W000213
Wednesday, November 07, 2001 10:34 PM
the forgotten victims
My understanding is that victims of the September 11th tragedy are
defined as families of those who perished as well as individuals who
are now unemployed and/or businesses that sustained prolonged
closures) as a result of the attacks.
However, there is a population of individuals and families who I
believe do not qualify under the accepted definition of victims...
but these are people whose lives have been turned upside down since
September 11th. These "victims" live or lived in the immediate
vicinity of Ground Zero, they are the residents of Battery Park City
-I speak from personal experience.
Our apartment was three blocks from "the site" of the collapsed World
Trade Center- 400 Chambers Street. While our apartment did not
sustain any damage, the building was contaminated with dust and
debris which had to be removed by a company specializing in handling
Hazardous Materials. I guess we were lucky [If you consider seeing
what we saw, lucky] from our dining room window we watched people
jumping and the tower collapsing and quickly closed the windows
before evacuating with our daughter and pug. Many of my neighbors
found that their apartments were covered with debris because they
left their windows open.
Everyone in the neighborhood was prohibited from occupying their
apartments for a period of time, FBI and police designated the area a
crime scene. Emergency and rescue workers commandeered buildings and
streets and my daughter's school was turned into "The Command Center"
which included a temporary morgue. For many weeks, the area belonged
to the authorities.
In the past two months or so, many buildings have been preparing for
residents to occupy, but many in the neighborhood cannot return or
refuse to return because of the air (toxins emanating from the
still-burning fires) causes respiratory distress, nosebleeds, asthma,
headaches, and the other health risks associated with this
unprecedented event.
While we have been assured by the EPA that the air poses no long-term
health risks, the Daily News and other respected Newspapers and
Engineers have disagreed. Residents, businessmen and women are
suffering from symptoms that make the area a health nightmare.
My particular building has been re-opened, Transportation is
significantly reduced (and will be for many years). Services are
greatly diminished [many stores have permanently abandoned the area
because they of the lack of consumers in the area] Air quality is
compromised [we've been told that our children should not exert
themselves when playing outdoors.]. The area is uninhabitable, after
a long hard look at the situation my family was forced to move uptown
3 miles.
There are serious financial considerations for downtown residents,
and businesses but the emotional toll is hard to quantify. My family
has been so traumatized by the September 11th events and our
relocation that it has affected my family business. We were out of
work 18 days yet we had to continue to pay ourselves even though we
were not producing any income. Running a small business in New York
is extremely tough right now. We had reduced our operating expense
significantly pre September 11, 2001 but now we are finding that our
clients budgets have been cut and projects that we had been expecting
are now put on hold with no future commencement dates. We have
applied for an SBA loan and were accepted but it is pending one of
the partners putting up their home as collateral.
We have renters insurance and while my insurance company covered our
living expenses and temporary housing for a few weeks they are not
covering the expenses associated with the relocation of our home. We
have incurred significant out-of-pocket expenses, $14,663.05, Moving,
storage, loosing our security deposit, brokers fees and an increase
in rent. Safe Horizons was the only agency that provided immediate
financial relief [$1500.00] but our particular situation did not fit
the qualifications from other Federal or state agencies like FEMA,
the American Red Cross, Crime Victims Board and the Salvation Army. I
find this absurd, with all of the money that has been donated to the
victims of this tragedy why do the people who have been directly
affected by this have to beg for financial assistance? Why does the
American Red Cross give to some and not others?
Like us, many have chosen to move to other parts of the City, some
have left the city altogether, Others have chosen to stay and
rebuild. All have suffered. We are victims too.
Rebuilding?
Individual Comment