Chairman Anthony Notaro said. “At the end of the day, it’s simply time for local residents to take a more active participation in the governance of the authority.” After a string of unpopular decisions over the past year and a half, the drumbeat for more local representation is getting louder, but whether or not the governor will heed it remains to be seen. Downtown Express repeatedly called and emailed Cuomo’s office with questions about the governor’s plans for board chairman Dennis Mehiel, whose term expired at the end of last year. At a town hall meeting in December — the first during Mehiel’s tenure — frustrations with his leadership and a wide range of issues boiled over, and led to calls for his ouster. But the governor’s office declined to answer any questions about whether Mehiel would be reappointed, or shed any light on the appointment process. His office would not even say whether the governor planned to give the wishes of Battery Park City residents any weight at all when appointing the board that runs their neighborhood. Board members can serve beyond their appointed terms until the governor replaces or reappoints them. The term of Martha Gallo — the only BOARD GAMES Continued on page 2