downtown
INSIDE: 10 YEARS LATER, A 9/11 RETROSPECTIVE
express
®
VOLUME 24, NUMBER 17
THE NEWSPAPER OF LOWER MANHATTAN
Ten Years Later A Decade of Renewal The Headlines Tell the Story
downtown
express
September 11 Ten-Year Anniversary Commemorative Issue
SEPTEMBER 7 - 13, 2011
Silver provides sneak peek of 9/11 Memorial
Downtown Express photo by Tequila Minsky
Remembering the fallen and honoring Father Judge Last Sunday was the 10th annual “Walk of Remembrance” to honor the lives lost during the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and to celebrate the life of Father Mychal Judge. More on pg 30.
BY ALINE REYNOLDS For some Downtown residents, The National September 11 Memorial is no longer just a vision based on architectural renderings. On Wed., Aug. 31, N.Y.S. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver invited members of Community Boards 1 and 3 to a preview tour of the memorial plaza, which is on the cusp of completion for the 10th anniversary of 9/11. In an opening speech at the Port Authority’s Downtown office, Silver applauded the community boards for helping to mold the neighborhood’s post-9/11 revitalization. “With the 10th anniversary…less than two weeks away, I thought this was an appropriate time to bring together those in our community who have done so much to help Lower Manhattan recover and rebuild,” Silver told the board members. “You have helped us open new businesses [and] build new schools and new parks, from the East River to Battery Park City and everywhere in between.” Since a prior tour of the site in early August, Silver noticed the plaza’s new lawn and newly planted ivy around the 225 symmetrically positioned trees that have been Continued on page 18
Mayor talks post-9/11 progress at Wall St. breakfast BY CYNTHIA MAGNUS Mayor Michael Bloomberg addressed an audience of approximately 800 on Tues., Sept. 6, at the Cipriani Wall Street hotel to discuss the growth and recovery of Lower Manhattan since the September 11 attacks. At the breakfast event hosted by the Association for a Better New York (ABNY) William C. Rudin, ABNY chairman and CEO of Manhattan real estate firm Rudin Management, introduced Bloomberg who
highlighted the progress Lower Manhattan has made in terms of lower crime and growth in population and commercial development. He cited the Financial District’s transformation from an area that was empty after the close of the business day into “a dynamic 24-7 community” aided by the creation of new housing, schools, parks and infrastructure to attract new businesses. The mayor identified several recent commercial success stories as part of his audio-
visual presentation on Tuesday morning. One was the business incubator “the Hive at 55,” started in 2009 to aid local entrepreneurs. Bloomberg also mentioned the zoning request by the Century 21 department store to expand by three more floors, and he praised the success of Stone Street, which he called “a Downtown restaurant row.” Bloomberg noted that the number of people living in Lower Manhattan has nearly doubled in ten years, and more people are living here
than at any time since 1920. The mayor cited Pier 25 as “a great example of Lower Manhattan’s rebirth, and the rebirth of our waterfront,” and mentioned a $260 million investment in park construction and expansion. Bloomberg said that for the area to become a magnet for families the city needed to create more first-rate schools. He cited Millennium High School, opened in 2002 by
Continued on page 7