W000271
Friday, November 09, 2001 6:41 AM
Victims Compensation Fund
I am a resident of Battery Park City. I was diplaced from my home for tw2o months. Although I was recently able to return, my life is not the same. I have asthma and to prevent flare-ups, I need to run three air purifiers, which makes me feel like I'm living in an airplane because of the constant noise, and my doctor has increase my medication to five-times what it was before 9/11. Every day I leave my apartment I have to figure out the best way to leave the neighborhood, because of all of the changes to transportation access. I have to walk past makeshift memorials of teddybears and flowers that is a constant reminder of the deaths that occurred across the street.
Yesterday, I was laid off from a job that I had worked at for over nine years, due to the company's economic losses, in part, after 9/11. I will eventually lose my medical insurance coverage, which I need more than ever because of the increase in my medication, and because two days ago I learned that my sister has advanced ovarian cancer. Since my mother already had it, I now have a 50 percent chance of getting it also, and I will need to have genetic testing and preventive surgery. I can longer plan to move out of the neighborhood because I can't afford another apartment, and I will no longer qualify for a mortgage.
I still have virtually no food in my refrigerator because of the unavailability of stores in the neighborhood. I can't use the garbage chute on my floor because of the constant overflow of discarded furnishings from other people's apartments. I am repeatedly requested to show ID in order to get to my home.
I am most certainly a victim.
Individual Comment
New York, NY