downtown express
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Ten Years Later - A 9/11 Retrospective
Tuesday, September 11th
2001
For community newspapers, early September typically means lots of feature stories about kids returning to school and the agendas of local officials returning from vacation. But the events of Sept.11, 2001 changed that. And not just for community papers in Lower Manhattan, or even in New York. There were community papers all over the country that were forced to use their front pages to tell stories of the kid who grew up on Main Street, who worked his way through college, and subsequently landed a job in the financial capital of the world. The stories, however, usually contained a question as to whether that kid was still alive. Our local news took on new urgency. Readers in our Lower Manhattan disaster zone desperately needed information on which schools were open and shuttered, what firehouses had lost entire companies, what environmental testing showed about the quality of the air, when Battery Park City could be reoccupied. What was the response of our elected leaders and the Community Board? What programs were emerging to help residents get back into their homes and businesses to reopen their doors? The news was moving so quickly and the need so great for up-to-date local information that in October 2001, the Downtown Express decided to go from bi-weekly publication to weekly publication.
Showing signs of strength
In the days following 9/11, scores of New Yorkers gathered along the West Side Highway holding up these and other signs to thank the first-responder firefighters from Tribeca’s Ladder Company 8, nicknamed the “Ghostbusters” firehouse; and the Financial District’s Engine Company 6. Some of them were Red Cross volunteers, who walked around Lower Manhattan handing out food and water to police officers and trying to boost morale. The volunteers began at Union Square, worked their way down to St. Vincent’s Hospital, walked next to the highway, crossed Canal Street, and headed up 6th avenue to Washington Square Park. Six firefighters from Ladder Company 8, including Lieutenant Vincent Halloran, climbed the stairs of the burning North Tower that morning in attempt to safely evacuate as many people as possible. Halloran never made it out alive.
Two jets, two hours – then Twin Towers are gone • Primaries delayed, relief is main concern • Into the rubble, September 13,
Local fire houses hit hard; entire companies lost • Thousands lack power • With songs and candles, thousands attend vigil in the Village • Schools and universities open doors to relief effort • Thousands are drawn Downtown to mourn, gawk, be a part • Students are relocated from W.T.C. disaster area • Primaries to be held Sept. 25 • Battery Park City Authority pushes to reopen buildings • After devastation, residents try to rebuild lives • N.Y.U. evacuates seven dorms • Stranded pets are saved from the evacuated buildings • Ninth Precinct defuses angry protest at East Village mosque • New sites for Downtown voters • Seawall okay • Seamen’s Church helping out • Local firefighters recall their friends and the horror • Three injured, no deaths at the First Precinct • Weisbrod: Lower Manhattan is ready to rebuild • World Financial Center could begin rebuilding in a month • Most of Battery Park reopens • Tribeca businesses band together for relief • Lower Manhattan restaurants begin to regroup • 700 rush, or rushed to Downtown Hospital on Sept. 11 • B.M.C.C. helping rescue workers and preparing to reopen • A desperate search for loved ones at the midnight to 4 a.m. •
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2002, continued on p.5