W000190
Wednesday, November 07, 2001 2:27 PM
The 9/11 attack and evacuation of residents
To Whom it may concern:
On August 1st, 2001 I moved to 41 River Terrace along the esplanade, at the
end of Chambers St. It is a building in what is called North Battery Park
City. On the morning of 9/11/01 I was standing on the corner of West
Side Highway waiting to get a taxi at 8:50 A.M. I witnessed the terrible
attack on the World Trade Center. By the time the second plane hit, I along
with hundreds of others ran for our lives. I escaped down a subway stairway.
I am not alone in this but I feel that I will never be quite the same again.
I still jump at any loud noise. For weeks after the attack, I had visions
of the attack running in my mind.
I went to friends uptown in the city and stayed there while I tried
desperately to find out what was happening to the building where I lived. I
tried countless times for information, walked miles every day to see if there
was any news as to when or if I could get any of my belongings or important
papers or medication. There was NOTHING on TV about any of the evacuees.
NOTHING. Days later, I finally made it through the checkpoints begging, and
got 15 minutes to gather everything I thought was important in my life. I
was timed by a park employee along with others to be sure that I got back
down into the lobby after 15 minutes. The treatment of the residents in this
area by all authority and the Mayor's office and the OEM was deplorable. Two
weeks after the event, we were told we could move back in but never given
assurance to the quality of air, the safety of our environment. We then
suffered thru weeks of checkpoints where we were never given proper ID's by
the city or by our landlords (who were completely unavailable to the
residents of these buildings). In short, we were evacuated or ran for our
lives and then left to fend for ourselves until we returned home where we
were treated like criminals by a myriad of "authority" and uniforms...one not
knowing what the other was doing or "who" was truly in charge. I have been a
resident of NYC for over 20 years, and I have never seen such poor
organization and communication but I am beginning to understand it was poor
all along it just showed up more in this crisis. While our Mayor was busy
taking care of press meetings, going on the Oprah and Saturday Night live
shows, 10,000 citizens were completely forgotten about, including by our
Federal Government. Although one can understand the reasons why the event
and loss of life for so many people would take precedent, there was no reason
that the residents that were in such turmoil had to fend for themselves. We
had no transportation....a resident had to get her way into the Command
Center to represent us and plead to have a bus or shuttle come in to help us
get around. There was no one to help the disabled. I saw an elderly woman
with a walker, trying to get down the streets to a doctor and not one Police
officer tried to find a way to get her help. We could have had the Red Cross
get golf carts or something to help out those situations. People were
struggling with their children's schools being taken over and not knowing how
to deal with getting them to another school and then trying to get themselves
to work with no transportation. I myself had go see the CFO of Mercantile
Exchange to get some help on using their leased ferry for the residents of
Battery Park City. Someone tell me why we as residents have had to do all
this for ourselves. Where was our city government?? Busy taking tour guides
of celebrities thru Ground Zero. At least that is what we saw each night on
the TV.....not how or where were the residents that had to flee to parts
unknown or any hotels they could find. Almost seven weeks later they still
are not all back in their homes. And still no one has helped us from any
city office. They apparently left it up to the Red Cross and FEMA to take
care of us...but that is another story. I feel this city government
committed terrible injustices to the residents surrounding the WTC. I have
lost my job on top of this nightmare and am dealing with a rent strike
because the owners will not offer a proper reduction on market value of what
we signed leases against. Not one city official has stepped up to be
involved in any of these issues involving property value or suffering. If it
at all possible I want to sue this city for what took place here after 9/11.
No one could have been completely prepared for this awful event but what went
wrong with the evacuation of residents and what followed afterward, should
not ever happen again to any American Citizen. I want it known that there
was a second tragedy that took place within blocks of WTC and it was the
neglect and complete avoidance of all the residents in this area. We are now
facing major issues about our health. I want to know WHO allowed the
residents to come back here to live if it was not testing safe...I understand
it was the OEM. They should be brought up on charges. Today, outside my
window, I now look at barges and cranes that remove the debris from the WTC
on a 24 hour basis, no one in the building is getting any sleep and no one
in the city offices cares. They had no regard for life when they put that
crane where they did, their only concern was how fast could they get the
debris out. When they took over the highschool and the middle school to use
as a staging area for the rescue squads and the OEM, they had no regard for
life.....there were other buildings near the area that could have been used.
I intend to use every ounce of energy and focus I have left to make sure that
the people who were responsible for making such inept decisions in regard to
where people were living will be held accountable. Do I feel that I am
entitled to compensation as a victim in this tragedy...YES. I do not want to
see any funds denied to the families that lost loved ones but as I look out
at the cranes and barges for the Weeks Marina company I see plenty of money
going into the hands of a commercial company who had no suffering in this
tragedy.....they are getting plenty of overtime and a lot of money from the
Federal funds being given to NYC for this attack. The residents of this area
should be compensated for the fact that they became victims in this tragedy
along with the Small Business people and the families of those who died but
not just because we were so dramatically effected, but also for all the
injustices this city brought upon us as residents with their lack of concern
or regard for our lives.
Individual Comment
New York City, NY