N002518
January 15, 2002
Dear Mr. Zwick:
Before the Victim's Compensation Fund Rules are made final, I feel compelled to
put some of my thoughts, regarding those rules, on paper and send them on to
you. I will endeavor to set my thoughts down clearly and concisely. But first I
need to tell you that my year-old son, , is among the lost.
He was an Equities Trader at and had been employed there for the last 5 years. He had started at the lowest rung of the ladder and by diligence, a bright mind and much hard work, had just started to hit his stride in his chosen field.
1. I ask you to please reconsider the amount currently being considered for pain
and suffering(Non-Economic Loss), Please realize that many, many people
located in offices on floors above the point of impact were alive for at least
one hour, and in some cases, even longer. It is very apparent because "911"
calls were being received well beyond one hour after impact and almost right
up until 1 WTC collapsed. This is a matter of public record contained in the
logs of the "911" calls received by the NYC Police Department on September
11. 2001. Portions of those logs were published in the NY Daily News on
Sunday, September 30, 2001, as well as in other publications since. Our
"trapped" loved ones spent that time fully realizing that they could go neither
up nor down to save themselves. They also knew that no one was going to
be able to reach them to save them. There are records of phone
conversations they made wherein they state the conditions around them--
heavy smoke, sections of floors collapsing around them, difficulty breathing,
people falling sick and passing out, etc. They were begging help. And
they were terrified. The hour or more that they lived until 1 WTC collapsed
was more than an eternity of "suffering" for them. A mere $250,000 trivializes
that agony and minimizes their pain and suffering. 100 times $250,000 would
still not be enough to compensate our loved ones for the pain and suffering
they endured. We cannot simply "blow off" the enormity and horror of how
they suffered. True, there is no amount of money that can equal their pain
and suffering. But does that mean that since there is no number than can
compensate them for their pain and suffering, that to only give them a
minimum is fair? Does that not minimize the horror they endured?
We can not lose sight of the fact that these people were civilians. To be put
into this type of danger "on the job" was certainly not on their job descriptions.
So please increase the Non-Economic award to reflect the true pain and
suffering that our loved ones endured. It was simply unimaginable.
2. Please use the wages earned for 1999, 2000 and an annualized income for
2001(We were already three-quarters of the way into the year so please do
not disregard the earnings of that year.) when computing awards for the
victims. Many of these victims worked very hard to make huge strides in their
salaries from year to year, so please do not demean that ambition and their
hard work by totally disregarding 2001's earnings.
3. Please do not average those 3 years when computing the awards. Instead
please make note that most of the incomes of employees tended to
increase yearly by many more percentage points than the national average of
5.5%-6.0% as noted on statistics produced by the Bureau of Standards. It
was common for salaries of young, up and coming Traders and Brokers at
to increase by $20,000 to $30,000 and possibly even more per year
until a very substantial salary level was reached. Please take into
consideration the way salaries rise in the brokerage industry when computing
the award for a young, rising star in the brokerage industry. The salary
escalation for a middle management executive in corporate America would
differ greatly from the salary escalation of a young up an coming trader or
broker in the financial services industry. And lest we forget they were
targeted simply because they worked in the financial services industry. They
sacrificed their lives for their country and their country cannot think so little of
them as to demean the value of those lives.
4. Please configure your charts to show the typical award for a high wage
earner. Please bear in mind that many of the employees (both traders
and stockbrokers) earned more than your present cap of $231,000. They
should not be penalized because they earned salaries higher than 98% of the
country. These people worked hard to provide for their families and had they
been allowed to lived out their lives, in many cases, would have provided very
substantially for their families well into the future. Their awards should reflect
that.
One very important last thought that I must leave you with is that our loved ones
worked at jobs that were not in the military or law enforcement fields. They were
ordinary, everyday citizens, just like you and me, who went to work every day to
put food on their tables and a roof over their heads. They were doing their jobs
to the best of their ability in order to provide for their families.
Individual Comment
Brooklyn, NY